Title of Invention

MULTI-CALL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND ADAPTER FOR MULTI-CALL COMMUNICATION

Abstract

This communication system comprises a mobile station (20) which has a plurality of terminals (22) connected via an adapter (21), a base station control apparatus (26) which communicates with this mobile station and a network which links this base station control apparatus with other communication stations. The mobile station controls the types of terminals that can meet service requests from the base station control apparatus and returns a notice of service acceptance to said base station control apparatus if the service requests from the base station control apparatus can be met.

Full Text

-1A- MULTI-CALL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND ADAPTER FOR MULTI-CALL COMMUNICATION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to multi-call communication systems that allow multi-call communications between a variety of terminals such as speech terminals, image terminals, text terminals connected to mobile stations or ISDN terminals and other terminals by means of base station control apparatuses linked with the mobile stations. Description of the Related Art Data communication systems making use of mobile radio communication technologies are well known and these are described in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication Nos.5-153041 and 8-237718, etc. FIG.1 shows an outline of a data communication system using mobile radio communication technologies. In this data communication system, a plurality of terminals 1-1 and 1-2 are linked with network 2 made up of a public switched network, etc. Mobile stations (MS) 3-1 and 3-2 are linked with network 2 via base station control apparatus (MCC-SIM) 4. The mobile stations (MS) and the base station control apparatus are linked by air, 2 through mobile radio communications. Various types of terminals ,5-1 and 5-2 such as speech terminals, image terminals, text terminals or ISDN terminals are directly-connected with mobile stations (MS) 3-1 and 3-2 , and these terminals 5-1 and 5-2 which have no radio communication function communicate with terminals 1- 1 and 1-2 on the opposite side of network 2. The operation of the data communication system configured as above is explained below. Suppose DTE 5-2 which is a terminal connected to the mobile station sends a request for data communication to DTE 1-2 which is another terminal linked with Network 2. In this case, a connection request is issued from MS 3-2 to which DTE 5-2 is directly connected to MCC-SIM 4. If MCC-SIM 4 is successful in confirming a vacancy of DTE 1-2 which is linked with Network 2, MCC-SIM 4 transmits service acceptance information to MS 3-2. After a while, data communication is started between DTE 5-2 and DTE 1-2. While data communication is in progress between DTE 5-2 and DTE 1-2 as shown above, suppose that the other terminal DTE 5-1 which is directly connected to mobile station 3-1 sends a request for data communication to DTE 1-1 which is the other terminal linked with network 2 . In this case, a connection request is issued from MS3-1 to which DTE 5-1 is directly connected to MCC-SIM 4. If MCC-SIM 4 is successful in confirming a vacancy of 3 terminal 1-1 linked with network 2 , it sends service acceptance information to MS 3-1. After a while, data communication is started between DTE 5-1 and DTE 1-1. As seen above, while data communication between DTE 5-2 and DTE 1-2 is in progress, data communication between DTE 5-1 and DTE 1-1 can be carried out additionally. Thus, it is possible to implement multiple data communications by way of mobile stations and base station control apparatuses, However, in the case of the data communication system using the mobile radio communications described above has DTE 5-1 or DTE 5-2 and MS 3-1 or MS 3-2 directly connected, and thus it requires a number of mobile stations (MS) by the number of data communications to implement multiple data communications via the base station control apparatus (MCC-SIM). SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to solve conventional problems as described above and its objective is to provide a multi-call communication system that will allows multiple data communications (including speech communications), that is, multi-call communications via one mobile station. