CN1096782C - Portable data terminal equipment with telecommunication function and information processing system using it - Google Patents

Abstract

A portable Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) with a wireless telephone function is provided with a memory card interface and uses an EEPROM as a program memory so that an application program can be loaded and executed. The DTE also includes an IrDA standard optical communication port or RS-232c port to enable greater interface capabilities. DTE provides three call origination modes (transceiver, private and public modes). As application examples, three information processing systems are disclosed.

Description

Portable data terminal equipment with telecommunication function and information processing system using it

The present invention relates to a portable data terminal equipment with telecommunication function and an information processing system using these data terminal equipment.

With the development of miniaturization of data terminal equipment and mobile phones, several types of portable data terminal equipment with telecommunication functions have been proposed. capable of data communication. However, for the sake of small size, these data terminal equipments are not equipped with any auxiliary memory, which makes it difficult to load application programs into the devices and make the programs run on the devices, resulting in narrowing the application range of such data terminal equipments.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved portable data terminal equipment with telecommunication functions capable of executing various application programs.

Another object of the present invention is to provide several embodiments of the information processing system using the improved portable data terminal equipment.

Above-mentioned object is realized by a kind of portable data terminal equipment that comprises radiotelephone part and data terminal part; The voice/data switching circuit of radiotelephone part selectively connects two public terminals to one of two terminal pairs ( One terminal is connected with the microphone and the loudspeaker), and two common terminals are connected with the voice signal input and output nodes of this part; while the data terminal is equipped with a communication interface, which has a parallel port and at least one serial port; to at least One of the serial ports provides circuitry to interface to and from the other terminal pair; a memory card interface (IF) to the parallel port to interface with a memory card such as a ROM (read-only memory) card (for storing application programs) and RAM (Random Access Memory) for storing data.

The data terminal part may further include an optical communication port conforming to the IrDA (Infrared Data Association established in 1993) standard.

Portable Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) allows users to place calls in any of three communication modes. Calls made in PHS (Personal Handyphone System) mode or public line mode are routed through the PHS base station serving the DTE location where the call is made. In the dedicated line mode, the call is connected to the dedicated PHS base station set up for the DTEs constituting the network, or to the called DTE in the network through the base station. In transceiver mode, the call is routed directly to the called DTE.

Several examples of information processing systems to which the DTE according to the present invention is applied will be described below.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be clearly understood through the following description of preferred embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the attached picture:

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a portable data terminal device with telecommunication functions according to the principles of the present invention;

Fig. 1B is a side view of the embodiment of Fig. 1A observed from the arrow AB direction shown in Fig. 1A;

Fig. 2 is a block diagram representing the structure of the exemplary embodiment of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows the storage map illustrated by EEPROM 33 and 45 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 represents the schematic diagram of the structure of the first kind of information processing system applying the DTE according to the principle of the present invention;

Figure 5 is a flow diagram of an exemplary call initiation routine;

Fig. 6 represents the schematic diagram of the structure of the second information processing system applying the DTE according to the principle of the present invention;

Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of the operational steps performed by elements 1, 601 and 603 of the system and the data flow between the elements; and

FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of the operational steps performed by the host computer 801 of a certain manufacturer and the possible customer DTE1 and the data flow between the host computer 801 and DTE1.

Figure 1A shows an external view of an exemplary embodiment of a telecommunications-enabled portable data terminal equipment or DTE in accordance with the principles of the present invention. Fig. 1B is a side view of the embodiment of Fig. 1A viewed from the direction of arrow AB shown in Fig. 1A. In FIG. 1 , DTE1 includes a main body 2, an LCD (liquid crystal display) panel 36, an antenna 5 connected to the radiotelephone part, a microphone 6 and a loudspeaker 7 of the radiotelephone part, a key switch 34 operated by the user, and a memory card 10 inserted therein. memory card slot 53 and IrDA optical communication port 59 .

Figure 2 shows the configuration of the DTE in Figure 1 in block diagram form. In FIG. 2, the DTE generally includes a radiotelephone section 20 and a data terminal section 30 sharing the same controller 40. As shown in FIG.

