JP2011061264A - Portable terminal and portable terminal system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable terminal and a portable terminal system, efficiently transmitting to a host computer information acquired by a plurality of portable terminals. <P>SOLUTION: The portable terminal is configured so that if it is determined at a determination timing that the own device has priority over another device with respect to transmission with the host computer 12 on the basis of transmission priority determining factor of the own device and transmission priority determining factor of the other device received by a local radio communication means, the read information of the own device and the read information of the other device received by the local radio communication section 47 are totaled as total data, and the total data is transmitted from a broadband radio communication section 48 to the host computer 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable terminal and a portable terminal system that wirelessly transmit acquired information to a host computer.

  Conventionally, a wireless communication system disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known as a technique related to a portable terminal system that wirelessly transmits acquired information to a host computer. In order to access the Internet by wireless communication, a terminal of this wireless communication system includes a WWAN communication apparatus capable of wireless communication with a base station of a WWAN system, which is a wide area wireless communication service, and a limited area wireless for a limited area. And a WLAN communication device capable of wireless communication with each access point of the WLAN system, which is a communication service. Then, by transmitting the fact that the terminal is in the AP service area of the WLAN system to the terminal via the base station of the WWAN system, whether or not the terminal is in the AP service area by always using the WLAN communication device. By eliminating the need for searching, an increase in power consumption of the terminal is prevented.

JP 2004-023768 A

  By the way, when reading work is performed with a plurality of portable terminals in the same work area, the read information obtained by the read work is transmitted to a host computer located at a remote place, and each read information is transmitted by this host computer. It may be analyzed. In this case, if the read information read by the portable terminal using the wide area wireless communication means of each portable terminal is wirelessly transmitted to the host computer, power consumption is large due to the use of the wide area wireless communication means. The battery charge of the terminal decreases quickly and the work time in the uncharged state is shortened. In addition, when a plurality of portable terminals use wide area wireless communication means in the same work place, communication traffic may increase, and in this case, not only the battery remaining amount of each portable terminal decreases, The communication processing time with the host computer becomes long, and the burden on the operator increases.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminal and a mobile terminal system capable of efficiently transmitting information acquired by a plurality of mobile terminals to a host computer. Is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, the portable terminal according to claim 1 described in the claims includes a reading unit that reads external information as read information, and a plurality of other portable terminals serving as other devices, and each of these portable terminals. A portable terminal that wirelessly communicates with a host computer located at a remote location, and has wide-area wireless communication means capable of wireless communication with the host computer, and superiority of the own device over other devices with respect to transmission with the host computer Measuring means for measuring a transmission superiority determination factor that is a factor for determination, and local wireless communication means capable of wireless communication with the plurality of other portable terminals regarding the information including the transmission superiority determination factor and the read information Based on the transmission superiority determination factor of the own device and the transmission superiority determination factor of the other device received by the local wireless communication means A determination means for determining whether or not it has superiority with respect to transmission to the host computer as compared with the machine, reading information of the own machine read by the reading means, and reading of the other machine received by the local wireless communication means Data aggregation means capable of aggregating information as aggregate data, and timing determination means for determining the timing of determination by the determination means, and the own device is operated by the determination means at the determination timing determined by the timing determination means. When it is determined that the data has the superiority, the total data is totaled by the data totaling means, and the total data is transmitted to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication means.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal according to the first aspect, the measuring unit measures a radio wave state measuring unit that measures a radio wave state of the own device relating to the wide area wireless communication unit, and measures a remaining battery level of the own device. Battery remaining amount measuring means, and work processing load measuring means for measuring the work processing load of the own device including the processing load related to the reading means, wherein the transmission superiority determining factor is the radio wave state, It is at least one of a remaining battery level and the work processing load.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal according to the second aspect, when the radio wave state is used as one of the transmission superiority determination factors, the determination unit displays the radio wave state of its own device as a signal. In the case where the evaluation is performed in any one of a plurality of stages according to the comparison with the threshold value of two or more stages based on the strength and the signal quality, and the remaining battery level is used as one of the transmission superiority determination factors, The remaining battery level is evaluated in one of a plurality of stages according to a comparison with two or more thresholds based on battery information including battery voltage, and the work processing load is one of the transmission superiority determination factors. Is used, the work processing load of the own machine is evaluated at any one of a plurality of stages according to a comparison with a threshold value of two or more stages based on the number of reading works and the operating rate of the reading means, Based on at least one of the evaluations There are the own device and judging whether having the advantage.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal according to the second or third aspect, the determination unit is configured such that at least one of the radio wave state, the remaining battery level, and the work processing load includes the aggregate data in the wide area. When the state necessary for transmission to the host computer is not maintained by wireless communication means, it is determined that the own device does not have the superiority regardless of the transmission superiority determination factor of the other device. It is characterized by.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the timing determination unit is based on at least one of an elapsed time, a data amount of the read information, and a data number. And determining the determination timing.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the mobile terminal according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the timing determining means determines the determination timing based on an instruction from the host computer. .

  A seventh aspect of the present invention is the portable terminal according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, wherein the determination means considers the transmission superiority determination factor of another device based on an instruction from the host computer. It is characterized in that it is determined that the own device has the superiority without doing so.

  In the portable terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 7, when the determination unit determines that the own device has the superiority, the local wireless communication indicates And wirelessly transmitting to each of the plurality of other mobile terminals.

  The ninth aspect of the invention is the portable terminal according to any one of the first to eighth aspects, wherein when the determination unit determines that the own device has the superiority, the notification unit notifies the fact. It is characterized by providing.

  The invention of claim 10 is the portable terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 9, to the extent that the transmission superiority determination factor measured by the measurement means can be determined not to have the advantage. A reduction means for reducing is provided.

  In the portable terminal system of Claim 11, it is a portable terminal as described in any one of Claims 1-10, Comprising: While equipped with two or more portable terminals which can carry out a wireless communication mutually by the said local wireless communication means, A portable terminal system comprising the host computer capable of wireless communication by the wide area wireless communication means, wherein the host computer is connected to each portable device based on the aggregate data wirelessly transmitted from any one of the portable terminals. The read information read by the terminal is analyzed.

  According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal system according to the eleventh aspect, the transmission superiority determination factor of each portable terminal is determined by the wide area wireless communication unit of at least one of the portable terminals. Wirelessly transmitted to the host computer, and the host computer selects one of the portable terminals having superiority with respect to transmission with the host computer based on the received transmission superiority determination factor. In addition, the selected portable terminal is instructed that the selected portable terminal is the selected portable terminal, and the selected portable terminal counts the tabulated data by the data tabulating unit in response to the instruction. Aggregated data is transmitted to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication means.

  According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal system according to the eleventh aspect, a portable terminal that wirelessly transmits the aggregate data to the host computer among the portable terminals transmits the transmission of its own device at the next determination timing. Determine the portable terminal having the superiority based on the superiority determination factor and the transmission superiority determination factor of the other device received by the local wireless communication means, wirelessly transmit the fact to each portable terminal, the determination The portable terminal thus configured is characterized in that the total data is totaled by the data totaling means and the total data is transmitted to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication means.

