JP2005217515A - Multimode communication device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multimode communication device by which a user automatically executes efficient transmission of an e-mail including various information without being conscious of individual communication systems. <P>SOLUTION: Information indicating the suitability of transmission data to each communication system is set to a determining part 161. When there is a currently usable communication system with the suitability exceeding a prescribed value from the relationship between the currently usable communication system and the suitability, transmission is executed with the communication system. While, when there is no currently usable communication system with the suitability exceeding the prescribed value, transmission is executed after holding the data in a storage 140 until a usable communication system appears with the suitability exceeding the prescribed value. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention particularly relates to a multi-mode communication apparatus capable of communicating in a plurality of communication systems (multi-mode).

  Currently, there are various communication methods as wireless communication services represented by mobile phones. For example, PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) called second-generation wireless communication systems, W-CDMA and CDMA2000 called third-generation wireless communication systems, and home and station premises There is a wireless LAN (IEEE802.11b) provided only in a region.

  A terminal that can handle such a plurality of communication methods by itself is called a multimode wireless communication terminal (or simply a multimode terminal). In a multi-mode terminal, communication is performed using one communication method by a user's instruction or by automatically selecting one communication method from a plurality of communication methods.

  Incidentally, electronic mail is one of typical services used in portable wireless terminals. In mobile wireless terminals, e-mail was initially provided as a service that sent only text messages, but now it is possible to attach various information such as images, PIM (Personal Information Manager) information, and videos. It has become.

  The reason why such a variety of information can be transmitted is that a new communication method for realizing high-speed communication has been developed. However, the new communication method has a drawback that a generally available area (hereinafter referred to as a service area) is narrow.

Therefore, in order for the user to efficiently use various functions in the multi-mode terminal, it is necessary to select an appropriate communication method according to the information to be transmitted and the situation. As a technique for determining a communication method to be used in a multimode terminal, there is one described in Patent Document 1. This technique is considered to be an effective technique when using a voice call or Web access in the sense that an optimal communication method is currently available.
JP 2002-199451 A

  However, with the technology described in Patent Document 1, for example, when trying to transmit a large amount of information in a situation where a high-speed communication method cannot be used, it is optimal among the available communication methods. Transmission is performed by a communication method that is not suitable for transmission. At this time, the communication line may be occupied by a large amount of information. In addition, the user cannot operate the terminal for a long time, and in some cases, a high communication fee is required.

  In order to avoid such a problem, it is eventually necessary for the user to determine whether or not to use the communication method, and as a result, the convenience of the multi-mode terminal is greatly impaired.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and multi-mode communication capable of automatically performing efficient transmission of an electronic mail containing various information without the user being aware of individual communication methods. An object is to provide an apparatus and method.

  In order to solve such a problem, a multimode communication apparatus of the present invention is a multimode communication apparatus configured to perform communication by appropriately selecting a communication system from a plurality of communication systems, and transmitting data to each communication system. Multi-mode signal processing means for converting the signal into a plurality of communication methods, monitoring means for monitoring currently available communication methods among a plurality of communication methods, storage means for holding transmission data, the capacity or type of transmission data, and each communication Whether there is a communication method that is suitable for transmitting the transmission data held in the storage means among the communication methods that are currently considered to be usable by the monitoring means based on information associated with the degree of conformity with the method. A multi-mode signal processing unit when the determination unit determines that there is a currently available communication method suitable for transmitting transmission data. And by, the transmit data stored in the storage means, adopt a configuration in which a transmitting control unit to be transmitted by using the judged communication method is suitable.

  According to this configuration, the determination unit is a communication method in which the degree of conformity with the transmission data is equal to or greater than a predetermined value among communication methods currently available (that is, a communication method suitable for transmitting the transmission data). Since transmission is performed using the communication method only when it is determined that it exists, transmission of the transmission data can be waited until an available communication method suitable for transmission data actually appears. As a result, transmission data can be automatically transmitted using a more appropriate communication method as compared with a case where a communication method optimal for transmission data is simply selected from currently available communication methods. Also, the user can create information to be transmitted without having to consider which communication method is being used in the current location.

  The multimode communication apparatus according to the present invention employs a configuration in which the fitness is set based on a relationship between a capacity of the transmission data and a communication fee of each communication method or a line load of each communication method.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to avoid transmitting a large amount of transmission data with a communication method with a high communication charge or with a communication method with a low line capacity. Will be able to prevent.

