Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at separate stations – Having diverse art device
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-29
2001-03-27
Maung, Nay (Department: 2681)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at separate stations
Having diverse art device
C455S420000, C455S414200, C455S456500, C379S056300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06208840
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a handy phone and more particularly to a handy phone capable of performing infrared communication with an external apparatus.
An infrared communication apparatus for performing communication within a preselected range by using infrared rays is conventional. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 9-83443, for example, teaches an infrared communication apparatus including a receipt level determining section for determining the level of a signal come in through a receiving section, and a transmission output control section for controlling, based on the output of the receipt level determining section, a transmission output to be sent via a transmitting section. The function available with the infrared communication apparatus may be applied to a handy phone, as proposed in the past.
However, a conventional handy phone with an infrared communication capability has the following problems left unsolved. When the handy phone starts communicating with a peripheral apparatus, the former reports information received from the latter to the upper layer of firmware only after sending a station location command in all slots. On receiving this information, the upper layer informs the user of the phone of the presence/absence of a communicable station for the first time by using a visible message or sound. It therefore takes a long period of time for the user to see whether or not infrared communication can be held.
Assume that the distance between the infrared port of the phone station and that of the peripheral apparatus or the angle between the axes of the two ports is not adequate. Then, there may occur that the station location command does not reach the peripheral apparatus, that the station location command has reached the peripheral apparatus, but the phone does not detect any response, or that response data returned to the phone includes a bit error. In such a condition, the upper layer simply determines that a communicable station does not exist.
If a communicable station does not exist, as determined by the upper layer, the user of the phone recognizes the absence of such a station represented by a visible message or sound and must correct the relative position of the ports or the distance between the ports and again start communication all over again. Because the maximum number of slots available is sixteen and the maximum interval between consecutive slats is 500 ms, a long period of time is necessary for the setting condition to be transferred to the user. This renders the merits of infrared communication, which is cordless and not dependent on the configuration of a connector meaningless.
Technologies relating to the present invention are also disclosed in e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2-228139 and Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 5-55683.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a handy phone having an infrared communication capability and allowing the user of the phone to see whether or not infrared communication is possible as soon as possible.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a handy phone having an infrared communication capability and urging, when a bit error ascribable to the distance between infrared ports or the angle between the axes of ports occurs, the user of the phone to correct the distance or the angle as soon as possible.
In accordance with the present invention, a handy phone having, in addition to the original function of communicating with a base station by radio, a function of effecting infrared communication with an infrared transmitting and receiving section capable of transmitting data in the form of infrared rays and producing a received signal out of data received in the form of infrared rays includes a command transmitting section for sending, at the beginning of infrared communication, a station location command via the infrared transmitting and receiving section a preselected number of times at preselected time intervals. A detecting section determines, every time and just after the station location command has been sent, whether or not infrared data is received via the infrared, transmitting and receiving section. An error checking section determines, when infrared data is detected by the detecting section, whether or not the infrared data includes a bit error. A reporting section reports the result of decision output from the error checking section. An information storing section determines, if the infrared data does not include a bit error as determined by the error checking section, whether or not the infrared data is a station location response received from a desired station, and neglects, if the infrared date is not a station location response, the infrared data or stores, if the infrared data is a station location response, information of the desired station. A processing section ends, after sending the station location command the preselected number of times, processing for setting up a data link to the desired station or infrared communication processing on the basis of the information stored in the information storing section.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5835861 (1998-11-01), Whiteside
patent: 5835862 (1998-11-01), Nykanen et al.
patent: 5903833 (1999-05-01), Jonsson et al.
patent: 5914796 (1999-06-01), Selin
patent: 5961600 (1999-10-01), Ono et al.
patent: 6018655 (2000-01-01), Chavez, Jr. et al.
patent: 6018672 (2000-01-01), Werbus
patent: 6084949 (2000-07-01), Yun
patent: 2-228139 (1990-09-01), None
patent: 5-55683 (1993-07-01), None
patent: 9-83443 (1997-03-01), None
Maung Nay
NEC Corporation
Scully Scott Murphy & Presser
Trinh Sonny
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