The radiotelephone part 20, which operates like an ordinary PHS telephone set, includes an antenna 5; a radio frequency (radio frequency) stage including a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna duplexer operated by a transmit/receive control signal from a controller 40; a modulator And demodulator 23; Channel codec 25; A/D and D/A converter 27; Voice/data switching switch 49, for selectively connecting two common one terminals 49CT and 49CR to two terminal pairs ( 49VT, 49VR) and one of (49DT, 49DR), two common terminals 49CT and 49CR are then the same as the voice signal input and output nodes of the radiotelephone part (that is, the A/D converter input terminal of 27 and the D/A converter The output terminal) is connected; the microphone (MIKE) 6 is connected to the transmitting side of a terminal pair or terminal 49VT; the loudspeaker 7 is connected to the receiving side of a terminal pair or terminal 49VR; the ringer is connected to the receiving side of a terminal pair or terminal 49VR; Remind the user after the call; and the controller 40 (see later). The voice/data switching switch 49 is controlled by a voice/data switching control signal from the controller 40 . Controller 40 also controls modulator 23 , channel codec 25 and A/D and D/A converter 27 .

The controller 40 that controls both the work of the radiotelephone part and the data terminal part includes: a CPU (central processing unit) 41; a clock circuit 43; an EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory) 45 for storing the System program, Chinese character dictionary and at least one application program carried out under the system program, EEPROM preferably includes a flash write (flash) EEPROM; RAM (flash access memory) 47 is used for storing data, in the present embodiment The RAM preferably includes a static RAM; and an I/O (input and output) interface 48 for providing an I/O interface to the CPU 41.

As the controller of the radiotelephone part 20, the CPU 41 monitors the decoder of the channel codec 25 at regular time intervals to see if a call to the DTE is received, and if so, sends a call to the vibration through the I/O interface 48. The bell 29 outputs a ringing signal. Moreover, the CPU 41 also outputs a voice/data switching control signal through the I/O interface 48 to control the voice/data switching switch 49, so that during voice communication, the common terminals 49CT and 49CR are respectively connected to the voice terminals 49VT and 49VR in the same way, and During data communication, the same pair of data terminals 49DT and 49DR are respectively connected.

In addition to the controller 40, the data terminal part 30 also includes a sub-controller 31 that supports the work of the CPU 41; a key switch 34 through which the user can input various instructions and data; an LCD panel 36 ; and an LCD driver 37 including a VRAM (Video RAM) 35 . As is well known in the art, the sub-controller 31 includes an unillustrated CPU inside the sub-controller 31 to store programs executed by the unillustrated CPU and data necessary for voice and data communication. ROM33, RAM (not shown) and I/O interface (not shown). ROM 33 is preferably EEPROM, so that the program stored in EEPROM 33 can be easily changed if necessary. The sub-controller 31 performs various control operations such as LCD 36 display of a certain phone icon representing the state of the radiotelephone part, calendar clock operation, input operation through the key switch 34, backlight control, and the like. Key switch 34 is preferably self-illuminating. Using the components 31, 33-37 and 40 described above, the data terminal section 30 can operate like a normal DTE, as is well known in the art.

The data terminal part 30 further comprises: the communication controller 51 that is connected with the data bus of CPU41 and the address bus and has a parallel port and two serial ports; Data transmission between the data bus 42 and the memory card 10 inserted into the memory card interface 53; the data converter 55, its digital terminal is connected with one of the two serial ports of the communication controller 51, and its analog input and output terminals are respectively Connect with the data output (or receive) terminal 49DR and the data input (or transmit) terminal 49DT of voice/data switching switch 49, be used to start directly or transmit by the nearest PHS base station between CPU41 data bus 42 and another telephone terminal data; and an optical communication port 59 that meets the IrDA (Infrared Data Association) standard, or an RS-232C serial interface that is connected to the other of the two serial ports, and is used to initiate data between the CPU data bus 42 and other systems transmission. Data converter 55 comprises modem 56 and according to interface 57, when data transmission, realizes the digital signal conversion on the line 54 to the audio frequency analog signal on the line 55T, and when data receiving, then the audio frequency analog signal on the line 55R Converted to a digital signal on line 54.