  The multi-mode communication device of the present invention employs a configuration in which the fitness level can be changed by a user instruction.

  According to this configuration, the determination criterion of the communication method determined to be suitable by the determination unit can be changed according to the user's preference and circumstances.

  The multimode communication apparatus of the present invention further includes a time measuring unit that measures the time during which transmission data is held in the storage unit, and the determination unit holds the transmission data for a predetermined time or more by the time measuring unit. When a measurement result indicating that is obtained, a configuration is adopted that relaxes the determination criterion that is determined to be suitable.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to avoid that untransmitted data is not transmitted for a long time.

  The multi-mode communication apparatus of the present invention employs a configuration in which the determination unit executes the determination every time a communication method that can be currently used is newly detected by the monitoring unit.

  According to this configuration, it becomes possible to quickly find a communication method suitable for transmission of transmission data, so that the time during which transmission data is not transmitted can be shortened.

  The multi-mode communication method of the present invention can be used at present by setting information indicating the degree of conformity between transmission data and each communication method when performing communication by appropriately selecting a communication method from a plurality of communication methods. If there is a communication method that can be used at present that has a fitness value that is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the communication method that is currently available can be used. If there is no data, the data is transmitted after waiting for the transmission of the data until an available communication method having a fitness value equal to or higher than a predetermined value appears.

  According to this method, transmission is performed using a communication method that is not very suitable for transmission of the transmission data as compared with a case where a communication method optimal for transmission data is simply selected from currently available communication methods. The transmission data can be automatically transmitted using a more appropriate communication method.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a multi-mode communication apparatus that can automatically perform efficient transmission of electronic mail including various information without the user being aware of individual communication methods.

  The gist of the present invention is a multi-mode communication apparatus capable of communicating using a plurality of communication methods such as GSM method and UMTS method, W-CDMA method and PDC method, PDC method and PHS method. Instead of simply selecting the optimal communication method from the currently available communication methods and transmitting the transmission data, information indicating the degree of fitness between the transmission data and each communication method is set and used Based on the relationship between possible communication methods and the above-mentioned adaptability level, if there is a currently available communication method with a conformity level greater than or equal to a predetermined value, it is transmitted using that communication method, while currently available communication with a conformity level greater than or equal to a predetermined value. When there is no system, the data is transmitted after waiting for transmission of the data until a usable communication system having a fitness level equal to or higher than a predetermined value appears.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the multimode communication apparatus of the embodiment. Multi-mode communication apparatus 100 is provided in a wireless portable device such as a mobile phone. The multi-mode communication apparatus 100 according to this embodiment can communicate with either the GSM system or the UMTS system. The multi-mode communication apparatus 100 roughly includes antennas AN1 and AN2, a transmission processing unit 110, an application processing unit 120, and an external input / output unit 130.

  The transmission system processing unit 110 is a part that converts a radio signal of each communication method into reception data, or conversely converts transmission data into a radio signal of each communication method. The configuration of the transmission processing unit 110 will be described in detail later.

  The application processing unit 120 has a GUI (Graphical User Interface) function, an image processing function, a mail function, a voice processing function, and an OS (operating system) that controls them. The application processing unit 120 is connected to the external input / output unit 130. The external input / output unit 130 includes a display unit, input keys, a speaker, a microphone, a vibration device, and a camera. Thereby, the received image data and the received audio data processed by the application processing unit 120 are displayed on the display unit of the external input / output unit 130 or output from the speaker. Further, for example, transmission image data captured by the camera of the external input / output unit 130 and transmission text data input by a character key are converted into an e-mail data format by the mail function of the application processing unit 120 according to the operation of the input key. Is done.

  In addition to such a configuration, the multi-mode communication apparatus 100 includes a storage unit 140, and temporarily stores transmission data such as electronic mail in the storage unit 140. Furthermore, the multimode communication apparatus 100 includes a time measurement unit 150. The time measuring unit 150 measures the time that transmission data is held in the storage unit 140, and when the holding time of a certain transmission data has exceeded a predetermined time, the holding time of the transmission data has passed a predetermined time or more A progress signal D1 is output.

  Next, a detailed configuration of the transmission system processing unit 110 will be described. The transmission processing unit 110 inputs signals received by the antennas AN1 and AN2 to the control unit 160 via the radio units 111-1 and 111-2 and the measurement units 112-1 and 112-2, respectively. In addition, signals received by the antennas AN1 and AN2 are input to the multimode baseband processing unit 114 via the radio units 111-1 and 111-2 and the switch 113, respectively.