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS 4 FIG.1 shows the configuration of a conventional data communication system using air like a radio ,- FIG.2 shows the configuration of a multi-call communication system of an embodiment for the present invention; FIG.3 is a functional section diagram of part of a terminal interface adapter; FIG.4 is a configuration diagram of a terminal control table; FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a call number address control table. FIG.6 is a functional section diagram of part of a mobile station; FIG. 7 shows an example of exchange of signals and data between base station control apparatus, mobile station, terminal interface adapter and various terminals; FIG. 8 is a section diagram showing an outline of the hardware configuration of the mobile station and terminal interface adapter; and FIG.9 is a section diagram showing an outline of the interface of the terminal interface adapter (ADP). DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference now to the attached drawings, an 5 embodiment of the present invention is explained below. FIG.2 shows configuration of a multi-call communication system related to the embodiment of the present invention. This multi-call communication system has a configuration so that multiple terminals (DTE) 22-1 to 22-5 which are directly connected to mobile station(MS) 20 via terminal interface adapter (ADP) 21 can communicate with other terminals (DTE) 28-1 to 28-n which are connected with network 27 to which MS 20 can be connected via base station control apparatus (MCC-SIM) 26. ADP 21 is incorporated in MS 20 or externally attached thereto. MS 20 is connected to MCC-SIM 26 by air, for example, by radio. Furthermore, a plurality of DTE 22-1 to 22-5 are connected with ADP 21 via various types of terminal interfaces such as infrared ray (Ir), RS-232C, ISDN and handset, etc. Between MCC-SIM 26 and MS 20, and MS 20 and ADP 21 are designed to be linked through time division multiplex communication paths respectively. The line is set with the multiplexed positions of time division communication paths to be used for connections assigned as physical addresses. FIG.3 shows a functional section of part of ADP 21. A connection/disconnection signal which indicates whether DTE 22-1 to 22-5 are connected to the terminals on ADP 21 or not and a receive signal from the IrDA DTE are input to connection detection section 51. Connection 6 detection section 51 outputs the data of the terminals connected with ADP 21 with communication enabled to terminal type control section 52. Terminal type control section 52 controls terminal types that can currently be handled based on the content of terminal control table 53. FIG.4 shows the data structure of terminal control table 53. Terminal control table 53 registers terminal types (A to F) structurally compatible with ADP 21, physical addresses or logical addresses assigned to each terminal type and connection data that indicates whether those terminals are currently connected with communication enabled or not. The connection data is updated according to the connection/disconnection signal and receive signal input from connection detection section 51 to terminal type control section 52. Terminal type control section 52 extracts information on the type of each DTE and number of connections from terminal control table 53 and notifies it to MS 20. Upon powering-on of ADP 21, when MS 20 sends a notification request, if a new DTE is connected with ADP 21, terminal type control section 52 notifies it. Notification from ADP 21 to MS 20 is performed with the timing assigned by time division multiplexing section 54. This notification allows MS 20 to control the type of terminal that can respond to service requests from MCC-SIM 2 6 and the total number of multi-calls. 7 When a call request is issued from a DTE connected to ADP 21 to another DTE connected to network 27, the call request is detected by call request detection section 55. Call request detection section 55 receives the call request issued from the DTE connected to ADP 21 and hands it over to service request generation section 56 . Service request generation section 56 transmits the service request with the type of terminal specified to MS 20. ADP 21 detects the response of MS 20 to the service request above by service acceptance detection section 57. If the response to the service request above is "service acceptance" which indicates acceptance of the service request, service acceptance detection section 57 notifies the DTE which requested the call that the call request has been accepted and at the same time adds a call number to call number address control table 58. FIG.5 shows the data structure of call number address control table 58. Call number address control table 58 includes addresses assigned to DTEs whose service request has been accepted and call numbers assigned to communication of DTEs whose service request has been accepted. Now, addresses are explained below. There are two kinds of address; logical address and physical address. Physical address numbers indicate multiplexed positions on a multiplexed communication path for setting lines. 