JP2002101462A - Wireless communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To download a file by comparing the fees charged for packet communication and circuit-switched communication when downloading a file, and connecting with a cheaper method. To provide a wireless communication terminal capable of performing the following. SOLUTION: Packet communication time fee calculating means 105
Calculates the time and fee required for downloading the file based on the file size of the file to be downloaded obtained by the file size obtaining means 107 and the unit price per packet. The circuit switching communication time fee calculating means 106 calculates the time required to download the file based on two pieces of information, the file size of the file to be downloaded obtained by the file size obtaining means 107 and the date and time information obtained by the date and time obtaining means 108. And calculation of the fee.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile communication system for switching radio base station cells as a mobile station moves.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional technique will be described with reference to FIG.
The user of the mobile station MS shown in FIG. 7 uses a URL (Uniform Resource Locato) from a menu of the mobile station MS to connect to the content provider CP via the Internet.
The input screen of r) is called to input a URL.

A mobile station MS passes through a radio base station BS,
It transmits and receives control information (including the IP address of the DNS server SV) related to packet communication with the radio control station RNC, establishes a packet communication radio link with the radio base station BS, and communicates with the DNS server SV. Inquire about the IP address of the gateway IWG. Since the IP address of the gateway IWG is included in the response of the DNS server SV received by the mobile station MS, a wireless TCP link is established between the mobile station MS and the gateway IWG using this IP address.

[0004] Next, as shown in FIG.
G establishes a TCP link with the content provider CP. Then, by performing mutual conversion between wireless TCP packets and TCP packets, HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) between the mobile station MS and the content provider CP is performed.
otocol).

[0005] By such a procedure, the mobile station MS and the content provider CP establish an HTTP link via the gateway IWG, and the mobile station MS downloads and displays the content provided by the content provider CP or downloads the file. It is possible to do.

[0006]

The mobile station MS is a content provider C connected to the Internet network.
Communication with the mobile station MS and the radio base station B
There is no need for packet communication with S, and connection by circuit switching communication is also possible.

On the other hand, at present, charging for packet communication is generally performed based on a unit price per packet. Further, in the case of circuit-switched communication, billing is generally performed according to the connection time, and the billing per unit time also varies depending on the connection time zone. For example, it may be cheaper at night or on weekends.

[0008] From these facts, when connecting to the Internet and downloading a file, depending on the size of the file and the date and time of the download, it may be cheaper to download the file by circuit switching communication. Disadvantages arise.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems,
To provide a wireless communication terminal that enables a mobile station to download a file by comparing the charges involved in connection modes of packet communication and circuit-switched communication when downloading a file, and connecting by a cheaper method. The purpose is to:

[0010] The present invention also provides a wireless communication terminal capable of downloading a file in a connection mode suitable for a user by displaying the time and charge required for each connection mode for packet communication and circuit switching communication. The purpose is to provide.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication terminal which connects to a content server by a plurality of types of communication connection methods when acquiring data from the content server. In the data size obtaining means for obtaining the size of the data, time obtaining means for obtaining the current time, based on the information obtained by the data size obtaining means and the time obtaining means,
Communication charge calculating means for calculating a communication charge required to obtain the file of each communication connection method,
And a data acquisition unit for acquiring data from the content server by a communication connection method with a low communication fee based on the communication fee calculated by the communication fee calculation unit.

In order to achieve the above object, a second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the wireless communication terminal according to the first aspect, the communication connection method is a packet communication method and a circuit switching communication method. .

