Mobile phone apparatus, local wireless communication method
Contents
1. Reference cited 1 JP Patent Kokai Publication JP P2001 144767A pages 11 and 12 FIG 14 SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE However with the above described conventional mobile phone it is necessary to set the connected state at all times or to set the local wireless communication function in the waiting state at all times even when the user has not a talk 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 or when data communication is not going on thus leading to wasteful power dissipation and to shortened useful life of the battery of the mobile phone Moreover the conventional mobile phone suffers from the problem that since it is necessary for a user to keep local wireless communication devices in the connected state at all times from the outset the user has to perform connection processing to the local wireless communication device of interest in keeping up with changes in the use situation of the mobile phone The mobile phone is usually carried about during use such that it may be used in variable different use states in homes cars or in offices It is however extremely cumber some to perform the connection processing of connecting the mobile phone to the device of interest each time the use situation is changed Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile phone a local wireless communication method used therefor and a program therefor in which it is unnecessary to connect the mob2. 455 557 6 744 753 B2 6 2004 Heinonen et al 370 338 7 042 866 B2 5 2006 Famolari 370 338 7 069 018 81 6 2006 Granstam et al 455 456 1 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS EP 1 229 704 A2 8 2002 JP 2000 101506 4 2000 JP 2001 144767 A 5 2001 JP 2002 84361 3 2002 JP 2002 125268 4 2002 JP 2002 135367 5 2002 JP 2002 232956 8 2002 WO WO97 34403 9 1997 WO WO99 45685 9 1999 cited by examiner Primary Examiner Marceau Milord 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Scully Scott Murphy amp Presser P C 57 ABSTRACT A mobile phone has a controller which on detection of an incoming call selects one of plural local wireless commu nication devices registered in a memory which ranks high in the priority order and which then controls a local wireless communication unit to transmit a connection request to the selected local wireless communication device while starting a timer When the local wireless communication unit receives a connection response from the selected local wireless communication device the controller performs connection processing to establish the local wireless con nection to transmit an incoming call notification signal On receipt of an incoming call response signal from the local wireless communication device the controller controls a RF unit to establish a line connection to enable a talk state or a state of data communication On detection of disconnect of the line connection the controller disco
3. a local wireless com munication unit 22 and a recording medium 23 The antenna 11 is responsible for transmission reception of electric waves while the antenna for local wireless communication 12 transmission reception of electric waves of local wireless communication The controller 13 is con nected to the memory 14 timer 15 operating unit 16 display unit 17 RF unit 18 signal processor 19 loudspeaker 20 microphone 21 and to the local wireless communication unit 22 to control these respective components The memory 14 stores e g the information of the local wireless communication device not shown as well as the order of priority thereof When started by the controller 13 the timer 15 starts counting the lapse of time and when the specified time period has lapsed the timer 15 notifies the controller 13 of that effect The operating unit 16 performs the operation for the user to accord ranks in the order of priority to the respective local wireless communication devices The display unit 17 outputs an operating menu referred to by the user according the order of priority to the respective local wireless communication devices The RF unit 18 performs the RF signal related processing while the signal processor 19 processes received signals and transmitted signals The loudspeaker 20 outputs the received speech while the microphone 21 inputs the speech The local wireless communication unit 22 performs the processing relevan
4. in said memory determining on the detection of said incoming call one of the awaiting state and a local wireless communication device for connection from among the plurality of local wireless communication devices registered in said memory in accordance with a pre set priority order and transmitting the connection request to the determined local wireless communication device using said func tion of local wireless communication 20 A computer program embodied on a computer read able medium for enabling a computer constituting a mobile phone apparatus including a function of local wireless communication for realizing a short range wireless commu nication system to execute a local wireless communication processing said computer program comprising code seg ments to enable the computer to execute the steps of detecting an incoming call to the mobile phone apparatus transmitting a connection request to each of a plurality of local wireless communication devices registered in a 0 20 25 18 memory for pre registering said local wireless commu nication devices with which said mobile phone appa ratus communicates in accordance with said short range wireless communication system on the detection of the incoming call and determining one of an awaiting state and a local wireless communication device for connection from among the plurality of local wireless communication devices said determined local wireless connection
5. information of the wireless communication device configured for having communication by the short range wireless communication system and means for trans mitting a connection request in case of an incoming to a local wireless communication device registered in the memory using a function of local communication so that it is unnecessary to connect the mobile phone at all times while it becomes possible to suppress wasteful power dis sipation and to assure battery protection Moreover the mobile phone according to a modification of the present invention includes means for determining a connection device in accordance with a predetermined priority order from among the plural local wireless com munication devices registered in the memory on the occa sion of an incoming and a connection request is sent to the so determined local wireless communication device using the function of local wireless communication so that it is possible to automatically select a proper one of plural registered local wireless communication devices depending on the prevailing use state based on the user s intention in order to establish the connection It should be noted that other objects features and aspects of the present invention will become apparent in the entire disclosure and that modifications may be done without 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 departing the gist and scope of the present invention as disclosed here