It should be noted that the program memory 45 of the CPU 41 includes an EEPROM so that the user can load the desired application program stored in the memory card 10 into the EEPROM 45 through the memory card interface 53.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary memory map of the EEPROMs 33 and 45 in FIG. 2 and the relationship between programs stored in the EEPROMs 33 and 45. Referring to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the EEPROM 33 stores a program 330 of the sub-controller 31 and data 331 necessary for voice and data communication. The program 330 includes at least a command translator 33 for recognizing the command given by the user and sending the command to the CPU 41 when the CPU 41 is ready to execute the command. As mentioned above, EEPROM 45 stores system program 451 , at least one application program 452 and Chinese character dictionary 453 . The system program 451 includes a data transfer utility program 454, an application execution routine program 455 loaded from the memory card 10, and the like. The data transfer utility 454 includes at least:

"Read memory card to file" 461, for reading the data in memory card 10 into the file "FILE" in EEPROM45,

"Write the file into the memory card" 462, for writing the data of the file "FILE" in the EEPROM45 to the memory card 10,

"Send file via PHS" 463, for sending the data of the file "FILE" to the destination telephone terminal (not shown) through the established PHS transmission path,

"Receive data from PHS into file" 464, for receiving data from PHS channel and storing it into file "FILE";

"Send file via IrDA port" 465 is used to send the data of file "FILE" via IrDA port 59 (or RS-232C serial port), and so on.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the operation of some of the utilities described above will be described.

For example, if data entered through the radiotelephone section 20 is to be stored in RAM 47, the utility "Receive data from HS into file" 464 is called in a file named "FILE". Then, under the control of the utility program 464, the CPU 41 sets a baud rate relevant to the utility program 464 to the communication controller 51, after which the data from the data converter 55 is received by the controller 51, and the received data is used as The file "FILE" is stored in RAM47. At this time, the input audio data is converted into binary data by the data converter 55 .

If the data of the file "FILE" stored in the RAM47 is to be sent to other telephone terminals (not shown) connected to the main computer (not shown) through a certain PHS base station, the utility program "sends files through the PHS" is called 463. The CPU 41 sends commands and data related to the utility program to the communication controller 51 . In response to this, the communication controller 51 drives the data converter 55 and sets a baud rate thereto. After that, the CPU 41 reads data from "FILE" stored in the RAM 47 using the bus width, and sends the read data to the data converter 55 through the communication controller 51 at the same time. The data converter 55 converts the received data into an audio signal, and sends the signal to the A/D converter portion of the A/D and D/A converter 27 via the voice/data switching switch 49 .

If a certain application program stored in the memory card 10 is to be stored or loaded into the EEPROM 45 as a file "FILE", the utility program "read memory card to file" 461 can be called. Then, the CPU 41 sends commands and data related to the utility program 461 to the communication controller 51 . In response to this, the communication controller 51 drives the memory card interface 53 and sets predetermined data thereto. Thereafter, the CPU 41 receives data from the memory card interface 53 via the communication controller 51, and simultaneously stores the received data in the EEPROM 45 as a file "FILE". In this way, it is easy to load the application program in the memory card 10 into the EEPROM45. If the capacity of the EEPROM 45 is sufficiently larger than the loaded program, multiple programs can be loaded.

How to execute the loaded program is discussed below. If a plurality of application programs are stored in the EEPROM 45, the user inputs an execution command ID for identifying a desired program. However, if the EEPROM 45 stores only one application program, the user can omit the program ID. If the command translator 333 recognizes the execution instruction, the translator 333 sends to the CPU 41 a code representing the instruction. In response to receiving this code, CPUI 41 enters the application execution routine 455 described above. Under the control of the routine program 455, the CPU 41 performs a predetermined preprocessing, and then enters a prescribed application program stored in the EEPROM 45, or enters the application program stored in the EEPROM 45 separately. Thus, any application program stored in EEPROM 45 can be easily executed.

Information Processing System I

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of the configuration of a first information processing system using the DTE of the present invention, in which small circles represent mobile stations or the inventive DTE1. In FIG. 4, the first information processing system includes: a PHS dedicated base station (PBS) 401 arranged near the center of a certain area (such as a building, a hospital building, etc.); The multiple inventive DTE1s carried by doctors and nurses, etc.); main computer 403; Data communication and data communication with PBS401 through PHS channel, connect host computer 403 with PBS401 in a wireless manner.

This information processing system can activate each DTE1 and PBS401, not only communicate with each other, but also send and receive data to and from the host computer 403.