8 while logical addresses are preset according to the type of terminal. For example , in the case of a speech terminal, its logical address is "1" and in the case of an image terminal, its logical address is "2" and so on. ; When it receives a notice of service acceptance, the DTE which requested the call starts data communication with the DTE of the far-end station of communication. ADP 21 is provided with communication control section 59 which comprises data processing sections 59-l to 59-n corresponding to various terminals . In ADP 21, the data processing section which corresponds to the DTE in communication connected to ADP 21 processes data sent from the DTE and the processed data is output from time division multiplexing section 54 to MS 20 at the timing corresponding to the address assigned to the DTE. On the other hand, the data transmitted from the MS 20 side to the DTE of on the ADP side is collected by time division multiplexing section 54 at the timing corresponding to the address assigned to the DTE and handed over to the data processing section. Then, it is output from the corresponding terminal to the DTE. Furthermore, as described later, if MS 20 accepts a service request issued from DTE 28-1 to 28-n on the network side, the service acceptance is notified to ADP 21. In ADP 21, the service acceptance is detected by service acceptance detection section 57. When accepting a service request issued from DTE 28-1 to 28-n, service 9 acceptance detection section 57 also notifies the DTE (22-1 to 22-5) according to the service type in the same way as above and at the same time it registers the call number and DTE address in call number address table 5.8. Once the service request is accepted, the data sent from a DTE on the ADP side is processed by the data processing section corresponding to the relevant DTE, time division multiplexed at the timing of the address corresponding to the call number and sent to the MS side. The data that MS 20 received from the network side is separated from the multiplexed data in time division multiplexing section 54 and handed over to the corresponding data processing section. The data is sent to the DTE connected via this data processing section. FIG.6 shows a functional section of MS 20. MS 20 exchanges the data time-division-multiplexed by time division multiplexing section 81 with ADP 21, while MS 20 exchanges the data time-division-multiplexed by time division multiplexing section 82 with MCC-SIM 26. As shown above, the terminal information received from ADP 21 is stored by terminal information control section 83 in terminal type table 84. Terminal type table 84 registers terminal types with communication capability connected to ADP 21 . There are two cases ; when terminal information control section 83 of MS 20 requests ADP 21 for transmission of terminal types and when terminal types are automatically sent from ADP 21. 10 Service request reception section 85 detects a service request sent from ADP 21 and notifies it to negotiation section 86. When it receives the service request detected, negotiation section 86 negotiates with MCC-SIM 26 to see whether the service is acceptable or not and returns the negotiation result to service request reception section 85. When the negotiation is concluded, a new call number and service type are registered in call control table 87. Service requests may also be output from DTE 28-1 and 28-2 on the opposite side of network 27 to a terminal connected to ADP 21. In this case, service request detection section 88 of MS 20 detects the service request from DTE 28-1 and 28-2 and hands it over to service response section 89. Service response section 89 judges whether the terminal type conformable with the required service type is connected to ADP 21 or not. Since the terminal type connected to ADP 21 is stored in terminal type table 84, service response section 89 can judge whether the service request is acceptable or not by checking the content of terminal type table 84. If the judgment result shows that the service is acceptable, service response section 89 registers the call number and service type in call control table 87 and at the same time it sends the call number and terminal type to ADP 21 as information incidental to the service acceptance. Service response section 89 returns the service 11 acceptance to MCC-SIM 2 6 in order to also return the service request result to the DTE that requested the service. With reference now to FIG.7 , the multi-call communication is explained more specifically below. Multi-call communications are based on the premise that the system has been constructed so as to allow single call communications first of all. Suppose, for example, single-call communication has been started from DTE 22-2 connected via an RS232C interface to a DTE linked with network 27, for example DTE 28-1. In this case, when data from DTE 22-2 is given to ADP 21, ADP 21 issues a service request to MS 20 according to the type of DTE 22-2 (for example, DTE of a terminal type connectable by an RS232C interface). According to the type of DTE 22-2, MS 20 negotiates with MCC-SIM 26, checks whether the condition is met or not, and if the condition is met, MS 20 will proceed with acceptance of the service. Then, the service acceptance information is sent from MS 20 to ADP 21. At this time, MCC-SIM 26 and MS 20 control the type of service of this first call, that is, the terminal type to be used. Or, instead of single-call communication from DTE 22 connected to ADP 21 as shown above, if a service request