Patent Grant
RE44202
The present invention relates to a radio communication system, and more specifically to a radio communication system for the purpose of performing super highspeed downlink (abbreviated SDL, this abbreviation used hereinafter), which has a relatively high transmission rate on the downlink, which is the radio transmission path from the base station to the terminal, in comparison with the transmission rate on the uplink, which is the radio transmission path from the terminal to the base station.
In recent years, with advances in communications and information processing technologies, a variety of types of radio communication systems such as a personal-use portable telephone (Personal Handyphone System (PHS)) and systems which make use of the above-noted SDL have been proposed.
Radio communication systems such as PHS or local area networks (LANs) which use radio are experiencing increasing demand, by virtue of advancements in various information media, and along with this increased demand comes an increasing necessity to perform radio communication over a variety of networks. In view of this type of necessity, a broadening of the transmission frequency bandwidth is desired in radio communication systems as it is in cable communication systems. In radio communication systems of the past, the uplink for sending a radio signal from the terminal to the base station and the downlink for sending a radio signal from the base station to the terminal had transmission speeds which were matched for bi-directional radio communication. However, the actual situation is that the amount of transmission on the downlink, over which user information requested by the user is sent to the terminal is considerably larger than the amount of transmission on the uplink over which only control information or the like is sent.
This is a problem not only with mobile communication, but also with radio LANs and a variety of other radio services. However, because the frequency spectrum resources for radio are limited, it is difficult to widen the frequency bands for currently implemented services, making it desirable that higher, unused frequencies (such as sub-millimeter and millimeter bands) be developed.
In the SDL system, because a wideband downlink is assumed, in a low frequency band such as the 800-MHz band, it becomes difficult to assign this wide band and to achieve effective frequency usage. For example, in the case of trying to perform transmission at 100 MHz or so, it is obvious that it is impossible for the bandwidth to be found to allow one user 100 MHz bandwidth in the 800-MHz band. For this reason, it is necessary to perform transmission in the sub-millimeter band of several gigahertz, or in the millimeter band of several tens of gigahertz.
The US mobile telephone system can be cited as an example of a radio communication system of the past which had differing transmission rates. In this system, at the point at which a switch was being made from analog to digital, the mobile telephone handset was made to include both an analog and a digital mobile telephone, thereby enabling calling and receiving of calls in both areas. In this system, two completely different communication systems—analog and digital—are used, the handsets having few circuits in common, so that there were one each of the analog mobile telephone and the digital mobile telephone. For this reason, a problem existed in that the circuit was of a large scale.
Next, the previous method of synchronizing the signal source used as a reference will be described, using
x/m=y/n (1)
Therefore, the output y of the voltage-controlled oscillator is as follows.
y=xn/m (2)
From the above, by means of the frequency divider 201 and the frequency divider 202, the frequency becomes n/m times and is synchronized to the reference oscillator.
By using a PLL in this manner, it is possible to obtain a signal of n/m times the frequency of and synchronized to the reference signal source. However, the method of using a PLL requires a VCO (voltage-controlled oscillator), thereby requiring a separate oscillator.
While control data and user data has been transmitted on the same radio frequency, the amount of user data was much greater than the amount of control data. In addition, user data and control data are transmitted and received separately.
It was inefficient and uneconomical to send a small amount of data over a wide transmission path. And large amounts of data require a wide transmission path.
Unless a high transmission frequency is used, it is not possible to establish a wide transmission path, and if a small amount of data is sent over a wide transmission path, it is difficult to form a transmission path, because of jitter and the like, which is caused by frequency.
As described above, to handle the transmission of diverse and large amounts of information such as in the PHS and LANs, if the transmission speeds of the uplink from the terminal to the base station and the downlink from the base station to the terminal are the same, it was not possible to make effective use of the radio circuit.
In a millimeter band such as the 60-GHz band, because of the high frequency, the electromagnetic propagation loss becomes extremely high. For this reason, when performing communication over somewhat of a distance, the transmitting power must be made large. The portable terminal of the type used in the SDL system is used in the proximity of the human body, making it unsafe from a health standpoint to transmit with high power from the terminal. A portable terminal usually is powered by a battery, and transmission with a high power leads to the problem of a shortening of the period of use before recharging or replacement of the battery.
In addition, millimeter-band devices are extremely expensive, and the requirement to use millimeter-band transmitting devices in a terminal makes it difficult to meet requirements for reduction in price. From the standpoint of volume as well, the use of millimeter-band transmitting devices makes it difficult to reduce size.
The ideal method of modulation will differ, depending upon what items of the transmitting bandwidth (transmission rate), the frequency band, the size of the transmitting/receiving circuit, the devices selected, and frequency utilization efficiency is to be given priority. For example, in narrow band communication such as in a mobile telephone, if frequency utilization efficiency is to be given priority, π/4DQPSK or QAM is used. However, in the case of wideband radio communication, these types of linear modulation require radio components that operate linearly over a wide bandwidth, making reduction of size and reduction of power consumption difficult.
In the SDL system, in which the uplink and downlink clearly have different transmission rates, if the same modulation method or methods which are similar in characteristics are used, there is no choice but to either adjust to one of the modulation methods or to use a compromise method for both the uplink and the downlink, even if performance drops.
In addition, in radio communication systems of the past, the transmission of a variety of quality information was made possible by providing radio communication systems having different transmission methods. That is, by housing two transceivers for different transmission methods in the same case, it is possible to implement diversified transmission quality. For this reason, there was the problem of the increase in size of the constitution of the transceiver.
The present invention has an object to provide a radio communication system which, by making the downlink transmission rate relatively fast in comparison with the uplink, enables the high-speed transmission of information to the terminal via the downlink, and which further has high frequency utilization efficiency.
Another object of the present invention is to provide radio communication system capable of an increase in the frequency bandwidth used to a bandwidth equivalent to that used in cable communication systems.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a radio communication system having a signal transmission rate reference oscillator with a simplified configuration, and which enables a simplification of a portable telephone apparatus for use in multimedia service.
To achieve the above-noted objects, a radio communication system according to the present invention has the following essential constitutional features.
A radio communication system according to the present invention is a radio communication system which includes a plurality of base stations, a plurality of terminals, an uplink circuit established between each of the base stations and each of the terminals for the purpose of radio transmission of prescribed information from a terminal to a base station, and a downlink circuit established between each of the terminals and each of the base station for the purpose of radio transmission of prescribed data from a base station to a terminal, this radio communication system comprising a low-speed transmitting means, provided at an above-noted terminal, which transmits a radio signal at a relatively low transmission rate to an above-noted base station via the above-noted uplink circuit, a low-speed receiving means, provided at an above-noted base station, which receives a radio signal sent at a relatively low transmission rate from an above-noted terminal via the above-noted uplink circuit, a high-speed transmitting means, provided at an above-noted base station, which transmits a radio signal at a relatively high transmission rate to an above-noted terminal via the above-noted downlink circuit, and a high-speed receiving means, provided at an above-noted terminal, which receives a radio sent at a relatively high transmission rate from an above-noted base station via the above-noted downlink circuit.
A radio communication system according to the present invention has at least one each of the above-noted uplink circuit and downlink circuit, each of these circuits having at least two types of radio signal transmission rates, there being at least one pair of such the circuits in which the transmission rate of one circuit is an integral multiple of the transition rate of the other.