  The invention according to claim 14 is the portable terminal system according to claim 11, wherein, when the determination means determines that the superiority does not exist in all the portable terminals at the determination timing, the total data Is not wirelessly transmitted to the host computer.

  The invention of claim 15 is the portable terminal system according to any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein each of the portable terminals includes a timing setting unit capable of setting the determination timing to a desired timing, When the determination timing is set by the timing setting unit, the setting timing is wirelessly transmitted to another portable terminal by the local wireless communication unit, and the timing determination unit is configured to determine the determination timing according to the received setting timing. It is characterized by determining.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, at the determination timing determined by the timing determination means, the determination means determines the transmission superiority determination factor of the own device and the transmission superiority determination factor of the other device received by the local wireless communication means. When it is determined that the own device has superiority with respect to transmission with the host computer compared to the other device, the reading information of the own device and the reading information of the other device received by the local wireless communication means are counted by the data counting means The data is aggregated as data, and the aggregated data is transmitted to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication means.

As a result, when it is determined that the own device has superiority with respect to transmission with a host computer located at a remote location (hereinafter also referred to as wide-area transmission) compared to other neighboring devices, Aggregated data obtained by aggregating information and read information of the other device is transmitted to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication means of the own device. For this reason, compared with the case where individual mobile terminals read information read by themselves by wide-area wireless communication means to the host computer individually, the communication traffic is not increased, and the battery except for the terminal having a wide-area transmitter is used. A decrease in the remaining amount can be suppressed. Further, when the other device has superiority with respect to wide area transmission, it is only necessary to transmit the read information of the own device to the other device by the local wireless communication means. When it is determined that the battery has no property, it is possible to reliably suppress a decrease in the remaining battery level.
Therefore, information acquired by a plurality of portable terminals including the own device and other devices can be efficiently transmitted to the host computer.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the measuring means includes: a radio wave state measuring means for measuring the radio wave state of the own apparatus relating to the wide area wireless communication means; a battery remaining amount measuring means for measuring the remaining battery capacity of the own apparatus; And a work processing load measuring means for measuring the work processing load of the own machine including the load. The transmission superiority determination factor is at least one of a radio wave state, a remaining battery level, and a work processing load. The radio wave condition, the remaining battery level, and the work processing load are factors that have a high influence on wide-area transmission. Therefore, by taking at least one of these factors into consideration, high-precision measurement is performed for the superiority of wide-area transmission. be able to.

  In the invention of claim 3, it is determined whether or not the own device has an advantage for wide-area transmission based on one of the results obtained by evaluating the radio wave state, the remaining battery level and the work processing load at a plurality of stages by the determination means. Since the determination is made, it is possible to make a more accurate determination regarding the superiority.

  In the invention of claim 4, when at least any one of the radio wave state, the remaining battery level and the work processing load does not maintain the state necessary for transmitting the aggregated data to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication means The determination unit determines that the own device does not have superiority regarding wide-area transmission regardless of the transmission superiority determination factor of the other device. As a result, when the state necessary for transmitting the aggregated data to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication means is not maintained, for example, when the radio wave state is extremely bad or the remaining battery level is low Thus, it is possible to reliably eliminate the portable terminal from becoming a terminal having a wide-area transmission role.

  In the invention of claim 5, since the timing determination means determines the determination timing based on at least one of the elapsed time, the amount of data of the read information, and the number of data items, the optimal timing in consideration of these various conditions. Aggregated data can be sent to the host computer.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the timing determining means determines the determination timing based on an instruction from the host computer, so that it is possible to set the timing at which the aggregated data is desired to be received via the host computer.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the determining means determines that the own device has an advantage related to wide area transmission without considering the transmission superiority determining factor of the other device based on an instruction from the host computer. Via this, it is possible to select a portable terminal that wishes to transmit the total data.

  In the invention of claim 8, when it is determined by the determination means that the own device has superiority with respect to wide area transmission, the local wireless communication means wirelessly transmits that fact to each of a plurality of other mobile terminals, A plurality of other portable terminals can wirelessly transmit the read information to the host computer using only the local wireless communication means without considering the above advantages.

  In the invention of claim 9, when the determination means determines that the own device has an advantage over wide-area transmission, it is provided with notification means for notifying that effect. It can be recognized that the terminal is a wide area transmitter at this time. Accordingly, it is possible to smoothly perform the operation assuming that the remaining battery level is reduced or the work processing load is increased due to the mobile terminal being selected as a terminal having a wide area transmission role.

  In a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reducing means for reducing the transmission superiority determining factor measured by the measuring means to such an extent that it can be determined that it has no superiority. For this reason, for example, an operator who wants to use for a longer time reduces the transmission superiority determination factor to a level that can be determined to have no superiority by the reduction means, so that the mobile terminal to be used has a wide-area transmission role. The burden of becoming a terminal can be eliminated.

  According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, a portable terminal system includes a plurality of portable terminals capable of wireless communication with each other by local wireless communication means, and a host computer capable of wireless communication with each of these portable terminals by wide area wireless communication means. . Then, the host computer analyzes the read information read by each portable terminal based on the aggregate data wirelessly transmitted from any one of the portable terminals. As a result, the information acquired by each portable terminal is transmitted to the host computer by any one of the portable terminals having a wide area transmitting role. Since the decrease in the remaining battery level of the terminal is suppressed, efficient acquisition information transmission can be realized.

  In the invention of claim 12, the host computer selects one portable terminal having superiority regarding wide-area transmission based on each transmission superiority determination factor received from at least one of the respective portable terminals. The selected mobile terminal is instructed to be the selected mobile terminal. In response to the instruction, the selected portable terminal totals the read information by the data totaling unit and transmits the totaled data to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication unit. This eliminates the need for each mobile terminal to determine the above-described superiority, thereby reducing the work processing load on each mobile terminal.

  In the invention of claim 13, the portable terminal that wirelessly transmits the aggregated data to the host computer determines a portable terminal that has superiority with respect to wide area transmission at the next determination timing, and wirelessly transmits the determination to each portable terminal. The determined portable terminal totals each read information by the data totaling means and transmits the total data to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication means. As a result, each mobile terminal does not need to determine the above-described superiority except for the mobile terminal that wirelessly transmitted the aggregated data to the host computer at the previous determination timing, thereby reducing the work processing load on each mobile terminal. Can do.

  In the invention of claim 14, since all mobile terminals are in an inappropriate state as a mobile terminal having a wide transmission role, for example, all the mobile terminals are low at the determination timing, the determination is made at all the mobile terminals at the determination timing. If it is determined by the means that there is no superiority regarding wide-area transmission, the aggregated data is not wirelessly transmitted to the host computer. For this reason, the portable terminal of the wide-area transmitter can wirelessly transmit the aggregated data to the host computer only when the transmission superiority determination factors such as the radio wave state and the remaining battery level are good.