  The radio unit 111-1 corresponds to a GSM signal, and at the time of reception, a radio reception process such as a down conversion process or an analog-digital conversion process corresponding to the GSM system is performed on the signal input from the antenna AN1. The processed signal is sent to the measurement unit 112-1 and the switch 113. In addition, when the radio unit 111-1 receives a GSM baseband signal from the multimode baseband processing unit 114 via the switch 113 at the time of transmission, the radio unit 111-1 performs digital-analog conversion processing corresponding to the GMS method or uploads the signal. Radio transmission processing such as conversion is performed, and the processed signal is transmitted to the antenna AN1.

  The radio unit 111-2 corresponds to a UMTS system signal. Upon reception, the radio unit 111-2 performs a radio reception process such as a down-conversion process or an analog / digital conversion process corresponding to the UMTS system on the signal input from the antenna AN2. The processed signal is sent to the measurement unit 112-2 and the switch 113. In addition, when the radio unit 111-2 receives a UMTS baseband signal from the multi-mode baseband processing unit 114 via the switch 113 during transmission, the radio unit 111-2 performs digital analog conversion processing or upload processing corresponding to the UMTS method. Radio transmission processing such as conversion is performed, and the processed signal is transmitted to the antenna AN2.

  The multimode baseband processing unit 114 has a baseband processing function (for example, digital modulation processing function or digital demodulation processing) corresponding to each of the GSM system and the UMTS system, and a control signal from the transmission control unit 162 of the control unit 160 Baseband processing corresponding to one of the communication methods is performed according to D4. Although the control related to transmission will be mainly described here, the control unit 160 also performs control for switching the communication method at the time of reception.

  Each measuring unit 112-1, 112-2 measures the line quality of each communication method based on the signal input from the corresponding wireless unit 111-1, 111-2. For example, SIR (Signal to Interference Ratio) is measured. The channel quality information D5-1 and D5-2 of each communication method obtained by the measurement units 112-1 and 112-2 are sent to the determination unit 161 of the control unit 160.

  The control unit 160 controls the multi-mode baseband processing unit 114 and the switch 113 to set the processing mode of the multi-mode baseband processing unit 114 to either the GSM system or the UMTS system, and the radio unit 111-1 , 111-2 and the multimode baseband processing unit 114 are switched so as to correspond to the set method. In addition, the control unit 160 exchanges baseband signals to be transmitted and received between the multimode baseband processing unit 114 and the application processing unit 120.

  In practice, the control unit 160 includes a determination unit 161 and a transmission control unit 162. The determination unit 161 stores the channel quality information D5-1 and D5-2 of each communication method from the measurement units 112-1 and 112-2, the elapsed signal D1 from the time measurement unit 150, and the storage unit 140. E-mail capacity information D2 and user instruction information D3 input with the input key of the external input / output unit 130 are input. Based on these pieces of information, the determination unit 161 determines a communication method and transmission timing for transmitting the electronic data held in the storage unit 140, and sends a determination result D6 to the transmission control unit 162.

  Here, the determination unit 161 has a table in which the capacity of the e-mail and the fitness level of each communication method are associated with each other. In the case of this embodiment, the determination unit 161 has a table as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, ◯ indicates that the communication method is suitable (the degree of fitness is high). That is, FIG. 2 shows that an e-mail of less than 50 kB (kilobytes) is suitable for both the UMTS method and the GSM method. Δ indicates that transmission is possible with the communication method, but this is not desirable (medium fitness).

  That is, in this example, it indicates that an electronic mail of 50 kB or more should be transmitted by UMTS and can be transmitted by GSM, but is not desirable. The numbers in FIG. 2 indicate the priority order. That is, this example shows that UMTS should be selected from GSM in both cases of less than 50 kB and 50 kB or more.

  Such adaptability of each communication method with respect to transmission data may be set in advance based on the general performance of each communication method, or, depending on the user's preference, the user via the external input / output unit 130 The user may set the instruction information D3. In this way, the determination criterion of the communication method determined to be suitable by the determination unit 161 can be changed according to the user's preference and circumstances.

  In this case, the suitability of the transmission data and each communication method is set based on the capacity of the transmission data. However, the suitability is not limited to the case of setting according to the capacity. For example, the send data is audio data. Alternatively, the type of transmission data and the adaptability of each communication method may be set, such as whether it is character data or image data. Furthermore, the adaptability of each communication method may be set based on the importance of transmission data. For example, for highly important transmission data, the higher the reliability, the higher the degree of compatibility may be set. Furthermore, a combination of the capacity, type, and importance of transmission data and the suitability of each communication method may be used as the suitability.