A radio communication system according to the present invention is a radio communication system which includes a plurality of base stations, a plurality of terminals, an uplink circuit established between each of the base stations and each of the terminals for the purpose of radio transmission of prescribed information from a terminal to a base station, and a downlink circuit established between each of the terminals and each of the base station for the purpose of radio transmission of prescribed data from a base station to a terminal, this radio communication system comprising a low-speed transmitting means, provided at an above-noted terminal, which transmits a radio signal having a radio frequency in a relatively low frequency band at a relatively low transmission rate to an above-noted base station via the above-noted uplink, a low-speed receiving means, provided at an above-noted base station, which receives a radio signal of a relatively low frequency sent at a low transmission rate from an above-noted terminal via the above-noted uplink circuit, a high-speed transmitting means, provided at an above-noted base station, which transmits a radio signal having a radio frequency in a relatively high frequency band at a relatively high transmission rate to an above-noted terminal via the above-noted downlink circuit, and a high-speed receiving means, provided at an above-noted terminal, which receives a radio signal of a relatively high frequency sent at a high transmission rate from an above-noted base station via the above-noted downlink circuit.
In addition, in a radio communication system according to the present invention the above-noted high-speed transmitting means transmits a large amount of user information from an above-noted base station to an above-noted terminal via the above-noted downlink circuit by means of a high-frequency-band radio signal, and the above-noted low-speed transmitting means transmits a small amount of control information from an above-noted terminal to an above-noted base station via the above-noted uplink circuit by means of a low-frequency-band radio signal.
In addition, the present invention has an optimum connection station interpreting means which receives a signal for the purpose of identifying the above-noted wideband radio base station, notification of which is made from the above-noted wideband radio base station via a radio circuit, and which interprets from this signal the wideband radio base station that is suitable for connection, an optimum base station notification means which gives notification to the above-noted server of an above-noted specific wideband radio base station that is suitable for connection to an above-noted mobile radio station, via the above-noted narrowband radio base station, and a service starting means which starts the above-noted prescribed service via the above-noted specific wideband radio base station which is judged to be suitable for connection with respect to the above-noted mobile radio station.
In the case in which handover must be performed, in addition to the above-noted means, a radio communication system according to the present invention has a means which, when the above-noted mobile radio station receives the above-noted service via an above-noted specific wideband radio base station, receives a signal for the purpose of identifying the above-noted wideband radio base station, notification of which is given via a radio circuit from a wideband radio base station which is different from the above-noted specific wideband radio station, and which interprets from this received signal to which wideband radio base station should switching be made, a means by which the above-noted mobile radio station notifies the above-noted server via the above-noted narrowband radio base station of a wideband radio base station which is suitable as a switching destination, and a means by which the above-noted server switches a connection with respect to the above-noted mobile radio station, that connection is made via the above-noted specified wideband radio base station, which is judged to be suitable as a switching destination for connection, thereby providing the above-noted prescribed service.
By virtue of adopting the above-noted constitution, the present invention is proposed based on the above-described goal, in which it was stated that it makes sense for the transmission capacity of the uplink circuit of a terminal to be smaller than the transmission capacity of the downlink circuit of the base station. Specifically, because the transmission rate at which the terminal transmits information to the user is much higher than the transmission rate at which information is transmitted from the terminal to the base station, in view of this significant difference in transmission capacities, these respective transmitting/receiving means are constituted so as to provide appropriate transmission capacities for the uplink circuit and the downlink circuit. It is sensible to have the transmission capacity of a personal-use portable telephone be smaller than the receiving capacity. In addition, the user of a personal-use portable telephone receives the output thereof, and sends the response thereto to the personal-use portable telephone. Therefore, it is sufficient for a personal-use portable telephone to be capable of transmitting information to a base station at a transmission rate which is lower than the transmission rate when information is being transmitted to the user of the personal-use portable telephone.
That is, a personal-use portable telephone receives information from a base station at a higher transmission rate that is higher than when information is transmitted to the user of the personal-use portable telephone, making it reasonable that the personal-use portable telephone transmit information at a rate that is lower than the receiving rate.
This is highly desirable as well because of the limited battery capacity in a personal-use portable telephone. That is, the transmitting power of a personal-use portable telephone is limited by the battery capacity, and the transmission bandwidth is severely limited by this transmitting power. Specifically, it is desirable that a personal-use portable telephone not perform wideband transmission, because of this limited battery capacity.
As described above in detail, in a radio communication system according to the present invention, because the uplink circuit radio signal transmission rate is made relatively low, and the downlink circuit radio signal transmission rate is made relatively high, it is possible to send a large amount of user information from the base station to the terminal at high speed, thereby sufficiently meeting user requirements, while making effective use of the frequency spectrum.
A number of preferred embodiments of a radio communication system according to the present invention will be described in detail below, with reference being made to the accompanying drawings.
Before the description of the preferred embodiments, the basic principle of the present invention will be described, using the block diagram of
A radio communication system related to the present invention has a plurality of base stations which are assigned their respective parts of a prescribed service area, a plurality of terminals which can move around within the above-noted prescribed service area and, as shown in
The above-noted terminal 1 has a low-speed transmitting means 2 which transmits a radio signal to the above-noted base station 5 at a relatively low transmission rate via the above-noted uplink circuit 4, and a high-speed receiving means 3 which receives a radio signal sent at a relatively high transmission rate via the above-noted uplink circuit 8 from the base station 5.
The above-noted base station 5 has a low-speed transmitting means 6 which receives a radio signal at a relatively low transmission rate from the above-noted terminal 1 via the above-noted downlink circuit 1, a high-speed receiving means 7 which transmits a radio signal at a relatively high transmission rate to the above-noted terminal 1 via the above-noted downlink 8. Furthermore, the reference numeral 9 denotes a terminal-side transceiving section, which includes a low-speed transmitting means 2 and a high-speed receiving means 3.
Next the individual embodiments of the present invention will be described in sequence. First, in the first embodiment in communication with a personal-use portable telephone held by an individual, the communication system used is one in which a wideband signal is transmitted from a (relay) base station to an electronic apparatus via a downlink, and a narrowband signal is transmitted from the electronic apparatus. to the relay base station via an uplink. A wideband downlink is used for communication which includes images, voice, file editing, information distribution, advertising, broadcasting, and the like, in which case the uplink is used for information to control the downlink, channel selection, and, in the case of multimedia, media selection control signals, voice, and the like.
In
A radio communication system related to the second embodiment of the present invention is applied to the case of multiple-recipient communications, which is a blending of broadcasting and communications. In this case, even an electronic apparatus held by an individual is capable of receiving a broadcast signal. In such cases, one broadcast signal selected from a plurality of broadcast signals is sent to the electronic apparatus 1 by the relay base station 5 in response to a request from the user of the electronic apparatus. In the future, the electronic apparatus 1 will be usable to freely process and use the information taken from a broadcast. When doing this, it is possible to store this information in the relay base station in response to a request from the electronic apparatus, and to process it, as will be described later.
The relay base station 5 in the above-noted type of radio communication system, as shown in
In the second embodiment, the electronic apparatus need not be for personal use. That is, it can be used by a number of persons, such as the case in which it is for family use. In particular as shown in
The third embodiment is applied in the case in which the apparent amount of information generated by a human is large, the received information being processed and further retransmitted.