  According to the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, when the determination timing is set by the timing setting means, any one of the portable terminals wirelessly transmits the set timing to another portable terminal by the local wireless communication means. In other portable terminals, the determination timing is determined by the timing determination unit according to the received setting timing. Thereby, an operator who works using any one of the portable terminals can set a desired determination timing by the timing setting unit, for example, when he / she wants to quickly transmit the read information to the host computer.

It is explanatory drawing which shows schematic structure of the portable terminal system 10 including portable terminal 11a-11f which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the electric constitution of the portable terminal 11a which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a part of flowchart which illustrates the flow of the data transmission process in 1st Embodiment. It is a part of flowchart which illustrates the flow of the data transmission process in 1st Embodiment. It is a part of flowchart which illustrates the flow of the data transmission process in 1st Embodiment. It is a part of flowchart which illustrates the flow of the data transmission process in 2nd Embodiment. It is a part of flowchart which illustrates the flow of the data transmission process in 3rd Embodiment. It is a part of flowchart which illustrates the flow of the data transmission process in 3rd Embodiment. It is a part of flowchart which illustrates the flow of the data transmission process in 4th Embodiment. It is a flowchart which illustrates the flow of the analysis process in 4th Embodiment.

[First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, a first embodiment in which a mobile terminal and a mobile terminal system of the present invention are embodied will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile terminal system 10 includes a plurality of mobile terminals 11 a to 11 f and a host computer 12 arranged at a remote location with respect to each of the mobile terminals 11 a to 11 f. As will be described later, the host computer 12 wirelessly communicates with any one of the mobile terminals 11a to 11f via the base station 13 to receive and analyze the information acquired by the mobile terminals 11a to 11f, respectively. Is configured to do. In addition, when the host computer 12 has an antenna or the like that can perform wide-area wireless communication, wireless communication may be performed directly with any one of the mobile terminals 11a to 11f without using the base station 13.

Next, the structure of each portable terminal 11a-11f is demonstrated with reference to drawings.
Each of the mobile terminals 11a to 11f is a reading device that optically reads a one-dimensional code such as a barcode or an information code such as a two-dimensional code. In the first embodiment, each of these mobile terminals 11a to 11f is arranged in each work area in the same work area such as outdoors, and is an object such as a product or a packing box (see FIG. 1 is used for reading information codes (B _{1 to} B ₃ and Q _{1 to} Q _{3 in} FIG. 1) displayed on the surface of R _{1 to} R ₆ in FIG.

Since each of the mobile terminals 11a to 11f has the same configuration, the mobile terminal 11a will be described in detail below as a representative example.
As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile terminal 11 a is configured such that a circuit unit 20 is accommodated in a case, and the circuit unit 20 mainly includes an illumination light source 21, a light receiving sensor 28, an imaging lens 27, and the like. It comprises an optical system and a microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as “microcomputer”) system such as a memory 35, a control circuit 40, and a trigger switch 42. The light receiving sensor 28 and the control circuit 40 correspond to an example of “reading unit” recited in the claims.

  The optical system is divided into a light projecting optical system and a light receiving optical system. The illumination light source 21 constituting the light projecting optical system functions as an illumination light source capable of emitting the illumination light Lf, and includes, for example, a red LED and a lens provided on the emission side of the LED. In addition, in FIG. 2, the example which irradiates the illumination light Lf toward the target object R with which the barcode B was displayed is shown notionally.

  The light receiving optical system includes a light receiving sensor 28, an imaging lens 27, a reflecting mirror (not shown), and the like. The light receiving sensor 28 is configured as a CCD area sensor, and is configured to be able to receive the reflected light Lr irradiated and reflected by the information code or the object R. The light receiving sensor 28 is mounted on a printed wiring board (not shown) so as to be able to receive incident light incident through the imaging lens 27.

  The imaging lens 27 functions as an imaging optical system capable of condensing incident light incident from the outside via a reading port (not shown) and forming an image on the light receiving surface 28a of the light receiving sensor 28. . In the first embodiment, the illumination light Lf emitted from the illumination light source 21 is reflected by the information code, and then the reflected light Lr is collected by the imaging lens 27 and the code image is formed on the light receiving surface 28 a of the light receiving sensor 28. Is imaged.

  The microcomputer system includes an amplification circuit 31, an A / D conversion circuit 33, a memory 35, an address generation circuit 36, a synchronization signal generation circuit 38, a control circuit 40, a key operation unit 41, a trigger switch 42, a light emitting unit 43, a buzzer 44, and a vibrator. 45, a liquid crystal display 46, and the like.

  The image signal (analog signal) output from the light receiving sensor 28 of the optical system is amplified by a predetermined gain by being input to the amplifier circuit 31, and then input from the analog signal when input to the A / D conversion circuit 33. Converted into a digital signal. When the digitized image signal, that is, image data (image information) is generated and input to the memory 35, it is stored in a predetermined code image information storage area. The synchronization signal generation circuit 38 is configured to generate a synchronization signal for the light receiving sensor 28 and the address generation circuit 36, and the address generation circuit 36 is based on the synchronization signal supplied from the synchronization signal generation circuit 38. Thus, the storage address of the image data stored in the memory 35 can be generated.

  The control circuit 40 is constituted by a microcomputer capable of controlling the entire mobile terminal 11a, has a CPU, a system bus, an input / output interface and the like, and has an information processing function, and constitutes an information processing device together with the memory 35. ing. In the first embodiment, a key operation unit 41, a trigger switch 42, a light emitting unit 43, a buzzer 44, a vibrator 45, a liquid crystal display 46, and the like are connected to the control circuit 40.

  As a result, the control circuit 40 receives an operation signal input according to the operation of the key operation unit 41 and performs an operation according to the content of the operation signal. The control circuit 40 also turns on and off the light emitting unit 43 that functions as an indicator for notifying information related to monitoring and management of the trigger switch 42 and reading of the information code, a buzzer 44 that can generate a beep sound and an alarm sound, for example. It enables on / off of ringing, drive control of the vibrator 45 capable of generating vibration that can be transmitted to the operator of the portable terminal 11a, display control of the liquid crystal display 46, and the like. The light emitting unit 43, the buzzer 44, and the vibrator 45 correspond to an example of “notification unit” recited in the claims.

  In addition, a local wireless communication unit 47 and a wide area wireless communication unit 48 are connected to the control circuit 40. The local wireless communication unit 47 is controlled by the control circuit 40 and configured to be able to wirelessly communicate with the other mobile terminals 11b to 11f via the antenna 47a. The wide area wireless communication unit 48 is controlled by the control circuit 40 and configured to be able to perform wireless communication with the host computer 12 via the antenna 48 a and the base station 13. And since the local wireless communication part 47 carries out wireless communication (local communication) with the other portable terminals 11b-11f which exist in a comparatively narrow range like the same work area, the wide area wireless communication part which performs wide area communication 48, power consumption during communication is reduced. The local wireless communication unit 47 corresponds to an example of “local wireless communication unit” recited in the claims, and the wide area wireless communication unit 48 is an example of “wide area wireless communication unit” recited in the claims. It corresponds to.