6. it is the value of the counter N that is smaller the controller 13 determines that there is some other registered device and continues the processing step S53 of FIG 7 The controller 13 then selects the device A having the priority order of 2 equal to the value of the counter N as the connection device and transmits the connection request If the connection response from the device A cannot be received and the timer 15 has timed out the controller 13 determines that the device A is also disabled for communi cation and increments the counter N by 1 so that N 3 step S61 of FIG 7 The controller 13 compares the value of the counter N 3 with the total number 3 of the local wireless communication devices registered in the memory 14 Since the value of the counter N is equal to the total number of the local wireless communication devices the controller determines that there is a further registered device and continues the processing step 553 of FIG 7 The controller 13 then selects the local wireless commu nication function awaiting having the same priority order of 3 as counter value steps 554 and S55 of FIG 7 to transfer to the local wireless communication function awaiting state FIG 8 depicts a flowchart showing the processing for changing the priority order of the mobile phone of a fifth embodiment of the present invention Since the mobile phone 1 according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention is similar in s
7. said local wireless communication means to disconnect said local wireless communication connection when a line having established connection with said local wireless communication device is disconnected 3 A mobile phone apparatus comprising local wireless communication means for realizing a short range wireless communication systems a memory for registering a plurality of local wireless communication devices adapted for communication in accordance with said short range wireless communica tion system means for controlling said local wireless communication means to transmit a connection request to each of the plurality of local wireless communication devices reg istered in said memory on a detection of an incoming call and means for determining one of an awaiting state and a device for connection from among said local wireless communication devices each device making a connec tion response to said connection request in accordance with a preset priority order 4 The mobile phone apparatus according to claim 3 further comprising means for controlling said local wireless communication means to disconnect said local wireless communication connection when a line having established connection with said local wireless communication device is disconnected 5 The mobile phone apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising means for searching near by local wire less communication devices at a preset constant time inter val a
8. similar in structure to the mobile phone 1 of the first embodiment shown in FIG 1 the overall operation of the mobile phone 1 of the sixth embodiment is explained with reference to FIGS 1 and 9 Meanwhile the processing shown in FIG 9 is achieved by the controller 13 computer executing the program stored in the recording medium 23 In the present embodiment the number of times of connection of a given device use frequency is retrieved at a preset constant time interval such as every week steps 581 and S82 of FIG 9 If the number of times of connection of the device use frequency is larger than a preset threshold value step S83 of FIG 9 the rank of the device in the priority order is raised step S84 of FIG 9 Moreover in the present embodiment if the number of times of connection of the device use frequency is less than a preset threshold value step S83 of FIG 9 as when the device has not been connected over a preset time duration such as for one week the rank of the device in the priority order is lowered step S85 of FIG 9 In this manner the present embodiment is able to cope with the changing surrounding environment The advantageous effects of the present invention are summarized as follows The mobile phone of the present invention described above having the function of local wireless communication for realizing the short range wire less communication system includes a memory for pre registering the
9. 12 2007 Sheet 9 of 9 US 7 231 179 B2 PROCESSING FOR CHANGING PRIORITY ORDER PRESET TIME ELAPSED RETRIEVE NUMBER OF TIMES OF DEVICE CONNECTION USE FREQUENCY 581 582 585 LOWER RANK IN PRIORITY ORDER OF DEVICE RAISE RANK IN PRIORITY ORDER OF DEVICE US 7 231 179 B2 1 MOBILE PHONE APPARATUS LOCAL WIRELESS COMMUNICATION METHOD USED THEREFOR AND PROGRAM THEREOF FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a mobile phone a local wireless communication method used therefor and to a computer program thereof More particularly it relates to a mobile phone having a local wireless communication function for realizing a near wireless communication system used in wireless LAN Local Area Network BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Up to now as a short range wireless communication system standardized systems such as JEEE802 11b IEEE802 1la or IEEE802 11g used for wireless LAN or Bluetooth Registered Trademark have become known With a mobile phone which is equipped with the local wireless communication function for realizing the short range wireless communication system a user may talk without holding the mobile phone by connecting the mobile phone to a handsfree kit or a headset with the local wireless communication function Meanwhile the local wireless communication function is that of wireless communication over a short range and hence is featured by low power dissipation On t
10. NECTION 529 DISCONNECT LOCAL WIRELESS COMMUNICATION CONNECTION ONNECT LON RESPONSE DEVICE END Nn 27 n 30 S31 YES U S Patent Jun 12 2007 Sheet 5 of 9 FIG 5 DETECT CALL S41 LOCAL WIRELESS Sis COMMUNICATION AWAT ING STATE TIMER START 43 t SET LOCAL W COMMUNI CAT LINE CONNECTION 547 LINE DISCONNECT ION S48 DISCONNECT LOCAL WIRELESS COMMUNI CATION CONNECTION US 7 231 179 B2 ELESS 8101 0 546 va 49 U S Patent Jun 12 2007 Sheet 6 of 9 US 7 231 179 B2 FIG 6 14 LOCAL WIRELESS RANK IN PRIORITY COMMUNICATION DEVICE ORDER U S Patent Jun 12 2007 Sheet 7 of 9 US 7 231 179 B2 FIG 7 DETECT CALL S51 INITIALIZE COUNTER N 52 gt YES 53 YES 55 LOCAL WIRELESS or COMMUNI CAT I ON SELECT CONNECTION DEVICE 57 FUNCTION AWAIT 58 ES 59 SET LOCAL WIRELESS Ban RADIO COMMUNICATION S60 UNIN UN LINE CONNECTION 563 INCREMENT COUNTER N BY 1 S61 LINE DISCONNECTION S64 DISCONNECT LOCAL WIRELESS COMMUNICATION CONNECTION 65 U S Patent Jun 12 2007 Sheet 8 of 9 US 7 231 179 B2 FIG 8 PROCESSING FOR CHANGING PRIORITY ORDER 89 PRESET TIME ELAPSED YES S71 RETRIEVE NEAR BY DEVICES S72 RAISE RANK IN PRIORITY ORDER OF S73 DEVICE FOUND OUT AND LOWER RANK IN PRIORITY ORDER OF DEVICE NOT FOUND QUT U S Patent Jun
11. a third embodiment of the present invention Since the mobile phone of the third embodiment of the present invention is similar in structure to the mobile phone 1 of the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG 1 the overall operation of the mobile phone 1 of the third embodiment of the present invention is explained with reference to FIGS 1 and 5 US 7 231 179 B2 11 Meanwhile the processing shown in FIG 4 is achieved by the controller 13 computer which executes the program of the recording medium 23 The above described first and second embodiments are directed to a method of automatically connecting from the mobile phone 1 to the local wireless communication func tional device registered in the memory 14 In the third embodiment of the present invention the local wireless communication unit 22 is kept in the awaiting state in consideration of a case where it is desired to make connec tion to a device not registered in the memory 14 or a case where due to e g technical problem of local wireless communication the connection processing cannot be started from the mobile phone 1 For example on detection of an incoming call step S41 of FIG 5 the controller 13 controls the local wireless communication unit 22 to set the unit to the local wireless communication awaiting state step S42 of FIG 5 to start the timer 15 step S43 of FIG 5 The controller 13 awaits the connection requests from the respective
