Radio communication apparatus having speed judging circuitry

• US 6,640,115 B1
• Filed: 03/31/1999
• Issued: 10/28/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ide, Hisashi, Fujimoto, Masanobu
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Nay
• Assistant Examiner(s): SOBUTKA, PHILIP
• Application Number:
  US09/282,187
• Time in Patent Office: 1,672 Days
• Field of Search: 455/567, 455/550, 455/575, 455/569, 455/566, 455/441, 455/444, 455/443, 455/412.1, 455/412.2
• US Class Current: 455/567
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication

Abstract

An object of the invention is to control an incoming call response operation on the basis of the movement speed of a radio telephone apparatus. In a radio communication system including a plurality of base stations, a multiplicity of mobile stations and a network control station (exchange station) that controls these stations, a radio telephone apparatus is used as a mobile station and performs radio communication with a base station through an antenna. A base station ID management circuit monitors a base station which can perform radio communication and grasps a the condition of the connection with the base station. A base station ID switching frequency counting circuit counts the number of times N the communication possible base station has been switched within a unit time counted by a timer counter. A control circuit compares N and a reference number of times N0 and judges that the radio telephone apparatus is moving at high speed when N>N0. A response judgment circuit controls the radio telephone apparatus so that a response operation is not performed, that incoming call notification is provided by an incoming call notification portion or that caller information is outputted by a caller information notification portion when a call arrives while the radio telephone apparatus is moving at high speed. An incoming call operation is performed even while the radio telephone apparatus is moving at high speed, so that the user can be notified of the arrival of a call.

Claims

1. A radio telephone apparatus which serves as a mobile station that performs radio telephone communication with another station through one of a plurality of base stations having at least one radio communication area, and is provided with incoming call operation performing means for detecting incoming call notification from a base station and response operation performing means for responding to the incoming call notification, the radio telephone apparatus comprising:

monitoring means for monitoring which of the base stations in a call-waiting state can perform communication with the radio telephone apparatus, wherein the base stations in the call-waiting state with which the radio telephone apparatus can perform communication switch as the location of the radio telephone apparatus changes;

judging means for judging whether the radio telephone apparatus is moving at high speed or not on the basis of the rate of switching of base stations in the call-waiting state with which the radio telephone apparatus can perform communication; and

response controlling means for controlling the response operation performing means so as not to perform an operation to respond to a calling station after an incoming call operation is performed when the radio telephone apparatus is moving at high speed as judged by the judging means based on judging of the base station switching rate prior to the incoming call notification.

2. The radio telephone apparatus of claim 1, the apparatus further comprising incoming call notifying means for providing incoming call notification on the basis of control by the response controlling means when the radio telephone apparatus performs the incoming call operation.

3. The radio telephone apparatus of claim 2, wherein the incoming call notifying means is a sound output device, and outputs no sound when the radio telephone apparatus is moving at high speed.

4. The radio telephone apparatus of claim 2, wherein the incoming call notifying means is a sound and vibration output device, and outputs vibration when the radio telephone apparatus is moving at high speed and outputs sound when the radio telephone apparatus is not moving at high speed.

5. The radio telephone apparatus of claim 1, the apparatus further comprising information outputting means for outputting caller information from the calling station when the radio telephone apparatus is moving at high speed during the incoming call operation.

6. The radio telephone apparatus of claim 1, the apparatus further comprising:

a sound output device for outputting sound; and

sound output controlling means for controlling the sound output device so as not to output sound on the basis of control by the response controlling means when the radio telephone apparatus is moving at high speed.

7. The radio telephone apparatus of claim 1, the apparatus further comprising:

reproducing means for reproducing a predetermined message; and

reproduction controlling means for controlling the operation performed by the reproducing means so as to reproduce the message on the basis of control by the response controlling means, and sending the reproduced message to the calling station when the radio telephone apparatus is moving at high speed during the incoming call operation.

8. The radio telephone apparatus of claim 7, the apparatus further comprising recording means for recording a message from the calling station responding to the reproduced message being sent.