  The wide area wireless communication unit 48 is provided with a radio wave state measuring unit 51 for measuring a radio wave state related to the wide area communication, and the measurement result by the radio wave state measuring unit 51 is electrically connected to the control. It is output to the circuit 40. The radio wave state measuring unit 51 corresponds to an example of “radio wave state measuring unit” recited in the claims.

  In addition, a battery 49 serving as a power source and a power supply unit (not shown) are provided in the case so that power is supplied to the control circuit 40 and various electric components. The battery 49 is provided with a battery sensor 52 for measuring the remaining battery level, and the measurement result by the battery sensor 52 is output to the control circuit 40 that is electrically connected. The battery 49 corresponds to an example of a “battery” recited in the claims, and the battery sensor 52 corresponds to an example of a “battery remaining amount measuring unit” recited in the claims.

  By configuring the mobile terminal 11a in this way, the following reading process is performed. For example, when a power switch (not shown) is turned on and a predetermined self-diagnosis process or the like is normally completed and the information code can be read, an input of the trigger switch 42 that instructs to emit the illumination light Lf is accepted. As a result, when the operator presses the trigger switch 42 to turn it on, the control circuit 40 outputs a light emission signal to the illumination light source 21 based on the synchronization signal. Is emitted to emit illumination light Lf.

  Then, the illumination light Lf applied to the information code is reflected, and the reflected light Lr is incident on the imaging lens 27 through the reading port, so that the information code is applied to the light receiving surface 28a of the light receiving sensor 28 by the imaging lens 27. That is, a code image is formed. Thereby, each light receiving element which comprises the light-receiving surface 28a is exposed, and the signal according to the light reception amount is output from each light receiving element, respectively. The signal output from each light receiving element constitutes the image data of the information code. After the image data is binarized, the character data encoded as the information code is subjected to a predetermined decoding process. Etc. are decoded and written in the memory 35 as read information.

  Next, a data transmission process performed by the control circuit 40 in the portable terminal 11a configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. This data transmission process is a process of counting the read information read by each of the mobile terminals 11 a to 11 f by one mobile terminal and transmitting the total data to the host computer 12.

  First, when reading information is stored in the memory 35 by the reading process as described above in step S101, it is determined in step S103 whether or not it is a determination timing. Here, the determination timing is a timing at which the read information read by each of the mobile terminals 11a to 11f is collected and aggregated in one mobile terminal. In the first embodiment, the determination timing is from the previous determination timing. It is set as a timing at which a predetermined time has elapsed, and if the predetermined time has not elapsed, it is determined No in step S103. The determination timing may be a timing that is increased by a predetermined amount of data from the amount of read information at the previous determination timing, or a predetermined number of cases from the number of read information data at the previous determination timing. It may be timing. The determination timing may be set based on at least one of the elapsed time, the amount of read information data, and the number of data with respect to the previous determination timing. The control circuit 40 that executes step S103 corresponds to an example of “timing determination means” recited in the claims.

  Next, in step S105, it is determined whether or not the transmission request is performed. Unlike the determination timing in step S103, this determination process is a process for determining whether or not the timing at which the operator desires the totaling process is performed as a determination timing, and a transmission advantage determination factor transmission request to be described later. If is not implemented, it is determined No in step S105. The control circuit 40 that executes step S105 corresponds to an example of “timing setting means” recited in the claims.

  Subsequently, in step S107, it is determined whether or not a transmission request for a transmission superiority determination factor has been received, and if a transmission request for a transmission superiority determination factor has not been received from any of the other mobile terminals 11b to 11f (S107). No), the processing from step S101 is repeated.

  In such repeated processing, a plurality of pieces of read information are accumulated in the memory 35, and a predetermined time has elapsed from the previous determination timing (Yes in S103), or a key operation by the operator to set a desired determination timing When a transmission superiority determination factor transmission request is executed by the operation of the unit 41 (Yes in S105), a transmission superiority determination factor transmission request process is performed in step S109. In this process, the local wireless communication unit 47 makes a transmission request for a transmission superiority determination factor to the other portable terminals 11b to 11f. Further, in the repetitive processing, when the local wireless communication unit 47 receives a transmission request for a transmission superiority determination factor from another portable terminal that has undergone the processing of step S109, it is determined as Yes in step S107.

  In step S111, a measurement process of a transmission superiority determination factor is performed. Here, the transmission superiority determination factor is a factor for determining the superiority of the own apparatus with respect to other apparatuses (hereinafter, also referred to as superiority regarding wide area transmission) with respect to transmission with the host computer 12. In the form, it is composed of a radio wave state relating to the wide area wireless communication unit 48, a remaining battery level, and a work processing load.

  Specifically, in this measurement process, the radio wave state is determined based on the output from the radio wave state measurement unit 51, for example, in three stages (H level according to comparison with two-stage threshold values based on signal strength and signal quality. (High level), M level (Middle level), L level (Low level)). Further, the remaining battery level is based on the output from the battery sensor 52, for example, in three stages (H level, M level, L level) in accordance with a comparison with two-stage threshold values based on battery information including battery voltage. Is set to one of the following. In addition, the work processing load is set to one of three stages (H level, M level, L level) in accordance with, for example, comparison with a threshold value in two stages based on the number of reading works and the operating rate of the light receiving sensor 28. The The control circuit 40 that executes step S111 corresponds to an example of a “measurement unit” recited in the claims.

  In step S113, transmission superiority determination factor transmission processing is performed, and each level of the transmission superiority determination factor (the radio wave state of the own device, the remaining battery level and the work processing load) set as described above is determined locally. The wireless communication unit 47 transmits the information to the other mobile terminals 11b to 11f.

  Subsequently, when all levels of transmission superiority determination factors are received from the other portable terminals 11b to 11f (Yes in S115), a comparison process is performed in step S117. In this process, each level of the transmission superiority determination factor in each portable terminal is compared with each other. And based on this comparison result, since each level of the transmission superiority determination factor in the own machine is higher than the other machine, if the own machine has an advantage over wide area transmission over the other machine, step It is determined as Yes in S119. The control circuit 40 that executes step S119 corresponds to an example of a “determination unit” recited in the claims.

  Then, in step S121, master selection information transmission processing is performed. The other mobile terminals 11b to 11f are mobile terminals (hereinafter also referred to as master terminals) that serve as wide-area transmissions, and the other mobile terminals 11b to 11f. The local wireless communication unit 47 transmits information that 11f is a portable terminal (hereinafter also referred to as a slave terminal) that transmits each read information to the master terminal by the local wireless communication unit 47.

  Next, in step S123 of FIG. 4, master selection information notification processing is performed, and the fact that the portable terminal 11a is currently the master terminal for the worker using the own device indicates that the light emitting unit 43 is turned on and the buzzer 44 is turned on. And the vibration of the vibrator 45.