[0013] In order to achieve the above object, a third aspect of the present invention provides a wireless communication terminal connected to a content server by a plurality of types of communication connection schemes, when acquiring data from the content server, reducing the size of the data. Data size obtaining means for obtaining, time obtaining means for obtaining the current time, and obtaining the files of the respective communication connection methods based on the information obtained by the data size obtaining means and the time obtaining means. Communication charge calculation means for calculating a communication charge required for the communication, a selection means for selecting a communication connection method based on the communication charge calculated by the communication charge calculation means, and a communication connection method selected by the selection means. Data acquisition means for acquiring data from the content server.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wireless communication terminal according to the third aspect, further comprising a display means for displaying the communication charge calculated by the communication charge calculation means. I have.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal according to the third aspect of the present invention, wherein the communication connection system is a packet communication system or a circuit switching communication system. And

[0016]

The first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the entire mobile radio communication system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

The mobile radio communication system comprises a mobile station MS.
, A radio base station BS, a radio control station RNC, a DNS server SV, a gateway IWG, an Internet network NW, and a content provider CP.

The radio control station RNC controls the radio base station BS and establishes a radio link between the mobile station MS and the radio base station BS. Also, the radio control station RNC
The mobile station MS is connected to the DNS server SV and the gateway IWG, and relays transmission and reception between the mobile station MS and the DNS server SV and the gateway IWG. The DNS server SV functions to return an IP address in response to a host name inquiry from the mobile station MS.

The gateway IWG performs the mutual conversion between the wireless TCP packet and the TCP packet, thereby obtaining the mobile station M
S and the Internet network NW can be connected. The content provider CP connects to the Internet network NW and transfers contents and files to the Internet network NW.
Available through W.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the mobile station MS of FIG.

The communication section 100 selectively establishes a packet communication wireless link and a circuit-switched communication wireless link in accordance with instructions from the packet communication control section 103 and the circuit-switched communication control section 104.

The display unit 101 is for displaying to a user, for example, for displaying content provided by a content provider. The key input unit 102
This is a key input unit from the user, and the user operates the mobile station MS through the key input unit 102.

The packet communication control unit 103 includes a mobile station MS.
Transmits and receives control information to and from the radio control station RNC in order to establish a radio link for packet communication with the radio base station BS.

The circuit switching communication control unit 104 is a mobile station MS.
Transmits and receives control information to and from the radio control station RNC in order to establish a radio link for packet communication with the radio base station BS.

These communication controllers can be realized as software running on a CPU that controls the mobile station MS.

The packet communication charge calculating means 105 calculates the charge for downloading the file based on the file size of the file to be downloaded obtained by the file size obtaining means 107 and the unit price per packet.

The circuit-switched communication charge calculating means 106 determines whether to download a file based on two pieces of information, the file size of the file to be downloaded obtained by the file size obtaining means 107 and the date and time information obtained by the date and time obtaining means 108. This charge is calculated.

These fee calculating means can be realized as software running on the CPU for controlling the mobile station MS, similarly to the communication control unit described above.

The file size obtaining means 107 is a means for inquiring the content provider CP about the file size in response to a file download operation performed by the user through the key input unit 102.

The date and time acquisition means 108 is means for acquiring the current date and time, and can be easily realized by using a system call of an RTOS (real time OS) for controlling the mobile station MS.

The respective functions described above are connected to the internal bus of the mobile station MS, so that they can communicate with each other.

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

The user of the mobile station MS operates the key input unit 1 on the URL input screen displayed on the display unit 101.
02, the user inputs the URL of the content provider CP, and requests access to the content of the content provider CP.

At this time, the Internet network N of the mobile station MS
Assuming that the default connection format to W is packet communication, packet communication start is instructed to the packet communication control unit 103, and the packet communication control unit 103 that has received the packet communication start instruction uses the communication unit 100 to A packet communication start request is transmitted to the radio base station BS.

The radio base station BS receiving the packet communication start request from the mobile station MS transmits a packet communication start request to the radio control station RNC. In FIG. 2, the description of the radio base station BS is omitted.

Upon receiving the packet communication start request from the mobile station MS, the radio control station RNC receives the packet communication start request from the DNS server SV.
After requesting the P address from the DNS server SV and receiving a response from the DNS server SV, the DNS server SV
The mobile station MS transmits a packet communication start response storing the IP address of the mobile station MS.

