Patent Application
20060083261
This application claims priority to prior Japanese patent application JP 2004-304412, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data transmission apparatus, a data transmission method, and a data transmission program for transmitting data to which destination information is added, to an opponent shown by the destination information, and to a recording medium to which the program is recorded, and more particularly, to a dt transmission apparatus, a data transmission method, a data transmission program, and a recording medium for transmitting data by selecting any of a plurality of communication interfaces for connecting to different communication networks, respectively,
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, communication terminals having a plurality of communication devices for connecting to different communication networks, respectively have become widespread. These communication terminals are, for example, mobile phones corresponding to Local Area Network (Wireless LAN), Wireless LAN terminals capable of corresponding to different communication systems of Wireless LAN, and the like. Further, there exists a communication terminal in which two communication service operators share the same Wireless LAN access point, and the both communication networks can be connected by selectively using device drivers.
These communication terminals can provide users with a more convenient communication environment by making the best use of the advantages of the communication terminals by selectively using communication devices, device drivers, or combinations of them (which are generically called communication interfaces hereinafter) depending on circumstances. For example, high speed and comfortable Wireless LAN is used in the communication areas of Wireless LAN distributed in urban areas and circuit switching networks for mobile phones, which have a wide communication area, are used in suburbs where Wireless LAN cannot be used.
Incidentally, communication interfaces must be switched frequently sometimes. This is, for example, a case in which the statuses of radio waves of a plurality of different radio communication devices provided with a communication terminal change as the devices move. When the communication interfaces are switched frequently, switching them by a user not only takes a lot of time and labor but also may cause a problem in that an improper communication interface is selected by a misoperation.
To cope with the above problems, a data transmission apparatus for switching a transmission path for every transmission data has been proposed (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-120195, paragraphs 15 and 16, FIG. 9). This proposal includes a table describing communication quality in correspondence to the paths that can be employed up to respective opponents. Utilization of the table permits to execute a communication by selecting a proper path for each unit of transmission data and using a communication interface corresponding to the proper path.
However, when respective communication interfaces are connected to relatively large networks, the number of paths that can be employed to up respective opponents increases. As a result, since the amount of information described in the table increases, selecting a proper path takes a long time.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a data transmission apparatus, a data transmission method, a data transmission program, and a recording medium which can transmit data by effectively selecting a proper communication interface from a plurality of communication interfaces.
In a first aspect of the invention, a data transmission apparatus includes (a) a plurality of sets of communication network connection means for connecting to different communication networks, respectively, (b) communication quality information store means for storing communication quality information as information as to the communication quality of the communication networks, to which the communication network connection means are connected, by corresponding the communication quality information to each of the plurality of sets of communication network connection means, (c) a plurality of address path correspondence tables each disposed to each of the transmission network connection means to store the addresses of respective opponents and path information as information showing paths to the addresses through the communication networks, to which the transmission network connection means are connected, by corresponding the addresses to the path information, (d) to-be-used communication network connection means selection means for selecting communication network connection means which is used to transmit data as the object of transmission based on the communication quality information stored in the communication quality information store means, (e) address path correspondence table discrimination means for discriminating an address path correspondence table corresponding to the communication network connection means selected by the to-be-used communication network connection means selection means from the plurality of address path correspondence tables, (f) path information acquisition mean for acquiring corresponding path information by searching the destination address of the data by the address path correspondence table discriminated by the address path correspondence table determination means, and (g) data transmission means for transmitting the data through the path shown by the path information acquired by the path information acquisition means.
