JP2004297480A - Portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a portable terminal capable of enhancing connection efficiency to a network. <P>SOLUTION: Network information required for determination of the network at the time of starting and communication history information regarding the network in operation are stored in a storage part 14. A control part 13 update the network information of the storage part 14 based on the communication history information of the storage part 14. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a portable terminal that determines a connection destination network based on network information called roaming information.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, a cdma2000 1x-EV DO system has been developed as a next-generation high-speed wireless communication system. The cdma2000 1x-EV DO system is a standardized version of the HDR (High Data Rate) system, which is an extension of the cdma2000 1x system by Qualcomm. T-64 1S-2000 C.I. S. 0024 “cdma2000 High Rate Packet Data Air Interface Specification”, which is currently standardized in Japan by the KDDI company (cdibone system (ARIB T-53 in Japan, EIA / TIA / IS-IS in North America, Korea, etc.) 95, etc.) to improve the communication speed by further specializing the cdma2000 1x system corresponding to the third generation system (3G) to data communication. In the cdma2000 lx-EV DO, EV means Evolution and DO means Data only.
[0003]
In the cdma2000 1x-EV DO system, the base station switches the modulation scheme of data transmitted to the terminal based on information notifying the reception state received from the mobile terminal, so that when the reception state of the terminal is good, It is possible to use a communication rate with low error resilience but high speed, and a communication rate with low error resistance but high error resilience when reception conditions are poor.
[0004]
In the down direction (direction from the base station to the mobile terminal) of the cdma2000 1x-EV DO system, time is divided in units of 1/600 seconds, and communication is performed with only one mobile terminal during that time. A time division multiplex access (TDMA; time division multiplex access) in which communication is performed with a plurality of mobile terminals by switching a mobile terminal of a partner according to time is employed. This makes it possible to always transmit data to each mobile terminal with maximum power, and to perform data communication between mobile terminals at the highest communication speed.
[0005]
In a conventional wireless communication system, a portable terminal changes a connection method with a network system according to an instruction from a network side during system redirection or handoff. However, at the time of startup immediately after the power is turned on or when the network system is lost, there is no instruction from the network side because the network system is not connected. For such a case, the portable terminal transmits information (called roaming information) used when connecting to the network system for the first time, for example, information on a wireless communication standard of the network system and a wireless channel number to be used. , Stored in a non-volatile memory. Then, first, it is connected to the network system included in the roaming information.
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-115851
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The above roaming information is usually managed as static information determined by the communication carrier. For this reason, in an environment where a network system of a plurality of specifications is mixed and the network configuration is frequently changed, the contents of the roaming information preset in the mobile terminal by the communication carrier and the network system of the appropriate connection destination Will not match the specifications. In such a case, the conventional portable terminal needs to first connect to a network system having a specification that matches the roaming information of the user, and then have another appropriate network system perform redirection. For this reason, there is a problem that the use efficiency of network resources is reduced.
[0008]
In addition, usually, after connecting to a network system, the mobile terminal acquires information about a neighboring network system from the network side. The mobile terminal performs idle handoff based on this information. However, if the communication quality of the network system included in the roaming information from the communication carrier is poor, the mobile terminal will idle handoff to another network system after a while. As a result, it takes an extra time from when the portable terminal is turned on to when it is connected to a good network system and stable communication can be performed, which is not preferable.
[0009]
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminal capable of improving the efficiency of connection to a network.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the portable terminal according to claim 1 stores network information storage means for preliminarily storing network information necessary for determination of a network at the time of activation, and communication history information about a network at the time of operation. Communication history information storage means, and network information updating means for updating network information in the network information storage unit based on the communication history information.
[0011]
3. The mobile terminal according to claim 2, wherein the network information updating unit updates the specific network information stored in the network information storage unit when an instruction to change specific network information is issued from a network. Is what you do.
[0012]
In the portable terminal according to the third aspect, a wireless environment information storage means for storing wireless environment information, a wireless environment information detecting means for detecting wireless environment information at the time of operation, and a connection from a connected network to another network. Network transfer means for retrieving the radio environment information detected by the radio environment information detection means from the radio environment information storage means when the transfer of the data has occurred, and switching the network based on the retrieved information. It is.
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The mobile terminal of the present invention includes a mobile phone and a mobile terminal called a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants).
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a mobile terminal 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the mobile terminal 1 includes an antenna 11, a radio unit 12, a control unit 13, a storage unit 14, a display unit 15, an operation unit 16, and a voice input / output unit 17.