When the mobile station MS receives the packet communication start response transmitted from the radio control station RNC, the mobile station MS
A state is established in which a packet communication wireless link has been established between S and the wireless base station BS (FIG. 2: State 1).

Next, the mobile station MS having acquired the IP address of the DNS server SV requests the DNS server SV for the IP address of the content server CP.
A response is received from the DNS server SV (FIG. 2: State 2).

Then, the mobile station MS having acquired the IP address of the content server CP makes a content request to the content server CP using a wireless TCP packet.

The radio control station RNC that has received the wireless TCP packet transmitted from the mobile station MS determines that the destination of the IP packet transmitting the wireless TCP packet is a content provider CP connected to the Internet network NW. Since it is necessary to recognize and convert the wireless TCP packet into the TCP packet, the received IP packet is transmitted to the gateway IWG. Gateway IW
G converts a wireless TCP packet received from the radio network controller RNC into a TCP packet, and transmits the TCP packet to the content provider CP via the Internet network NW.

The content provider CP which has received the TCP packet from the mobile station MS transmits the content to the mobile station MS in response to the content request from the mobile station MS. The TCP packet addressed to the mobile station MS is converted to a wireless TCP packet via the gateway IWG and reaches the mobile station MS.

With the above procedure, the mobile station MS and the content provider CP can communicate via the Internet network NW (FIG. 3: state 3).

Next, a case where the user of the mobile station MS downloads a file (file name is file Z) from the content provider CP will be described.

In the mobile station MS in the state 3, the content provided by the content provider CP is displayed through the display unit 101, but it is assumed that the user selects the file download using the key input unit 102. At this time, the mobile station MS that has received the key input determines that the user has requested the download of the file Z based on the content of the content displayed on the display unit 101 and the content of the key input.

The mobile station MS, which has determined that the download of the file Z has been requested, first requests the file size obtaining means 107 to obtain the file size of the file Z.

This request is transmitted to the content provider CP in the same procedure as the content request. Content provider CP that received the file size request
Sends the file size of file Z to mobile station MS as a response to the file size request. The mobile station MS receiving the file size of the file Z in this manner
Then, the current date and time information is acquired using the date and time acquisition means 108 (FIG. 2: State 4).

The file size of the file Z and the current date and time information obtained by the above procedure are transmitted to the packet communication charge calculation means 105 and the circuit switching communication charge calculation means 106 via the internal bus of the mobile station MS. .

Then, the packet communication charge calculating means 105 and the circuit-switched communication charge calculating means 1 which have received the information have
06 starts the calculation of each communication fee.

Since the unit price per packet is known, the packet communication charge calculating means 105 can calculate the charge required for downloading by packet communication by the following calculation method. Fee (yen) = (File size of file Z (byte)
/ Packet size (byte)) * Unit price per packet The circuit-switched communication charge calculating unit 106 determines that the speed of the circuit-switched communication is Xbps and the unit price per second at that time from the date and time information. Therefore, it is possible to calculate the fee required for downloading by circuit-switched communication by the following calculation method. Fee (yen) = (File size of file Z (bit)
/ X) * Unit price per second In this way, the charge for download by packet communication and the charge for download by circuit-switched communication are calculated, and it is possible to conclude which method is cheaper to download. Becomes In this embodiment,
It is assumed that the charge for downloading by circuit switching communication is lower than the charge for downloading by packet communication. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, in state 4 described above, the mobile station MS decides to download the file Z by circuit switching communication, and thus disconnects the already established packet communication wireless link. For this purpose, a packet communication stop request is transmitted to the radio network controller RNC.

The mobile station MS having received the packet communication stop response from the radio control station RNC transmits a circuit switching communication start request to the radio control station RNC again, receives a response from the radio control station RNC, and receives a response from the radio control station RNC. A link is established (FIG. 3: state 5).