That is, there are cases in which a file A is received, this is processed or added to convert to the form α(A)+β and then retransmitted. In this case, α(A)+β appears to be a large amount of information. However, there are the operation of conversion to the amount of information α(X) that a human generates and the added information β. The amount of information required to express the conversion operation α(X) and the added information β are information that a human generates, the speed of generation thereof not exceeding the speed at which the human brain and body can generate information. That is, it does a given speed. Specifically, it is low in comparison with the speed at which speed at which a human can receive information. In such cases, instead of transmitting α(A)+β, it is acceptable to transmit only the conversion operation α(X) and β, these being used at the base station to generate α(A)+β, the result sent to the far end party.
Operations such as file editing can all be implemented with these types of operations. That is, the original file is transmitted to the portable terminal via a wideband downlink, which is then looked at and edited by the user. The screens that are looked at and edited by the user are updated in accordance with the editing performed. Along with this, the editing information is sent to the base station, where the original file is edited based on this editing information. By doing this, editing is possible with an extremely small amount of transmission from the portable terminal to the base station.
By means of the above-noted operations, it is possible to reduce the radio transmission bandwidth, to reduce the radio transmitting power, and to perform efficient information transmission with a rechargeable battery.
This type of processing can be applied to examples other than the file operation noted above. Specifically, assume that A is the data for the face and the voice of a user of a personal-use portable telephone, and that these are stored at a base station or relay station. The personal-use portable telephone then transmits to the base station only the content of the speech and parameters for intonation different from the usual. Or else only expressions that are differ greatly from the user's normal facial expression or other emotional expression parameters are sent by radio. At the base station, these are synthesized to resynthesize the original voice or the original screen transmission. By doing this, it is possible to reduce the radio transmitting power, and to perform efficient information transmission with a rechargeable battery.
In addition, a relay base station which performs such processing as α(A)+β can be in the same position as the radio transceiving apparatus, but can also be at a remote location which is connected to a communication network inside, for example, the electronic apparatus's user computer or inside equipment at the far-end party.
The third embodiment is shown in
There are cases in which the apparent amount of information generated by a human is large. This is the case in which the received data is processed and then retransmitted. That is, it is the case in which the original information A is received at a portable electronic apparatus, this being processed or added to, converting it to the form α(A)+(B), and retransmitting it. In this case, the α(A)+β can appear to be data of great quantity. There are many cases in which there is a large amount of the original data A. However, there are the operation of conversion to the amount of information α(X) that a human generates and the added information β. The amount of information required to express the conversion operation (X) and. the added information β are information that a human generates, the speed of generation thereof not exceeding the speed at which the human brain and body can generate information. That is, it does not exceed a certain speed. Specifically, it is low in comparison with the speed at which speed at which a human can receive information. In such cases, instead of transmitting α(A)+β, only the conversion operation α(X) and β are transmitted, these being used at the receiving side to generate α(A)+β, the result being the same.
That is, the relay base station sends A to the electronic apparatus, and along with that A is stored at the relay base station. Then, the electronic apparatus looks at A, while transmitting only the information α(X) and the conversion operator β to the relay base station. Simultaneously with this, at the electronic apparatus α(A)+β is made and displayed, while the relay base station also makes α(A)+β and sends this to the far end. By means of the above, it is possible to implement service which requires the transmission of large amounts of data, without using excessive frequency resources and by means of low-capacity battery power.
Furthermore, a communication system such as described above, in which wideband signal transmission is performed via a downlink from a relay base station or base station to an electronic apparatus or a personal-use portable electronic apparatus and in which narrowband signal transmission is performed via an uplink from an electronic apparatus to a relay base station is implemented in the fourth embodiment, which is shown in
In the fourth and fifth embodiments, there are two modes of communication with an electronic apparatus held by an individual, one in which wi.deband signal transmission is performed via a downlink from a relay base station to the electronic apparatus, and in which narrowband signal transmission is performed via an uplink from the electronic apparatus to the base station, and another in which narrowband signal transmission is performed in both directions. A wideband downlink is used for communication which includes images, voice, file editing, information distribution, advertising, broadcasting, and the like, in which case the uplink is used for control signals or the above-noted conversion operators. The communication mode in which narrowband signal transmission done in both directions is used when both sides are transmitting voice or low-speed data. That is, it is very desirable that there be one narrowband uplink and two downlinks, one narrowband and one wideband. The fifth embodiment is shown in
In the case in which communication is started from the electronic apparatus, first it is reasonable that the narrowband link of
In this case, the narrowband link itself can also be a narrowband bi-directional transmission means which operates independently. For example, it is possible to use the TDMA/TDD (time division multiple access/time division duplex) form of transmission.
The sixth embodiment is applied to the case in which frequency placement problems exist when the bandwidths of the uplink and the downlink differ greatly. Specifically, in the case in which this is to be implemented using FDMA/FDD (frequency division multiple access/frequency division duplex), if the specifications of the sharers of the terminals are all made the same, it is desirable that the frequency spacing of the uplink frequency and the downlink frequency be the same. When this is done, on the narrowband uplink, the frequency difference between adjacent channels becomes much greater than the uplink bandwidth, leaving much of the frequency band unused, quite an undesirable condition. Therefore, a pseudorandom signal series is used to achieve bandwidth dispersion on the uplink, so that transmission is done with almost the same bandwidth as the downlink. If the dispersion ratio is large, the uplink frequency can be made the same as other systems.
The seventh and eight embodiments are applications to the case in which long-distant transmission is not possible because of the tendency of the high-speed downlink to be influenced by multipath. There is also a desire to perform long-distance transmission, even if the bandwidth is narrow. In such cases, a signal to be transmitted a long distance is dispersed using a pseudorandom series having a long period and then transmitted, and a short-distant large capacity signal is dispersed using a pseudorandom series having a short period and then transmitted, thereby enabling satisfaction of both requirements. In addition, because it is possible to select the transmission rate freely by selecting the series, in response to the position at which the electronic apparatus exists, it is possible to perform communication with high flexibility in the case in which there is a mixture of signals with various bandwidths. It is also possible, in the case in which there are radio circuits with differing original data rates, to use pseudorandom series of the appropriate length so each of the circuits has approximately the same bandwidth after dispersion, thereby enabling the provision of a radio communication system which is flexible and which enables effective use of frequency bandwidth.
In addition, in the case in which this kind of bandwidth dispersion is used, because it is possible to use the same frequency band for a plurality of links, it is easy to achieve a reduction to a small size and weight, for facilities in the base station or relay base station, and also for the personal-use portable electronic apparatus or electronic apparatus.
The ninth embodiment is applied in the case in which the timing of transceiving is different between transmitting and receiving, these not being performed simultaneously, thereby enabling free selection of the uplink and downlink frequency, enabling even more effective use of frequencies.
The tenth embodiment is applied to accommodate the case in which to accommodate a radio LAN or the like, if the uplink is randomly accessed, access to a server or database connected to the network can be performed by a simple protocol.
The eleventh and twelfth embodiments will be described using
While this functions for a radio communication post and memory as well, a different embodiment of the present invention enables connections between one memory and a plurality of radio communication posts.
As another embodiment, in the case in which the memory area is sufficiently large with respect to the amount of information, it is possible to write all of the information into memory beforehand.
As yet another embodiment, in the case in which there is an effective period of time for the information, such as in the case of a newspaper or a magazine, it is possible when the time limit has come, to erase the information from the memory, or to overwrite it with new information.