9. A radio telephone apparatus comprising:

first communication mode executing means for performing radio telephone communication between a mobile station and another station through one of a plurality of base stations having at least one radio communication area;

second communication mode executing means for directly performing radio communication between mobile stations;

mode selecting means for selecting either the first or the second communication mode by switching therebetween;

incoming call operation performing means for performing an incoming call operation to detect incoming call notification from a base station;

response operation performing means for performing a response operation to respond to the incoming call notification;

monitoring means for monitoring which of the base stations in a call-waiting state can perform radio communication with the radio telephone apparatus, wherein the base stations in the call-waiting state with which the radio telephone apparatus can perform communication switch as the location of the radio telephone apparatus changes; and

judging means for judging whether the radio telephone apparatus is moving at high speed or not on the basis of the rate of switching of base stations in the call-waiting state with which the radio telephone apparatus can perform communication,

wherein the mode selecting means selects the second communication mode when the radio telephone apparatus is moving at high speed as judged by the judging means based on judging of the base station switching rate prior to the incoming call notification.

10. A mobile radio communication apparatus comprising:

radio circuitry for communicating with base stations;

speed judging circuitry for judging whether the mobile radio communication apparatus is moving at high speed based on the rate of switching of base stations in a call-waiting state with which the mobile radio communication apparatus can perform communication; and

response control circuitry for controlling incoming call response operations of the mobile radio communication apparatus for an incoming call in accordance with whether the mobile radio communication apparatus is moving at high speed as judged by the speed judging circuitry based on judging of the base station switching rate prior to the incoming call.

11. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a memory storing a flag whose state indicates whether the mobile radio communication apparatus is moving at high speed.

12. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the incoming call response operations include an incoming call refusal operation which is performed if the mobile radio communication apparatus is moving at high speed.

13. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the incoming call response operations include an incoming call notification operation, which is performed prior to the incoming call refusal operation, to inform a user of an incoming call.

14. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the incoming call notification operation generates vibrations of the mobile radio communication apparatus.

15. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the incoming call response operations include a caller notification operation, which is performed prior to the incoming call refusal operation, to inform a user of calling party information.

16. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the caller information notification operation comprises generating a display of calling party information.

17. A mobile radio communication apparatus comprising:

radio circuitry for communicating with base stations;

speed judging circuitry for judging whether the mobile radio communication apparatus is moving at high speed based on the rate of switching of base stations in a call-waiting state with which the mobile radio communication apparatus can perform communication; and

an automatic response circuit for performing an automatic incoming call response operation in which an automatic response is provided to a calling party if the mobile radio communication apparatus for an incoming call is moving at high speed as judged by the speed judging circuitry based on judging of the base station switching rate prior to the incoming call.

18. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising message recording circuitry for performing, after the automatic incoming call response operation, a message recording operation for recording a message from the calling party.

19. A mobile radio communication apparatus comprising:

radio circuitry for communicating with base stations;

speed judging circuitry for judging whether the mobile radio communication apparatus is moving at high speed based on the rate of switching of base stations in a call-waiting state with which the mobile radio communication apparatus can perform communication; and

a communication mode selection circuit for selecting between a first communication mode and a second communication mode in accordance with whether the mobile radio communication apparatus for an incoming call is moving at high speed as judged by the speed judging circuitry based on judging of the base station switching rate prior to the incoming call.

20. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the first communication mode is a mobile communication mode and the second communication mode is an inter-mobile station direct radio communication mode.

21. A mobile radio communication apparatus comprising:

radio circuitry for communicating with base stations;

speed judging circuitry for judging in a call-waiting state whether the mobile radio communication apparatus is moving at high speed; and

response control circuitry for controlling incoming call response operations of the mobile radio communication apparatus for an incoming call in accordance with whether the mobile radio communication apparatus is moving at high speed as judged by the speed judging circuitry based on judging of the base station switching rate prior to the incoming call.

22. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 21, further comprising a memory storing a flag whose status indicates whether the mobile radio communication apparatus is moving at high speed.

23. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the incoming call response operations include an incoming call refusal operation which is performed if the mobile radio communication apparatus is moving at high speed.

24. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the incoming call response operations include a caller information notification operation, which is performed prior to the incoming call refusal operation, to inform a user of calling party information.

25. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the caller information notification operation comprises generating a display of calling party information.

26. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the incoming call response operations including an incoming call notification operation, which is performed prior to the incoming call refusal operation, to inform a user of an incoming call.

27. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the incoming call notification operation generates vibrations of the mobile radio communication apparatus.

28. The mobile radio communication apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the speed judging circuitry judges whether the mobile radio communication apparatus is moving at high speed based on the rate of switching of base stations in a call-waiting state with which the mobile radio communication apparatus can perform communication.