  The determination unit 161 is a communication whose conformity is greater than or equal to a predetermined value with respect to transmission data held in the storage unit 140 among communication methods that are currently considered available based on the line quality information D5-1 and D5-2. It is determined whether there is a method. If it is determined that the fitness level is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, a determination result D6 indicating that is output.

  The transmission control unit 162 acquires the e-mail data held in the storage unit 140 via the application processing unit 120 at the timing indicated by the determination result D6, and sends it to the multimode baseband processing unit 114. Further, the transmission control unit 162 sends a control signal D4 to the multimode baseband processing unit 114 and the switch 113 so that an e-mail is transmitted by the communication method indicated by the determination result D6.

  The transmission control unit 162 uses the determination unit 161 to select a communication method whose degree of conformity with transmission data is a predetermined value or more among communication methods currently available (that is, a communication method suitable for transmitting the transmission data). Only when it is determined that the data exists, the transmission data is read from the storage unit 140, the transmission data is transferred to the multimode baseband processing unit 114, and the mode of the multimode baseband processing unit 114 is higher than a predetermined value. Switch to the communication method.

  As described above, in multi-mode communication apparatus 100, when transmission of the transmission data is actually waited until an available communication method suitable for the transmission data appears, an available communication method suitable for the transmission data is detected. For the first time, the transmission data is transmitted using a suitable communication method. This makes it possible to automatically transmit transmission data using a more appropriate communication method as compared with a case where a communication method optimal for transmission data is simply selected from currently available communication methods.

  For example, if the suitability of transmission data and each communication method is set based on the relationship between the capacity of the transmission data and the communication fee of each communication method or the line load of each communication method, a large amount of transmission data can be Since it is possible to avoid transmission using a communication method with a high charge or transmission using a communication method with a low line capacity, it is possible to keep the communication charge low and prevent the communication line from being occupied.

  Next, the mail transmission operation of the multimode communication apparatus 100 will be described. First, the overall state transition of the multimode communication apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG. When the power is turned on in the state S0, the multimode communication apparatus 100 determines whether there is an unsent mail in the storage unit 140. If there is no unsent mail, the multi-mode communication apparatus 100 proceeds to the state S1. Move on to S2. In state S1, the creation of a new e-mail is monitored. When an e-mail is created, the process moves to state S3 and the mail creation process shown in FIG. 4 is performed.

  The multi-mode communication apparatus 100 returns to the state S1 because there is no unsent mail when the created electronic mail is transmitted or the transmission of the electronic mail is stopped in the state S3. On the other hand, when the created e-mail is stored in the storage unit 140 in the state S3, since there is an unsent mail, the process proceeds to the state S2.

  The multi-mode communication apparatus 100 monitors whether or not one of the communication methods is newly available in the state S2, and after the e-mail is created (that is, after holding the e-mail in the storage unit 140) ) Monitor whether a certain time has passed. Then, when one of the communication methods becomes newly available, the process proceeds to the state S4, and processing for adding an available communication method shown in FIG. 5 is performed. On the other hand, if a certain time has elapsed since the e-mail was created, the process moves to a state S5, and processing at the time when the certain time has elapsed as shown in FIG.

  The multi-mode communication apparatus 100 proceeds to the state S1 when there is no unsent mail as a result of performing the process at the time of adding the available communication method in the state S4, and moves to the state S2 when there is an unsent mail. As a result of the processing at the elapse of a certain time in the state S5, when there is no unsent mail, the process proceeds to the state S1, and when there is unsent mail, the process proceeds to the state S2.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 7, the specific operation of the multimode communication apparatus 100 will be described by taking as an example a case where the user sequentially moves from the point P1 to the points P2 and P3 with the multimode communication apparatus 100. .

  First, it is assumed that the user has created four e-mails shown in FIG. 8 at the point P1. Here, since the point P1 is outside the service area for both the GSM system and the UMTS system, no e-mail can be transmitted immediately.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 8, in this example, since the electronic mail B and the electronic mail C are permitted to be automatically transmitted by the user, these electronic mails are stored in the storage unit 140 as unsent mails and automatically Candidate for transmission. On the other hand, the user determines whether the electronic mail A and the electronic mail D for which automatic transmission is not permitted are discarded or stored as a draft.