A radio communication system in accordance with the above-described first through twelfth embodiments, is related to the SDL system, the principle of which is shown in
A frequency placement example of the past is shown in
In the SDL system, because a wideband downlink is assumed, in a low frequency band such as the 800-MHz band, it becomes difficult to assign this wide band and to achieve effective frequency usage. For example, in the case of trying to perform transmission at 100 MHz or so, it is obvious that it is impossible for the bandwidth to be found to allow one user 100 MHz bandwidth in the 800-MHz band. For this reason, it is necessary to perform transmission in the sub-millimeter band of several gigahertz, or in the millimeter band of several tens of gigahertz.
An example of the frequency placement in the case in which a radio communication system related to the present invention is configured using a 60-GHz-band SDL system is shown in
The amount of information that a human being is capable of generating has an upper limit due to the capability of a human being. In contrast, the amount of information that a human can perceive is much greater than the amount of information that a human can generate. The information that a human can generate is limited, even if we add together voice, input from a keyboard or a mouse, facial expressions, and all other information. The amount of information in the human voice falls far short of 64 kbps. Even if various means of transferring data between the human and a machine, such as a keyboard or a mouse, are used, none of these can surpass the amount of information that can be generated by the human mind or parts of the body, and in total the amount of information that a human being can generate is thought of as not exceeding 100 kbps.
In contrast to this, the amount of information that a human being can receive is extremely large. The human being receives a plurality of sensory media, such as voice, images, atmosphere, tactile senses, and smells, and the like, using perception organs that operate independently. In addition, the brain and the organs of a human being process the information they receive, extracting and processing only information which can be processed by the brain and the bodily organs, in response to the individual human's history and processing priority. In normal everyday life, much more information than can be generated by a human being is received. And feedback is applied to an information receiving means which selects which information is to be accepted, based on the received information. The manner in which this feedback is applied differs from individual to individual. Therefore, even if a large number of humans receive the same information, the method of processing it will differ greatly. That is, it is possible for a human to receive a great amount more information than it is possible for the human mind or bodily organs to process.
This can also be understood from the difference in sizes between the part of the human brain which governs the receiving of information and the part of the human brain which governs the generation of information. The auditory/visual part of the brain is extremely large. In contrast to this, the part related to the generation of language is not so large. Nerves a strung throughout all parts of the body, and a variety of information is collected in the brain and the spinal cord. In contrast to the very large amount of information, the information that the brain generates is limited to the voice and a few gestures. In terms also of the thickness of the nerves that are used as information transmission paths within the body, the thickest of these is the optic nerve, which governs the reception of information.
This fact can be understood from engineering applications as well. Specifically, in the case of generating image information that a human being will receive, to make image information that the human being will sense as being natural, several megabits per second of information are generally required. In images made will less than this amount of information, a human will easily be able to detect unnaturalness of shape and movement. And a human is not capable of generating this amount of image information. The amount of information in a human facial expression is extremely small compared with the amount of image information the human eye generally perceives. The analog of this is the very high compression ratio when an image is bandwidth compressed to capture a human facial expression. Bandwidth compression of an image including a human facial expression has be researched in detail by Prof. Harashima et al, of University of Tokyo, from which this extremely high compression ratio is known. That is, the amount of information in the human facial expression is extremely small. Virtually the same is true of the voice. Using current bandwidth compression technology, voice information can be compressed to approximately 4 kilobits per second. That is, the amount of information is small.
In the case in which music from an musical instrument, rather than a voice, is to be used to generate information, the amount of information is small. Consider the amount of information from a piano performance. A piano has 88 keys and, therefore, when one is pressed data less than 7 bits is generated. If it is possible for a fast person to press ten keys in one second, there are ten fingers, and additionally, if there are 1000 sound levels (10 bits) which the sound can take, this is 7*10*10*10=7000, which is no more than 7 kilobits per second. This does not change with the model and the tone of the piano. When recording a piano performance, the required information speed is generally no more than 1000 bits per second. While it appears that a large amount of information is generated by a musical instrument when it is played, the amount of information generated by the musical instrument only appears to be large because the information of the tone and individuality of the musical instrument is modulated by information that is generated by a human being.
On the other hand, in the case of receiving information, a human being is capable of receiving and processing a very large amount of information. With an orchestra of 150 people generating information, if even one performer makes a mistake, it can be easily detected. Additionally, a human being is constantly distinguishing sound from the extremely large amount of information generated by the performers' modulation of the characteristic information generated by the instruments, and perceiving and extracting characteristics therefrom.
Consider the case of five people having a serious discussion. Each person is receiving information from the other four people, who are making all efforts to express their opinions to the other person. While all of the information from the other four people is not processed in the receiving person's brain, it is at least received via the person's sensory organs. Even after the meeting, the participants have a general grasp of who said what. This is possible because, of the information received from the other four persons, the required parts were processed by the brain. With regard to information generation, it is generally not possible for one person to generate an amount of information that exceeds the total of the average information generated by the other four persons.
That is, there is a large difference in the amount of information that a human being can generate and receive. Specifically, the amount of information that a human being generates is extremely small compared to the amount of information that can be received by a human.
The amount of information transmitted in a personal-use electronic apparatus of the past was small compared to the amount of information that a single human being can generate. That is, it was no more than as much as a voice transmission. Therefore, this human being clearly generated less information that the human being was intrinsically capable of generating. However, when wider bandwidth radio communication becomes possible in the future, it will be possible to perform radio transmission at a transmission rate that is lower than the information receiving rate of a human being and greater than the information generating rate of a human being. When this is done, it will not be possible as in the past to make effective use of frequencies with the same rate for both transmitting and receiving.
In the past, the same modulation method was used in the uplink and the downlink. For example, in a narrowband digital automobile telephone system using the TDMA of Japan and the US, π/4DWPSK was used on both the downlink and the uplink. A proposal to use different modulation methods on the uplink and downlink was made in the US digital automobile telephone standards (IS-95) which uses OQPSK. In this, the uplink uses OQPSK (Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying-4) and the downlink uses QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying-4). However, the information transmission rates are the same, this clearly differing from the SDL system. Also, because the same PSK modulation is used, the characteristics are extremely similar. There are no examples of using modulation methods of completely different natures and with completely different transmission rates.
The thirteenth embodiment of the present invention is shown in
Transmission from the radio communication terminal 101 to the portable terminal 102 is performed via a radio circuit (downlink) at a transmission rate of R1 at a radio frequency of f1 in the 60-GHz band. In this embodiment, because BSPK, which is a two-state modulation method, is used, the transmission rate and the used bandwidth are noted as the same. R1 is the 100-Mbps transmission rate, it is possible to achieve a 100-MHz bandwidth by using the 60-GHz band, and it is possible to implement wideband transmission.
Transmission from the portable terminal 102 to the radio communication terminal 101 is performed via a radio circuit (uplink) at a transmission rate R1, which is lower than R1, at a frequency of f2 in the 800-MHz band. Because the information that is generated at the portable terminal 102 can be thought of as being mainly input from keys and voice, sufficient information transmission can be performed with a transmission rate of several tens of kilobits per second. In this embodiment, this was made 30 kbps. If this is 30 kbps, because sufficient bandwidth can be achieved even in the 800-MHz band, transmission is possible at this bandwidth.
Because the radio frequency band at the terminal is low, there is little propagation loss in the air, so that the power need not be made that large. Also, because the transmitted bandwidth is small, the total power is also small. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the power consumption, enabling a lengthening of the period of continuous use before recharging or replacement of the battery.
