JP4515198B2 - Mobile communication device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile communication apparatus represented by a mobile phone, for example.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, techniques for providing a user with a comfortable data communication environment with a network have been developed in mobile communication devices represented by mobile phones and PDAs.
For example, in the following Patent Document 1, as a mobile communication device that allows a user to perform data communication in a good reception state by notifying a user of a reception state that changes significantly depending on a location immediately and accurately. A technique related to a mobile communication terminal is disclosed.

JP 2002-300634 A

  By the way, in the conventional mobile communication device, there is a problem that the user cannot predict the time required for taking all the data to be downloaded into the mobile communication device before instructing data download from the network. Therefore, even if it takes a long time to actually download data depending on the communication performance of the mobile communication device and the communication environment in the area where the mobile communication device exists, the user does not recognize that fact. Had been instructed to download.

In addition, while data is being downloaded, the current progress status by a so-called progress bar or the like is generally displayed on the display screen by animation at a rate of 100 minutes, for example. I couldn't predict how long it would take to get the data.
Therefore, when the user recognizes that the time required for data acquisition is longer than the user's expected value, the user cannot determine whether to give up data acquisition according to the remaining time.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a mobile communication device capable of appropriately notifying a user of the time required for data acquisition when acquiring data from a network. There is to do.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a mobile communication device capable of switching to another communication method having different communication speeds while maintaining a data link established by one communication method, and displaying means A communication unit that can connect to a network according to any of a plurality of communication methods and acquire data; a storage unit that stores a maximum value and a minimum value of a communication speed for each of the plurality of communication methods; and When an instruction to acquire data is given, the longest time and the shortest time among the time required to acquire the data based on the data amount of the data and the maximum and minimum values of the communication speed of the communication method to be used. calculating the time, the calculated the maximum time and the minimum time and a control means for displaying on said display means, said control means obtains the data is started After that, the current communication speed is calculated from the data amount acquired within a predetermined time, and the acquisition of the data is required based on the difference between the data amount of the data and the acquired data amount and the current communication speed. After calculating the remaining time, displaying the remaining time required to complete the acquisition of the data on the display means, and when the communication method is switched while the data link is maintained during the data acquisition, Based on the communication method, the remaining time is recalculated and displayed .

Preferably, after the acquisition of the data is started , the control means calculates the current communication speed at every predetermined timing during data acquisition, and an average of the calculated plurality of current communication speeds is used as an average communication speed. Calculate the remaining time required to complete the data acquisition based on the difference between the data amount of the data and the acquired data amount, and the calculated average communication speed, and complete the acquisition of the data. The remaining time required is displayed on the display means.

  Preferably, there is provided selection means for determining whether or not to start acquiring the data when displaying the time required for acquiring the data.

  Preferably, the communication unit obtains the data from a common server device on the network.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when acquiring data from a network, the time which data acquisition requires can be alert | reported appropriately with respect to a user. Therefore, the user can appropriately determine whether to acquire data or whether to continue acquiring data.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of a mobile communication apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of a mobile phone 1 as a mobile communication device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the appearance of the mobile phone 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone 1 includes a communication processing unit 11 including a transmission / reception antenna 111, a memory 12, an audio processing unit 13 including a speaker 131 and a microphone 132, a display unit 14, and a key input unit 15. And a control unit 20.
The communication processing unit 11 is an embodiment of the communication means of the present invention.
The control unit 20 is an embodiment of the control means of the present invention.
The memory 12 is an embodiment of the storage means of the present invention.
The display unit 14 is an embodiment of the display means of the present invention.

The communication processing unit 11 performs a wireless communication operation via the base station, for example, a telephone number calling operation or an e-mail transmission / reception operation.
The communication processing unit 11 is configured to include a transmission / reception antenna 111. In order to perform wireless communication using radio waves, the communication processing unit 11 modulates voice information, e-mail, and the like processed by the control unit 20, and a base (not shown) by the transmission / reception antenna 111. Send to the station.
Further, the communication processing unit 11 demodulates various information such as e-mail and voice information transmitted from the base station by radio and received by the transmission / reception antenna 111 and outputs the demodulated information to the control unit 20.