More specifically, the first aspect of the invention has the plurality of sets of communication network connection means for connecting to the different communication networks, respectively and the communication quality information store means for storing the communication quality information as the information as to the communication quality of the communication networks to which the respective sets of the communication network connection means are connected. Further, the first aspect of the invention has the plurality of address path correspondence tables each disposed to each of the transmission network connection means to store the addresses of the respective opponents and the path information as the information showing the paths to the addresses through the communication networks, to which the transmission network connection means are connected, by corresponding the addresses to the path information. A communication network connection means, which is used to the transmission of the data as the object of transmission, is selected based on the communication quality information stored in the communication quality information store means, and a corresponding address path correspondence table is discriminated. Then, the destination address of the data is searched from the discriminated address path correspondence table, and the data is transmitted through the path shown by the corresponding path information. With this operation, it is possible to select a proper communication network to each set of data as the object of transmission and to transmit the data using a communication network connection means connecting to the communication network. Further, since the path correspondence table is provided with each communication network connection means, a path can be selected by two steps of selecting a communication network connection means based on communication quality and selecting a path based on destination information, thereby the path can be more effectively selected.
In a second aspect of the invention, a method of establishing connection between a wireless terminal and a destination terminal, the wireless terminal being connectable to at least two communication networks each of which is connected to an internet, the destination terminal being connected to the internet, includes the steps of; (a) selecting one of the communication networks at the wireless terminal based on communication quality of the communication networks; (b) selecting a path through the communication network and the internet selected at the step (a) at the wireless terminal based on the network address of the destination terminal; and (c) establishing a connection between the wireless terminal and the destination terminal through the path selected at the step (b).
In a third aspect of the invention, a data transmission method includes (a) a requested quality discrimination step of discriminating requested quality as communication quality requested to the transmission of data intended to be transmitted using a plurality of sets of communication network connection means for connecting to different communication networks, respectively, (b) a communication network connection means selection step of discriminating communication quality information, which is most suitable to the requested quality discriminated at the requested quality discrimination step, as information as to the communication quality of the communication networks to which the plurality of sets of communication network connection means are connected from communication quality information store means in which the communication quality information is stored in correspondence to each of the respective sets of communication network connection means and selecting a corresponding communication network connection means as communication network connection means to be used to the transmission of the data, (c) an address path correspondence table discrimination step of discriminating an address path correspondence table, which corresponds to the communication network connection means selected at the communication network connection means selection step from a plurality of address path correspondence tables which are disposed to the respective sets of the communication network connection means and in which opponent addresses and path information as information showing paths up to the addresses through communication networks, to which the communication network connection means are connected, are stored in correspondence to each other, (d) a path information acquisition step of searching the destination address of the data as an object of transmission in the address path correspondence table discriminated at the address path correspondence table discrimination step and acquiring corresponding path information, and (e) data transmission step of transmitting the data through the path shown by the path information acquired at the path information acquisition step.
More specifically, in the third aspect of the invention, first, requested quality as communication quality requested to transmission and added to data as an object of transmission is discriminated. Then, a corresponding communication network connection means is selected by discriminating the communication quality information most suitable to the discriminated requested quality from the communication quality information store means for storing the communication quality information as the information of the communication network to which the plurality of sets of communication network connection means connect.
An address path correspondence table, which corresponds to the selected communication network connection means, is discriminated from the plurality of address path correspondence tables which are disposed to the respective sets of the communication network connection means and in which the opponent addresses and the path information as the information showing the paths up to the addresses through communication networks, to which the communication network connection means are connected, are stored in correspondence to each other. Then, the destination address of the data as the object of transmission is searched in the discriminated address path correspondence table, and the data is transmitted through the path shown by the corresponding path information. With this operation, each set of data as the object of transmission can be transmitted using a proper communication network connection means. Further, since a path can be selected by two steps of selecting a communication network connection means based on communication quality and selecting a path based on destination information, the path can be more effectively selected.