In addition, devices for the 800-MHz band are widely used in automobile telephones, and inexpensive devices are readily available. Reduction of the size of devices is also being achieved. By placing the uplink in the 800-MHz band, it is possible to reduce the cost and the size of the terminal.
The fourteenth embodiment of the present invention is shown in
Communication is performed between a radio communication terminal 301, which is connected to a cable network and a portable radio terminal 202. In doing this, the relationship of the radio frequency placement and the transmission rate is as shown in
Transmission from the radio communications terminal 301 to the portable terminal 302 is performed via a radio circuit (downlink) at a transmission rate of R1 at a radio frequency of f1 in the 60-GHz band. R1 is a high-speed circuit of, for example, 100 Mbps. Along with this, another single downlink is provided for transmission at a rate of R2 (for example, 30 kbps) at f2′ in the 800-MHz band. Transmission from the portable terminal 302 to the radio communication terminal 301 is performed via a radio circuit (uplink) at a transmission rate of R2 at a radio frequency of f2 in the 800-MHz band.
The difference in this in comparison with the thirteenth embodiment is the provision of on more downlink, at f2 and R2. The 60-GHz-band downlink, because of the characteristics of that frequency band, is susceptible to the influence of obstructing objects. Because of shadowing caused by obstructing objects, cutoff of the communication circuit occurs. In this embodiment, by providing a link by the additional one downlink at f2′, it is possible to prevent the total cutoff of the downlink. Compared to the radio frequency f1 in the 60-GHz band, the radio frequency f2′ in the 800-MHz band has less propagation loss and is less susceptible to shadowing, thereby reducing the possibility of circuit cutoff. For example, by assigning a control channel to this f2′/R2 downlink, even in the event that the f1/R1 downlink is cut off, there is no complete cutoff, the link between the radio terminal 301 and the portable terminal 302 being maintained by executing such protocols as the completion protocol, the upper state protocol, and the cutoff protocol via the control channel. In this case, although the portable radio terminal 302 an additional f2′/R2 receiving apparatus, compared to the 60-GHz-band receiving apparatus, the added part has negligible small current consumption, volume, and cost. By adopting the radio frequency bands and transmission rate configuration of this embodiment, it is possible to implement a high-performance portable terminal which is small, has low power consumption, and which is low cost.
The fifteenth embodiment of the present invention is shown in
Communication is performed between a radio base station 501, which is connected to a cable network, and a plurality of portable radio terminals 502. The relationship between the radio frequency band and the transmission rates in this embodiment is shown in
The sixteenth embodiment of the present invention is shown in
Communication is performed between a radio base station 701, which is connected to a cable network, and a plurality of portable terminals 702. The relationship of the radio frequency placement and the transmission rate in this embodiment is shown in
The seventeenth embodiment of the present invention is shown in
By providing a portable terminal with a radio apparatus of this type of configuration, it is possible to configure a portable terminal which can be applied to the radio communication system of the thirteenth and fifteenth embodiments.
The eighteenth embodiment of the present invention is shown in
By providing a portable terminal with a radio apparatus of this type of configuration, it is possible to configure a portable terminal which can be applied to the radio communication system of the twelfth and fourteenth embodiments.
The nineteenth embodiment of the present invention is shown in
By providing a receiving apparatus and a transmitting apparatus which have different frequency bands and transmission rates, it is possible to configure a radio apparatus and a radio base station which can be applied to the radio communication system of the second embodiment and the fourth embodiment.
The twenty-first embodiment of the present invention is shown in
In the case in which the downlink is implemented as a radio circuit using radio waves, it is necessary to have a bandwidth which corresponds to the transmission rate. In the case in which high-speed transmission is performed, it is necessary to achieve a wide bandwidth, and it is necessary to develop a high frequency band that is yet unused, such as a millimeter band. However, in this embodiment, by using infrared waves on the downlink which requires a wide bandwidth, it is possible to configuration the system without a limitation imposed by radio frequency bandwidths. Additionally, millimeter-band devices are high in cost and physically large, whereas infrared devices are low-cost and physically small, enabling the implementation of a terminal and base station that are small and low-cost.
The twenty-second embodiment of the present invention is shown in
In this system, the f1/R1 signal and the f2/R2 signal have different modulation methods.
The frequency f1 is in a millimeter band, and R1 is approximately 100 Mbps. It is difficult to obtain a device which operates linearly over such a wide bandwidth in a millimeter band. Therefore, on the downlink it is desirable to use a non-linear modulation method. The radio propagation characteristics in a millimeter band are such that there is a large propagation loss, and because the distance being traveled by the radio waves is short, frequency usage can be effectively improved by means of zone design. Because millimeter waves provide a relative amount of spectrum bandwidth margin, the utilization efficiency on the frequency axis is not as severe as with previous microwaves. For this reason, a method of modulation is allowed which has a relatively wide bandwidth in comparison with the transmission rate. Because of both of these aspects FSK, which is a non-linear modulation system, having a modulation index of 0.5 or greater, thereby requiring some bandwidth, is a candidate.
On the other hand, because the frequency of the uplink is microwave (f2), and the transmission rate (R2) is several tens of kbps, it is easy to obtain low-cost, compact linear components, thereby eliminating problems of linearity. However, because the bandwidths allocated in this frequency band are small, it is necessary to make efficient use of the frequency axis. For this reason, a method of modulation having superior frequency utilization efficiency is desired. Although they are linear modulation, the π/4DQPSK and QPSK modulation methods, which have superior frequency utilization efficiency, and GMSK, which has a slightly inferior efficiency are candidates.
From another viewpoint, on the high-speed downlink, because of the speed of the transmission rate, QAM, which enables the transmission of much information with a single symbol, is a candidate. On the uplink, the transmission rate is slow, but because the associated information is important control information and the like, BPSK and the like, which are more immune to errors than QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation-4) are candidates.
As described above, in an SDL system, because the uplink and downlink transmission rates and transmission frequency bands differ, by selecting different modulation systems for each, it is possible to obtain a high-quality circuit on each.
The twenty-third embodiment of the present invention is shown in
The twenty-fourth embodiment of the present invention is shown in
In this twenty-fourth embodiment, the f2 uplink and downlink use the same transmission rate of R2. Having an uplink with a transmission rate of R2 and a downlink with a transmission rate of R2′ can also be envisioned. While the f2 uplink and downlink are mainly used for transmission of control information, in addition to simple control information the uplink also performs data transmission of re-transmitted control, in the case in which an error occurs in f1 downlink data, and uplink data transmission. Because downlink data transmission is performed on a high-speed downlink at f1, the f2 downlink only performs transmission of control data. Therefore, even on the f2 uplink and downlink, there occurs an symmetry in the amount of information. Radio communication systems of the past did not consider asymmetry of information, assigning the same bandwidth to the uplink and the downlink. On the f2 circuit, which mainly transmits control information, by considering an uplink and a downlink with differing transmission rates, it is possible to achieve a more efficient utilization of frequencies.
The twenty-fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described below, with reference made to the drawings.