In this information processing system, a call can be established between two DTE1 in any one of three starting modes or communication modes - public line mode, private line mode and transceiver mode. Calls placed in public line mode are routed via the PHS base station 410 serving the calling DTE1 site (an example of this mode is shown in Figure 4 as a call between two DTE1b). Calls placed in private line mode are routed via private base station (PBS) 401 (an example of this mode is shown as a call between two DTE1c). A call made in transceiver mode is then directly connected to the called DTE1 (an example of this mode is shown as a call between two DTE1d). Each user can choose one of these three modes during the initiation of a call. At this time, the call is sent out according to the specified line according to the selected communication mode. Alternatively, the user can simply dial the destination telephone number without specifying any communication mode during the call initiation. In this case, if the originating DTE1 is located in the service area 4 of the dedicated base station 401 (indicated by a dotted line in FIG. In the service area 4, the call is sent out according to the specified line in the public line mode.

In operation, if the command translator 333 in the EEPROM33 has deciphered a series of data inputted by the user as a call originating instruction, then the translator 333 will send the facts, the destination address and the communication mode of the regulation (if there is a regulation) CPU41 . Thereafter, the CPU 41 executes the call origination routine in the following steps.

Figure 5 is a flow diagram of an exemplary call origination routine. In Fig. 5, CPU41 makes a test in step 501 to see if the communication mode is specified; if the communication mode is specified, then CPU41 does another test in step 502 to see if the transceiver mode is specified; if the mode is specified Then CPU41 calls the destination DTE in step 503, and sees in step 504 whether there is a response from this DTE; caller etc. Otherwise, the CPU 41 sends a call to the PBS 401 in step 506, and proceeds to the above-mentioned step 510.

If the test result in decision step 502 is "no", then CPU41 checks the communication mode in step 505 to see whether the mode is a dedicated mode; The call is sent to the PHS base station 410 serving the calling DTE1.

If the result of the test in the decision step 501 is "no", then the CPU 41 does another test in the step 508 to see whether the DTE1 of the main call is located in the service area of the PBS 401; if so, the CPU 41 proceeds to the above-mentioned step 503, Otherwise, go to step 509 and send the call to the base station 410 of DTE1 serving the call. After any one of steps 506, 507 and 509, the CPU 41 proceeds to step 510, and performs normal processing based on the base station response as described above.

Information Processing Systems II

6 shows a schematic diagram of the configuration of the second information processing system using DTE according to the present invention, wherein BS603 represents a base station mounted on a vending machine, and each small circle represents an inventive DTE1 mounted on a vending machine. In Fig. 6, the second information processing system includes: a main computer 601, which is equipped in a business room, where there are many automatic vending machines and divided into several groups 610, 620 and 630, and the main computer 601 is connected with the public telecommunication network 602 ; PHS base station 603, each PHS base station is all contained on an automatic vending machine near central position of automatic vending unit 601, 602 or 603, and links to each other with public telephone network 602; And many DTEs of invention, each The DTE is mounted on a vending machine that is not equipped with a base station 603. It should be noted that the DTE communicates with the respective vending machines through the RS-232C serial interface.

In the above structure, the host computer 601 collects data from each automatic vending machine by the inventive DTE1 in the following method. The host computer 601 sends a sales data request to each base station 603 through the public line 602 at a certain time interval. In response to this request, each BS603 sends a sales data request to each DTE1 in the automatic vending group to which it belongs through the PHS channel. Each DTE in the system collects the sales data from the automatic vending machine (the automatic vending machine) on which the DTE is installed, uses the information processing function of the DTE to calculate the total sales of the automatic vending machine, and checks whether the automatic vending machine has problem, and return these processing results to the base station 603. Each base station 603 sends the received result to the host computer 601 through the public line 602 . The business office analyzes the received results, replenishes each vending machine, and keeps each vending machine in good condition.

Information Processing Systems III

The third information processing system includes the manufacturer's host computer connected to the public telecommunications network and the customer's invented DTE. FIG. 8 shows the operational steps performed by the vendor's host computer 801 and the customer's DTE1 and the data flow between the host computer 801 and DTE1.

In step 810, the customer requests the vendor to provide information about the goods and services that the vendor can provide. Host computer 801 sends catalog data or service menu data to patron's DTE at step 820 . Next, at step 830 the customer checks the received data and enters the data necessary to order the desired goods or services. After the input is complete, the customer sends the input data to the vendor for an order.

In the illustrated embodiment, although the modulator and demodulator 23, channel codec 25, CPU 41, clock circuit 43 and I/O are all introduced as discrete components, all or part of these components can be used as a A single chip integrated circuit (IC) is implemented. Likewise, each communication controller 51 and sub-controller 33 can also be realized as an IC.

