JPS63269626A - Fault detector for automobile telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To discriminate the disabled communication due to a fault of an equipment not due to the disabled communication at the outside of the service area by providing a discriminating means specifying a transmission/reception unit of a faulty system based on a prescribed sequence and the result of reception. CONSTITUTION:In the automobile telephone set provided with two or more systems of diversity transmission/reception units, a transmission/reception control means 104 applying transmission/reception between systems according to a prescribed sequence and a discriminating means 103 specifying a transmission/ reception unit of a faulty system at least based on the prescribed sequence and the result of reception are provided. When communication is disabled from a 1st system to a 2nd system, it is discriminated that is not due to the disabled communication by the outside of service area but due to the disabled communication caused by a faulty device.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a failure detection device for a mobile phone.

(Prior Art) Recently, car telephones are rapidly becoming popular due to their ability to use public telephone networks. However, the car phone service area does not cover every corner of the country. Therefore, if you go outside the service area, you will naturally be unable to make calls. In such a case, the car phone will say "out of range".
A display means such as a lamp is provided to indicate that.

As an example of the above-mentioned prior art, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-6992
There are No. 0 and Utility Model Publication No. 61-29951.

On the other hand, one of the causes of poor reception is the fading phenomenon. Fading is thought to occur when radio waves are reflected by mountains, buildings, etc., and the electric field becomes abnormal due to interference between the direct waves and reflected waves. Diversity technology has been used primarily in the field of microwaves to resolve poor reception/inability due to fading. One of these diversity methods is a spatial diversity method in which a plurality of antennas are provided. An example of a car telephone equipped with a plurality of transmitting and receiving systems is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 60-124.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, being unable to make a call is not only caused by being outside the service area. For example, the antenna is not installed, there is an abnormality in the transmitting system of the car phone, there is an abnormality in the receiving system, etc. Therefore, if the cause is on the vehicle side, the above-mentioned "out of service area" display may notify the driver that reception is not possible, but it may be possible to determine whether the cause is outside the service area, such as poor reception due to an antenna abnormality. Whether this is the case cannot be determined using the above-mentioned conventional technology.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the above-mentioned conventional examples, and its purpose is to propose a failure detection device for a car phone that determines whether the car phone is defective or not.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The configuration of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned object is to transmit and receive transmission and reception between each system in a predetermined sequence in a car phone equipped with a diaphragm transmitting and receiving unit for two or more systems. The present invention is characterized by comprising a control means and a determination means for identifying at least a transmitting/receiving unit of an abnormal system based on the sequence and the reception result.

(Operation) With the above configuration, if the transmission is NG from the first system to the second system, for example, it can be determined that the communication is not disabled due to outside the service area, but due to equipment failure.

(Example) Examples according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the basic concept of the embodiment, in which two transmitting/receiving systems 101 are connected using the so-called spatial diversity method.
102, a car phone control section 100, and a handset 105. The failure detection device includes a transmission/reception sequence control section 104 and a determination section 103.
and a failure display section 106. Each transmission/reception system consists of an antenna, a transmitter, and a receiver.

The sequence of transmission and reception by the sequence control 104 is as follows.

(2) A predetermined transmission signal is emitted from the #1 transmitter 101a of the system 101, received by the -a #1 receiver 101b, and outputted to the determination unit as to whether the reception result is OK or NG.

-b Received by the #2 receiving section 102b of the system 102, and outputs whether the reception result is OK/NG to the determining section.

■■, A predetermined transmission signal is emitted from the #2 transmitter 102a of the system 102, received by the I-a #2 receiver 102b, and outputted to the determination unit as to whether the reception result is OK or NG.

It is received by the #1 receiving section 101b of the I-b system 101, and outputs whether the reception result is OK/NG to the determining section.

For convenience, the antenna 101C is designated as antenna #1 and antenna 1.
02c is antenna #2, the determination by determination unit 103 follows the rules shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 shows all the results of transmission and reception when there are two systems of transmission and reception units. In the figure, hatched areas indicate impossible cases. For example, when receiving from antenna #2 to antenna #1, it is OK, and when receiving from antenna #2, N
If it is G, the #2 receiver is malfunctioning, but in this state, when transmitting from antenna #1 to antenna #2, there is no possibility that the reception result by the #2 receiver will be OK. be.

