Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Message storage or retrieval
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-23
2003-06-10
Nguyen, Duc (Department: 2684)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Message storage or retrieval
C455S423000, C455S557000, C455S558000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06577860
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data transmission-reception system wherein a portable radio terminal which can transmit and receive data to and from a server over a radio channel and temporarily store such data is used to allow transmission-reception of data between the information terminal as a client and the server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when a portable information terminal or a like apparatus is used to transmit or receive an electronic mail by radio, either an apparatus wherein a portable telephone terminal such as a portable telephone set or a telephone terminal of the personal handyphone system (hereinafter referred to as PHS) and a portable information terminal are integrated with each other is used or a portable telephone terminal and a portable information terminal are connected to each other by a cable or the like and used in this state. However, the apparatus of the type wherein a portable telephone terminal and a portable information terminal are integrated with each other is excessively large when it is used as a portable telephone terminal, and besides is inferior in functions to popular portable information terminals. Therefore, a portable telephone terminal and a portable information terminal are frequently connected to each other by a cable or the like to transmit or receive an electronic mail.
However, while an electronic mail is being transmitted or received, the portable information terminal and the portable telephone terminal must be kept connected to each other, and this gives rise to a problem that the portability which is an advantage of the portable telephone terminal is deteriorated or lost. Further, data transmission processing on the portable information terminal is conventionally performed by an operation of it by a user. Also where data transmission is performed automatically, it is necessary to keep the power to the portable information terminal and the portable radio terminal on and keep communication software operating. Further, when the radio wave condition is not favorable or good, it must be waited that the radio wave condition becomes good. Therefore, the portable information terminal and the portable radio terminal consume the power in vain.
In particular, where the radio wave condition is not good, it is impossible to establish connection to a server and perform transmission-reception of data. Therefore, it is waited that the radio wave condition becomes good while power to the portable information terminal and the portable radio terminal is kept on. Then, after it is confirmed that the radio wave condition has become good, a manual operation for data transmission-reception must be performed. This is inconvenient to the user. Further, the user need supervise the radio wave condition incessantly, and this is a burden to the user.
Further, it is essentially required to form the portable radio terminal in a reduced size and with a reduced weight because much importance is attached to the portability from its nature. Therefore, the portable radio terminal cannot include a storage medium of a large capacity therein. If the portable radio terminal otherwise includes a storage medium of a large capacity, then the portability is deteriorated significantly. Accordingly, also it is a problem that the portable radio terminal can store only a limited amount of data.
Furthermore, because the storage capacity is small and because the amount of data transmitted from a server is not fixed and the capacity of data which can be transferred by one transmission cycle cannot be estimated, the remaining capacity of the storage medium cannot be grasped accurately. Consequently, there is an inconvenience in use in that, when data transmission-reception is performed automatically, the remaining capacity of the storage medium is used up soon and the transmission-reception of data must be stopped immediately at the point of time.
Besides, if it is tried to perform data communication at a place where the radio wave condition is not good, then the portable information terminal and the portable radio terminal must be started and the radio wave condition must be confirmed every time, and then, it is necessary to keep the portable information terminal and the portable radio terminal operating until the radio wave condition becomes favorable. Therefore, power is dissipated in vain. Particularly since the portable radio terminal for which the portability is required is driven by a battery and is limited in applicable power, it is desirable to minimize power consumption to avoid exhaustion of the battery to the utmost.
Further, in the prior art, after the radio wave condition becomes favorable, the size of transfer data is confirmed between the portable information terminal and the portable radio terminal, and when the memory capacity of the portable radio terminal is insufficient, a backup operation is performed and then data transfer is performed. Such a transmission method as just described is low in efficiency in time in that an overhead time for data transfer is required because data transfer is performed after the backup operation is completed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a data transmission-reception system wherein, after the radio wave condition becomes good, data transfer can be performed immediately between a portable radio terminal and an information terminal without the necessity for confirmation of the memory capacity of the portable radio terminal.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a data transmission-reception system wherein data transmission-reception of an electronic mail or the like can be performed automatically even if a user does not supervise the radio wave condition.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a data transmission-reception system wherein data transfer can be performed between an information terminal and a portable radio terminal without connecting them to each other by means of a cable.
In order to attain the objects described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a data transmission-reception system, comprising a server, an information terminal serving as a client, and a portable radio terminal capable of transmitting and receiving data to and from the server over a radio circuit for allowing communication of data between the information terminal and the server, the portable radio terminal including storage means for temporarily storing data, radio wave condition detection means for detecting whether or not a radio wave condition is good, and control means for controlling the portable radio terminal such that, upon reception of data from the server, when the radio wave condition is good, data received from the server is transferred immediately to the information terminal without being stored into the storage means, and upon transmission of data to the server, when the radio wave condition is, good, data transferred from the information terminal is transmitted to the server.
In the data transmission-reception system, upon transmission-reception, the fact that the radio wave state becomes a transmission-reception allowing state is used as a trigger to start transfer of data to be transferred without discriminating whether or not the data to be transferred can be stored into the memory of the portable radio terminal, and the data are not stored into the memory of the portable radio terminal but a restored directly into a memory of the information terminal. Thus, since backup processing is performed immediately when the radio wave condition becomes good, when data transfer becomes possible actually, it is possible to make free the memory of the portable radio terminal already. Consequently, data transfer can be performed efficiently in time.
Preferably, the data transmission-reception system further comprises a data transfer medium capable of being selectively connected to the portable radio terminal and the information terminal, the data trans
McGinn & Gibb PLLC
NEC Corporation
Nguyen Duc
LandOfFree
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