In a fourth aspect of the invention, a computer of a data transmission apparatus is caused to execute (a) requested quality discrimination processing for discriminating requested quality as communication quality requested to the transmission of data which the data transmission apparatus intends to transmit using a plurality of sets of communication network connection means for connecting to different communication networks, respectively, (b) communication network connection means selection processing for discriminating communication quality information, which is most suitable to the requested quality discriminated by the requested quality discrimination processing, as information as to the communication quality of the communication networks to which the plurality of sets of communication network connection means are connected from communication quality information store means in which the communication quality information is stored in correspondence to each of the respective sets of the communication network connection means and selecting a corresponding communication network connection means as communication network connection means to be used to the transmission of the data, (c) address path correspondence table discrimination processing for discriminating an address path correspondence table, which corresponds to the communication network connection means selected by the communication network connection means selection processing from a plurality of address path correspondence tables which are disposed to the respective sets of the communication network connection means and in which opponent addresses and path information as information showing paths up to the addresses through communication networks to which the communication network connection means are connected, (d) path information acquisition processing for searching the destination address of the data as an object of transmission in the address path correspondence table discriminated by the address path correspondence table discrimination processing and acquiring corresponding path information, and (e) data transmission processing for transmitting the data through the path shown by the path information acquired by the path information acquisition processing.
More specifically, in the fourth aspect of the invention, first, requested quality as communication quality requested to transmission and added to data as an object of transmission is discriminated. Then, a corresponding communication network connection means is selected by discriminating the communication quality information most suitable to the discriminated requested quality from the communication quality information store means for storing the communication quality information as the information of the communication network to which the plurality of sets of communication network connection means connect.
An address path correspondence table, which corresponds to the selected communication network connection means, is discriminated from the plurality of address path correspondence tables which are disposed to the respective sets of the communication network connection means and in which the opponent addresses and the path information up to the addresses through communication networks, to which the communication network connection means are connected, are stored in correspondence to each other. Then, the destination address of the data as the object of transmission is searched in the discriminated address path correspondence table, and the data is transmitted through the path shown by the corresponding path information. With this operation, each set of data as the object of transmission can be transmitted using a proper communication network connection means. Further, since a path can be selected by two steps of selecting a communication network connection means based on communication quality and selecting a path based on destination information, the path can be more effectively selected.
In a fifth aspect of the invention, a machine language readable recording medium records a program for executing (a) a requested quality discrimination procedure for discriminating requested quality as communication quality requested to the transmission of data intended to be transmitted using a plurality of sets of communication network connection means for connecting to different communication networks, respectively, (b) a communication network connection means selection procedure for discriminating communication quality information, which is most suitable to the requested quality discriminated by the requested quality discrimination procedure, as information as to the communication quality of the communication networks to which the plurality of sets of communication network connection means are connected from communication quality information store means in which the communication quality information is stored in correspondence to each of the respective sets of communication network connection means and selecting a corresponding communication network connection means as communication network connection means to be used to the transmission of the data, (c) an address path correspondence table discrimination procedure for discriminating an address path correspondence table, which corresponds to the communication network connection means selected by the communication network connection means selection procedure from a plurality of address path correspondence tables which are disposed to the respective sets of the communication network connection means and in which opponent addresses and path information as information showing paths up to the addresses through communication networks to which the communication network connection means are connected, (d) a path information acquisition procedure for searching the destination address of the data as an object of transmission in the address path correspondence table discriminated by the address path correspondence table discrimination procedure and acquiring corresponding path information, and (e) a data transmission procedure for transmitting the data through the path shown by the path information acquired by the path information acquisition procedure.
More specifically, in the fifth aspect of the invention, the machine language readable recording medium stores the program for executing the procedures similar to the respective processings executed by the fourth aspect of the invention. Accordingly, even a general-purpose data transmission apparatus can use a proper communication network connection means for each set of data as the object of transmission as well as transmit the data by effectively selecting a path.
As described above, in the present invention, a communication network connection means suitable to data as the object of transmission is selected to each set of data formed the plurality of sets of the communication network connection means. Further, the address path correspondence table, which corresponds to the selected communication network connection means, is discriminated from the plurality of address path correspondence tables which are disposed to the respective sets of the communication network connection means and in which the opponent addresses and the path information up to the addresses through communication networks, to which the communication network connection means are connected, are stored in correspondence to each other. Then, the path information is acquired making use of the discriminated address path correspondence table, and data is transmitted. As a result, since a proper communication network connection means is selected to each set of data and an address path correspondence table, which corresponds only to the communication network connection means, is used, data can be transmitted by effectively selecting a proper path.
The present invention will be explained below as to an embodiment.