  Subsequently, it is assumed that the user having the multimode communication apparatus 100 moves to the point P2. At this time, the determination unit 161 recognizes that the GSM method is available based on the line quality information D5-1 obtained by the measurement unit 112-1. At this time, the determination unit 161 determines that the GSM method is suitable for transmission of the electronic mail B because the electronic mail B held in the storage unit 140 is less than 50 kB. This is notified to the transmission control unit 162 by the determination result D6, and the electronic mail B is automatically transmitted by the GSM method.

  On the other hand, the determination unit 161 determines that the currently available GSM method is not suitable for transmission because the electronic mail C is 50 kB or more. Therefore, the electronic mail C is not automatically transmitted. This process is automatically performed without any user operation. However, for convenience, the user may be notified of the completion of transmission using the display unit of the external input / output unit 130 or the vibration device.

  Subsequently, it is assumed that the user having the multimode communication apparatus 100 moves to the point P3. At this time, the determination unit 161 recognizes that both the GSM method and the UMTS method are available based on the line quality information D5-1 and D5-2. At this time, the determination unit 161 determines that the UMTS method is suitable for transmitting an e-mail C having a capacity of 50 kB or more among the currently available GSM method and UMTS method. This is notified to the transmission control unit 162 by the determination result D6, and the e-mail C is automatically transmitted by the UMTS method. This processing is also performed automatically without requiring any user operation.

  Next, details of the mail creation process in the state S3, the available communication method addition process in the state S4, and the process when a certain period of time has elapsed in the state S5 will be described with reference to FIGS. .

  FIG. 4 shows a mail creation processing sequence performed in the state S3. When the user creates the four e-mails shown in FIG. 8 at the point P1 in FIG. 7, the multi-mode communication apparatus 100 performs the mail creation process according to the following sequence. This sequence is activated for each created e-mail.

(Email A)
When the user creates the electronic mail A, the sequence ST0 in FIG. 4 is activated. Since the email A is less than 50 kB, the determination unit 161 lists the UMTS method and the GSM method in step ST1. In the next step ST2, the measurement states 112-1 and 112-2 measure the line states of both the UMTS system and the GSM system. In subsequent step ST3, since neither method is out of the service area, the determination unit 161 determines that there is no usable method, and the process proceeds to step ST6.

  In step ST6, since the electronic mail A is not permitted to be automatically transmitted, a negative result is obtained, and the process proceeds to step ST7. In step ST7, the line state is measured if a communication method corresponding to the Δ mark in FIG. 2 exists. However, since there is no communication method in this example, no processing is performed. Therefore, it is determined that there is no usable method in step ST8, the transmission stop process is performed in step ST9, and the mail creation processing sequence for the electronic mail A is terminated in the subsequent step ST11.

(Email B)
Next, when the user creates the electronic mail B, the sequence ST0 of FIG. 4 is activated again. Since electronic mail B is less than 50 kB, steps ST0-ST1-ST2-ST3-ST6 are executed in the same manner as in the case of electronic mail A. Since automatic transmission of the electronic mail B is permitted, the process proceeds from step ST6 to step ST10, where the electronic mail B is held in the storage unit 140 as an unsent mail, and in the subsequent step ST11, a mail creation time processing sequence for the electronic mail B Exit.

(Email C)
Next, when the user creates the electronic mail C, the sequence of FIG. 4 is started again. Since the e-mail C is 50 kB or more, the determination unit 161 lists only the UMTS system in step ST1, and measures the line state of only the UMTS system in step ST2. In subsequent step ST3, since it is outside the service area of the UMTS system, the determination unit 161 determines that there is no usable system, and the process proceeds to step ST6. Since the automatic transmission of the electronic mail C is permitted, the process proceeds from step ST6 to step ST10 and is stored in the storage unit 140 as an unsent mail, and the mail creation processing sequence for the electronic mail C is terminated in the subsequent step ST11.

(Email D)
Next, when the user creates the electronic mail D, the sequence of FIG. 4 is activated again. Since the e-mail D is 50 kB or more, the determination unit 161 lists only the UMTS system in step ST1, and the line state is measured only in the UMTS system in the subsequent step ST2. In subsequent step ST3, since it is outside the service area of the UMTS system, the determination unit 161 determines that there is no usable system, and the process proceeds to step ST6. In step ST6, the electronic mail D is not permitted to be automatically transmitted, so a negative result is obtained, and the process proceeds to step ST7. In step ST7, the line quality of the GMS system that can transmit the e-mail D (see FIG. 2) is measured as the remaining applicable communication system, which is less compatible than the UMTS system. However, as a result of the measurement, since the GSM system is also outside the service area, the determination unit 161 determines in step ST8 that the GMS system is not currently available. End the mail creation process sequence for.