from a DTE linked with network 27, for example DTE 28-1, is issued from network 2 7 to MCC-SIM 2 6 and sent from MCC-SIM 26 to MS 20, MS 20 judges the type of service 12 at that time, that is, the terminal type to be used. If none in DTE 22 connected to ADP 21 is conformable with the type of service, that is, the terminal type to be used, it acts to reject the service and if some are conformable with the type of service, that is, the terminal type to be used, MS 20 sends ADP 21 the service1 acceptance information. At this time, MCC-SIM 26 and MS 20 control the type of service of the first call, that is, the terminal type to be used. On the other hand, ADP 21 controls the address number of DTE 22 to which this first call is assigned. Then, while single-call communication as shown above is in progress, suppose data is given to ADP 21 from a DTE which is not carrying out communications, for example, DTE 22-1 . ADP 21 sends MS 20 a multi-call communication service request which is the second call according to the type of DTE 22-1 (for example, DTE with a terminal type connectable by an infrared interface). According to the type (terminal type) of DTE 22-1, MS 20 negotiates with MCC-SIM 26, checks whether the condition is met or not, and if the condition is met it will proceed with acceptance of the multi-call service. Then, the service acceptance information is sent from MS 2 0 to ADP 21. At this time, MCC-SIM 2 6 and MS 2 0 control the type of service of this second call, that is, the terminal type to be used. On the other hand, ADP 21 controls the address number of DTE 22 to which the second 13 call is assigned. Then, while single-call communication as shown above is in progress, suppose a service request from a terminal (DTE) connected to network 2 , for example terminal 28-n is issued from network 27 to MCC-SIM 26 and MCC-SIM 26 sends MS 20 a multi-call service request which is the second call. MS 20 judges the type of service at that time, that is, the terminal type to be used, and if none in DTE 22 connected to ADP 21 is conformable with the type of service, that is, the terminal type to be used, it will act to reject the service and if some are conformable with the type of service, that is, the terminal type to be used, MS 20 sends ADP 21 the service acceptance information. At this time, MCC-SIM 26 and MS 20 control the type of service of this second call, that is, the terminal type to be used. On the other hand, ADP 21 controls the address number of DTE 22 to which the second call is assigned. Then, if a third, fourth, or fifth multi-call communication service request is sent from DTE 22 which is not carrying out communication or a service request from another terminal (DTE) linked with network 27 is issued from network 27 to MCC-SIM 26 and then sent from MCC-SIM 26 to MS 20, it is possible to implement a third, fourth or fifth multi-call communication service by repeating the operation described above. FIG.8 shows the circuit configuration of ADP 21. 14 ADP 21 comprises ADP CPU 804, storage sections such as RAM 805 and ROM 806, IrDA controller 807 that controls transmission/reception of signals to/from terminal 821 connected by an infrared interface, RS-232C LSIs 808 and 809 that control transmission/reception of signals to/from terminals 822 and 823 connected via an RS232C interface, and ISDN communication LSI 810 that controls transmission/reception of signals to/from terminal 824 connected via an ISDN interface (I . 430/I . 431) . IrDA controller 807, RS-232C LSIs 808 and 809. and ISDN communication LSI 810 make up data processing sections 59-1 to 59-n. Furthermore, other functional sections in FIG. 3 are implemented by ADP CPU 804 executing a program stored in ROM 806. Terminals DTE 821 to DTE 824 and handset/TEL 825 in FIG.8 correspond to DTE 22-1 to DTE 22-5 in FIG.2. In addition, ADP 21 is also provided with an A/D converter, D/A converter and DTMF detector 811 that control transmission/reception of signals, speech CODEC DSP 812 related to the A/D converter, D/A converter and DTMF detector 811, I/O-ASIC 813 that performs unified control over IrDA controller 807, RS-232C LSIs 808 and 809, ISDN communication LSI 810 and speech CODEC DSP 812 as I/O control for ADP CPU 804, RS LSI 815 that carries out error checks, and timing generator 814 that receives clock supplies from CLK generator 803 of mobile station 20 and generates various timings. 