  Subsequently, when all the read information from the slave terminals 11b to 11f is received by the local wireless communication unit 47 in step S125 (Yes in S125), data aggregation processing is performed in step S127. In this process, the reading information of the own device read by the reading process and the reading information of the slave terminals 11b to 11f received by the local wireless communication unit 47 are totaled as total data. The control circuit 40 that executes step S127 corresponds to an example of a “data totaling unit” recited in the claims.

  In step S129, the total data transmission process is performed, and the total data aggregated as described above is wirelessly transmitted to the host computer 12 by the wide area wireless communication unit 48 via the antenna 48a and the base station 13. In this way, the aggregate data is wirelessly transmitted to the host computer 12 by the wide area wireless communication unit 48 in the master terminal 11a, so that the read information read by each mobile terminal itself is individually individually transmitted to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication unit 48. Compared with the case of transmitting to 12, it is possible to suppress a decrease in the remaining battery level of the slave terminals 11b to 11f except for the master terminal 11a without increasing communication traffic. When the host computer 12 receives the total data from the master terminal 11a via the base station 13, the host computer 12 performs a predetermined analysis process on the total data.

  When the aggregate data is transmitted in this way, a transmission completion information transmission process is performed in step S131, and the fact that the aggregate data has been transmitted is transmitted to the slave terminals 11b to 11f by the local wireless communication unit 47. Subsequently, a transmission completion notification process is performed in step S133, and the fact that transmission of the total data is completed to the worker who uses the machine is indicated by lighting of the light emitting unit 43, ringing of the buzzer 44, vibration of the vibrator 45, and the like. Informed. And it determines with No in step S135 until a power switch is turned off, and the process from step S101 is made.

  On the other hand, from the comparison result in step S117 described above, each level of the transmission superiority determination factor in the own device is not higher than that in the other device in step S119. Is not determined in step S119. Further, even if each level of the transmission superiority determination factor in the own device is not lower than that of the other device, the state necessary for transmitting the aggregated data to the host computer 12 by the wide area wireless communication unit 48 is maintained. If not, it is determined No in step S119.

  Then, in step S137 of FIG. 5, it is determined whether or not master selection information has been received. When master selection information is received from a master terminal which is another device (see S121), it is determined Yes. Thereby, the read information transmission processing is performed in step S139, assuming that the own device is a slave terminal. In this process, the read information of the own device read by the above-described reading process is transmitted to the master terminal by the local wireless communication unit 47. In step S141, when the fact that transmission of the total data has been completed is received from the master terminal (see S131), the process from step S101 is performed until it is determined Yes and the power switch is turned off.

  On the other hand, when the master selection information is not received in step S137 (No in S137), it is determined in step S143 whether or not a predetermined time has passed in a state where the master selection information is not received. Here, when the state where the master selection information is not received does not elapse for a predetermined time, the determination of No is repeated in steps S137 and S143 until the master selection information is received.

  Here, all of the mobile terminals 11a to 11f maintain a state necessary for transmitting the aggregate data to the host computer 12 by the wide area wireless communication unit 48, for example, the remaining battery level is low at the determination timing. If the master terminal is in an inappropriate state, the master selection information may not be transmitted (S121). In this case, the state in which the determination of No is repeated in steps S137 and S143 continues for a predetermined time, and it is determined Yes in step S143 after the predetermined time has elapsed.

  In step S145, a hold process is performed. In this process, the read information stored in the memory 35 is not sent to the host computer 12 at the current determination timing, but is put on hold, and the read information is also transmitted to the host computer 12 at the next determination timing. Made.

  As described above, in the mobile terminals 11a to 11f according to the first embodiment, at the determination timing, the transmission superiority determination factor of the own device and the transmission superiority determination factor of the other device received by the local wireless communication unit. Based on this, when it is determined that the own device has superiority with respect to transmission with the host computer 12 compared to the other device, the read information of the own device and the read information of the other device received by the local wireless communication unit 47 are aggregated. The data is aggregated as data, and the aggregated data is transmitted to the host computer 12 by the wide area wireless communication unit 48.

As a result, when it is determined that the own device has an advantage over wide-area transmission with the host computer 12 located at a remote place as compared with other neighboring devices, the reading information of the own device and the reading of the other device Aggregated data obtained by aggregating information is transmitted to the host computer 12 by the wide area wireless communication unit 48 of the own device. For this reason, compared with the case where the individual mobile terminals 11a to 11f read the read information themselves by the wide area wireless communication unit 48 individually to the host computer 12, the communication traffic is not increased, The decrease in the remaining battery level can be suppressed except for the master terminal. Further, when the other machine has superiority with respect to wide-area transmission, it is only necessary to transmit the read information of the own machine to the other machine by the local wireless communication unit 47. When it is determined that there is no superiority, it is possible to reliably suppress a decrease in the remaining battery level.
Accordingly, information acquired by the plurality of portable terminals 11a to 11f including the own device and other devices can be efficiently transmitted to the host computer 12.

  Further, in the mobile terminals 11a to 11f according to the first embodiment, as a measuring unit for measuring a transmission superiority determination factor, a radio wave state measuring unit 51 that measures a radio wave state of the own device related to the wide area wireless communication unit 48, A battery sensor 52 for measuring the remaining battery level of the machine, and the work processing load of the machine is measured in step S111. The radio wave condition, the remaining battery level, and the work processing load are factors that have a high influence on wide-area transmission. Therefore, by taking these into account, it is possible to perform highly accurate measurement on the superiority of wide-area transmission.

  Furthermore, in the portable terminals 11a to 11f according to the first embodiment, based on one of the results obtained by evaluating the radio wave state, the battery remaining amount, and the work processing load at each of a plurality of stages by the comparison process in step S117. Since it is determined whether or not has an advantage regarding wide area transmission, it is possible to make a more accurate determination regarding the advantage.

  Further, in the mobile terminals 11a to 11f according to the first embodiment, the radio wave state, the remaining battery level, and the work processing load maintain the state necessary for transmitting the total data to the host computer 12 by the wide area wireless communication unit. If not, it is determined No in step S119, and it is determined that the own device does not have superiority regarding wide-area transmission regardless of the transmission superiority determination factor of the other device. Thereby, when the state necessary for transmitting the aggregate data to the host computer 12 by the wide area wireless communication unit 48 is not maintained, it is ensured that the portable terminal does not become the master terminal of the wide area transmitter. Can do.

  Further, in the mobile terminals 11a to 11f according to the first embodiment, the determination timing is determined based on the elapsed time in step S103, and therefore the aggregated data is transmitted to the host computer 12 at an optimal timing considering the elapsed time. can do. Further, by determining the determination timing based not only on the elapsed time but also on the data amount and the number of data of the read information, the aggregated data can be transmitted to the host computer 12 at an optimal timing considering these conditions.