Thereafter, a request for downloading the file Z is transmitted to the content provider CP via the circuit-switched communication wireless link. The content provider CP receiving the request for downloading the file Z starts downloading the file Z according to the request. When the file has been downloaded (FIG. 3: State 6), the wireless link used in the circuit-switched communication is disconnected, and a packet communication wireless link is newly established (FIG. 3: State 7).

According to the method described above, it is possible to download a file by a cheaper method.

In the present embodiment, a situation is considered in which the charge for downloading by circuit-switched communication is lower than the charge for downloading by packet communication. However, if the charge for downloading by packet communication is lower, As shown in FIG. 4, it goes without saying that the file download is started without disconnecting the packet communication wireless link.

Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The system configuration of the second embodiment is the same as the system configuration of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the mobile station MS in FIG.

The communication section 100 selectively establishes a packet communication radio link and a circuit switching communication radio link in accordance with instructions from the packet communication control section 103 and the circuit switching communication control section 104.

The display section 101 is an output section from the mobile station MS to the user, and displays contents provided by the content provider. The key input unit 102
Is an input unit from the user to the mobile station MS, and the user operates the mobile station MS through the key input unit 102.

[0059] The packet communication control unit 103 is connected to the mobile station MS.
Transmits and receives control information to and from the radio control station RNC in order to establish a radio link for packet communication with the radio base station BS.

The circuit-switched communication control unit 104 is connected to the mobile station MS.
Transmits and receives control information to and from the radio control station RNC in order to establish a radio link for packet communication with the radio base station BS.

These communication control units can be realized as software running on a CPU that controls the mobile station MS.

The packet communication time fee calculation means 105
Based on the file size of the file to be downloaded obtained by the file size obtaining means 107 and the unit price per packet, the time and fee required for downloading the file are calculated. The circuit switching communication time fee calculating means 106 calculates the time required to download the file based on two pieces of information, the file size of the file to be downloaded obtained by the file size obtaining means 107 and the date and time information obtained by the date and time obtaining means 108. And calculation of the fee.

These time fee calculating means can be realized as software that runs on the CPU that controls the mobile station MS, similarly to the communication control unit described above.

The file size obtaining means 107 is means for inquiring of the content provider CP about the file size, triggered by a file download operation performed by the user through the key input unit 102. The date and time acquisition unit 108 is a unit that acquires the current date and time, and is an RTOS (real-time OS) that controls the mobile station MS.
It can be easily realized by using the system call of S).

The respective functions are connected to the internal bus of the mobile station MS, so that they can communicate with each other.

The second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4 based on the above configuration. The procedure up to determining file download is the same as in the first embodiment. Therefore, the description is omitted.

The mobile station MS that has determined that the download of the file Z has been requested first requests the file size obtaining means 107 to obtain the file size. This request is transmitted to the content provider CP in the same procedure as the content request. Upon receiving the file size request, the content provider CP transmits the file size of the file Z to the mobile station MS as a response to the file size request. The mobile station MS that has received the file size of the file Z in this manner obtains the current date and time information by using the date and time obtaining means 108. (FIG. 2: State 4) The file size of the file Z and the current date and time information obtained by the above procedure are transferred to the packet communication time charge calculation unit 105 via the internal bus of the mobile station MS.
Is transmitted to the circuit switching communication time fee calculation means 106.
Then, the packet communication time charge calculation means 105 and the circuit switching communication time charge calculation means 106 which have received the information
Starts the calculation of each communication fee.

The packet communication time charge calculating means 105
Since the unit price per packet is known, it is possible to calculate the time and fee required for downloading by packet communication by the following calculation method. Fee (yen) = (File size of file Z (byte)
/ Packet size (byte)) * Unit price per packet If the wireless link of packet communication is Ybps, time (second) = file size of file Z (bit))
The / Y circuit-switched communication charge calculating means 106 uses the following calculation method to download by circuit-switched communication because the speed of circuit-switched communication is Xbps and the unit price per second at that time is known from the date and time information. It is possible to calculate the time and fee required for. Fee (yen) = (File size of file Z (bits) / X) * Unit price per second Time (seconds) = File size of file Z (bits) / X Thus, the time required for downloading by packet communication・ The charge and the time and charge required for downloading by circuit-switched communication are calculated.

