Portable telephone with moving status detection function

• US 20010012781A1
• Filed: 02/05/2001
• Published: 08/09/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Innovations Ltd Hong Kong (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Suzuki, Isao
• Granted Patent: US 6,934,547 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.6
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities

Abstract

A portable telephone allowing easy and accurate estimation of its moving speed at the moment when an incoming call is received is disclosed. A moving status detector is provided which detects a moving status of the portable telephone based on measured reception signal strengths, each of which is measured on a sequentially selected one of N neighboring radio channels that are previously designated by the base station at a timing other than a communication timing of the designated radio channel in response to receipt of a call setup signal for an incoming call from the base station using the designated radio channel.

Claims

1. A method for determining a moving status of a portable telephone, comprising the steps of:

a) receiving a call setup signal for an incoming call from a base station using a designated radio channel;

b) measuring a reception signal strength on a sequentially selected one of N radio channels that are previously designated by the base station at a timing other than a communication timing of the designated radio channel, where N is an integer greater than 1; and

c) determining a moving status of the portable telephone based on measured reception signal strengths.

2. The method according to

claim 1

, wherein the step (c) comprises the steps of:

c.

     1) repeating the step (b) for the N radio channels M times, where M is an integer greater than 1;

c.2) calculating a variation in reception signal strength between a previously measured reception signal strength and a currently measured reception signal strength for a sequentially selected one of the N radio channels; and

c.3) determining a moving status of the portable telephone based on accumulated variation over M sets of N reception signal strengths.

3. The method according to

claim 2

, wherein the step (c.3) comprises the steps of:

when the accumulated variation is smaller than a predetermined threshold, determining that the portable telephone is not moving at high speeds; and

when the accumulated variation is not smaller than a predetermined threshold, determining that the portable telephone is moving at high speeds.

4. The method according to

claim 1

, wherein the step (c) comprises the steps of:

C.1) repeating the step (b) for the N radio channels M times, where M is an integer greater than 1;

c.2) selecting at least one radio channel from the N radio channels, said at least one radio channel having a reception signal strength greater than a minimum permissible level;

c.3) calculating a variation in reception signal strength between a previously measured reception signal strength and a currently measured reception signal strength for said at least one radio channel;

c.4) calculating an average variation by dividing accumulated variation by M; and

c.5) determining a moving status of the portable telephone based on the average variation.

5. The method according to

claim 4

, wherein the step (c.5) comprises the steps of:

when the average variation is smaller than a predetermined threshold, determining that the portable telephone is not moving at high speeds; and

when the average variation is not smaller than a predetermined threshold, determining that the portable telephone is moving at high speeds.

6. The method according to

claim 1

, wherein the portable telephone communicates with the base station in TDMA (time division multiple access) scheme, wherein a next timing for transmission and reception is relatively determined by a current timing for transmission and reception.

7. The method according to

claim 6

, wherein the step (b) comprises the steps of:

b.1) switching a communication channel from the designated radio channel to a sequentially selected radio channel of the N radio channels at an idle timing between adjacent timings for transmission and reception of the designated radio channel;

b.2) measuring a reception signal strength on the sequentially selected radio channel; and

b.3) switching a communication channel from the sequentially selected radio channel back to the designated radio channel after a lapse of the idle time.

8. A portable telephone comprising:

a transceiver for receiving and transmitting radio signals from and to a base station using a radio channel designated by the base station;

a reception level measuring circuit for measuring a reception signal intensity on a currently selected radio channel; and

a moving status detector for detecting a moving status of the portable telephone based on measured reception signal strengths, each of which is measured on a sequentially selected one of N neighboring radio channels that are previously designated by the base station at a timing other than a communication timing of the designated radio channel in response to receipt of a call setup signal for an incoming call from the base station using the designated radio channel.

9. The portable telephone according to

claim 8

, wherein the moving status detector repeats measurement of reception signal strengths for the N radio channels M times, calculates a variation in reception signal strength between a previously measured reception signal strength and a currently measured reception signal strength for a sequentially selected one of the N radio channels, and detects a moving status of the portable telephone based on accumulated variation over M sets of N reception signal strengths.

10. The portable telephone according to

claim 9

, wherein when the accumulated variation is smaller than a predetermined threshold, the moving status detector determines that the portable telephone is not moving at high speeds and, when the accumulated variation is not smaller than a predetermined threshold, the moving status detector determines that the portable telephone is moving at high speeds.

11. The portable telephone according to

claim 8

, wherein the moving status detector repeats measurement of reception signal strengths for the N radio channels M times, selects at least one radio channel from the N radio channels, said at least one radio channel having a reception signal strength greater than a minimum permissible level, calculates a variation in reception signal strength between a previously measured reception signal strength and a currently measured reception signal strength for said at least one radio channel, calculates an average variation by dividing accumulated variation by M, and determines a moving status of the portable telephone based on the average variation.

12. The portable telephone according to

claim 11

, wherein when the average variation is smaller than a predetermined threshold, the moving status detector determines that the portable telephone is not moving at high speeds and, when the average variation is not smaller than a predetermined threshold, the moving status detector determines that the portable telephone is moving at high speeds.

13. The portable telephone according to

claim 8

, further comprising:

a controller controlling the transceiver so that the portable telephone communicates with the base station in TDMA (time division multiple access) scheme, wherein a next timing for transmission and reception is relatively determined by a current timing for transmission and reception.

14. The portable telephone according to

claim 13

, wherein the controller switches a communication channel from the designated radio channel to a sequentially selected radio channel of the N radio channels at an idle timing between adjacent timings for transmission and reception of the designated radio channel and, after a lapse of the idle time used to measure a reception signal strength on the sequentially selected radio channel, and switches a communication channel from the sequentially selected radio channel back to the designated radio channel.

15. The portable telephone according to

claim 10

, further comprising:

a display circuit for displaying necessary information on screen;

an alert circuit for alerting a user to occurrence of an incoming call;

a controller controlling the display circuit and the alert circuit such that

when the moving status detector determines that the portable telephone is not moving at high speeds, both the display circuit and the alert circuit are activated, and

when the moving status detector determines that the portable telephone is moving at high speeds, the alert circuit is not activated but the display.

16. The portable telephone according to

claim 12

, further comprising:

a display circuit for displaying necessary information on screen;

an alert circuit for alerting a user to occurrence of an incoming call;

a controller controlling the display circuit and the alert circuit such that

when the moving status detector determines that the portable telephone is not moving at high speeds, both the display circuit and the alert circuit are activated, and

when the moving status detector determines that the portable telephone is moving at high speeds, the alert circuit is not activated but the display.