  As a result, the electronic mail B and the electronic mail C are held in the storage unit 140.

  FIG. 5 shows a control sequence performed when a certain communication method becomes available (that is, state S4 in FIG. 3). Here, as shown in FIG. 7, when the user of the multimode communication device 100 who created the e-mail at the point P1 moves from the point P1 to the point P2 and the point P3 with the multimode communication device 100 Will be described as an example.

  At the point P2 and the point P3 in FIG. 7, the processing sequence at the time of adding an available communication method in FIG. 5 is started once as follows.

(Point P2)
At point P2, the determination unit 161 of the control unit 160 recognizes that the GSM method is available, and activates the sequence ST20 in FIG. In step ST21, it is determined whether there is an unprocessed unsent mail. In this embodiment, e-mail B and e-mail C have not been transmitted. In step ST22, one unsent mail is selected. In this example, e-mail B is selected. In step ST23, the determination unit 160 determines whether the newly available communication method is a communication method suitable for the e-mail selected in step ST22.

  In this example, it can be seen from FIG. 2 that the newly available GSM method is suitable for transmission of electronic mail B. Accordingly, the process proceeds to step ST24. In step ST24, the electronic mail B is input to the transmission queue, and then the process returns to step ST21.

  Since the e-mail C is not yet processed, the process proceeds to step ST22. In step ST22, an unprocessed e-mail C is selected. However, since the GSM method is not suitable for transmitting the e-mail C, the e-mail C is not input to the transmission queue and the process returns to step ST21.

  At this point, all unsent mail is processed and there is no unprocessed unsent mail, so the process moves from step ST21 to step ST25. In step ST25, it is determined whether there is an e-mail in the transmission queue. In the case of this example, since only the electronic mail B is input to the transmission queue, the process proceeds to step ST26. In step ST26, the transmission control unit 162 sets the multi-mode baseband processing unit 114 to a GSM system suitable for transmission of the electronic mail B, and executes transmission of the electronic mail B in the subsequent step ST27. If a negative result is obtained in step ST25, or after step ST27 is completed, the processing sequence for adding an available communication method is ended in step ST28.

  Briefly, in steps ST21 to ST24, all e-mails that are appropriate to be transmitted using the GSM method are placed in a transmission queue, and are transmitted in steps ST25 to ST27.

(Point P3)
When moving to the point P3, the determination unit 161 of the control unit 160 recognizes that the UMTS method is available, and activates the sequence ST20 in FIG. In step ST21, since the e-mail C has not been transmitted, the process proceeds to step ST22, where the e-mail C is selected. In step ST23, it is determined whether or not the newly usable UMTS method is a communication method suitable for the e-mail C.

  In this example, it can be seen from FIG. 2 that the newly available UMTS method is suitable for transmission of e-mail C. Accordingly, the process proceeds to step ST24. In step ST24, the electronic mail C is input to the transmission queue. Next, the process proceeds to step ST26 via steps ST21 to ST25. In step ST26, the transmission control unit 162 sets the multimode baseband processing unit to UMTS suitable for transmission of the email C, and executes transmission of the email C in the subsequent step ST27.

  Thus, in multi-mode communication apparatus 100, each time a currently available communication method is newly detected, it is determined whether or not there is a communication method suitable for sending an e-mail held by determination unit 161. By doing so, a communication method suitable for transmission of transmission data can be quickly found. As a result, it is possible to reduce the time that transmission data is held in an untransmitted state.

  FIG. 6 shows a processing sequence at the elapse of a fixed time performed in the state S5. Here, a case where the user creates the e-mail in FIG. 8 at the point P4 in FIG. 9 will be described as an example. In FIG. 6, the same reference numerals are given to the corresponding parts to FIG. 5. The difference between the sequence in FIG. 6 and the sequence in FIG. 5 is that the sequence in FIG. 6 includes step ST31 for relaxing the application condition and the application condition relaxed in step ST32 for determining whether or not the communication method is suitable. It is a point to make a judgment.