  Further, in the mobile terminals 11a to 11f according to the first embodiment, when it is determined that the own device has superiority regarding wide-area transmission, the local wireless communication unit 47 informs that in step S121. In order to wirelessly transmit to each portable terminal, the other plurality of portable terminals that have not yet performed the process of step S117 can use the read information only by using the local wireless communication unit 47 without considering the above advantages. Wireless transmission to the host computer 12 is possible.

  Furthermore, in the portable terminals 11a to 11f according to the first embodiment, when it is determined that the own device has superiority with respect to wide area transmission, in step S123, that fact is turned on and the buzzer 44 sounds. Since the notification is made by the vibration of the vibrator 45 or the like, the worker can recognize that the mobile terminal being used is the master terminal of the wide-area transmitter at the present time. Thereby, work can be smoothly performed on the assumption that the battery remaining amount is reduced or the work processing load is increased due to the mobile terminal being selected as the master terminal.

  The mobile terminal system 10 according to the first embodiment includes a plurality of the mobile terminals 11a to 11f that can wirelessly communicate with each other by the local wireless communication unit 47, and each of the mobile terminals 11a to 11f and the wide area wireless communication unit 48. A host computer 12 capable of wireless communication is provided. Then, the host computer 12 analyzes the read information read by each of the mobile terminals 11a to 11f based on the aggregate data wirelessly transmitted from any one of the mobile terminals 11a to 11f. Thereby, since the information acquired in each portable terminal 11a-11f is transmitted to the host computer 12 by the master terminal of any one wide area transmission role, without increasing communication traffic, each except a master terminal Since the decrease in the remaining battery level of the mobile terminal is suppressed, efficient transmission of acquired information can be realized.

  Furthermore, in the portable terminal system 10 according to the first embodiment, since all the portable terminals 11a to 11f are in an inappropriate state as portable terminals having a wide-area transmission role at the determination timing, the advantage regarding wide-area transmission is obtained. If it is determined that it does not have (No in S119), the master selection information is not received (No in S137), so that it is in a suspended state and the aggregated data is not wirelessly transmitted to the host computer 12. For this reason, the master terminal serving as the wide-area transmitter can wirelessly transmit the aggregated data to the host computer 12 only when the transmission superiority determination factors such as the radio wave state and the remaining battery level are good.

  Further, in the mobile terminal system 10 according to the first embodiment, when the determination timing is set by executing the transmission request in any one of the mobile terminals 11a to 11f (Yes in S105), the setting timing is set. The local wireless communication unit 47 wirelessly transmits to another portable terminal. In other mobile terminals, the determination timing is determined according to the received setting timing. Thereby, an operator who works using any one of the portable terminals 11a to 11f can set a desired determination timing, for example, when he / she wants to quickly transmit the read read information to the host computer 12.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment that embodies the portable terminal and portable terminal system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the mobile terminals 11a to 11f according to the second embodiment, the above-described data transmission processing is performed based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 6 instead of the flowchart shown in FIG. Is different from the portable terminal according to the first embodiment. Therefore, substantially the same components as those of the mobile terminal and the mobile terminal system of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

Hereinafter, data transmission processing of the mobile terminal according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6 using the mobile terminal 11a as a representative example.
In a state in which the transmission request is not performed (No in S105) and the transmission request from other portable terminals 11b to 11f is not received (No in S107) instead of the determination timing (No in S103), the worker If a predetermined key operation is performed on the key operation unit 41 so as not to be a master terminal, “Yes” is determined in step S108. Subsequently, in step S108a, the flag Fa is set to Fa = 1 indicating that the own device is not used as a master terminal, and the processing from step S101 is repeated.

  Then, if the determination in Step S103 is Yes or the determination in Step S105 is Yes, the process in Step S109 is performed, or if the determination in Step S107 is Yes, the flag Fa = Whether it is 1 or not is determined. Here, if the key operation for not making the own device the master terminal is not performed and Fa = 1 is not satisfied (No in S110), the processing from step S111 described above is performed.

  On the other hand, if a key operation is performed to prevent the device from becoming the master terminal and Fa = 1 (Yes in S110), reduction processing is performed in step S110a, and actual measurement values are taken into consideration. In other words, the radio wave state of the own device, the remaining battery level, and the work processing load are all set to the lowest level (L level). For this reason, in the determination process of step S119 mentioned above, it will always determine with No. The control circuit 40 that performs steps S110a, S108, and the like corresponds to an example of “reducing means” described in the claims.

  As a result, in the second embodiment, for example, an operator who desires to use for a longer time performs a key operation not to set his / her own device as a master terminal (Yes in S108). Since a certain radio wave state, remaining battery level and work processing load are all reduced to such an extent that it can be determined that there is no superiority, the load caused by the mobile terminal 11a being used becoming a master terminal having a wide-area transmission role is eliminated. Can do.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment that embodies the portable terminal and portable terminal system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the mobile terminals 11a to 11f according to the third embodiment, the data transmission process described above is performed based on the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 instead of the flowcharts shown in FIGS. The point which the portable terminal which was a terminal selects the next master terminal differs from the portable terminal which concerns on the said 1st Embodiment. Therefore, substantially the same components as those of the mobile terminal and the mobile terminal system of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

Hereinafter, data transmission processing of the mobile terminal according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 7 and 8 using the mobile terminal 11a as a representative example.
Similarly to the first embodiment, when the transmission superiority determination factor measurement process is performed in step S111 of FIG. 7 and the radio wave state of the own device, the remaining battery level, and the work processing load level are set, respectively. In step S112, it is determined whether or not the own device was the master terminal at the previous determination timing. Here, if the own device is not the previous master terminal (No in S112), the transmission superiority determination factor (the own radio wave state, the remaining battery level and the work processing load) set as described above in Step S113a. These levels are transmitted by the local wireless communication unit 47 toward the previous master terminal.

  On the other hand, if the own device is the previous master terminal (Yes in S112), if all levels of transmission superiority determination factors are received from other portable terminals 11b to 11f in Step S115 (Yes in S115), Step S117 is performed. The comparison process is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment. And in step S121, based on the said comparison result, the master selection information which shows which terminal is the portable terminal which has the predominance regarding wide area transmission is transmitted to other portable terminals 11b-11f.

  If it is determined in step S122 that the own device does not become a master terminal based on the comparison result (No in S122), the process of step S139 in FIG. 8 is performed. Thereby, the reading information of the own device read by the reading process is transmitted to the master terminal selected in step S121 by the local wireless communication unit 47. The control circuit 40 that executes step S122 corresponds to an example of a “determination unit” recited in the claims.

  On the other hand, since the own device is the previous slave terminal, if each level of the transmission superiority determination factor is transmitted to the previous master terminal in step S113a, has the master selection information been received in step S137 of FIG. It is determined whether or not. Here, when the master selection information transmitted in step S121 as described above is received by the portable terminal of the master terminal last time, Yes is determined in step S137. If it is determined that the own device does not become a master terminal based on the master selection information (No in S122), the read information of the own device read by the reading process in step S139 is the local wireless communication unit 47. Is sent to the master terminal.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S122 that the portable terminal that was the previous master terminal becomes the master terminal (Yes in S122), the process after step S123 in FIG. Made. If it is determined in step S138 that the mobile terminal that was the slave terminal last time becomes the master terminal (Yes in S138), the process from step S123 in FIG. Made.