15 MS 20 is provided with DSP (Digital Signal Processor) 801 dedicated to processing of baseband signals, CPU 802 dedicated to control of MS itself, and CLK 803 that delivers various clocks. FIG. 9 shows an example of the configuration of ADP 21 and control carried out by LSIs for respective interfaces. With ADP CPU 804, ADP 21 carries out control over layers 2 to 5 for the IrDA, Dch layer 3 for ISDN (I.430) and PPP, V.42 bis, retransmission control, multi-code separation/multiplexing, etc. for RS-232C (LAN). Furthermore, with the IrDA controller, ADP 21 carries out address routing, serial/parallel conversion, DMA transfer, and DRC coding/decoding, etc. With the RS LSI provided for error checking, ADP 21 also carries out control such as RS coding/decoding and coding/decoding of external codes. As shown above, providing ADP 21 between DTE 22 and MS 20 and connecting MCC-SIM 26 and MS 20, and MS and ADP 21 through time division communication paths, making it possible to implement multiple data communications (including speech communications), that is, multi-call communications via one MS, can achieve excellent effects such as assuring an efficient use of mobile stations (MS) when carrying out multiple data communications and providing a data communication system with excellent cost performance. -16-WE CLAIM: 1. Art adapter (21 ) comprising : an interface section (816 to 820) for interfacing a plurality of terminals (22) and one Mobile station (20); a call request detection section (55) for detecting a call request from the plurality of terminals (22); and a service request generation section (52) for generating a service request to the one mobile station (20) when the call request is detected; a service acceptance detection section (57) for detecting from the one mobile station (2) a service acceptance used to control a call number and a terminal address of said one mobile station (20). 2. The adapter (21) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a notification section (52) is provided for notifying the one mobile station €201 of terminal information comprising the types of the plurality of terminals (22) connected to the adapter (21). 3. The adapter (21) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the terminal information comprises the number of the plurality of terminals (22) connected to the adapter (21). 4. The adapter (21) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the notification section (52) performs the notification) of terminal information, one of when the power is turned on, when a -17-notification request is received from the one mobile station (20) and when a new terminal (22) is connected to the adapter (21). 5. The adapter (21) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a tine division Multiplexing section (54) is provided for transmitting and receiving data on a time division basis for each of the plurality of terminals (22) connected to the adapter (21). 6. The adapter (21) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interface section (816 to 820) comprising at least two from an infrared interface (816, an ISDN interface (81°), an RS-232C interface (817, 818) and a handset interface (820). 7. A mobile station (20) connected to the adapter (21) as claimed in claim 1, comprising : a terminal information control section (52) for controling terminal information comprising the types of the plurality of terminals (22) connected to the adapter (21); . a service request detection section (88) that detects a service request from a base station (26); a service response section (89) that returns a service acceptance to the base station (26), when there is a terminal (22) corresponding to the detected service request connected to the adapter (21). 8. The mobile station (20) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the service response section (89) is configured to assign a call 18 number to communication that corresponds to the detected service request, when there is a terminal (22) corresponding to the detected service request connected to the adapter (21). 9. The mobile station (20) as claimed in claim 7, further wherein : a service request reception section (85) is provided for receiving a service request from at least one of the plurality of terminals (22) connected to the adapter (21); and a negotiation section (86) is provided for returning a service acceptance to the terminal (22) of the source of the received service request via the adapter (21), when the received service request is acceptable in the base station (26). 10. The mobile station (20) as claimed in claim 9, wherein the negotiation section (86) is configured to assign a call number to communication that corresponds to the received service request, when the received service request is acceptable in the base station (26). This communication system comprises a mobile station (20) which has a plurality of terminals (22) connected via an adapter (21), a base station control apparatus (26) which communicates with this mobile station and a network which links this base station control apparatus with other communication stations. The mobile station controls the types of terminals that can meet service requests from the base station control apparatus and returns a notice of service acceptance to said base station control apparatus if the service requests from the base station control apparatus can be met.

Documents:

01171-cal-1998 abstract.pdf

01171-cal-1998 claims.pdf

01171-cal-1998 correspondence.pdf

01171-cal-1998 description(complete).pdf

01171-cal-1998 drawings.pdf

01171-cal-1998 form-1.pdf

01171-cal-1998 form-2.pdf

01171-cal-1998 form-3.pdf

01171-cal-1998 gpa.pdf