First, the digital radio communication system related to the twenty-fifth embodiment of the present invention will be explained in accordance with
There is a base station and a plurality of portable electronic apparatuses, an downlink circuit transmission of information from the base station to a portable electronic apparatus, and an uplink circuit for transmission information from a portable electronic apparatus to a base station. The downlink circuit and the uplink circuit can be, for example, an SDL-Net as shown in the first through the twelfth embodiments. With an SDL-Net, the area covered by a high-speed downlink circuit is made narrow, and the area covered by a low-speed uplink circuit is made wide. In addition, the signal transmission rate of the uplink circuit is made slower than the signal transmission rate of the downlink circuit, to give consideration to the reduction in size of the portable electronic apparatus.
In an SDL-Net, the uplink signal transmission rate and the downlink signal transmission rate differ (the downlink signal transmission rate having a high speed than that of the uplink). That is, the timing clocks for the uplink and the downlink differ. According to the present invention, a clock which is supplied to a digital section of the uplink is merely connected from the clock for the downlink via a 1/n frequency divider, enabling simplification of the circuit cf.
The frequency divider is, as shown in
Next, a digital radio communication method related to the twenty-sixth embodiment will be described, using
In the radio communication method related to the twenty-sixth embodiment there is a PHS circuit and a high-speed downlink circuit, the method being made up of a information service base station which is connected to a cable network, a PHS base station which is connected to the above-noted information service base station, and a high-speed downlink circuit base station. Signal transmission from the information service base station to a portable electronic apparatus is performed by either the PHS circuit or a high-speed downlink. Signal transmission from the portable electronic apparatus to the information service base station is performed by means of the PHS circuit.
When a radio signal is demodulated, the carrier and timing clock must be regenerated from the received signal.
According to the present invention, it is possible to replace the slower speed of the two timing regeneration circuits with the divider and phase shifter shown in
In the twenty-sixth embodiment, although PHS was given as the example given of a radio communication system in which the signal transmission rates were equal, this can also be a different kind of radio communication system, such as an automobile telephone.
Next, a digital radio communication method related to the twenty-seventh embodiment will be described.
With the configuration of the portable electronic apparatus shown in
The reference signal generating circuit shown in
At the carrier regeneration circuit or the timing clock regeneration circuit, by extracting the carrier component or the clock component from the input signal by means of a highly selective (high Q) circuit, such as a PLL, it is possible to regenerate the carrier or the timing clock. That is, by eliminating from the input signal the error component, using a filter, regeneration is made of either the carrier or the timing clock.
While in the carrier regeneration circuit or clock regeneration circuit shown in
Next, a digital radio communication method related to the twenty-eight embodiment will be described. In the radio communication method shown in
According Lo the present invention as described above, it is possible to replace a signal source with a frequency divider and phase shifter. Therefore, it is possible to have a single PLL replace two or more types of frame synchronization circuits, thereby enabling simplification of the circuit cf. It is possible to implement a frame timing detecting circuit with a frequency divider and a phase shifter.
The demodulated bit stream 1 and the bit timing clock 1 are input to a correlator 1, and the trigger signal of the frame timing is detected. The output of the correlator 1 is input to a phase-locked loop which is formed by a phase comparator, a loop filter, a voltage-controlled oscillator, and a base-m counter. One output of the voltage-controlled oscillator is input to the frequency divider shown in
In addition, because the frame timing can be generated by frequency dividing the bit timing clock, it is possible to have a common circuit serve as the bit timing clock regeneration circuit and the frame timing regeneration circuit.
Next, a radio communication system related to the twenty-ninth embodiment will be described in accordance with
As described above, in a system in which two or more different types of transmission system exist, it is possible to simplify the circuit configuration by replacing one of the clock regeneration circuits by a frequency divider and phase shifter. However, in doing this, it is necessary to have the clocks of the differing transmission methods synchronized.
Next, a radio communication system related to the thirtieth embodiment of the invention will be described. As in the case of the above-described
In the above-described SDL system, there are systems existing which have a narrowband uplink radio channel and a wideband downlink radio channel, and systems which have a narrowband radio channel for both uplink and downlink. Because the system for which the present invention is intended is the latter type of system, hereinafter the term SDL system shall be used to refer to this latter type of system. In an SDL system, to achieve a high transmission rate on the downlink radio channel, a high frequency is used at the wideband radio base station, but because attenuator at high frequencies is high, it is difficult to achieve a wide service area. Also, because the wider the bandwidth is made, the more the transmission distortion increases and the greater is the influence of noise, a wideband radio base station service area is narrower than a narrowband radio base station service area. For this reason, the areas of a wideband radio base station service and a narrowband radio base station service area have different makeups. Therefore, in an SDL system, accompanying the movement of a mobile radio station, with the same connectable narrowband base station, there are cases in which the connectable wideband base station will change, so that a mobile radio station must be aware of both the connectable narrowband base station and the connectable wideband base station. With regard to the method of recognizing in the service area of what narrowband base station a mobile radio station is located, because both up and down radio channels are provided between a narrowband base station and the mobile radio station, it is possible to use the same protocol as has been used in previous portable telephone services. The protocol that is used in a portable telephone service consists of notification by the radio base station, via the downlink channel, of itself by means of an identifying signal, this signal being received by the mobile station, which sends to that base station an identifying signal which indicates its identity, via the uplink channel. By doing this, the mobile radio station can determine in the service area of what radio base station it is located. With regard to the method of recognizing in the service area of what wideband base station a mobile radio station is located, the above description did not provide an explicit method. Therefore, in a system for which the present invention is intended, there was no method with regard to recognizing in the service area of what wideband base station a mobile radio station is located. As a result of there being no method in existence for recognizing in the service area of what wideband base station a mobile radio station is located, this being essential to starting the provision of communication service, in a system which included as a constituent element a mobile radio station not having a wideband uplink radio channel, it was not possible to start communication. In addition, even when in the condition of providing service, it was not possible to maintain service when the mobile radio station moves into the service area of a different radio base station, that is, handover was not possible.
In a radio communication system related to the thirty-first through the thirty-ninth embodiment, as shown in the conceptual drawing of
In the case in which handover must be performed, in addition to the above-noted means, a radio communication system related to the thirty-first through the thirty-ninth embodiment of the present invention has a means which, when the above-noted mobile radio station receives the above-noted service via an above-noted specific wideband radio base station, receives a signal for the purpose of identifying the above-noted wideband radio base station, notification of which is given via a radio circuit from a wideband radio base station which is different from the above-noted specific wideband radio station, and which interprets from this received signal to which wideband radio base station should switching be made, a means by which the above-noted mobile radio station notifies the above-noted server via the above-noted narrowband radio base station of a wideband radio base station which is suitable as a switching destination, and a means by which the above-noted server switches a connection with respect to the above-noted mobile radio station, that connection is made via the above-noted specified wideband radio base station, which is judged to be suitable as a switching destination for connection, thereby providing the above-noted prescribed service.
By virtue of adopting the above-noted constitution, a mobile radio station that receives a signal for the purpose of identifying a wideband radio base station, notification of which is given from a wideband radio base station, can, by interpreting the received signal, determine a wideband radio base station which is suitable for connection. The mobile radio station uses the uplink radio channel from the mobile radio circuit to the narrowband radio base station to tell the narrowband radio base station to what wideband radio base station it is connected. Because the narrowband radio base station and server are connected via the network, it is possible the narrowband radio base station can notify the server, via the network, as to what wideband radio base station the mobile radio station is connected. By doing this, even if there is no uplink radio channel from the mobile radio station to the wideband radio base station, it is possible for the mobile radio station to have the server recognize to what wideband radio base station connection is suitable, and the server is able to start the provision of service to the mobile radio station via the wideband radio base station that is judged suitable for connection.