  As described above, in the mobile terminals 11a to 11f and the mobile terminal system 10 according to the third embodiment, the previous master terminal determines the master terminal at the next determination timing, and notifies each mobile terminal to that effect. Wireless transmission. Then, the determined master terminal totals the read information and transmits the total data to the host computer 12 by the wide area wireless communication unit 48. Thereby, in each portable terminal 11a-11f, except the last master terminal, it becomes unnecessary to judge the said superiority, respectively, Therefore The work processing load in each portable terminal can be reduced.

[Fourth Embodiment]
Next, 4th Embodiment which actualized the portable terminal and portable terminal system of this invention is described with reference to drawings.
In the mobile terminals 11a to 11f according to the fourth embodiment, the data transmission process described above is performed based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 9 instead of the flowchart shown in FIG. 7, and the host computer 12 performs the analysis process in FIG. The point which performs arithmetic processing based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 6 is different from the portable terminal system according to the third embodiment. Therefore, substantially the same components as those of the mobile terminal and the mobile terminal system of the third embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

First, the data transmission process of the mobile terminal according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 9 using the mobile terminal 11a as a representative example.
The host computer is not in the determination timing (No in S103), the transmission request is not executed (No in S105), and the transmission request from the other portable terminals 11b to 11f is not received (No in S107) as described later. When the request for the total data from 12 is received by the wide area wireless communication unit 48, Yes is determined in step S106. As a result of this determination, the transmission request process of the transmission superiority determination factor is performed in step S109 and the transmission superiority is determined in step S111 after the determination of Yes in step S103 and the determination of Yes in step S105. Judgment factor measurement processing is performed.

  And since the own machine was the master terminal last time (Yes in S112), when all the levels of the transmission superiority determination factors are received from the other portable terminals 11b to 11f in Step S115 (Yes in S115), In step S118, wide-area transmission processing for all transmission superiority determination factors is performed. In this process, all the transmission superiority determination factors received in step S115 are transmitted to the host computer 12 by the wide area wireless communication unit 48. When master selection information to be described later is received from the host computer 12 (Yes in S118a), the processing from step S121 described above is performed.

Next, analysis processing of the host computer 12 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This analysis process is performed by a control circuit such as a CPU that controls the entire host computer 12.
First, it is determined whether or not a transmission superiority determination factor has been received from the master terminal in step S201 in FIG. 10, and it is determined No if no transmission superiority determination factor has been received.

  Then, in step S203, it is determined whether or not to request aggregate data from the previous master terminal. If there is no request for aggregate data, it is determined No. Then, in step S207, it is determined whether or not a master terminal is selected. If there is no master terminal selection request, it is determined as No and the processing from step S201 is repeated.

  Here, if the operator who uses the host computer 12 requests total data, it is determined Yes in step S203, and total data request processing is performed in step S205. In this process, an instruction to request total data is given to the previous master terminal via the base station 13. With this process, the previous master terminal is determined to be Yes in the above-described step S106, the processes from step S109 to S118 are performed, and the above-described wide-area transmission process of all transmission superiority determination factors is performed. Become.

  In addition, when a request for selecting a master terminal is made by an operator using the host computer 12 (Yes in S207), in step S209, the flag Fb indicates Fb = 1 indicating that a master terminal selection request has been made. And the processing from step S201 is repeated.

  Then, while the processing from step S201 is repeated, at the previous master terminal, for example, when the determination timing is reached (Yes in S103) or when a request for total data is received (Yes in S106), in step S118 Wide area transmission processing of all transmission superiority determination factors is performed, and all transmission superiority determination factors of the mobile terminals 11 a to 11 f are transmitted to the host computer 12. When all the transmission superiority determination factors are received via the base station 13, it is determined Yes in step S201.

  Subsequently, it is determined in step S211 whether or not the flag Fb = 1, and if selection of a master terminal is not requested (No in S211), a comparison process is performed in step S213. Thereby, similarly to step S117 mentioned above, each level of all the transmission superiority determination factors of each portable terminal 11a-11f received in step S201 is compared with each other. Then, in step S215, master selection information transmission processing is performed, a master terminal is selected based on the comparison result, and a message to that effect is transmitted to the previous master terminal.

  On the other hand, if selection of the master terminal is requested and the flag Fb = 1, it is determined Yes in step S211, the comparison process in step S213 described above is not performed, and master selection information transmission is performed in step S215. Processing is done. That is, when the selection of the master terminal is requested, it is assumed that the selected mobile terminal is the master terminal without considering each level of all transmission superiority determination factors of the mobile terminals 11a to 11f. Transmission processing is performed.

  As a result of the master selection information transmission processing as described above, when the previous master terminal receives the master selection information by the wide area wireless communication unit 48 (Yes in S118a), the local wireless communication unit 47 performs another process in step S121. The master selection information is transmitted to the portable terminals 11b to 11f. Thus, when the master terminal receives and summarizes the read information of each portable terminal by the local wireless communication unit 47 as in the third embodiment, the aggregated data is received by the wide area wireless communication unit 48 by the host computer 12 in step S129. Sent to.

  When the total data transmitted in this way is received by the host computer 12 (Yes in S217), a predetermined analysis process is performed on the total data in step S219, and the power switch (not shown) is turned off. Until it becomes a state, it determines with No in step S221, and the process from step S201 is made.

  As described above, in the mobile terminals 11a to 11f and the mobile terminal system 10 according to the fourth embodiment, the determination timing is determined based on the instruction from the host computer 12 by the processing in steps S203 and S205. It is possible to set the timing for receiving the total data via the host computer 12.

  Further, in the mobile terminals 11a to 11f and the mobile terminal system 10 according to the fourth embodiment, the processing of steps S207 and S209 is performed without considering each transmission superiority determination factor based on the instruction from the host computer 12. Since the master terminal is selected, and it is determined that the own terminal has superiority regarding wide-area transmission, the portable terminal that wishes to transmit the total data can be selected via the host computer 12. it can.

  Furthermore, in the mobile terminals 11a to 11f and the mobile terminal system 10 according to the fourth embodiment, the host computer 12 selects one master terminal based on each transmission superiority determination factor received from the previous master terminal. At the same time, the selected mobile terminal is instructed to be the selected master terminal via the previous master terminal. Then, the selected master terminal counts each read information in accordance with the instruction and transmits the totaled data to the host computer 12 by the wide area wireless communication unit 48. Thereby, in each portable terminal 11a-11f, since it becomes unnecessary to judge the said superiority, respectively, the work processing load in each portable terminal 11a-11f can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and may be embodied as follows. Even in this case, the same operations and effects as those of the above embodiments can be obtained.
(1) The mobile terminal system 10 is not limited to six mobile terminals as reading work terminals, and may be 5 or less or 7 or more. In addition, not all mobile terminals are configured to function as master terminals, but some mobile terminals (for example, mobile terminals 11c to 11f) may be configured as dedicated slave terminals.