12. according to a first embodiment of the present inven tion FIG 3 shows an illustrative structure of a memory shown in FIG 1 FIG 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone according to a second embodiment of the present invention FIG 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone according to a third embodiment of the present invention FIG 6 shows an illustrative structure of a memory accord ing to a fourth embodiment of the present invention FIG 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of a mobile phone according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention FIG 8 is a flowchart showing the processing of changing the priority order of a mobile phone according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention FIG 9 is a flowchart showing the processing of changing the priority order of a mobile phone according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings certain preferred embodiments of the present invention are explained in detail FIG 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a mobile phone according to a first embodiment of the present inven tion Referring to FIG 1 the mobile phone 1 comprises an antenna 11 an antenna for local wireless communication 12 a controller 13 a memory 14 a timer 15 an operating unit 16 a display unit 17 an RF unit 18 a signal processor 19 a loudspeaker 20 a microphone 21
13. ame structure as the mobile phone 1 of the first embodiment shown in FIG 1 the overall operation of the mobile phone according to the second embodiment of the present inven tion is explained with reference to FIGS 1 and 4 Mean while the processing shown in FIG 4 may be achieved by the controller 13 executing the program of the recording medium 23 In the first embodiment of the present invention for establishing the connection with one of the connectable local wireless communication devices which ranks first in the priority order a connection request is transmitted to the local wireless communication devices with the values of the priority order of 1 to N beginning first of all at the local wireless communication device having the highest rank among these local wireless communication devices If a connection response is made from this first rank device within a preset time interval the local wireless communi cation connection is established with this local wireless communication device 0 20 25 35 40 45 55 60 65 10 If conversely there is made no response the controller determines that the local wireless communication device is disabled for connection Thus the controller sequentially repeats the processing in the order of the local wireless communication device which ranks second in the priority order the local wireless communication device which ranks third in the priority order the local wire
14. az United States Patent Karusawa US007231179B2 US 7 231 179 B2 Jun 12 2007 ao Patent No 45 Date of Patent 54 MOBILE PHONE APPARATUS LOCAL WIRELESS COMMUNICATION METHOD USED THEREFOR AND PROGRAM THEREOF 75 Inventor Kiyoko Karusawa Tokyo JP 73 Assignee NEC Corporation Tokyo JP Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 660 days 21 Appl No 10 661 305 22 Filed Sep 12 2003 65 Prior Publication Data US 2004 0053573 Al Mar 18 2004 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Sep 18 2002 JP 6 2002 270853 51 Int Cl HO4B 7 00 2006 01 52 US CL 455 41 2 455 435 2 455 461 455 445 455 426 1 455 512 455 435 3 370 328 370 338 370 349 58 Field of Classification Search 455 41 2 455 512 435 1 435 2 435 3 426 1 445 455 461 426 2 See application file for complete search history 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 790 952 A 8 1998 Seazholtz et al 455 432 1 6 035 193 A 3 2000 Buhrmann et al 455 426 1 6 185 413 BL 2 2001 Mueller et al 455 405 6 477 373 B1 11 2002 Rappaport et al 455 436 6 519 453 BL 2 2003 Hamada et al 455 432 1 6 580 704 51 6 2003 Wellig et al 370 338 6 741 870 Bl 5 2004 Holmstrom et al
15. cal wireless connection may be made shorter in this manner This method is effective when a large number of the local wireless communication devices have been registered As in the first embodiment described above the memory 14 used in the second embodiment of the present invention is configured as shown in FIG 3 For example it is assumed that three devices A to C have been registered as the local wireless communication devices in the memory 14 and the priority order of each device as set by the user from the outset is registered such that the device A ranks second in the priority order the device B ranks first in the priority order and the device C is of the priority order 3 as an example On detection of the incoming call the controller 13 transmits connection requests to the totality of the devices A to C and starts up the timer 15 The controller 13 awaits the connection response from the respective devices until a time out notice is sent from the timer 15 If it is assumed that the connection responses have been made from the two devices A and B the controller 13 on time out of the timer 15 compares the priority orders of the devices A and B to each other Since it is the device B that is higher in the priority order the controller performs the connection processing for the device B to establish the local wireless connection FIG 5 depicts the flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone according to
16. device making a connection response to said connection request in accordance with a pre set priority order 21 A computer program embodied on a computer read able medium for enabling a computer constituting a mobile phone apparatus including a function of local wireless communication for realizing a short range wireless commu nication system to execute a local wireless communication processing said computer program comprising code seg ments to enable the computer to execute the steps of detecting an incoming call to said mobile phone appara tus setting said function of local wireless communication to a waiting state on the detection of said incoming call and performing connection processing to the local wireless communication device using said function of local wireless communication on receipt of a connection request which the local wireless communication device issues during a period of said function of local wireless communication being in said waiting state
17. er the information of the local wireless communication devices 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 with which the mobile phone apparatus communicates in accordance with the short range wireless communication system A computer program according to another aspect of the present invention also is one for enabling a computer constituting a mobile phone apparatus including a function of local wireless communication for realizing a short range wireless communication system to execute a local wireless communication which comprises code segments to enable the computer to execute the steps of detecting an incoming call to an own station transmitting a connection request to each of plural local wireless communication devices registered in a memory designed to pre register the information of the local wireless communication devices with which the mobile phone appa ratus communicates in accordance with the short range wireless communication system on the occasion of an incoming call and determining a local wireless communication device for connection from among the plural local wireless communi cation devices which have made connection responses to the connection requests in accordance with a pre set priority order A computer program according to another aspect of the present invention also is one for enabling a computer constituting a mobile phone apparatus including a function of local wireless communication for