The communication processing unit 11 can access and download data stored in a server device (not shown) on the network by performing communication suitable for a plurality of communication methods.
Note that user acquisition target data (data to be downloaded) may be stored in a common server device for communication by a plurality of communication methods, or may be stored in a different server device for each communication method. Also good.

Specifically, the communication processing unit 11 performs communication using three communication methods (1) to (3) described below.
(1) IS95B
This is a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) communication system (cdmaOne) developed by Qualcomm. As the bandwidth of the carrier (carrier wave), 1.25 MHz is used.
Note that the communication speed of IS95B is 9.6 kbps to 57.6 kbps.
(2) CDMA2000 1X
CDMA2000 1X is a standard in which communication speed is increased with respect to cdmaOne. Basically, CDMA2000 performs multi-carrier mode (bandwidth: 1.25 MHz) for downstream communication (base station to mobile phone), but CDMA2000 1X uses a single carrier (1.25 MHz). To do.
Note that the communication speed of CDMA2000 1X is 9.6 kbps to 153.6 kbps.
(3) CDMA2000 1X EVDO
CDMA2000 1X EVDO (Evolution-Data Only / Optimized) is a standard in which the HDR (High Data Rate) standard for accelerating cdmaOne is applied to CDMA2000. By separating the data communication and voice communication bands, high-speed packet data transmission is possible.
Note that the communication speed of CDMA2000 1X EVDO is 9.6 kbps to 2457.6 kbps.

The communication processing unit 11 performs a calling process described below to establish a data link (data call) with a base station (not shown).
That is, upon receiving a call processing request from the communication processing unit 11, the base station determines the traffic status and communicates the channel from the base station to the mobile phone 1 (that is, any of the above communication methods). Channel). Thereby, a data link is established.
Once the data link is established, the cellular phone 1 can perform data communication using the assigned communication method.
In addition, when the base station is switched due to movement of the mobile phone 1 while the communication processing unit 11 is already communicating, channel assignment to other base stations is performed by the base station.

In the process of establishing a data link , the communication processing unit 11 receives a message specific to each communication method. As a result, the mobile phone 1 can recognize which channel has established the data link .
For example, the communication processing unit 11 uses CAM (Channel Assignment Message) in the case of IS95B, ECAM (Extended Channel Assignment Message) in the case of CDMA2000 1X, and TCAM (Traffic Channel in the case of CDMA2000 1X EVDO as messages. Assignment Message) is received.

The memory 12 includes a non-volatile memory such as an EEPROM, and stores a control program for transmitting and receiving calls and mails, an Internet browser, message data, an address book in which names and telephone numbers are registered.
The memory 12 stores the maximum value and the minimum value of the communication speed for each of the plurality of communication methods described above. That is, in the case of IS95B, 57.6 [kbps] is stored as the maximum value of the communication speed, and 9.6 [kbps] is stored as the minimum value. In the case of CDMA2000 1X, 153.6 [kbps] is stored as the maximum value of the communication speed, and 9.6 [kbps] is stored as the minimum value. In the case of CDMA2000 1X EVDO, 2457.6 [kbps] is stored as the maximum value of the communication speed, and 9.6 [kbps] is stored as the minimum value.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the display unit 14 has a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) disposed on the top of the casing of the mobile phone 1, and text data or An image or the like is displayed on a display device.

  The key input unit 15 includes a plurality of input keys (hereinafter simply referred to as keys). As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of keys include a web key 15a for connecting to the Internet, a mail key 15b for performing an e-mail function, a soft 1 key 15c and a soft 2 key 15f, up / down / left / right keys 15d, and processing. Enter key 15e for confirming, off-hook key 15g for speaking, clear key 15h, on-hook key 15i for ending, numeric keys "0" to "9", numeric keys corresponding to "*" and "#" 15j.