If all the results are NG, communication is disabled, but in other cases, transmission and reception are possible using parts other than the failed part.

In this way, the system configuration shown in Figure 1 utilizes a diversity type device for the purpose of preventing fading, etc., and prevents call failures due to being outside the service area and calls due to malfunction of the transmitter/receiver, which could not be done in the past. It is possible to distinguish between "unavailable" and "unavailable", and in this case, it is not necessary to judge whether or not the service is "outside" of the conventional service area.

Furthermore, by transmitting to the receiver light in the same system, it is possible to isolate any unit failure.

Explain when to start the above test. The simplest method is to start the failure detection test using a manual switch provided in the sequence control unit 104.

A manual switch allows the operator to perform self-diagnosis at any time.

FIG. 3 shows a case where the failure diagnosis shown in FIG. 1 is automatically triggered by starting the engine. usually,
When the ignition key is turned on, all the various indicator lamps on the driver's seat instrument panel light up. This is to display to check whether these indicator lamps (not shown) are disconnected, and in order to perform this operation, a disconnection check relay (300 in this example) is used.
There is something called. When the ignition key is turned on, this relay turns on and lights up the various indicator lamps mentioned above. When the engine starts and the generator (alternator) operates, this relay 300
is turned off. 301 is a contact that closes when the relay 300 is turned off.

That is, when the engine starts and a predetermined power generation starts, the contact 301 is closed and the one-shot circuit 302 is given a HIGH potential. When the one-shot circuit 302 receives this HIGH voltage, it generates a pulse of "1" only for a certain period of time (variable) thereafter. This pulse is input to the sequence control unit 104 and is used as the timing to start transmitting the self-diagnosis radio waves described above. In this way, the car phone will perform a self-diagnosis every time the engine is started.

FIG. 4 shows the layout of the display unit 106 that displays the failure status when a failure is detected. In the failure state shown in FIG. 2, if there is a failure in two parts, two displays will light up for the paddy. As shown in FIG. 4, in this embodiment, failures in any part can be isolated.

The determination of OK/NG of the reception state in the above embodiment is as follows:
Most preferably, the transmitting side sends a digital signal, the receiving side receives the digital signal, and compares the received code with the transmitted code to make a determination. For convenience,
The receiving side measures the electric field strength and checks whether the measured electric field strength exceeds a predetermined threshold.

Although the above embodiment has been explained using the spatial diversity method as an example, it is obvious that the present invention can also be applied to the frequency diversity method.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the failure detection device for a car telephone of the present invention, in a car phone equipped with a diversity transmitting/receiving unit for two or more lines, transmission/reception control is performed to perform transmission/reception between each line in a predetermined sequence. and a determining means for identifying at least a transmitting/receiving unit in an abnormal system based on the sequence and the reception result, so that it is possible to make it possible to at least make a call not due to failure of the equipment, rather than due to failure of the service area. One thing can be determined.

In particular, according to one embodiment of the present invention, by performing transmission and reception within the same system, any failure of any transmitting/receiving unit can be isolated.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a diagram explaining the configuration of one embodiment, Figure 2 is a diagram showing the criteria for determining failure in the above embodiment, and Figure 3 is an illustration of an embodiment in which starting the engine is the trigger for starting self-diagnosis. Partial circuit diagram: FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a failure display section. In the figure, 100...Automobile control section, 101...#1 system, 1
01a, 102a...#1. $2 transmitter, 101b,
102b・#1. #2 receiver, 101c, 102c...
・#1. @2 antenna, 103...determination section, 104.
. . . Transmission/reception sequence control unit, 105 . . . Handset, 106 . . . Failure display unit, 300 .

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a car phone equipped with a diversity transmitting/receiving unit for two or more systems, a transmitting/receiving control means for transmitting and receiving between each system in a predetermined sequence, and transmitting/receiving for at least an abnormal system based on the sequence and the reception result. What is claimed is: 1. A failure detection device for a car telephone, characterized in that it comprises a determination means for identifying a unit. (2) By transmitting the sequence from a transmitting unit to a receiving unit in the same system, the determining means
2. The failure detection device for a mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein a failure unit in the same system is identified.