18. etection of the incoming call and by automatically disconnecting the connection for local wireless communication on detection of the disconnection of the line such that connection need not be made at all times thereby to suppress wasteful power dissipation and to assure sufficient battery protection Moreover with the present embodiment connection requests may be sent to the registered local wireless com munication devices in the descending order of the priority data previously allocated by the user to the registered local wireless communication devices and the processing for establishing the connection may be performed for the local wireless communication device from which the response for connection has been returned such that connection may be established for the local wireless communication device which ranks foremost in the priority order of the local wireless communication devices that may be connected under the prevailing use states Thus it is possible to automatically select the one of the plural registered local wireless communication devices which is suited under the prevailing situation based on the user s intention and to establish the connection for the so selected local wireless communication device FIG 4 is a flowchart for illustrating the operation of a mobile phone according to the second embodiment of the present invention Since the mobile phone of the present second embodiment of the present invention is of the s
19. f said local wireless communication means being in said awaiting state 10 A method of performing local wireless communica tion by a mobile phone apparatus including a function of local wireless communication for realizing a short range wireless communication system said method comprising the steps of detecting an incoming call to said mobile phone appara tus transmitting on the detection of said incoming call a connection request using said function of local wire less communication to one of a plurality of local wireless communication devices registered in a memory for pre registering said local wireless commu nication devices with which said mobile phone appa ratus communicates in accordance with said short range wireless communication system said plurality of local wireless communication devices registered in said memory in accordance with a predetermined priority order and a rank in said priority order accorded to an awaiting state of said function of local wireless com munication said rank registered in said memory determining on the detection of said incoming call one of the awaiting state and a local wireless communication device for connection from among the plurality of local wireless communication devices registered in said memory in accordance with a pre set priority order and transmitting the connection request to the determined local wireless communication device using said func tion of local wireless commun
20. g call and performing connection processing to a local wireless communication device using said function of local wireless communication on receipt of a connection request which the local wireless communication device issues during a period of said function of local wireless communication being in said awaiting state 19 A computer program embodied on a computer read able medium for enabling a computer constituting a mobile phone apparatus including a function of local wireless communication for realizing a short range wireless commu nication system to execute a local wireless communication processing said computer program comprising code seg ments to enable the computer to execute the steps of US 7 231 179 B2 17 detecting an incoming call to the mobile phone apparatus and transmitting on the detection of said incoming call using said function of local wireless communication a con nection request to one of a plurality of local wireless communication devices registered in a memory for pre registering said local wireless communication devices with which said mobile phone apparatus com municates in accordance with said short range wireless communication system said plurality of local wireless communication devices registered in said memory in accordance with a predetermined priority order and a rank in said priority order accorded to an awaiting state of said function of local wireless communication said rank registered
21. h a pre set priority order A method according to yet another aspect of the present invention is also one for performing local wireless commu nication method by a mobile phone apparatus including a function of local wireless communication for realizing the short range wireless communication system which com prises steps of detecting an incoming call to the mobile phone apparatus setting the function of local wireless communication to a waiting state on the occasion of an incoming call and processing for connecting the mobile phone to the local wireless communication device using the function of local wireless communication on receipt of a connection request from the local wireless communication device during a period of the function of local wireless communication being in the waiting state A computer program according to another aspect of the present invention also is one for enabling a computer constituting a mobile phone apparatus including a function of local wireless communication for realizing a short range wireless communication system to execute a local wireless communication which comprises code segments to enable the computer to execute the steps of detecting an incoming call to an own station and transmitting on the occasion of an incoming call using the function of local wireless communication a connection request to one of plural local wireless communication devices registered in a memory designed to pre regist
22. he controller 13 proceeds to the connection processing to establish the local wireless connection to send a signal for notifying the incoming call step 10 of FIG 2 On receipt of a response signal for the incoming call from the local wireless communication device the controller 13 controls the RF unit 18 to establish the network connection to set up a talk state or the state of data communication step S11 of FIG 2 On detection of the network disconnection step S12 of FIG 2 the controller 13 disconnects the local wireless communication step S13 of FIG 2 If there is no response to the connection and the timer has timed out steps S7 and S8 of FIG 2 the controller 13 increments the value of the counter N by 1 step S9 of FIG 2 and reverts to the step S3 to repeat the above described processing operations When the value of the counter has exceeded the total number of the registered local wireless jak 5 30 8 communication devices step S3 of FIG 2 the controller 13 terminates the above processing FIG 3 shows an illustrative structure of the memory 14 of FIG 1 In FIG 3 three devices A B and C are registered in the memory 14 as local wireless communication devices and the priority order of each device as set by the user from the outset are registered such that the device A is of the priority order 1 the device B is of the priority order 2 and the device C is of the priority order 3 as a
23. he other hand the PC personal computer having a local wireless communication function or PDA Personal Digital Assistant may be connected to a mobile phone having the local wireless communication function in order to have data communication by dial up connection or facsimile connection As a method for use the customary practice is to connect the mobile phone at all times with a headset a hands free kit a PC or a PDA or to set the local wireless communication function of the mobile phone at all times in an awaiting state in order to be able to accept the connection from these devices at any time for example see Reference Cited 1 For example the local wireless communication connec tion between the mobile phone and the headset or the hands free kit is established at the outset On detection of an incoming call IC a signal indicating the incoming call is sent out to the headset or to the hands free kit The headset or the hands free kit notifies the user of the incoming call The user makes a reply operation by using the headset or the hands free kit to answer the call to have a talk If connection is to be made from the headset or the hands free kit on receipt of an incoming call it is necessary to keep the local wireless communication function of the mobile phone at all times in an awaiting state at all times or to set the local wireless communication function of the mobile phone in the awaiting state by user s manual operation