Many widely different embodiments of the invention may be constructed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It should be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described in the specification, except as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (9)

1. A kind of portable data terminal equipment with radiotelephone function, described equipment allows to load and carry out application program, it is characterized in that, described portable data terminal equipment comprises: radiotelephone parts; and data terminal section, where said radiotelephone section and said data terminal section share a controller with a data bus and an address bus; and The radiotelephone section has a voice/data switch operable under the control of the controller for selectively connecting the two common terminals connected to the voice signal input and output nodes of the section to the data terminal pair and one of the pair of voice terminals connected with a microphone and a loudspeaker, wherein the data terminal part includes: a communication interface, which is connected to the data bus and the address bus, and has a parallel port and at least one serial port; means for providing an interface to and from said pair of data terminals of said voice/data switch to one of at least one serial port; a memory card interface (IF) for providing the parallel port with an interface to the memory card, and wherein the controller includes: an EEPROM for storing a program, said controller operating under the control of the stored program; means for loading a program stored in said memory card provided in said memory card IF into said EEPROM; and means for executing said program loaded into said EEPROM. 2. A portable data terminal device as defined in claim 1, wherein said data terminal part further comprises an optical communication port conforming to the IrDA standard. 3. A kind of portable data terminal equipment as specified in claim 2, is characterized in that, described controller further comprises: random access memory (RAM) for temporary data storage; means for transmitting the data in the file specified by the order through said optical communication port; and means for receiving incoming optical data through said optical communication port and storing said received data in said RAM as a file specified by instructions. 4. A kind of portable data terminal equipment as specified in claim 1, is characterized in that, described controller further comprises: Judgment response means for connecting an originating call to said private PHS base station, said judgment indicating that said equipment is within a service area exclusively provided by a private PHS base station. 5. A kind of portable data terminal equipment as specified in claim 4, is characterized in that, described controller further comprises: means for responding to a decision for connecting said originating call to said PHS base station, said decision indicating that said device is located within the service area of any public PHS base station, though not within the service area of any private PHS base station. 6. An information processing system that allows everyone active in a predetermined area not only to communicate with each other and with the headquarters, but also to send data to and receive data from a host computer located in the area, its features In that, the system includes: PHS dedicated base station (PBS) located in said headquarters; portable data terminal equipment (DTE) carried by said individual; said host computer (403); and Equipped with a DTE with a RS-323C serial port, the DTE connects the host computer with the PBS by radio, communicates data with the host computer through the RS-232C port, and communicates data with the host computer through the DTE The radiotelephone function is in data communication with said PBS, wherein each of said DTEs includes: radiotelephone parts; and data terminal section, where said radiotelephone portion and said data terminal portion share a controller having a data bus and an address bus; and The radiotelephone part has a voice/data switch operated under the control of the controller for selectively connecting the two common terminals connected to the voice signal input and output nodes of the part to the data sub-terminal pair and One of the voice terminal pairs connected with a microphone and a loudspeaker, wherein the data terminal part includes: A communication interface connected to the data bus and the address bus with a parallel port and at least one serial port: means for providing one of at least one serial port with an interface to and from said data terminal pair of said voice/data switch; A memory card interface (IF) is used to provide an interface to the memory card to the parallel port, and wherein the controller includes: EEPROM for storing a program for operation of said controller under its control; means for loading a program stored in said memory card provided in said memory card IF into said EEPROM; and means for executing said program loaded into said EEPROM. 7. An information processing system as specified in claim 6, wherein the controller further comprises: decision response means for attempting to call the destination DTE directly, said decision indicating that said call origination instruction is accompanied by a transceiver mode indication; means for responding to a decision for sending an originating call to said private base station (PBS), said decision indicating that said call origination command was accompanied by a private mode indication, or said decision indicating that no response was obtained from said attempt; Decision responsive means for sending said originating call to a PHS base station serving the DTE originating said originating call, said decision indicating that said call origination instruction is accompanied by a public mode indication. 8. An information handling system as defined in claim 7, wherein said controller further comprises default origination means responsive to determining that said call origination command is not accompanied by any mode indication , and the default originating devices include: means for responding to a decision for directing said originating call to said private base station, said decision indicating that said DTE is located within the service area of said private base station. 9. An information processing device as specified in claim 8, wherein said default originating device further comprises: means for responding to a decision for directing said originating call to said PHS base station, said decision indicating that said DTE is not located within said service area of said private base station but is located within said PHS base station service area.

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