Portable communication terminal which judges the reception situation by lowest error rate

• US 6,363,245 B1
• Filed: 03/10/1999
• Issued: 03/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Natori, Makoto
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumming, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOW, CHARLES CHIANG
• Application Number:
  US09/265,810
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• Field of Search: 455/226.3, 455/226.4, 455/67.1, 455/63, 455/67.3, 455/283, 455/296, 455/575, 455/550
• US Class Current: 455/226.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/23 Indication means, e.g. displays, alarms, audible means
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72409 by interfacing with external accessories hands-free H04M1/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43637 involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A favorable communication state is set when communication different from a telephone conversation such as data communication and the like is carried out. A control unit (32) judges a reception situation detected by a reception situation detecting unit in comparison with a first threshold value and judges the same in comparison with a second threshold value. The reception situation based on the comparison with the first threshold value and the reception situation based on the comparison with the second threshold value in the control unit are notified of by respectively different notifying units (35) and (36).

Claims

1. A portable communication terminal, comprising:

a reception processing unit for carrying out a reception process of a radio signal;

a reception situation detecting unit for detecting a reception situation in said reception processing unit based on one of a bit error rate and a frame error rate of the reception process;

a control unit for judging the reception situation detected by said reception situation detecting unit in comparison with a first threshold value and in comparison with a second threshold value, wherein the first threshold value corresponds to a lowest error rate for reliable transmission of audio signals and the second threshold value corresponds to a lowest error rate for reliable transmission of digital data;

a first notifying unit for notifying a user of the reception situation based on the comparison with the first threshold value and that the transmission of audio signals can be favorably carried out; and

a second notifying unit for notifying a user of the reception situation based on the comparison with the second threshold value and that the transmission of digital data can be favorably carried out.

2. The portable communication terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein

level displays in a plurality of stages are carried out on a display panel with which a portable panel is provided as a notification of the reception situation by said first notifying unit, and

wherein a notifying means other than the display panel is used to notify of the reception situation in the second notifying unit.

3. The portable communication terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit retains a best reception situation value detected by the reception situation detecting unit and compares the retained best reception situation value with a reception situation value detected by the reception situation detecting unit and notifies the user using one of the first and second notifying units.

4. The portable communication terminal as claimed in claim 3,

wherein detection of the best reception situation value is carried out during a first predetermined time, and

wherein within a period of a second predetermined time after the first predetermined time, the control unit carries out a comparison of the retained reception situation value with the reception situation value detected by the reception situation detecting unit.

5. The portable communication terminal as claimed in claim 3, wherein the second notifying unit comprises predetermined sounds output means.