The first and second Wireless Base Transceiver Stations 206 and 207 execute a wireless communication using Wideband—Code Division Multiple Access (W—CBMA). Although the first and second Wireless Base Transceiver Stations 206 and 207 actually share various apes of devices such as a communication circuit and the like, they are logically handled as separate Wireless Base Transceiver Stations because they execute a communication through different channels, respectively. Further, the third Wireless Base Transceiver Station 205 executes a wireless communication through Wireless LAN corresponding to both IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.) 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g. The mobile phone 209 includes a plurality of different communication circuits corresponding to these communication systems, respectively and can communicates with opponents corresponding to the first to third Wireless Base Transceiver Stations 206, 207, and 208, respectively.
Further, a user of the mobile phone 209 joins the communication services provided by the mobile phone operator and the first and second Wireless LAN operators described above. Accordingly, device drivers, which are necessary to connect the mobile phone 209 to the circuit switching network 202, the packet switching network 203, and the first and second LANs 204 and 205, are installed to the mobile phone 209, and necessary settings are input to the mobile phone 209. Therefore, the mobile phone 209 can be connected to the circuit switching network 202, the packet switching network 203, and the first and second LANs 204 and 205, respectively.
The physical interface of the first communication interface portion 2211 and the operator interface of the second communication interface portion 2212 are commonly shown as a “mobile phone operator”. This shows that there is used a device driver which is necessary to connect to the circuit switching network 202 and the packet switching network 203 distributed or set by the mobile phone operator that provides a communication service by the circuit switching network 202 and the packet switching network 203 of
More specifically, each of the first to fourth communication interface portions 2211 to 2214 is virtually provided by a combination of the physical interface and the operator interface. Accordingly, when a combination of different patterns is further realized or when other types of a physical interface and an operator interface are provided, the number of the communication interface portions 221 is increased. Inversely, a decrease of the number of combined patterns decreases the number of the communication interface portions 221.
The respective devices of the mobile phone 209 explained above is realized by memory mediums such as a central processing unit (CPU), a read only memory (ROM) that stores a control program, and the like, and circuit components as existing hardware, although any of them is not shown. Processing for transmitting data as an object to be transmitted from the communication interface portions 221 by the mobile phone 209 arranged as described above will be explained below.
The transmission data creation processing unit 222 is realized by one or a plurality of sets of application software. The user of the mobile phone 209 can create the transmission data by starting up desired application software by manipulating a not shown key switch included in the mobile phone 209 or using application software already started up. For example, the user can create a sentence by starting up e-mail creation software, instructs to transmit the sentence by setting a destination IP address or can instruct calling to a predetermined opponent by starting up phone call software. Further, there is a case in which the transmission data is automatically created by application software and subjected to transmission processing.
Since the destination information 303 is composed of the destination IP address 304 and the destination port number 305, even if the transmission data 301 has the same destination port number 305 corresponding to the same application software, the physical interface to be used can be changed depending to an opponent. When, for example, the transmission data 301 requests contents to a web server which provides contents mainly composed of text data, any physical interface may be employed. However, when the transmission data 301 requests contents to a server which provides contents including moving picture data, high speed Wireless LAN is preferably employed. Even in this case, a proper physical interface can be selected in correspondence to destination information by registering a physical interface in correspondence to each of the respective patterns of combination of the destination IP addresses 304 and the destination port numbers 305.
In the transmission data 301, since the destination IP address 304 is set to “192.168.3.220” and the destination port number 305 is set to “50”, “Wireless LAN” is obtained as the information of the physical interface to be used. The physical interface discrimination processing unit 252 supplies the obtained information of the physical interface to be used to the path controller 226. On receiving the information of the physical interface to be used, the path control table determination processing unit 243 of the path controller 226 determines a path control table 236 to be used by the IP packet creation/transmission processing unit 237 of the IP protocol processing unit 224.
