Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Zoned or cellular telephone system
Utility Patent
1998-04-01
2001-01-02
Hunter, Daniel S. (Department: 2744)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Zoned or cellular telephone system
C455S066100, C340S905000
Utility Patent
active
06169897
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to mobile communications systems and mobile terminals used therefor, and more particularly, to a mobile communications system in which a mobile terminal can easily obtain local information that is peculiar to a specific area where the mobile terminal is located, by using some functions available in the Internet infrastructure. The present invention also relates to a mobile terminal used in such a mobile communications system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet World Wide Web (WWW) is widely used in recent years, allowing people to make access to various on-line information stored in a number of WWW servers by using web browser software. WWW servers provide hypertext documents which can link itself to other data on the same server, as well as to some particular pages on other servers. When combined with today's mobile communication technologies, the Internet environment will make it possible for mobile subscribers in the field to make access to any desired data on WWW sites. Actually, some researchers have studied such an on-the-road usage of the hypertext infrastructure for retrieval of information specific to an area where the subscribers are located.
There have been such information services that provide local residents with some information that is peculiar to a specific geographical region where they live, including bargain sales, events and meetings, parking lot availability, local map information, etc. Most of the existing local information services are designed to deliver such information via a public carrier telecommunications network. People get phone numbers usually from newspapers, magazines, and other advertisement media, and call an appropriate site when they need some information.
While there are a number of different information resources in the country, people will certainly give high priority and importance to local information sources in a specific region where they live or work, as well as in its surrounding regions. In their daily lives, local residents naturally receive information about what local resources are available and how they can reach those resources. Therefore, it is relatively easy for residents to make access to their local information resources. As opposed to this, it is not easy for visitors to reach such resources because they have no background knowledge about the local information sources available there.
Today's widespread proliferation of mobile technologies has allowed people to travel with portable telecommunications equipment including radiotelephones and mobile computer terminals. Mobile subscribers may wish to access local information resources about the exact place where they are visiting, as well as about its surrounding area. However, the conventional information services are not convenient to such mobile subscribers, since it is difficult for them to know which phone number to dial for making access to the desired resource.
To solve this problem, researchers have proposed several ways to provide and use local information services in mobile communications environments. For example, the Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 6-19929 (1994) discloses a car park reservation system for mobile environments. Further, the Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 8-336182 (1996) discloses a local information service system. Those two patents, however, require a complex, large-scale system configuration. Particularly, the local information service system proposed in the latter patent demands a complicated and large processing mechanism to be implemented in its network portion.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Taking the above into consideration, an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile communications system with a simple configuration which allows subscribers to make access to local information resources in mobile environments. To provide a mobile terminal used in such a mobile communications system is another object of the present invention.
To accomplish the first object, according to the present invention, there is provided a mobile communications system which includes a plurality of radio base stations regularly transmitting area identification signals that uniquely identify individual radio service coverage areas thereof, a mobile terminal located in either one of the radio service coverage areas of the plurality of radio base stations, and a mobile communications switching system that interconnects the plurality of radio base stations and a public telecommunications network.
This mobile communications system comprises:
(a) a URL list server, being connected to the mobile communications switching system, which stores a plurality of local URL lists addressed with different local representative URLs;
(b) a storage unit, disposed in the mobile terminal, which stores the local representative URLs associated with the plurality of area identification signals;
(c) a URL retrieving unit, disposed in the mobile terminal, which receives the area identification signal from one of the plurality of radio base stations, and out of said storage means, retrieves one of the local representative URLs that is associated with the received area identification signal;
(d) a representative URL transmission unit, disposed in the mobile terminal, which transmits the one of the local representative URLs retrieved by the URL retrieving unit to the URL list server;
(e) a list transmission unit, disposed in the URL list server, which retrieves one of the plurality of local URL lists that corresponds to the local representative URL received from the representative URL transmission unit, and transmits the retrieved local URL list to the mobile terminal; and
(f) a display unit, disposed in the mobile terminal, which displays the local URL list received from the list transmission unit.
To accomplish the second object mentioned above, according to the present invention, there is provided a mobile terminal for use in a mobile communications system including a plurality of radio base stations regularly transmitting area identification signals that uniquely identify individual radio service coverage areas thereof, a mobile communications switching system that interconnects the plurality of radio base stations and a public telecommunications network, and a URL list server connected to the mobile communications switching system for storing a plurality of local URL lists addressed with different local representative URLs.
This mobile terminal is located in either one of the radio service coverage areas of the plurality of radio base stations, and comprises:
(a) a storage unit which stores the local representative URLs associated with the plurality of area identification signals;
(b) a URL retrieving unit which receives the area identification signal from one of the plurality of radio base stations, and out of said storage means, retrieves one of the local representative URLs that is associated with the received area identification signal;
(c) a representative URL transmission unit which transmits the one of the local representative URLs retrieved by the URL retrieving unit to the URL list server;
(d) a list transmission unit, disposed in the URL list server, which retrieves one of the plurality of local URL lists that corresponds to the local representative URL received from the representative URL transmission unit, and transmits the retrieved local URL list to the mobile terminal; and
(e) a display unit which displays the local URL list that is received from the list transmission unit in response to the local representative URL that has been sent by the representative URL transmission unit.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention by way of example.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5732074 (1998-03-01), Spaur et al.
patent: 5848396 (1998-12-01), Ge
Fujitsu Limited
Gantt Alan T.
Helfgott & Karas P.C.
Hunter Daniel S.
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