  As described above, the multi-mode communication device 100 relaxes the application condition of the communication method when the unsent mail is held for a certain period of time, that is, the communication that is not permitted because the fitness is low until the certain period of time elapses. Even in the case of a system, when a certain time elapses, even a communication system with a low degree of conformity is compromised to allow transmission using this communication system. Thereby, it is possible to avoid that unsent mail is not transmitted for a long time.

  This will be specifically described. It is assumed that the user has created the electronic mail in FIG. 8 at the point P4. The sequence of FIG. 4 described above is activated every time each e-mail is created. However, since the point P4 where the e-mail was created is within the GSM service area (area where the GSM system can be used), the e-mail A And E-mail B are transmitted on the spot (steps ST1-ST2-ST3-ST4-ST5 in FIG. 4). As for the e-mail D, the UMTS system is outside the service area, but automatic transmission is not permitted, so the GSM system is used for transmission (steps ST1-ST2-ST3-ST6-ST7-ST8-ST4 in FIG. 4). -ST5).

  As a result, the electronic mail C is stored in the storage unit 140 as an unsent mail.

  Next, assume that the user moves in the direction of the arrow. Here, when a predetermined time has elapsed since the e-mail was created at the point P5, a time signal D1 indicating this is output from the time measuring unit 150. Then, the multimode communication apparatus 100 starts the sequence of FIG. 6, and relaxes the determination conditions of the determination unit 160 in step ST31. Then, since an affirmative result can be easily obtained in step ST32, application of the GSM method, which has not been permitted because application to the email C is low, is permitted, and the email C is transmitted by the GSM method. Will come to be.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, when communication is performed by appropriately selecting a communication method from a plurality of communication methods, information indicating the conformity between transmission data and each communication method is set and can be used at present. If there is a communication method that can be used at present that has a fitness value that is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the communication method that is currently available can be used. If there is no data, the data is sent after waiting for the transmission of the data until a usable communication method with a conformity of a predetermined value or more appears, so that the user can use various communication methods without being aware of each communication method. It is possible to realize the multi-mode communication apparatus 100 that can automatically perform efficient transmission of an electronic mail including such information.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the table as shown in FIG. 2 is used as the information in which the capacity or type of transmission data is associated with the fitness level of each communication method has been described. It is not restricted to what is shown in FIG. For example, in the table of FIG. 2, information indicating the type of transmission data is not used, but the type of transmission data (e-mail) (“content” in the figure) may be associated with the fitness as shown in FIG. .

  In the above-described embodiment, the multi-mode communication apparatus 100 that can select either the GSM method or the UMTS method as the communication method has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the W-CDMA method and the PDC method can be selected. The present invention can be similarly applied to a device, a device capable of selecting the PDC method and the PHS method, or a device capable of selecting any one of these communication methods including a wireless LAN. That is, the present invention is not limited to the type and number of communication schemes, and can be widely applied to multi-mode communication apparatuses configured to perform communication by appropriately selecting a communication scheme from a plurality of communication schemes.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the capacity or type of transmission data is used as an index of the conformity between transmission data and each communication method has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the transmission data and each communication method are used. It is also effective to set the degree of conformance in accordance with the relationship between the transmission data capacity and the communication charge of each communication method or the line load of each communication method. In this way, it is possible to avoid transmitting large amounts of transmission data using a communication method with a high communication charge or using a communication method with a high line load. It becomes possible to prevent congestion.

  In the above-described embodiment, the measurement units 112-1 and 112-2 are provided as monitoring means for monitoring a currently available communication method among a plurality of communication methods, and measurement is performed by the measurement units 112-1 and 112-2. Although the case where the currently available communication method is detected based on the SIR of each communication method has been described, the monitoring means is not limited to this. For example, a wireless base station embeds information indicating a currently available communication method in a signal addressed to each multi-mode communication device (communication terminal), and the multi-mode communication device monitors this information so that the currently available communication method can be used. May be detected.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where an e-mail is mainly transmitted as transmission data has been described. However, the transmission data is not limited to an e-mail.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the multimode communication apparatus 100 in which the transmission system processing unit 110 is mainly configured by hardware has been described. However, as illustrated in FIG. It can be similarly applied to the multimode communication apparatus 200 configured mainly by software.

  In FIG. 10, in which the same reference numerals are assigned to the parts corresponding to those in FIG. 1, the multimode communication apparatus 200 has a wireless communication function by the shared antenna, the analog front end 211, and the digital signal processing unit 212. The analog front end 211 includes an amplifier, a wideband analog-digital converter, and a wideband digital-analog converter, and performs conversion between a radio frequency band signal and a digital signal. The digital signal processing unit 212 is configured by a DSP or a reconfigurable logic, and implements wireless communication processing including quality measurement processing, modulation / demodulation, and error correction processing for each communication method.