The operator interface information is composed of a user ID used in communication services registered in the communication interface portions 221, a cryptographic key used to get security, authentication information to be transmitted when authentication is executed, and a communication fee. The operator interface information is information which is necessary when a communication interface portion 221 requests a connection to a corresponding network using a device driver and set when sign-up to various communication services is executed. Further, the communication status information is composed of a maximum transmission speed in a communication using the communication interface portions 221, an electric wave status in a wireless communication, a data error ratio in the communication using the communication interface portions 221, end a connection status of the communication interface portions 221 to a corresponding network. The communication interface portion manager 241 of
Returning to
The item “economical efficiency”, which is set to the numerical value “0” showing highest priority in the priority information table 244 shown in
Returning to
When the completion of connection is notified from the communication interface portions 221 and further the completion of creation of the path control table 236 is notified from the IP protocol processing unit 224 (step S319: Y), the corresponding connection status of the communication interface portion information database 242 is rewritten to “connection completed” (step S320). Further, path control table designation information is obtained referring to the communication interface portion correspondence table 245 as information for designating which one of the first to fourth path control tables 2361 to 2364 is to be used by the IP packet creation/transmission processing unit 237, and the path control table designation information is supplied to the transmission data analysis processing unit 225 of
Returning to
Here, the third communication interface portion 2213 is selected at step S315, and the connecting status thereof is in the “not connected” status. Accordingly, the third communication interface portion 2213 is connected to the first LAN 204, and the third path control table 2363 is created in the IP protocol processing unit 224. Then, the path control table determination processing unit 243 supplies the “Third path control table” to the transmission data analysis processing unit 225 as path control table designation information based on the communication interface portion correspondence table of
Here, since the path control table designation information 362 of the received second data 371 indicates the “third path control table”, the third path control table 2363 is determined as the path control table to be used.
Combinations of the destination network addresses and the network masks show the ranges of the IP addresses allocated to a corresponding network. Accordingly, a transmission interface and a gateway address for transmitting the IP packet 381 shown in
Further, when the path control table designation information 362 of the received second data 371 is a “fourth path control table portion”, the fourth path control table 2364 is determined as the path control table to be used by the path control table determination processing of
These first to fourth path control tables 2361 to 2364 are created by an instruction from the path controller 228. As explained already, when the connecting status of the communication interface portions 221, which has determined to use the transmission of the transmission data 301, is in the “not connected” status, the path controller 226 instructs the IP protocol processing unit 224 to create a corresponding path control table 236. On the completion of the connection of the corresponding communication interface portions 221, the IP protocol processing unit 224 creates the path control table 236 which uses only the communication interface portions 221 as a transmission interface. The gateway address of a default route is set based on the information received from a connection opponent by Point to Point Protocol (PPP) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), and the other destinations are set based on the information obtained by a protocol for exchanging predetermined routing information. When an arrangement of the communication system 200 of
When the new path control table 236 is created as described above, the IP protocol processing unit 224 individually sets information for identification such as, for example, the “third path control table” and the like and returns the information to the path controller 226. The path control table determination processing unit 243 receives the information returned to it through the communication interface portion manager 241 and registers the information to the communication interface portion correspondence table 245 of
When the path control table to be used is determined by the path control table determination processing of
Next, the destination network address, the network mask, and the metric of the row number i of the path control table 236 determined as the path control table to be used are read out (step S453), and whether or not they show the default route is first determined (step S454). Specifically, this is determined by whether or not the destination IP address is set to “0.0.0.0”. When they show the default route (Y), the numerical value of the row number i is incremented by 1 (step S455), and a process returns to step S453 and shifts to processing of a next row.
When they do not show the default route (step S454: N), an exclusive-or operation is executed to the destination IP address 304 of the IP packets 381 and the network mask of the row number i (step S456). When a result of the operation agrees with the destination network address of the row number i (step 457: Y), the parameter corresponding to the row number i of the metric alignment j set to the initial value “999” is overwritten by the metric of the row number i (step S458). When the processing does not reach a final row, that is, when the row number i does not agree with the number of rows n of the path control table to be used (step S459: N), the process goes to step S455 at which the numerical value of the row number i is incremented by 1 and returns to step S453 and shifts to processing of a next row. When the result of the exclusive-or operation does not agree with the destination network address of the row number i (step S457: N), since the transfer destination shown by the row does not correspond to the transfer destination of the IP packet 381, the process goes to step S459 without storing a metric in the metric alignment j.
