Push to talk mobile station, mobile communication system, and program

• US 8,364,190 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2009
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Inventors: Shiga, Noritake
• Primary Examiner(s): Wendell, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US12/563,884
• Publication Number:
  US 20100009709A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,226 Days
• Field of Search: 455/428, 455/518, 455/519
• US Class Current: 455/518
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/02 Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/08 Trunked mobile radio systems

Abstract

A mobile station 100 monitors, in Slotted mode, a Paging Channel Slot in a monitor cycle. The mobile station 100 includes: a user interface 53 which receives a PTT setting operation from a user for setting a PTT (Push to Talk) mode; a PTT communication control unit 51 which transmits an allocation request to the radio base station when the PTT setting operation is received; a slot cycle switching unit 52 which switches, when the PTT setting operation is received, the monitor cycle to a predetermined short cycle which is shorter than a cycle at the time of receiving the PTT setting operation; and a voice signal processing unit 40 which receives a voice packet after a PTT CALL is detected in a message transmitted from the radio base station to the mobile station, and reproduces a voice based on the voice packet.

Claims

1. A mobile station which (i) monitors, in a monitor cycle, a paging channel slot which stores a message therein and is transmitted by a radio base station in a transmission cycle, and (ii) performs a process according to the message, comprising:

a PTT setting reception unit operable to receive a PTT setting operation from a user for setting a PTT (Push to Talk) mode, in which a voice packet communication is available;

a monitor cycle switching unit operable to switch, when the PTT setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation, the monitor cycle to a predetermined short cycle which is for the PTT mode and shorter than cycles for other modes;

a PTT communication processing unit operable to perform, when the PTT setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation, PTT communication processing that is processing for transmission and reception of a voice packet and includes voice reproduction processing through which the PTT communication processing unit receives a voice packet which is transmitted from the radio base station after a PTT CALL is detected in the message, and reproduces a voice based on the voice packet, the PTT CALL being a request for the voice packet communication; and

a control unit operable, when a predetermined period has elapsed without transmission nor reception of a voice packet from a start of the PTT communication processing, to have the PTT communication processing unit finish the PTT communication processing and to have the monitor cycle switching unit change the predetermined short cycle back to the monitor cycle which has been used until the PTT setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation.

2. The mobile station of claim 1, further comprising:

a sign-in unit operable to transmit an allocation request to the radio base station when the PTT setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation, the allocation request being for allocating, to the mobile station, an IP address which is required for the voice packet communication; and

a sign-out unit operable to transmit a release request to the radio base station when the predetermined period has elapsed without transmission nor reception of a voice packet from the start of the PTT communication processing, the release request being for releasing the IP address allocated to the mobile station.

3. The mobile station of claim 2, wherein

the sign-in unit transmits, to the radio base station, slot cycle index information when the PTT setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation, the slot cycle index information specifying the transmission cycle.

4. The mobile station of claim 3, further comprising:

a cycle selection reception unit operable to receive a cycle selection by a user, the cycle selection specifying a cycle which is to be applied as the monitor cycle for the PTT mode, the cycle being shorter than the cycles for other modes, wherein

the slot cycle index information indicates the cycle specified by the cycle selection, and

the monitor cycle switching unit switches the monitor cycle to the cycle specified by the cycle selection when the PTT setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation.

5. The mobile station of claim 1, further comprising:

a transmission request reception unit operable to receive, from the user, a transmission request which specifies a transmission destination and instructs the mobile station to transmit a voice packet to the transmission destination; and

a voice packet transmission unit operable to transmit a voice packet according to a voice inputted by the user.

6. The mobile station of claim 2, further comprising

a PTT cancel reception unit operable to receive a PTT cancel operation from the user for canceling the PTT mode, wherein

the sign-out unit transmits the release request to the radio base station when the PTT cancel reception unit receives the PTT cancel operation, and

the monitor cycle switching unit switches the monitor cycle to a predetermined long cycle which is longer than a cycle at a time of receiving the PTT cancel operation.