The enter key 15e, the software 1 key 15c, and the software 2 key 15f are keys that have different operations in response to the display state of the display unit 14. The operation content for the operation is displayed at the bottom of the screen of the display unit 14.
The up / down / left / right key 15d is a key that can be operated in four directions of up / down / left / right. For example, when the display unit 14 displays a plurality of selection items as a list, the user can designate one selection item from among the plurality of selection items by operating the up / down / left / right key 15d.

  The key input unit 15 has an input circuit, and when a user operation (pressing down) is performed on these keys, an electric signal is transmitted to the control unit 20 through the input circuit. Therefore, the control unit 20 can determine which key has been operated.

The audio processing unit 13 includes an audio processing circuit, and is connected to a speaker 131 that outputs audio for a call function and a microphone 132 that inputs audio.
The sound processing unit 13 performs predetermined processing such as encoding on the sound collected by the microphone 132 and supplies the processed sound to the control unit 20.
The audio processing unit 13 performs predetermined processing such as decoding on the audio information supplied from the control unit 20 and outputs the audio information from the speaker 131.

  The control unit 20 is composed mainly of a microcomputer and controls the entire mobile phone 1. For example, the control unit 20 responds to control of wireless transmission / reception of various information in the communication processing unit 11, processing of voice information to the voice processing unit 13, display control of information on the display unit 14, and input information of the key input unit 15. Processing, access control to the memory 12, and the like.

The control unit 20 displays a home page on the web and executes a browser task for acquiring data from the home page.
That is, the control unit 20 has a reception buffer, accesses an arbitrary URL on the web, receives data for one page of a web page described in a markup language, and stores the data in the reception buffer. Further, the control unit 20 converts the data stored in the reception buffer into display data and displays it on the display unit 14. Thereby, the user can browse the homepage of the URL.
Also, the user can designate and download specific data on the home page. At this time, it is possible to acquire information related to the size of the target data in advance before instructing to download the target data by the browser task.

When instructed to download data from a server device on the network, the control unit 20 calculates the time required to download the data and displays it on the screen of the display unit 14. Furthermore, while downloading data from a server device on the network, the control unit 20 calculates the remaining time for downloading all of the data and displays it on the screen of the display unit 14.
These processes will be described in detail later.

Heretofore, each component of the mobile phone 1 has been described.
Next, processing when the mobile phone 1 acquires data from a server device on the network will be described with reference to FIGS.

Processing Before Instructing Download from the Web In FIG. 3, first, the user presses the web key 15a in order to browse a desired homepage, and a calling process is started (step ST10).
That is, the communication processing unit 11 performs the communication process described above to establish a data link with the base station. In this communication processing process, the base station side determines the traffic situation and assigns a channel for communication from the base station to the mobile phone 1. As a result, communication using any one of (1) IS95B, (2) CDMA2000 1X, and (3) CDMA2000 1X EVDO is established.

If the data link is established (step ST11), the received message is checked (step ST12). Since the communication processing unit 11 receives a message specific to each communication method in the process of establishing a data link , it confirms this.
Specifically, the communication processing unit 11 receives, as messages, CAM in the case of IS95B, ECAM in the case of CDMA2000 1X, and TCAM in the case of CDMA2000 1X EVDO. Therefore, by confirming the message, the mobile phone 1 can recognize which communication system is currently established with the data link .

After the data link is established, the control unit 20 performs control so as to access a home page having a URL that is set in advance. That is, by executing the browser task, the control unit 20 receives data for one page of the web page described in the markup language, converts it into display data, and displays it on the display unit 14. Thereby, the user can browse the homepage of the URL (step ST13).
At this point, it goes without saying that the user can browse any homepage by specifying the URL.

On the home page, the user can make a download request for the data to be downloaded by designating the data with the decision key 15e.
For example, specific data can be designated and downloaded from the download site shown on the screen SC1 in FIG. Such downloadable data is stored in a server connected to the network.