The respective rows are sequentially processed from a first row by repeating step S453 to step S459. When the processing reaches the final row (step S459: Y), whether or not information as to the destination network, to which the address of the IP packets 381 belongs, exist is determined based on whether or not the metric alignment j changes from an initial status (step S460). When parameters, which change from an initial value, exist (step S460: Y), information showing a next transfer destination of the IP packets 381 is described in the row number i corresponding to the parameters. Accordingly, the row number of the parameter having a minimum value as the metric is specified from the parameters which have changed from the initial value, and the gateway address and the transmission interface of a corresponding row number is obtained from the path control table to be used (step S461).
Then, the IP packets 381 is transmitted using the corresponding communication interface portion of the first to fourth communication interface portions 2211 to 2214 (step S462), and the processing is finished (end). Specifically, the IP packets 361 is input to a not shown input terminal included in the corresponding communication interface portion 221. Then, the communication interface portion 221 is caused to create an ether frame having a destination, which set to an MAC address corresponding to the gateway address obtained at step S401, and the IP packet 381 as a payload, and the ether frame is transmitted from an antenna as a not shown output terminal through a wireless signal.
When the metric alignment j remains in the initial status, that is, when information as to the destination network to which the destination of the IP packets 381 belongs does not particularly exists (step S460: N), the gateway address of the default route and the transmission interface are obtained (step S463). Then, the IP packet 381 is transmitted using the corresponding communication interface portion 221 likewise (step S461), and the processing is ended (END).
The destination IP address 304 of the IP packets 381 is set to “192.168.3.220” here, and the third path control able 2363 shown in
In contrast, when the fourth path control table 2364 shown in
When the corresponding metrics are compared with each other at the time the destination IP address 304 is “192.168.3.220” in the third and fourth path control tables 2363 and 2364, the numerical value of the metric is “8” in the third path control table 2363, and the numerical value of the metric is “4” in the fourth path control table 2364. Accordingly, when one common path control table is prepared without dividing it for respective transmission interfaces, the gateway address, which uses the “fourth communication interface portion” whose metric has the smaller value, is employed as the transmission interface. As a result, the third communication interface portion 2213 cannot be used, which makes it impossible to reflect the request of a user who desires to execute transmission at lower cost and a request for the transmission environment of application software.
In the embodiment, a path control table 236 using only a communication interface portion 221 is prepared for each of the communication interface portions 221, and a path is determined using a path control table corresponding to the communication interface portion 221 which is determined suitable to the contents of a request. With this arrangement, even transmission data 301 having the same destination IP address 304 can be transmitted by simply selecting a proper communication interface from the plurality of communication interfaces and using the selected communication interface. Note that, on the completion all the application software sets, the path controller 226 indicates to disconnect the respective communication interface portions 221 being connected as well as indicates the IP protocol processing unit 224 to delete the created path control table 236.
As to the arrangement of the plurality of communication interface portions, various patterns are contemplated in addition to those shown in
In the embodiment, since the physical interface and the operator interface can be independently defined, any of the above patterns can be applied to the embodiment. Accordingly, transmission can be executed using a communication interface portion composed of a proper physical interface and a proper operator interface. Further, since path control table designation information is sent to the IP protocol processing unit together with respective transmission data sets, a path control table to be used can be easily switched at proper timing, thereby the respective data sets can be transmitted from a proper communication interface portion.
Further, since a communication interface portion can be selected not only based on static information such as a path selection table and a communication fee but also based on dynamic information such as a destination port number, a communication fee, an electric wave status, and the like, a change of a communication status due to the movement of a communication terminal and the like can be easily coped with. Further, the procedures of a TCP protocol and an IP protocol are mounted as ever, the arrangement of the embodiment is advantageous in compatibility with other TCP/IP corresponding apparatuses and possibility of diverting a production line of conventional product, and the like.