24. ication 11 The method according to claim 10 further comprising the step of disconnecting said local wireless communication connec tion when a line connection with said local wireless communication device is disconnected 12 The method according to claim 10 further comprising the steps of searching near by local wireless communication devices at a preset constant time interval and dynamically changing said priority order responsive to the retrieved use frequency 13 The method according to claim 10 further comprising the steps of 5 10 40 45 50 55 65 16 searching the use frequency of near by local wireless communication devices at a preset constant time inter val and dynamically changing said priority order responsive to the retrieved use frequency 14 A method of performing local wireless communica tion by a mobile phone apparatus including a function of local wireless communication for realizing a short range wireless communication system said method comprising the steps of detecting an incoming call to the mobile phone apparatus and transmitting on the detection of the incoming call a connection request to each of a plurality of local wireless communication devices registered in a memory for pre registering said local wireless commu nication devices with which said mobile phone appa ratus communicates in accordance with said short range wireless communication system and deter
25. ile phone at all times to a local wireless communication device of interest in such a manner as to suppress wasteful power dissipation and to achieve sufficient battery protection It is another object of the present invention to provide a mobile phone a local wireless communication method used therefor and a program therefor in which one of a plural number of registered local wireless communication devices which is optimum for prevailing use environment is auto matically selected on the basis of the user s intention to establish the connection The above and other objects are attained by a mobile phone apparatus in accordance with one aspect of the present invention which is equipped with a function of local wireless communication for realizing a short range wireless communication system and which comprises a memory for pre registering the information on plural local wireless com munication devices adapted for communication with the mobile phone in accordance with the short range wireless communication system and means for transmitting a con nection request to the local wireless communication devices registered in the memory using the function of local wire less communication on the occasion of an incoming call A mobile phone apparatus in accordance with another aspect of the present invention which includes a function of local wireless communication for realizing the short range wireless communication system comprises a me
26. iment of the present invention Referring to FIGS 1 and 2 the overall operation of the mobile phone 1 according to the present first embodiment is described It is noted that the processing shown in FIG 2 is carried out by the controller 13 com puter executing the program stored in the recording medium 23 On detection of an incoming call the controller 13 sets an initial value 1 to the value of the counter N step S2 of FIG 2 The controller 1 checks whether or not the value of the counter N is larger than the total number of the local wireless communication devices registered in the memory 14 step S3 of FIG 2 If the value of the counter N is not larger than the total number of the registered local wireless communi cation devices the controller 1 selects the local wireless communication device registered in a N th rank in the order of priority initially set to 1 from among the local wireless communication devices registered in the memory 14 as a connection device step S4 of FIG 2 The controller 13 controls the local wireless communica tion unit 22 and sends a connection request to the selected local wireless communication device step S5 of FIG 2 and causes the timer 15 to start its operation by setting a time of the timer step S6 of FIG 2 When the local wireless communication unit 22 has received the connection request from the local wireless communication device selected as described above step S7 of FIG 2 t
27. in and claimed as appended herewith Also it should be noted that any combination of the disclosed and or claimed elements matters and or items may fall under the modifications aforementioned What is claimed is 1 A mobile phone apparatus comprising local wireless communication means for realizing a short range wireless communication system a memory for registering a plurality of local wireless communication devices adapted for communication in accordance with said short range wireless communica tion system said plurality of local wireless communi cation devices registered in said memory in accordance with a predetermined priority order and a rank in said priority order accorded to an awaiting state of said local wireless communication means said rank registered in said memory means for controlling said local wireless communication means to transmit a connection request to each of the local wireless communication devices registered in said memory on a detection of an incoming call and means for determining on the detection of the incoming call one of the awaiting state and a device for connec tion from among said plurality of local wireless com munication devices registered in said memory wherein said connection request is transmitted to the determined local wireless communication device by said local wireless communication means 2 The mobile phone apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising means for controlling
28. less communication device which ranks fourth in the priority order and so forth up to the local wireless communication device which ranks N th in the priority order On the other hand in the second embodiment of the present invention the controller 13 on detection of the incoming call step S21 of FIG 4 controls the local wireless communication unit 22 to transmit connection requests to the totality of the local wireless communication devices registered in the memory 14 step S22 of FIG 4 and to start the timer 15 step S23 of FIG 4 The controller 13 awaits the connection responses from the respective local wireless communication devices until the timer 15 times out step S24 of FIG 4 When the timer 15 has timed out step S25 of FIG 4 the controller 13 selects from among the local wireless communication devices from which the connection responses have been received the local wireless communication device which ranks topmost in the priority order step S26 of FIG 4 and controls the local wireless communication unit 22 to per form the connection processing for the selected local wire less communication device steps S27 to S30 of FIG 4 Moreover in effectuating the connection processing for plural local wireless communication devices the controller 13 performs the above processing repeatedly steps S26 to S31 of FIG 4 In the present embodiment the time as from detection of an incoming call until establishment of the lo