In the condition of providing the prescribed service via one of the wideband radio base stations, with regard to maintaining the service in the case in which the mobile radio station moves to the service area of a different wideband radio base station, according to the present invention, a signal for the purpose of identifying a wideband radio base station, notification of which is given via a radio circuit from a wideband radio base station, and interpreting that received signal, a judgment is made as to what wideband radio base station suitable for connection switching should be made. The mobile radio station notifies the server via the narrowband radio base station of to what wideband radio base station suitable for connection switching should be made. By doing this, because it is possible to cause the server to recognize to what wideband radio base station suitable for connection switching should be made, it is possible for the server to continuing providing service by switching via the wideband radio base station which was judged to be uitable for connection.
First, a radio communication system for which the thirty-first through the thirty-ninth embodiments were intended will be described.
While in
The thirty-first embodiment: The procedure for starting communication will be described for the thirty-first embodiment for the case in which the mobile radio station 51 is in the area shown in
In the above-noted thirty-first embodiment, although the example shown is that in which at step ST13 the service is to be received via the wideband radio channel, this being executed at step ST14, if step ST14 is after step ST11, it is acceptable to execute this, regardless of the existence or non-existence of a service request. That is, even if there is no service request from a user, the information interpreted at step ST11 may be passed to the server 56 via the narrowband radio base station 53. In this case, regardless of whether there is a service request from a user, the server 56 is able to tell which wideband radio base station 52 service area the mobile radio station 51 is located. There is a sequence in which only if step ST12 is executed before step ST11, that is, only in the case in which there is a service request from a user. In this case, if there is no request from a user, because the mobile radio station 51 does not need to interpret in which wideband relay base station 52 service area it is located, there is a reduction of power consumption. For a further reduction in power consumption, it is possible to switch off the power to the receiving means for receiving wideband information.
Next the sequence diagram for the communication starting procedure related to the first invention will be described, using
The thirty-second embodiment: The procedure for starting communication will be described for the thirty-first embodiment for the case in which the mobile radio station 51 is in the area shown in
Next the sequence diagram for the communication starting procedure related to the second invention will be described, using
Next, the procedure with regard to handover in each of the thirty-third to thirty-sixth embodiments will be described.
The handover which is handled by these embodiments is limited to a handover that occurs in the case in which the mobile radio station 51 moves within the service area of a specific narrowband radio base station 53. The reason for this is that, because the narrowband radio base station 53 has uplink and downlink radio channels, handover between narrowband radio base stations can be adequately performed using the procedure of the past. Because the procedure when starting communication was shown for the thirty-first and thirty-second embodiments, the handover procedure will be described from the condition of already providing service in the thirty-third to thirty-six embodiments.
Thirty-third embodiment: The handover procedure will be described for the case in which the mobile radio station 51 moves as shown in
Next, the handover sequence diagram will be described, using
In the case in which the need to perform handover arises, the mobile radio station 51 sends a handover request message and a signal 558, for the purpose of identifying the handover destination wideband radio base station 52, to the server 56. When the server 56 interprets the handover request message and the signal 568, it sends a circuit cutoff request message 569 to the wideband radio base station which is current performing communication. After the circuit is cut off, the server sends the information data 570 via the wideband radio base station 52 which was specified by the signal 568. By doing this, even in the case in which the service area changes because of movement of the user, it is possible for the user to continue receiving the service.
Thirty-fourth embodiment: The handover procedure for the thirty-fourth embodiment will be described for the case in which the mobile radio station 51 moves as shown in
In the above-described embodiment, the example provided was that of the case in which the assumption was made that the mobile radio station 51 could no longer connect to a wideband radio base station 52 and switching is made to connect via a narrowband radio base station, it is possible to add a step after step ST51 which selects either continued provision of service using the narrowband downlink radio channel or stoppage of the provision of service. In the case in which the selection of continued service is made, the flow proceeds to step ST52. The case in which the service is to be stopped is described in detail with regard to the thirty-fifth embodiment.
Next, the sequence diagram for handover with relation to the thirty-fourth embodiment will be described, using
Normally, because the narrowband radio base station 53 which is used as the downlink radio channel is the same as the narrowband radio base station 53 used as the uplink radio channel, the signal 588 may merely be only the information to inform the server 56 that the wideband downlink radio channel cannot be used. When the server 56 interprets the handover request message, 587 and the signal 588, it sends a circuit cutoff request message 589 to the wideband radio base station 52 which is currently performing communication. After the circuit is cut off, the server 56 sends the information 590 requested by the user, either via the narrowband radio base station 53 which was specified by the signal 588, or via the narrowband radio base station 53 used on the uplink radio channel. By doing this, even in the case in which the service area changes because of movement of the user, it is possible for the user to continue receiving the service.
Thirty-fifth embodiment: The circuit service stopping procedure, that is, the circuit cutoff procedure will be described, using
Because the mobile radio station 51 moves outside the service area of the wideband radio base station 52, there is a deterioration of the received field strength of the signal sent from the wideband radio base station 52 currently providing service. It is also impossible to receive the signal sent from a wideband radio base station other than the wideband radio base station currently providing service. Therefore, at step ST61, the mobile radio station interprets that it cannot connect to a wideband radio base station. At step ST62, the mobile radio station 51 informs the server 56 via the narrowband radio base station, that it cannot connect to a wideband radio base station 52, that is, that the provision of service is to be stopped. At step ST63, the server 56 performs a stoppage of the service being provided, and cuts off the communication circuit from the wideband radio base station to the mobile radio station 51. In the case in which, as in the thirty-fourth embodiment, a step is added which selects either continued provision of service using the narrowband downlink radio channel or stoppage of the provision of service, this step follows step ST61, and if stoppage of the service is selected at this step, flow proceeds to step ST62.
Next, the sequence diagram for handover in the thirty-fifth embodiment will be described, using
Thirty-sixth embodiment: The handover procedure will be explained using
Accompanying the movement of the mobile radio station 51, it becomes possible to receive the signal from the wideband radio base station 52 for the purpose of identifying the radio base station. At step ST71, the mobile radio station 51 interprets that it has moved to inside a service area of a wideband radio base station 52. At step ST72, the information interpreted at step ST71 is passed to the server 56, via the narrowband radio base station 53. By doing this, it is possible for the server to recognize that the mobile radio station 51 has moved to inside a service area of a wideband radio base station 52. At step ST73, the connection is switched so that it passes through the wideband radio base station 52 interpreted at step ST71, and the provision of service is continued. Even in the case in which the mobile radio station 51 is using the narrowband radio channel, it must always be waiting to receive the signal which is sent by a wideband radio base station 52. The reason for this is that, when the service area of a wideband radio base station 52 is entered, even if signal reception via the narrowband radio base station is good, there are cases in which handover is performed.