[0014]
The wireless unit 12 transmits and receives wireless signals to and from a wireless base station via the antenna 11. The control unit 13 processes signals transmitted and received by the wireless unit 12 and controls each unit of the mobile terminal 1. The storage unit 14 is accessed by the control unit 13 and stores various data. The display unit 15 includes a liquid crystal display panel and a display control circuit. The operation unit 16 includes input keys such as numeric keys and various function keys. The audio input / output unit 17 includes a microphone and a speaker.
[0015]
An initial value of roaming information (network information) is stored in the storage unit 14 in advance. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an initial value of roaming information. The initial value of the roaming information is set by the communication carrier as static information when the mobile terminal 1 is manufactured. Alternatively, a communication carrier sets each mobile terminal 1 via a wireless communication network (OTASP function).
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 2, the roaming information includes, for each candidate network system to be captured, system information, the priority of the system, information on the relationship between the systems (geographical area), and additional information. And so on. The system information includes a communication standard used by the system, a band class (frequency band), a channel number, and the like. The additional information is information related to the setting of the roaming information of the system candidate. For example, information for distinguishing whether the information is set by the communication carrier or dynamically updated, and information on the priority before the change when the priority is changed is included. It is.
[0017]
The control unit 13 uses roaming information as information for determining a network system to be captured at the time of startup immediately after the power is turned on or when the network system is lost. When the network system to be acquired first is determined using the roaming information of FIG. 2, the system is changed from the system with the higher priority to the system with the lower priority in the order of the system A, the system D, the system B, the system C, and the system E. To capture. As a result, any system that matches the roaming information is captured.
[0018]
Further, the control unit 13 (network information updating means) has a function of dynamically updating roaming information. Hereinafter, the update operation of the roaming information will be sequentially described in detail.
First, the operation related to the first roaming information update will be described with reference to FIGS. FIGS. 3 and 4 are flowcharts showing the flow of the first roaming information update process performed by the control unit 13. This first roaming information update process is for updating roaming information when a redirection instruction is received from the network side. For example, consider a case where a communication carrier changes the network configuration and newly adds a system F (1xEVDO, band class 6, 600 ch) to the Tokyo area. Here, the communication carrier does not change the roaming information of the mobile terminal 1 when adding the system F. Then, after the mobile terminal 1 is connected to one of the systems A, B, and C (see FIG. 2), the communication carrier instructs the mobile terminal 1 to perform redirection to the system F from the network side as needed. According to the redirection instruction, the mobile terminal 1 adds information according to the redirection instruction to its roaming information.
[0019]
3, the control unit 13 captures one of the systems included in the roaming information in the storage unit 14. Next, when receiving the redirection instruction message to the terminal itself, the control unit 13 adds 1 to the redirection counter value (communication history information storage means) for the redirection destination system stored in the storage unit 14 (step S102). . If the counter value exceeds the predetermined threshold (X), the process proceeds to step S104, and the “roaming information adding process by redirection” is executed. On the other hand, if the counter value does not exceed the threshold value (X), the process ends. Further, after receiving the system, when receiving a redirection instruction message to all terminals (step S105), the control unit 13 proceeds to step S104.
[0020]
Next, in FIG. 4, the control unit 13 first determines whether or not the redirection destination system to be added is already registered in the same geographic area as the current system included in the initial value of the roaming information (step S111). . If this determination is “YES (registered)”, the priority of the initial value of the roaming information is backed up in the additional information for the redirection destination system to be added (step S112).
[0021]
Next, for the redirection destination system to be added, a flag indicating that the system is the system added by redirection is set in the additional information (step S113). Next, the system information and the additional information of the redirection destination system are stored in the storage unit 14 with a high priority in the same geographical area as the current system (step S114). Next, if the same system is registered in the same geographical area, the system with the lower priority is deleted from the storage unit 14 and the process is terminated (step S115).
[0022]
By the first roaming information updating process, the information of the redirection system is added to the roaming information of the mobile terminal 1 based on the number of redirection (communication history information) for the own mobile terminal or the redirection instruction information (communication history information) to all terminals. Will be added. For example, when the communication carrier changes the network configuration and newly adds the system F (1xEVDO, band class 6, 600 ch) to the Tokyo area, when the mobile terminal 1 is capturing the system B, the system F When the redirection instruction is received, the roaming information in FIG. 2 is updated to the contents shown in FIG. Next, when a redirection instruction to the system C is received while capturing the system F, the roaming information in FIG. 5 is updated to the contents shown in FIG.