29. local wireless communication devices until the timer 15 times out step S44 of FIG 5 On receipt of the connection request from the local wireless communication device the controller 13 controls the local wireless commu nication unit 22 to effectuate the connection processing for the local wireless communication device which has sent the connection request In the present embodiment such a method other than the above method may be used which in determining the priority order of the registered local wireless communication devices adds an alternative of awaiting the connection from other local wireless communication devices FIG 6 shows an illustrative structure of a memory accord ing to a fourth embodiment of the present invention In FIG 6 there are registered in the memory of the fourth embodi ment of the present invention as local wireless communi cation devices a device A a device B and a local wireless communication function awaiting The priority order of each device as set by the user from the outset is registered in the memory such that the device A ranks second in the priority order the device B ranks first in the priority order 2 and the local wireless communication function awaiting ranks third in the priority order as an example On the incoming call the controller attempts to make connections to the device A and then to the device B If these devices are unconnectable the controller sets the l
30. mining one of an state and a local wireless commu nication device for connection from among the plural ity of local wireless communication devices said deter mined local wireless communication device making a connection response to said connection request in accordance with a pre set priority order 15 The method according to claim 14 further comprising the step of disconnecting said local wireless communication connec tion when a line connection with said local wireless communication device is disconnected 16 The method according to claim 14 further comprising the steps of searching near by local wireless communication devices at a preset constant time interval and dynamically changing said priority order responsive to the retrieved use frequency 17 The method according to claim 14 further comprising the steps of searching the use frequency of near by local wireless communication devices at a preset constant time inter val and dynamically changing said priority order responsive to the retrieved use frequency 18 A method of performing local wireless communica tion by a mobile phone apparatus including a function of local wireless communication for realizing a short range wireless communication system said method comprising the steps of detecting an incoming call to said mobile phone appara tus setting said function of local wireless communication to an awaiting state on the detection of said incomin
31. mory for pre registering the information on a plurality of local wire less communication devices adapted for communication in accordance with the short range wireless communication system means for transmitting a connection request to each of the totality of local wireless communication devices registered in the memory on the occasion of an incoming call and means for determining a device for connection from among the local wireless communication devices which returned connection responses to the connection request in accordance with a preset priority order A mobile phone apparatus in accordance with another aspect of the present invention which includes a function of local wireless communication for realizing the short range wireless communication system comprises means for set ting the function of local wireless communication to an awaiting state on an arrival of a call and means for per forming connection processing for the local wireless com munication device using the function of local wireless communication device on receipt of a connection request US 7 231 179 B2 3 from the local wireless communication device during a period of the function of local wireless communication being in the waiting state A method according to another aspect of the present invention is one for performing local wireless communica tion by a mobile phone apparatus including a function of local wireless communication for realizing the sh
32. n example Referring to FIGS 1 to 3 the operation of the mobile phone 1 of the first embodiment of the present invention is specifically explained On detection of an incoming call step S1 of FIG 2 the controller 13 first initializes the counter N N 1 step S2 of FIG 2 The controller 13 then compares the value of the counter N 1 to the total number 3 of the local wireless communi cation devices registered in the memory 14 step S3 of FIG 2 Since the number of the counter N is smaller than the total number of the registered local wireless communication devices the local wireless communication device having the value of the priority order N equal to N or 1 is selected from among the local wireless communication devices registered in the memory 14 step S4 of FIG 2 In this case the device B is selected The controller 13 controls the local wireless communica tion unit 22 to send a connection request to the device B to start the operation of the timer 15 steps S5 and S6 of FIG 2 On receipt of the connection response from the device B step S7 of FIG 2 the controller 13 controls the local wireless communication unit 22 to establish local wireless connection with the device B to send out a signal notifying the incoming call step S10 of FIG 2 On receipt of a response signal to the incoming call from the local wireless communication device the controller 13 controls the RF unit 18 to set up the connection to the ne
33. nc tion of automatically selecting the local wireless communi cation device for selection in dependence on the prevailing use situation and automatically establishing the connection to the selected local wireless communication device It should be noted that the local wireless communication device is such a device communicating with the mobile phone of the present invention by a short range wireless communication system Specifically the mobile phone of the present invention memorizes the information of the pre registered devices in a memory On receipt of an incoming call a controller determines the device for connection from among the devices registered in the memory based on the priority order pre set by the user and controls a local wireless communi US 7 231 179 B2 5 cation unit to send out a connection request to the so determined local wireless communication device The controller starts a timer at the same time as the connection response transmits a connection request Should there be a connection response from the local wireless communication device before the timer times out the con troller manages control to establish the connection to the local wireless communication device The controller also controls the RF unit to connect to a line When the line is disconnected the controller controls the local wireless com munication unit to disconnects the connection of local wireless communication Thus with the mobile
34. nd means for dynamically changing said priority order responsive to the search result 6 The mobile phone apparatus according to claim 3 further comprising means for searching near by local wireless communica tion devices at a preset constant time interval and US 7 231 179 B2 15 means for dynamically changing said priority order responsive to the search result 7 The mobile phone apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising means for retrieving use frequency of the local wireless communication devices at a preset con stant time interval and means for dynamically changing said priority order responsive to the retrieved use frequency 8 The mobile phone apparatus according to claim 3 further comprising means for retrieving use frequency of the local wireless communication devices at a preset constant time inter val and means for dynamically changing said priority order responsive to the retrieved use frequency 9 A mobile phone apparatus comprising local wireless communication means for realizing a short range wireless communication system means for setting said local wireless communication means to an awaiting state on an occasion of an incoming call and means for controlling said local wireless communication means to perform connection processing to the local wireless communication device on receipt of a con nection request which said local wireless communica tion device issues during a period o