While in the above-noted embodiment, the example described is that in which at step ST71, when the mobile radio station 51 interprets that it has entered a service area of a wideband radio base station 52, a handover is performed immediately, it is also possible to add a step by which the user selects whether or not to perform a handover. The reason for this is that, as mentioned above, in the case in which the receiving condition of the signal via the narrowband radio base station 53 is not necessarily bad, for a service such as voice communication which does not require high-speed transmission, it is not necessary to perform handover. There are three places this step can be added, each having the following characteristics. First, if the above-noted step is added following step ST72, regardless of whether or not a handover is performed, the server 56 can recognize in which wideband radio base station 52 service area the mobile radio station 51 is located. Next, in the case in which the above-noted step is added following step ST71, when handover is not performed, because the mobile radio station 51 does not tell the server in which wideband radio base station 52 service area it is located, there is a reduction in the amount of traffic between the mobile radio station 51 and the server 56. Finally, if the above-noted step is added before step ST71, because it is not necessary for the mobile radio station 51 to interpret in which wideband radio base station 52 service area it is located, there is a reduction in power consumption. In this case, if the power supply to the receiving means for wideband information transmission is switched off, there is a further reduction in power consumption.
Next, the handover sequence diagram for the system of the thirty-sixth embodiment will be described, using
In the case of performing a handover, the mobile radio station 51 sends to the server 56 a handover request message 626 and a signal 627 for identifying the handover destination wideband radio base station 52. When the server 56 interprets the handover request message 626 and the signal 627, it sends a downlink radio channel circuit cutoff message 628 to the narrowband radio base station 52. After the circuit is cut off, the server 56 sends the information data 629 via the wideband radio base station 52 which was specified by the signal 627. By doing this, even in the case in which the service area changes because of movement of the user, it is possible for the user to continue receiving the service.
Thirty-seventh embodiment: A characteristic logical number is allocated to the server 56. When a plurality of servers exist in a network, a common number is allocated to all servers. When a user wishes to receive service, the server 56 is called. The methods of calling are the method of direct dialup by the user of the logical number (
Next, the narrowband radio base station 53 makes a connection to the server 56. In the case in which the network has only one server 56, a communication circuit is established from the narrowband radio base station 53 to the server 56. In the case in which the network has a plurality of servers 56, selection is made of the server to which the narrowband radio base station 53 is to be connected. There are four methods of making this selection.
The first method is that in which the narrrowband radio base station 53 recognizes beforehand which server 56 it is to be connected to, this server 56 always being selected. Normally, the connected server is a server neighboring the narrrowband radio base station 53. The second method is that in which a server 56 having a light load is selected. In this method, the narrrowband radio base station 53 monitors the load of the servers 56 and selects a server 56 having a light load. The third method is that in which the server 56 is selected which has a light network load. This method attempts to use a communication path on which there is little traffic as the path between the narrrowband radio base station 53 and the server 56. The fourth method is that of combining at least two of the above three methods. One example of doing this is for the narrrowband radio base station 53 to monitor the server 56 loads, and to select from servers 56 having a load lower than a given load the closest neighboring server 56 to the narrrowband radio base station 53. After the server 56 is selected by means an above-noted method, the communication circuit from the narrrowband radio base station 53 to the server 56 is established, this being used to establish a communication circuit from the mobile radio station 51 to the server 56.
Thirty-eighth embodiment: As shown in
Next, the narrowband radio base station 53 makes a connection to the server 56. In the case in which the network has only one server 56, a communication circuit is established from the narrowband radio base station 53 to the server 56. In the case in which the network has a plurality of servers 56, selection is made of the server to which the narrowband radio base station 53 is to be connected. Since the methods of selection are the same as for the thirty-ninth embodiment, they will not be included here. When the server 56 selection is performed, the communication circuit from the narrrowband radio base station 53 to the server is established, this being used to establish a communication circuit from the mobile radio station 51 to the server 56.
Thirty-ninth embodiment: The mobile radio station 51 displays whether it is possible to communicate with a radio base station. Specifically, it displays both whether it can connect to a narrrowband radio base station 53 and whether it can connect to a wideband radio base station 52. The method of display includes the method of displaying in step manner the signal strength each of the base stations (
According to the thirty-ninth embodiment, it is possible to recognize what kind of service the user is receiving. That is, the user receives service via a narrowband downlink radio channel, and the user can recognize the condition in which it is not possible to receive service via a wideband downlink radio channel, the condition in which it is possible to receive service via a wideband downlink radio channel, and the like. Therefore, in the case, for example, in which the user is located in a wideband radio base station 52 service area, it is possible for the user to select, based on his or her wishes, whether to not receive service at this point, but to receive high-speed radio transmission service which uses a wideband downlink radio channel after moving into a wideband radio base station 52 service area, or to receive low-speed radio transmission service via a narrowband downlink radio channel at this point. The two steps related to the signal transmitted from the wideband radio base station 52 (when the mobile radio station 51 receives a first signal from a wideband radio base station 52 via a radio circuit, the step of measuring the receive field strength of the first signal, and the step of displaying the received field strength of the first signal in a form recognizable by a human being) and the two steps related to the signal transmitted from the narrrowband radio base station 53 (when the mobile radio station 51 receives a second signal from a narrowband radio base station 53 via a radio circuit, the step of measuring the receive field strength of the second signal, and the step of displaying the received field strength of the second signal in a form recognizable by a human being) are each individual steps. Therefore, a method can be envisioned in which, in the case in which the fact that the user is not to receive high-speed transmission service via the wideband radio base station 52 is set beforehand, the two steps related to the signal transmitted from the wideband radio base station 52 are not performed. In this case, it is possible to reduce the power consumption of the mobile radio station 51.
As described above, according to the thirty-first to the thirty-ninth embodiments of the present invention, even in a system which included as a constituent element a mobile radio station not having a wideband uplink radio, such as in an SDL system, it is possible for the server to recognize to which wideband radio base station connection is possible, and to provide service. Even if, accompanying movement of a mobile radio station, it becomes necessary to perform a handover, it is possible for the server to recognize the destination wideband radio base station for the handover, thereby enabling continued provision of service.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6-137621 | Jun 1994 | JP | national |
Notice: More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,721. The reissue applications are application Ser. Nos. 12/884,330 (the present application), 10/119,679, 11/272,736, 12/546,962, 12/546,326, 12/547,059, 12/884,298, 12/884,315, 12/884,325, and 12/884,355. This application is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 08/492,728, filed Jun. 20, 1995 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,961.This reissue is a continuation of reissue application Ser. No. 12/546,962, filed Aug. 25, 2009, which in turn is a continuation of reissue application Ser. No. 11/272,736, filed Nov. 15, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. Re. 41,132, which in turn is a continuation of reissue application Ser. No. 10/119,679, filed Apr. 11, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. Re. 39,119, which in turn is a reissue application of application Ser. No. 09/055,973, filed Apr. 7, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,721, which in turn is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/492,728, filed Jun. 20, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,961, which claims priority from Japanese Patent Application 6-137621, filed Jun. 20, 1994. Two other continuations of application Ser. No. 11/272,736 were filed, corresponding to application Ser. No. 12/546,326 (filed Aug. 24, 2009) and 12/547,059 (filed Aug. 25, 2009). On Sep. 17, 2010, four other continuations of application Ser. No. 12/546,962 were filed, corresponding to 12/884,298, 12/884,315, 12/884,325, and 12/884,355.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12546962 | Aug 2009 | US |
| Child | 09055973 | US | |
| Parent | 11272736 | Nov 2005 | US |
| Child | 12546962 | US | |
| Parent | 10119679 | Apr 2002 | US |
| Child | 11272736 | US | |
| Parent | 08492728 | Jun 1995 | US |
| Child | 10119679 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 09055973 | Apr 1998 | US |
| Child | 12884330 | US |