If a download request is made (step ST14), the control unit 20 confirms the download target data with the user as illustrated in the screen SC2 of FIG. 4, and uses the browser task function to download the target data. The information regarding the size of is acquired from the network (step ST15).
For example, when downloading is instructed by designating the hyperlinked text tag of the download site information of the incoming melody “folk song: Momotaro” with the up / down / left / right key 15d and pressing the enter key 15e on the screen SC2. Download the file that contains specification information such as the size of the download data linked to the text tag of “Moryo: Momotaro” on the web page or the size of the download data such as the header of the download data. By acquiring, the control unit 20 acquires the data size of the download data.

Next, the time required to download the target data is calculated according to the following procedure (step ST16).
That is, in step ST12, the control unit 20 recognizes in which communication method the data link is established, and therefore reads the maximum value and the minimum value of the communication speed corresponding to the communication method from the memory 12. In step ST15, the size of the download target data is acquired.
When the maximum value of the communication speed is max_R, the minimum value of the communication speed is min_R, and the data amount of the download target data is DS, the control unit 20 sets the longest time LP and the shortest time SP required for downloading the target data. These are calculated according to the following equations (1) and (2), respectively.
Maximum time LP = DS / min_R (1)
Shortest time SP = DS / max_R (2)

The longest time LP and the shortest time SP calculated as described above are displayed in the format illustrated on the screen SC3 in FIG. 4 (step ST17). At that time, the control unit 20 displays whether or not to perform the download so as to be selectable to the user (screen SC3). The display for allowing the user to select whether or not to download is an embodiment of the selection means of the present invention.
When the user designates “Yes” and presses the enter key 15e on the screen SC3, the download is started.

Processing after Instructing Download from Web The processing after data download from the web is started will be described with reference to FIG.
When the download is started, it is possible to obtain an accurate communication speed (current communication speed) using the channel of the communication method assigned by the base station. That is, the current communication speed AR, which is the actual communication speed, can be calculated from the amount of data acquired during the predetermined time.
Furthermore, it is possible to calculate the time (remaining time RP) required to acquire all the target data and complete the download. That is, the remaining time RP is calculated according to the following equation (3), with the already acquired data amount as AS.

Remaining time RP = (DS−AS) / AR (3)

Further, a data acquisition rate ART (%) indicating how much the data acquisition has progressed is calculated according to the following equation (4).

Acquisition rate ART = (AS / DS) × 100 (4)

The control unit 20 displays the calculated remaining time RP and the acquisition rate ART as exemplified in the screen SC4 of FIG.
In the display example shown on the screen SC4 in FIG. 4, the screen is configured to display the acquisition rate ART after “downloading” and the remaining time RP after “remaining”. The acquisition rate ART is displayed by a progress bar so that the user can easily recognize it.

Here, if the remaining time RP calculated by the equation (3) is sequentially calculated and displayed in real time, the displayed remaining time RP varies greatly, which may be complicated for the user.
For example, when establishing a data link , in the communication method (channel) designated by the base station, the current communication speed AR varies depending on the air condition in the area where data communication is performed. In addition, when moving to an area where the communication method (channel) specified when the data link is first established during data communication moves to an area where there is no other communication method that can maintain data communication in that area, the base station In this case, the current communication speed AR varies.
Therefore, in such a case, the displayed remaining time RP greatly fluctuates.

Therefore, after the download is started, every time the communication speed changes, the remaining time RP is not displayed as it is, but the current communication speed AR is obtained a predetermined number of times, and the average communication speed ave_AR is calculated.
For example, assuming that the predetermined number of times is 3 and the n-th current communication speed is AR (n), the average communication speed ave_AR is calculated according to the following equation (5) when the third current communication speed is obtained. To do.

Average communication speed ave_AR = (AR (1) + AR (2) + AR (3)) / 3 (5)

Further, when the current communication speed for the fourth time is obtained, the average communication speed ave_AR is calculated according to the following equation (6).

Average communication speed ave_AR = (AR (2) + AR (3) + AR (4)) / 3 (6)

  Thereafter, similarly, the average communication speed ave_AR is calculated by moving average. Note that the predetermined number of times described above is three, and an optimum value can be set as appropriate in consideration of the fluctuation range of the actual communication speed.