(2) Each portable terminal is not limited to optically reading the information code as read information. For example, the portable terminal can read information such as a wireless tag as read information by adopting a reading unit that reads by wireless communication. Also good.

(3) The transmission superiority determination factor is not limited to the radio wave state of the own device, the remaining battery level, and the work processing load, but may be any factor for determining the superiority regarding wide area transmission. Further, the level of each transmission superiority determination factor is not limited to three levels, and may be two levels, for example, or four or more levels.

(4) The measurement process in step S111 is not limited to measuring the radio wave state of the own device, the remaining battery level, and the work processing load, and may be at least one of them, or may determine another transmission advantage. Additional factors may be measured. In the comparison processing in step S117, the comparison is not limited to comparing the radio wave state of the own device, the remaining battery level, and the work processing load, and at least any one of the comparisons may be performed. You may compare by adding factors.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Portable terminal system 11a-11f ... Portable terminal 12 ... Host computer 28 ... Light receiving sensor (reading means)
35 ... Memory 40 ... Control circuit (reading means, measuring means, judging means, data counting means, timing determining means, reducing means, timing setting means)
43 ... Light emitting section (notification means)
44 ... Buzzer (notification means)
45. Vibrator (notification means)
47. Local wireless communication unit (local wireless communication means)
48 ... Wide area wireless communication unit (Wide area wireless communication means)
49 ... Battery
51. Radio wave state measuring unit (radio wave state measuring means)
52 ... Battery sensor (battery remaining amount measuring means)

Claims (15)

A portable terminal that has reading means for reading external information as read information and wirelessly communicates with a plurality of other portable terminals that are other devices and a host computer that is located farther than each of these portable terminals,
Wide area wireless communication means capable of wireless communication with the host computer;
Measuring means for measuring a transmission superiority determination factor, which is a factor for determining the superiority of the own device with respect to other devices with respect to transmission with the host computer;
Local wireless communication means capable of wireless communication with the plurality of other portable terminals regarding the information including the transmission superiority determination factor and the read information;
Based on the transmission superiority determination factor of the own device and the transmission superiority determination factor of the other device received by the local wireless communication means, the own device has superiority with respect to transmission with the host computer compared to the other device. Determining means for determining whether or not to have;
A data totaling unit capable of tabulating the read information of the own device read by the reading unit and the read information of the other device received by the local wireless communication unit as total data;
Timing determining means for determining the timing of determination by the determining means;
With
When the determination unit determines that the own device has the superiority at the determination timing determined by the timing determination unit, the total data is totaled by the data totaling unit and the total data is used as the wide area wireless communication unit. A portable terminal that transmits to the host computer. The measuring means includes
Radio wave state measuring means for measuring the radio wave state of the own device relating to the wide area wireless communication means;
A battery level measuring means for measuring the battery level of the own device;
Work processing load measuring means for measuring the work processing load of the own machine including the processing load related to the reading means,
The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the transmission superiority determination factor is at least one of the radio wave state, the remaining battery level, and the work processing load. The determination means includes
When the radio wave condition is used as one of the transmission superiority determination factors, the radio wave condition of the own device is selected from any of a plurality of stages according to comparison with two or more thresholds based on signal strength and signal quality. Evaluate with
When the remaining battery level is used as one of the transmission superiority determination factors, a plurality of the remaining battery levels of its own device are set according to comparison with two or more thresholds based on battery information including battery voltage. Evaluate at any of the stages
When the work processing load is used as one of the transmission superiority determination factors, the work processing load of the self-machine is compared with a threshold of two or more stages based on the number of reading work and the operating rate of the reading means. Depending on one of several stages,
The mobile terminal according to claim 2, wherein it is determined whether or not the own device has the superiority based on at least one of the evaluations.   The determination means maintains at least one of the radio wave state, the remaining battery level, and the work processing load in a state necessary for transmitting the aggregated data to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication means. 4. The mobile terminal according to claim 2, wherein if there is not, the portable terminal determines that the own apparatus does not have the superiority regardless of the transmission superiority determining factor of the other apparatus. 5.   The said timing determination means determines the said determination timing based on at least any one of elapsed time, the data amount of the said reading information, and the number of data items, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Mobile devices.   The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the timing determination unit determines the determination timing based on an instruction from the host computer.   7. The determination means, based on an instruction from the host computer, determines that the own apparatus has the superiority without considering the transmission superiority determining factor of another apparatus. The portable terminal as described in any one of.   2. When the determination unit determines that the own device has the superiority, the local wireless communication unit wirelessly transmits a message to that effect to each of the other mobile terminals. The portable terminal as described in any one of -7.   The portable terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising a notification unit that notifies the fact when the determination unit determines that the own device has the superiority.   The said transmission advantage determination factor measured by the said measurement means is provided with the reduction means to reduce to the grade which can be determined not to have the said advantage, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Mobile device. The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the mobile terminal includes a plurality of mobile terminals capable of wireless communication with each other by the local wireless communication means, and wireless communication is possible with each of the mobile terminals and the wide area wireless communication means. A portable terminal system comprising the host computer,
The host computer analyzes the read information read by each portable terminal based on the total data wirelessly transmitted from any one of the portable terminals. Each transmission superiority determination factor of each mobile terminal is wirelessly transmitted to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication means of at least one of the mobile terminals,
The host computer selects one of the portable terminals from among the portable terminals based on the received transmission superiority determination factors, and selects the portable terminal having the superiority with respect to the transmission to the host computer. To indicate that is the selected mobile device,
12. The selected portable terminal, according to the instruction, aggregates the aggregated data by the data aggregating unit and transmits the aggregated data to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication unit. The portable terminal system described in 1. Among the mobile terminals, the mobile terminal that wirelessly transmitted the aggregate data to the host computer transmits the transmission superiority determination factor of the own apparatus and the transmission of the other apparatus received by the local wireless communication means at the next determination timing. Determine the mobile terminal having the superiority based on the superiority determination factor, and wirelessly transmit the fact to each mobile terminal,
12. The portable terminal system according to claim 11, wherein the determined portable terminal aggregates the aggregate data by the data aggregation means and transmits the aggregate data to the host computer by the wide area wireless communication means. .   12. The aggregate data is not wirelessly transmitted to the host computer when the determination unit determines that the superiority does not exist in all the mobile terminals at the determination timing. Mobile terminal system. Each of the mobile terminals includes a timing setting unit capable of setting the determination timing to a desired timing,
When the determination timing is set by the timing setting means, the setting timing is wirelessly transmitted to another portable terminal by the local wireless communication means,
The mobile terminal system according to claim 11, wherein the timing determination unit determines the determination timing according to the received setting timing.

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