<Modification of the Present Invention>
In the embodiment explained above, the path controller creates the path control table designation information using the communication interface portion correspondence table and the priority information table based on the information of the physical interface to be use received from the transmission data analysis processing unit. However, as other method, it is also possible to store numerical values, which show the priorities of items to be realized as a communication environment. In the transmission data analysis processing unit in correspondence to destination information and to send the numerical values to the path controller. Further, in the embodiment, the path control table designation information is determined from the path controller as the respective transmission data sets. However, it is also possible to cache the path control table designation information in the transmission data analysis processing unit in consideration of a case in which transmission data having the same destination information is frequently created.
The priority information selection processing unit 652 of
On receiving the priority information from the transmission data analysis processing unit 625 of
The item “economical efficiency” having the smallest numerical value in
On receiving the path control table designation information from the path controller 626, the cache table manager 654 of the transmission data analysis processing unit 625 shown in
When the given lengths of the times are set first, the effective remaining times are periodically updated using a not shown counter. When the effective remaining time of any one of entries is set to a numerical value “0”, the cache table manager 654 deletes the entry. On receiving the transmission data 301 from the transmission data creation processing unit 222, the transmission data analysis processing unit 625 first searches an entry which agrees with the destination information 303 in the cache table manager 654. When there is an entry that agrees therewith, the transmission data analysis processing unit 625 obtains corresponding path control table designation information and supplies it to a TCP/UDP protocol processing unit 223 together with the transmission data 301 as the first data 381 shown in
Note that the communication system described above can be variously modified. For example, the transmission data analysis processing unit of the mobile phone of the embodiment may be provided with the designated information cache table and the cache table manager. Further, although the information of the physical interface to be used of the embodiment and the priority information of the modification are determined in correspondence to the destination port address and the destination port number, they may be determined in correspondence to any one of them or to other various types of information. Further, the information of the physical interface to be used and the priority information may be stored in the path control table determination processing unit of the path controller as previously fixed contents, and it contemplated to use a path control table corresponding to a communication interface portion having a best electric wave status as the path control table designation information referring only to, for example, the electric wave status. The path control table designation information may be formed by application software or by the manipulation of the user, or path control table designation information created once may be temporary stored in the IP protocol processing unit and used continuously.
Further, the transmission data and the path control table designation information may be held in correspondence to each other by using an identifier or by adjusting the timings of various processings executed in various processing units and may be supplied to the IP protocol processing unit through a different path. Further, it is also possible to supply the information of the physical information to be used and the priority information to the path controller after they are converted into date lower then a transport layer of the TCP packet and the like. Further, the physical interface discrimination processing unit and the destination information vs. physical interface correspondence table of the embodiment and the priority information selection processing unit and the destination information vs. priority information correspondence table, the cache table manager, and the designated information cache table of the modification may be disposed to the path controller. In this case, the transmission data analysis processing unit supplies the destination information of the transmission data received from the transmission data analysis processing unit to the path controller.
Further, in the embodiment and the modification described above, the physical interface is described as a communication device for realizing the mobile phone and as a communication device for realizing Wireless LAN by the mobile phone. However, it is needless to say that the physical interface can be applied to a communication device applied to various types of wireless and fixed-line transmission mediums and communication mediums. For example, an Ethernet (registered trademark) card and a Wireless LAN card are exemplified. Further, the embodiment and the modification can be also applied to a case in which, although, for example, Wireless LANs each having a different standard are provided as the physical interfaces, the physical interfaces are partly overlapped so that the output terminals of the respective physical interfaces connected to a common antenna can be shared. Further, it is needless to say that the embodiment and the modification can be applied to the other various types of data transmission apparatuses. Otherwise, when a recording medium for recording a program, which is executed by a CPU for realizing respective devices, is arranged as a recording medium which can be detachably mounted and can be mechanically read, it is needless to say that the embodiment and the modification may mount the recording medium on a general-purpose data transmission apparatus when necessary.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-304412 | Oct 2004 | JP | national |