[0023]
Next, an operation related to the second roaming information update will be described with reference to FIGS. FIGS. 7 and 8 are flowcharts showing the flow of the second roaming information update process performed by the control unit 13. The second roaming information update process is for updating the roaming information when the idle side handoff destination neighboring system is specified from the network side. For example, consider a case where a communication carrier changes the network configuration and newly adds a system F (1 × EVDO, band class 6, 600 ch) to the Tokyo area. Here, the communication carrier does not change the roaming information of the mobile terminal 1 when adding the system F. Then, after the mobile terminal 1 is connected to any one of the systems A, B, and C (see FIG. 2), the communication carrier may set the system F as a neighbor system of an idle handoff destination from the network side as needed from the network side. To be specified. By specifying the idle handoff destination neighboring system, the portable terminal 1 adds information by the neighboring system designation to its roaming information.
[0024]
7, the control unit 13 captures any system included in the roaming information in the storage unit 14. Next, upon receiving the neighboring system instruction message (step S201), the control unit 13 executes “roaming information addition processing by specifying a neighboring system” for each neighboring system included in the message (step S202).
[0025]
Next, in FIG. 8, the control unit 13 first determines whether or not the neighboring system to be added is already registered in the same geographical area as the current system included in the initial value of the roaming information (step S211). If this determination is "YES (registered)", the process ends without adding information on the neighboring system (step S212).
[0026]
On the other hand, if the determination in step S211 is "NO", a flag indicating that the neighboring system to be added is a system added by designating a neighboring system is set in the additional information (step S213). Next, the system information and the additional information of the neighboring system are stored in the storage unit 14 with the same priority in the same geographical area as the current system (step S214). Next, if the same system is registered in the same geographical area, the system with the lower priority is deleted from the storage unit 14 and the process ends (step S215).
[0027]
By the second roaming information update process, information on the system designated as the neighboring system is added to the roaming information of the portable terminal 1 based on the designation instruction from the network side. For example, when the communication carrier changes the network configuration and newly adds the system F (1 × EVDO, band class 6, 600 ch) to the Tokyo area, when the mobile terminal 1 is capturing the system B, the system F When designated to a neighboring system, the roaming information in FIG. 2 is updated to the contents shown in FIG.
[0028]
Next, an operation related to the third roaming information update will be described with reference to FIGS. FIGS. 10 and 11 are flowcharts showing the flow of the third roaming information update process performed by the control unit 13. This third roaming information update process is for updating roaming information based on a wireless environment. For example, among the systems having the same priority, especially for a system having a long average use time or a good average radio wave condition, the priority is slightly increased. On the other hand, especially for a system having a short average use time or a bad average radio wave condition, the priority is slightly lowered.
[0029]
First, an operation of upgrading the priority based on the wireless environment will be described.
In FIG. 10, the control unit 13 stores the use time and the radio wave quality for each system having the same priority in the same geographical area included in the roaming information of the storage unit 14 in the storage unit 14, The total use time and the average radio wave quality within the time are totaled (step S301). Next, it is determined whether or not there is a system whose total usage time exceeds a value obtained by adding a predetermined value (X) to the average value of the total usage time of each system (step S302). If the result of this determination is "YES (exists)", the flow proceeds to step S304, and if "NO", the flow proceeds to step S303.
[0030]
In step S303, it is determined whether or not a system having an average radio wave quality exceeding a value obtained by adding a predetermined value (X) to the average value of the average radio wave quality of each system exists. If the result of this determination is "YES (exists)", the flow proceeds to step S304, and if "NO", the flow proceeds to step S305.
[0031]
In step S304, the priority of the system that satisfies the conditions in step S302 or S303 is slightly increased, and the process ends. For example, when the priority is “medium”, the priority is changed to “medium above”.
In step S305, the priority is not changed, and the process ends.
[0032]
Next, an operation of downgrading the priority based on the wireless environment will be described.
In FIG. 11, the control unit 13 stores the use time and the radio wave quality of each system having the same priority in the same geographical area included in the roaming information of the storage unit 14 in the storage unit 14. The total use time and the average radio wave quality within the time are totaled (step S401). Next, it is determined whether or not a system having a total usage time less than a value obtained by subtracting the predetermined value (X) from the average value of the total usage time of each system exists (step S402). If the result of this determination is “YES (exists)”, the flow proceeds to step S404, and if “NO”, the flow proceeds to step S403.
[0033]
In step S403, it is determined whether or not a system having an average radio wave quality less than a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined value (X) from the average value of the average radio wave quality of each system exists. If the result of this determination is "YES (exists)", the flow proceeds to step S404, and if "NO", the flow proceeds to step S405.
[0034]
In step S404, the priority of the system that satisfies the conditions in step S402 or S403 is slightly lowered, and the process ends. For example, when the priority is “medium”, the priority is changed to “medium lower”.
In step S405, the priority is not changed, and the process ends.