35. nnects connection of the local wireless communication 21 Claims 9 Drawing Sheets US 7 231 179 B2 Sheet 1 of 9 Jun 12 2007 U S Patent vt 55 1038 LINN 9 003 02 NO LVO INFWNOO 993138 1 1901 EZ 9T LINN ON 0 U31 3 14 LINA 810 ne 00 Linn N es ss EB T meme nm SE me oT ZIN INO LLYS INNWNO9 SSI 138 IM i 01 i WNOIS 43yy3dsqno mad 05 MO VANILIN Old U S Patent Jun 12 2007 Sheet 2 of 9 US 7 231 179 B2 FIG 2 DETECT CALL 51 INITIALIZE COUNTER N 1 2 START TIMER ONNECTION RESPONS RECEIVED S7 OCAL WIREL NO COMMUN CATION CONNEC LINE CONNECTION YES INCREMENT COUNTER N BY 1 59 LINE DISCONNECT ON DiSCON lt gt 9 A Oo Q Oo lt 0 U S Patent Jun 12 2007 Sheet 3 of 9 US 7 231 179 B2 FIG 3 1 4 LOCAL WIRELESS RANK IN PRIORITY COMMUNICATION DEVICE ORDER DEVICE A DEVICE B DEVICE C U S Patent Jun 12 2007 Sheet 4 of 9 US 7 231 179 B2 FIG 4 SEND CONNECTION REQUESTS 522 TO ALL DEVICES START TIMER 523 RECEIVE CONNECTION RESPONSES 2 4 YES SELECT CONNECTION DEVICE 526 SET LOCAL WIRELESS COMMUNI CATION CONNECTION LINE CONNECTION 528 LINE DISCON
36. ocal wireless communication unit to the local wireless commu nication function awaiting state FIG 7 depicts a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention Since the mobile phone according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention is of the same structure as the mobile phone 1 of the fourth embodiment of the present invention the overall operation of the mobile phone 1 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention is explained by referring to FIGS 1 6 and 7 Meanwhile the processing shown in FIG 7 is carried out by the controller 13 computer which executes the program of the recording medium 23 On detection of an incoming call step S51 of FIG 7 the controller 13 initializes the counter N N 1 step 552 of FIG 7 The controller 13 compares the value N of the counter N 1 with the total number 3 of the local wireless communication devices registered in the memory 14 step 53 in FIG 7 Since the value of the counter N is smaller than the total number of the registered local wireless com munication devices the local wireless communication 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 device having the value of the rank 1 in the priority order equal to the value of N is selected as the connection device step S54 in FIG 7 In this case the device B is selected The controller 13 controls the local wireless communica ti
37. on unit 22 to transmit a connection request to the device B and to start the operation of the timer 15 steps 557 and S58 of FIG 7 On receipt of the connection response of the device B step S59 of FIG 7 the controller 13 controls the local wireless communication unit 22 to establish the local wireless connection with the device B and sends out a signal notifying the incoming step S62 of FIG 7 On receipt from the local wireless communication device of the signal indicating the response to the incoming call the controller 13 controls the RF unit 18 to interconnect the network to set a talk state or a state of data communication step S63 of FIG 7 On detecting that the line is discon nected step S64 of FIG 7 the controller 13 controls the local wireless communication unit 22 to disconnect the local wireless communication step S65 of FIG 2 Should there be no connection response from the device B step S59 of FIG 7 due to for example the power supply of the device B being off or to the local wireless commu nication device not being in a communication enabled state and the timer 15 has timed out step S60 of FIG 7 the controller 13 determines that the device B is in the commu nication disabled state and increments the counter N by 1 so that N 2 step S61 of FIG 2 The controller 13 compares the value of the counter N 2 to the total number 3 of the local wireless communication devices registered in the memory 14 Since
38. ort range wireless communication system which comprises the steps of detecting an incoming call to the mobile phone apparatus and transmitting on the call oncoming using the function of local wireless communication a connection request to one of plural local wireless communication devices registered in a memory designed to pre register the information of the local wireless communication devices with which the mobile phone apparatus communicates in accordance with the short range wireless communication system A method according to still another aspect of the present invention is also one for performing local wireless commu nication method by a mobile phone apparatus including a function of local wireless communication for realizing the short range wireless communication system which com prises steps of detecting an incoming call to an own station and transmitting a connection request to each of plural local wireless communication devices registered in a memory designed to pre register the information of the local wireless communication devices the mobile phone communicating with the local wireless communication devices in accor dance with the short range wireless communication system on the occasion of an incoming call and determining a local wireless communication device for connection from among plural local wireless communica tion devices which have made connection responses to the connection requests in accordance wit
39. phone of the present invention the controller controls the memory timer RF unit and the local wireless communication unit on the occasion of an incom ing call to render it possible to automatically select and establish connection to the local wireless communication device as the destination of connection When the line is disconnected the connection for local wireless communi cation can be disconnected automatically With the mobile phone of the present invention in which an incoming call is detected and connection for local wire less communication is established automatically while the disconnection of the line connection is also detected and connection for local wireless communication is discon nected automatically the local wireless connection may be established automatically only on the occasion of talk or data communication and hence there is no necessity for perpetual connection so that wasteful power dissipation can be suppressed and sufficient battery protection can be real ized Moreover with the mobile phone of the present invention in which a connection request is transmitted to the registered local wireless communication devices in the descending order in the priority rank as pre set by the user and the processing for establishing the connection is carried out for the local wireless communication device from which the connection response has been returned Thus the mobile phone may be connected to the local wirele