Further, the current communication speed AR that is a base for calculating the average communication speed ave_AR may be updated and calculated at an appropriate timing.
For example, when the communication method is switched, such as when moving to an area where the communication method (channel) specified when the data link is first established during data communication, the channel switching message is sent from the base station. Receive. Therefore, since the communication speed after receiving this channel switching message is highly likely to fluctuate, the current communication speed AR for a predetermined number of times is again obtained after this timing, and the average communication speed ave_AR is calculated. Is desirable.

  When the download is completed, the screens SC5 and SC6 shown in FIG. 4 are displayed as illustrated, and the user is made aware that the download is complete.

  As described above, according to the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment, when data communication by a plurality of communication methods is possible, downloading is performed based on the maximum value and the minimum value of the communication speed for each communication method. Before starting, the standard time required for data acquisition (range of time required for data acquisition) is displayed, so the user must determine whether to actually download based on the displayed standard time Can do. Therefore, if the user determines that the time required for the download is actually longer than the expected data acquisition time, the user does not need to perform the download, and the time that is wasted for the user can be reduced. .

  Further, according to the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment, after the download is started, the remaining time required for completing the download is sequentially updated and displayed, so that the user can display the remaining time displayed. In response to this, it can be determined whether or not to continue the download. If the remaining time is not displayed during the download, the user may cancel the download even if the download is completed after waiting for a short time. If displayed, such a situation is solved, and an opportunity to acquire desired information is not missed.

  Further, according to the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment, after the download is started, the remaining time required for completion of the download is not displayed as it is, but based on the average communication speed of the communication speeds calculated a plurality of times. Since the remaining time is displayed, stable and reliable remaining time is displayed even when the communication speed fluctuates due to air environment, movement between areas, or the like. Therefore, the user can more appropriately determine whether or not to continue the download according to the remaining time displayed.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration of a mobile phone according to an embodiment. 1 is an external view of a mobile phone according to an embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the mobile telephone which concerns on embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the display screen of the mobile telephone which concerns on embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Mobile telephone 11 ... Communication processing part 111 ... Transmission / reception antenna 12 ... Memory 13 ... Audio | voice processing part 131 ... Speaker 132 ... Microphone 14 ... Display part 15 ... Key input part 20 ... Control part

Claims (4)

A mobile communication device capable of switching to another communication method with different communication speeds while maintaining a data link established by one communication method,
Display means;
A communication means for connecting to a network and acquiring data according to one of a plurality of communication methods;
Storage means for storing a maximum value and a minimum value of a communication speed for each of the plurality of communication methods;
When instructed to acquire data from the network, the longest time required to acquire the data based on the data amount of the data and the maximum and minimum values for the communication speed of the communication method to be used Control means for calculating the time and the shortest time, and displaying the calculated longest time and the shortest time on the display means;
Have
The control means includes
After the acquisition of the data is started, the current communication speed is calculated from the data amount acquired within a predetermined time, and based on the difference between the data amount of the data and the acquired data amount, and the current communication speed, Calculate the remaining time required to complete the acquisition of the data, display the remaining time required to complete the acquisition of the data on the display means,
A mobile communication device characterized in that, when a communication method is switched while the data link is maintained during acquisition of the data, the remaining time is recalculated and displayed based on the communication method after switching. . The control means includes
After the acquisition of the data is started, the current communication speed is calculated at every predetermined timing during data acquisition, an average of the calculated plurality of the current communication speeds is calculated as an average communication speed, and the data amount of the data Based on the difference between the acquired data amounts and the calculated average communication speed, the remaining time required to complete the data acquisition is calculated, and the remaining time required to complete the data acquisition is displayed on the display means. The mobile communication device according to claim 1, wherein: Wherein when displaying the time required to retrieve the data, the mobile communication apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a selection means for whether to start acquisition of the data. The communication means includes
The mobile communication device according to claim 3 , wherein the data is acquired from a common server device on the network.

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