[0035]
By the third roaming information updating process, the priority included in the roaming information of the mobile terminal 1 is updated based on the wireless environment. For example, for the systems B and F in the Tokyo area and the priority "medium" included in the roaming information of FIG. If the time is larger by (X) than (time) ÷ 2), as shown in FIG. 12, the priority of system F is upgraded to “middle above”, and the priority of system B is changed to “middle”. Downgrade ". In this case, since the information of the system B is the initial value of the roaming information, the original priority before the update is backed up in the additional information.
[0036]
As a result, the control unit 13 (wireless environment information detecting means, network switching means) downgrades the priority of the system corresponding to the wireless environment at the time of the idle handoff in the past. Is stored in the storage unit 14 (wireless environment information storage means), and when it is determined that the user is in the same wireless environment, the connection is immediately switched from the current network system having poor wireless quality to another network system. As a result, the time from when the power of the portable terminal is turned on to when stable communication can be performed can be reduced.
[0037]
Next, an operation related to the fourth roaming information update will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of the fourth roaming information update process performed by the control unit 13. This fourth roaming information update process is for deleting system information dynamically added to roaming information.
In FIG. 13, the control unit 13 sets a capture failure mark in the additional information for all systems that have failed to capture in a system determination operation at the time of startup immediately after power-on or when a network system is lost (step S501). . Next, when the acquisition of the system is finally succeeded, the presence / absence of the acquisition failure mark is checked for all the systems in the same geographical area as the successfully acquired system (step S502). Next, of the capture failure counter values (communication history information storage means) stored in the storage unit 14, 1 is added to the capture failure counter value for each system with a capture failure mark (step S503). Next, it is determined whether or not the capture failure counter value for a system dynamically added to the roaming information (a system in which redirection addition or addition of a neighboring system has been set to additional information) exceeds a predetermined threshold (X). (Step S504). If the result of this determination is "YES (exceeding the threshold)", the system information is deleted from the roaming information (step S505).
[0038]
As a result of the fourth roaming information update process, information on the system dynamically added to the roaming information of the mobile terminal 1 is deleted based on the number of acquisition failures (communication history information).
[0039]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the roaming information is dynamically changed based on the past communication history of the mobile terminal, so that the content of the roaming information follows the change of the network configuration. As a result, it is possible to directly connect to an appropriate network system at the time of startup immediately after the power is turned on or at the time of system determination operation when the network system is lost. As a result, a decrease in the use efficiency of the network resources is prevented, and the connection efficiency to the network is improved.
[0040]
Further, the past number of redirection times is retained, and when the number of redirection times satisfies a condition for redirection from the network side (the number of redirection times exceeds a predetermined number), information of the redirection destination system is added to the roaming information. Before redirection from the network side, redirection can be performed first.
[0041]
Also, since the priority is updated based on the wireless environment, it is possible to preferentially connect to a network system suitable for the actual wireless environment. As a result, the time from when the power is turned on to when a stable communication can be performed by connecting to a good network system is reduced.
[0042]
As described above, the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes a design change or the like without departing from the gist of the present invention.
[0043]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the network information (roaming information) is dynamically changed based on the past communication history of the mobile terminal. Follow the changes. This makes it possible to directly connect to an appropriate network system at the time of start-up immediately after the power is turned on or at the time of system determination when the network system is lost, and as a result, the efficiency of connection to the network is improved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile terminal 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an initial value of roaming information.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a first roaming information update process performed by a control unit 13;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a first roaming information update process performed by a control unit 13;
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of updated roaming information.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of updated roaming information.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a second roaming information update process performed by the control unit 13;
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a second roaming information update process performed by the control unit 13;
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of updated roaming information.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a third roaming information update process performed by the control unit 13;
FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a third roaming information update process performed by the control unit 13;
FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of updated roaming information.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a fourth roaming information update process performed by the control unit 13;
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Portable terminal, 11 ... Antenna, 12 ... Radio | wireless part, 13 ... Control part, 14 ... Storage part, 15 ... Display part, 16 ... Operation part, 17 ... Voice input / output part

Claims (3)

Network information storage means for storing in advance network information necessary for determining a network at the time of activation,
Communication history information storage means for storing communication history information regarding the network at the time of operation;
Network information updating means for updating network information of the network information storage unit based on the communication history information;
A mobile terminal having 2. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the network information updating unit updates the specific network information stored in the network information storage unit when an instruction to change specific network information is issued from a network. Wireless environment information storage means for storing wireless environment information;
Wireless environment information detecting means for detecting wireless environment information at the time of operation;
When a transfer from a connected network to another network occurs, wireless environment information detected by the wireless environment information detecting means is searched from the wireless environment information storage means, and network switching is performed based on the searched information. Network switching means for performing
The mobile terminal according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

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