40. realizing a short range wireless communication system to execute a local wireless communication which comprises code segments to enable the computer to execute the steps of detecting an incoming call to the mobile phone setting the function of local wireless communication to an awaiting state on an arrival of the call and connecting the mobile phone apparatus to the local wire less communication device using the function of local wireless communication on receipt of a connection request from the local wireless communication device in the await ing state of the function of local wireless communication That is the present invention provides a mobile phone having the function of local wireless communication for realizing short range wireless communication systems fea tured by short range or low power dissipation standardized systems such as JEEE802 11b IEEE802 11a or IEEE802 11g used for wireless LAN Local Area Network or Bluetooth Registered Trademark in which when there is an incoming call such as speech communication or data communication the connection of local wireless communi cation is established or the function of local wireless communication is set to an awaiting state such as to eliminate the necessity for perpetual connection or perpetual awaiting state in order to suppress wasteful power dissipa tion and in order to assure sufficient battery protection The mobile phone of the present invention has the fu
41. ss communica tion device that ranks highest in the priority order among the local wireless communication devices that may be con nected to the mobile phone under the prevailing condition and hence it becomes possible to automatically select a local wireless communication device most appropriate under the prevailing condition may automatically be selected from among the plural number of the registered local wireless communication devices based on the user s intention Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein only the preferred embodi ments of the invention are shown and described simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carry ing out this invention As will be realized the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects all without departing from the invention Accord ingly the drawing and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of a mobile phone according to a first embodiment of the present invention 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 FIG 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone
42. t to the local wireless communication such as electric wave transmission reception commands of the local wireless communication US 7 231 179 B2 7 The recording medium 23 has stored therein a program for realizing the processing of various portions program that may be executed by the computer The local wireless communication unit 22 and the local wireless communication device are provided with the func tion for realizing the short range wireless communication system featured by short range and low power dissipation standardized systems such as IEEE802 11b IEEE802 11a or IEEE802 11g used for wireless LAN Local Area Net work or Bluetooth Registered Trademark The local wireless communication device may be enu merated by for example a headset a hands free kit a PC personal computer or PDA Personal Digital Assistant Meanwhile the structure and the operation of the local wireless communication device such as one described above is known among those skilled in the art and hence the description thereof is omitted In the present embodiment it is assumed that the local wireless communication device at least has the function of returning a response to a request for connection by local wireless communication from the mobile phone 1 and of transmitting receiving speech signal or data signal to from mobile phone 1 FIG 2 depicts a flowchart for illustrating the operation of the mobile phone 1 according to the first embod
43. tructure to the mobile phone 1 of the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG 1 the processing of changing the priority order of the mobile phone 1 of the fifth embodiment of the present invention is explained with reference to FIGS 1 and 8 Meanwhile the processing shown in FIG 8 is carried out by the controller 13 computer which executes the program stored in the recording medium 23 In the above described embodiment the destination of connection is selected based on the user determining the priority order and registering the so determined priority US 7 231 179 B2 13 order in the memory 14 Alternatively such a method may be contemplated in which the mobile phone 1 automatically assigns or changes the priority order In the present embodiment a near by device is searched at a preset constant time interval such as every five minutes steps S71 and S72 of FIG 8 the priority order of a device found out is raised and the device which has not been found out is lowered In such a manner that the mobile phone 1 dynamically changes the priority sequence step S73 of FIG 8 In this manner the present embodiment is able to adapt itself to the changing surrounding environment FIG 9 depicts a flowchart showing the processing of changing the priority order in the mobile phone according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention Since the mobile phone according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention is
44. twork to establish the talk state or the state of data communication step S11 of FIG 2 On detection of dis connection of the network connection step 512 of FIG 12 the controller 13 controls the local wireless communication unit 22 to disconnect the local wireless communication step S13 of FIG 2 If the power supply of the device B is off or the device B is not located in a range which allows for communication as a result of which no connection response is returned from the device B step S7 of FIG 2 or the timer 15 has timed out step S8 of FIG 2 the controller 13 determines that the device B is in communication disabled state and increments the counter N by 1 such that N 2 step S9 of FIG 2 The controller 13 compares the value of the counter N 2 to the total number 3 of the local wireless communication devices registered in the memory 14 Since it is the value of the counter N that is smaller the controller 13 determines that there is some other device that has been registered and continues the processing step S3 of FIG 2 The controller 13 then selects the device A of the priority order 2 which is of the same value as the value of the counter N and sends a connection request If the controller 13 is unable to receive the connection request from the device A and the timer 15 has timed out the controller 13 determines that the device A is also disabled for communication and increments the value of the counter N by 1 s
45. uch that N 3 step S9 of FIG 2 The controller 13 compares the value of the counter N 3 to the total number 3 of the local wireless communication devices Since the value of the counter N is equal to the total number of the local wireless communication devices the US 7 231 179 B2 9 controller 13 determines that there is another registered device and continues the processing step S3 of FIG 2 The controller 13 then selects the connection device C having the value of the priority order 3 which is the same as the counter value as the connection device and transmits a connection request If the timer 15 has timed out before receipt of the connection response from the device C N is set to 4 N 4 The controller 13 compares the value of the counter N 4 to the total number 3 of the local wireless communication devices registered in the memory 14 Since it is the total number of the registered local wireless communication devices that is smaller the controller 13 determines that although attempts have been made for establishing connec tion with the totality of the registered local wireless com munication devices such connection was not possible and terminates the processing Thus with the present embodiment local wireless com munication connection may be established only in case of having talk by telephone or effectuating data communica tion by automatically establishing the connection for local wireless communication on d
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