7. A mobile station which monitors, in a monitor cycle, a paging channel slot which stores a message therein and is transmitted by a radio base station in a transmission cycle, and performs a process according to the message, comprising:

a PTT setting reception unit operable to receive a PTT setting operation from a user for setting a PTT (Push to Talk) mode, in which a voice packet communication is available;

a monitor cycle switching unit operable to switch, when the PTT setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation, the monitor cycle to a predetermined short cycle which is for the PTT mode and shorter than cycles for other modes;

a PTT communication processing unit operable to perform, when the PTT

setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation, PTT communication processing that is processing for transmission and reception of a voice packet and includes voice reproduction processing through which the PTT communication processing unit receives a voice packet which is transmitted from the radio base station after a PTT CALL is detected in the message, and reproduce a voice based on the voice packet, the PTT CALL being a request for the voice packet communication;

a cycle list displaying unit operable to display a list of a plurality of candidates for the predetermined short cycle; and

a cycle selection reception unit operable to receive a user selection of a monitor cycle at least (i) when the mobile station is in a normal idle mode, (ii) when the PTT mode is set, and (iii) when a predetermined operation is input by the user, wherein

when the cycle selection reception unit receives as the user selection a selection of one of the plurality of candidates in the list, the monitor cycle switching unit switches the monitor cycle to the selected one of the plurality of candidates.

8. The mobile station of claim 7, further comprising:

a sign-in unit operable to transmit an allocation request to the radio base station when the PTT setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation, the allocation request being for allocating, to the mobile station, an IP address which is required for the voice packet communication.

9. The mobile station of claim 8, wherein

the sign-in unit transmits, to the radio base station, slot cycle index information when the PTT setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation, the slot cycle index information specifying the transmission cycle.

10. The mobile station of claim 9, wherein

the slot cycle index information indicates a cycle that is specified by a user and is to be applied as the monitor cycle for the PTT mode, the cycle being shorter than the cycles for other modes, and

the monitor cycle switching unit switches the monitor cycle to the cycle specified by the user via the cycle selection reception unit when the PTT setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation.

11. The mobile station of claim 7, further comprising:

a transmission request reception unit operable to receive, from the user, a transmission request which specifies a transmission destination and instructs the mobile station to transmit a voice packet to the transmission destination; and

a voice packet transmission unit operable to transmit a voice packet according to a voice inputted by the user.

12. The mobile station of claim 8, further comprising:

a PTT cancel reception unit operable to receive a PTT cancel operation from the user for canceling the PTT mode; and

a sign-out unit operable to transmit a release request to the radio base station when the PTT cancel reception unit receives the PTT cancel operation, the release request being for releasing the IP address allocated to the mobile station, wherein

the monitor cycle switching unit switches the monitor cycle to a predetermined long cycle which is longer than a cycle at a time of receiving the PTT cancel operation.

13. A mobile station which (i) monitors, in a monitor cycle, a paging channel slot which stores a message therein and is transmitted by a radio base station in a transmission cycle, and (ii) performs a process according to the message, comprising:

a PTT setting reception unit operable to receive a PTT setting operation from a user for setting a PTT (Push to Talk) mode, in which a voice packet communication is available;

a PTT communication processing unit operable to perform, when the PTT setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation, PTT communication processing that is processing for transmission and reception of a voice packet and includes voice reproduction processing through which the PTT communication processing unit receives a voice packet which is transmitted from the radio base station after a PTT CALL is detected in the message, and reproduces a voice based on the voice packet, the PTT CALL being a request for the voice packet communication;

a judging unit operable to judge whether a remaining charge of a battery as a power source of the mobile station is greater than a predetermined threshold or not; and

a monitor cycle switching unit operable to switch, when the remaining charge decreases from a value greater than the predetermined threshold to a value no greater than the predetermined threshold, the monitor cycle to a longer cycle than a cycle at a time the battery charge is greater than the predetermined threshold, the monitor cycle switching unit can switch, when the battery is being charged, the monitor cycle to a shorter cycle than a cycle at a time when the battery is not being charged.

14. The mobile station of claim 13, further comprising:

a sign-in unit operable to transmit an allocation request to the radio base station when the PTT setting reception unit receives the PTT setting operation, the allocation request being for allocating, to the mobile station, an IP address which is required for the voice packet communication.

15. The mobile station of claim 14, wherein

the sign-in unit transmits slot cycle index information to the radio base station when the monitor cycle is switched by the monitor cycle switching unit.

16. The mobile station of claim 13, further comprising:

a transmission request reception unit operable to receive, from the user, a transmission request which specifies a transmission destination and instructs the mobile station to transmit a voice packet to the transmission destination; and

a voice packet transmission unit operable to transmit a voice packet according to a voice inputted by the user.

17. The mobile station of claim 14, further comprising:

a PTT cancel reception unit operable to receive a PTT cancel operation from the user for canceling the PTT mode; and

a sign-out unit operable to transmit a release request to the radio base station when the PTT cancel reception unit receives the PTT cancel operation, the release request being for releasing the IP address allocated to the mobile station.