Next, each time and fee is displayed on the display unit 101 via the internal bus as shown in FIG. Since the user who wants to reduce the fee desires downloading by packet communication, the user selects “1: packet communication” by using the key input unit 102. Further, the user who wants to end the download early desires the download by the circuit switching communication, and selects “2: circuit switching” by the key input unit 102.

After selecting "1: packet communication", file download is performed in a sequence as shown in FIG. 4, and after selecting "2: circuit exchange", file download is performed in a sequence as shown in FIG. Done.

According to the above flow, the user can select a connection mode suitable for himself and download a file.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, two packet switching networks and circuit switching networks have been described as examples, but the invention is not limited thereto.

The mobile station of the present invention can use any type of wireless communication system, including TDMA system, CD
It goes without saying that the MA method or the like can be applied.

[0074]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a wireless communication terminal downloads a file, it compares the charges involved in the packet communication and circuit-switched communication connections, and establishes a connection using a cheaper method. The file can be downloaded. In addition, by displaying the time and fee required for each of the connection modes of the packet communication and the circuit-switched communication, it becomes possible to download the file in the connection mode suitable for the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a mobile station MS according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an operation sequence diagram in the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an operation sequence diagram in the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an operation sequence diagram in the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a mobile station MS according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the display unit 101.

FIG. 7 is a system configuration diagram of the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a communication mode according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

100: communication unit, 101: display unit, 102 ...
Key input unit, 103: packet communication control unit, 10
4 ... Circuit switching communication control unit, 105 ... Packet communication charge calculating means, 106 ... Circuit switching communication charge calculating means, 107 ... File size obtaining means, 108 ...
・ Date and time acquisition means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04L 11/00 310B F-term (Reference) 5K025 AA08 BB06 BB07 BB10 CC02 DD06 EE03 FF17 FF27 GG04 GG24 GG30 HH13 HH18 JJ02 JJ10 JJ12 JJ18 KK08 5K033 AA04 BA11 DA17 DB12 DB14 EA06 5K067 AA41 BB21 CC08 EE02 EE10 EE16 GG11 HH05 HH22 HH23 5K101 KK16 KK18 LL01 LL12 MM07 NN02 NN18 NN21 NN48 QQ07 QQ08 RR

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A wireless communication terminal that connects to a content server by a plurality of types of communication connection methods, wherein when obtaining data from the content server, a data size obtaining means for obtaining the size of the data; Time acquisition means, and communication charge calculation means for calculating a communication charge required to acquire the file of each communication connection method based on the information obtained by the data size acquisition means and the time acquisition means. And a data acquisition means for acquiring data from the content server by a communication connection method with a low communication charge based on the communication charge calculated by the communication charge calculation means. 2. The wireless communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the communication connection method includes a packet communication method and a circuit switching communication method. 3. A wireless communication terminal connected to a content server by a plurality of types of communication connection methods, wherein when acquiring data from the content server, a data size acquiring means for acquiring the size of the data; Time acquisition means, and communication charge calculation means for calculating a communication charge required to acquire the file of each communication connection method based on the information obtained by the data size acquisition means and the time acquisition means. Selecting means for selecting a communication connection method based on the communication charge calculated by the communication charge calculation means, and data acquisition means for acquiring data from the content server using the communication connection method selected by the selection means. A wireless communication terminal comprising: 4. The wireless communication terminal according to claim 3, further comprising display means for displaying the communication charge calculated by the communication charge calculation means. 5. The wireless communication terminal according to claim 3, wherein the communication connection method includes a packet communication method and a circuit switching communication method.