  The analog front end 211 and the digital signal processing unit 212 are controlled by the control unit 160 via a control line (not shown). Similar to the control unit 160 in FIG. 1, the control unit 160 detects a currently available communication method based on the measurement value, and performs communication with a matching degree greater than or equal to a predetermined value with respect to transmission data held in the storage unit 140. It is determined whether or not there is a method, and the transmission data stored using the communication method is automatically transmitted only when there is a currently available communication method having a matching degree equal to or higher than a predetermined value.

  When the multimode communication apparatus 200 is used, a large number of communication systems can be realized by one digital signal processing unit 212, so that the number of selectable communication systems can be increased as compared with the multimode communication apparatus 100. Become. As a result, a communication method suitable for each transmission data can be selected from a large number of communication methods, so that the use efficiency of the frequency is further improved and the standby time is further shortened with a lower communication fee. Will be able to.

  The present invention relates to a mobile phone and portable information that can communicate using a plurality of communication methods such as GSM method and UMTS method, W-CDMA method and PDC method, PDC method and PHS method, etc. It can be applied to equipment.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the multi-mode communication apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the example of the table which shows the adaptability with each communication system and data capacity used for determination of a communication system State transition diagram of multi-mode communication device of embodiment Flow chart showing processing procedure when creating mail Flow chart showing the processing procedure when an available communication method is added Flow chart showing processing procedure when certain time has passed The figure which shows an example of a user's movement state Figure showing an example of e-mail contents The figure which shows an example of the movement state of a user The block diagram which shows the structural example of the multi-mode communication apparatus which has a software radio | wireless part by other embodiment

Explanation of symbols

100, 200 Multi-mode communication device 110, 210 Transmission processing unit 112-1, 112-2 Measuring unit 113 Switch 114 Multi-mode baseband processing unit 120 Application processing unit 130 External input / output unit 140 Storage unit 150 Time measuring unit 160 Control Unit 161 determination unit 162 transmission control unit 212 digital signal processing unit D1 elapsed signal D2 capacity information D3 user instruction information D4 control signal D5-1, D5-2 channel quality information

Claims (7)

A multi-mode communication device configured to perform communication by appropriately selecting a communication method from a plurality of communication methods,
Multimode signal processing means for converting transmission data into signals for each communication method;
Monitoring means for monitoring currently available communication methods among the plurality of communication methods;
Storage means for holding transmission data;
Based on information in which the capacity or type of transmission data is associated with the fitness level of each communication method, the transmission data held in the storage unit is transmitted among the communication methods currently considered to be usable by the monitoring unit. Determining means for determining whether there is a communication method suitable for performing;
The transmission data held in the storage means by controlling the multimode signal processing means when the determination means determines that there is a currently available communication method suitable for transmitting the transmission data. A multi-mode communication apparatus comprising: a transmission control unit that transmits the communication using the communication method determined to be suitable.   The multi-mode communication according to claim 1, wherein the fitness is set based on a relationship between a capacity of the transmission data and a communication fee of each communication method or a line load of each communication method. apparatus.   The multi-mode communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fitness is changeable according to a user instruction. Furthermore, it comprises time measuring means for measuring the time that the transmission data is held in the storage means,
The determination unit relaxes a determination criterion that determines that the transmission data is suitable when a measurement result indicating that the transmission data is retained for a predetermined time or more is obtained by the time measurement unit. Item 4. The multimode communication apparatus according to Item 1.   The multimode communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit performs the determination every time a communication method that is currently available is newly detected by the monitoring unit. In performing communication by selecting an appropriate communication method from among multiple communication methods,
When the information indicating the adaptability between the transmission data and each communication method is set, and there is a currently available communication method with a conformity greater than or equal to a predetermined value from the relationship between the currently available communication method and the above adaptability Is sent using that communication method, but if there is no currently available communication method with a fitness value greater than or equal to a predetermined value, it waits for transmission of the data until an available communication method with a fitness value greater than or equal to a predetermined value appears. Send multi-mode communication method. The multimode communication method according to claim 6, wherein the fitness is determined based on a relationship between a capacity of the transmission data and a communication fee of each communication method or a line load of each communication method. .

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