U.S. patent number 7,233,784 [Application Number 11/023,381] was granted by the patent office on 2007-06-19 for method for selecting wireless path of portable communication terminal, portable communication terminal and wireless communication system for use thereof.
This patent grant is currently assigned to NEC Corporation. Invention is credited to Yasuhiro Himeno.
United States Patent |
7,233,784 |
Himeno |
June 19, 2007 |
Method for selecting wireless path of portable communication
terminal, portable communication terminal and wireless
communication system for use thereof
Abstract
A wireless communication system comprises a portable
telecommunication terminal and a server unit possessed by the
communication service provider for the portable communication
terminal. The portable communication terminal has a first
communication section performing a communication by way of a first
wireless path to which flat rate billing system is applied, a
second communication section performing a communication a
communication by way of a second wireless path to which measured
rate billing system is applied; and a communication control
section, detecting a candidate for wireless path being available at
the current position and, performing a communication at the current
location by the first communication section when the first wireless
path is detected as a candidate for wireless path.
Inventors: |
Himeno; Yasuhiro (Tokyo,
JP) |
Assignee: |
NEC Corporation (Tokyo,
JP)
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Family
ID: |
34587687 |
Appl.
No.: |
11/023,381 |
Filed: |
December 29, 2004 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20050148319 A1 |
Jul 7, 2005 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Jan 7, 2004 [JP] |
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2004-002177 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
455/408;
379/114.01; 379/114.02; 379/114.05; 379/114.06; 379/114.07;
379/114.08; 455/405; 455/406; 455/407; 455/409; 455/414.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L
12/1485 (20130101); H04L 12/5692 (20130101); H04W
40/02 (20130101); H04L 67/06 (20130101); H04L
67/04 (20130101); H04L 69/14 (20130101); H04W
4/24 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04M
11/00 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;455/405,406,407,408,409,414.1,414.2,414.3,414.4,114.02,114.03,114.05,114.06,114.07,114.08,114.09,114.1
;379/100.04,114.01 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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1 207 656 |
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May 2002 |
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EP |
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1207656 |
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May 2002 |
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EP |
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1 326 379 |
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Jul 2003 |
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EP |
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08-130594 |
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May 1996 |
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JP |
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10-178503 |
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Jun 1998 |
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JP |
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2000-134260 |
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May 2000 |
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JP |
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2001-34260 |
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May 2000 |
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JP |
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2002-64869 |
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Feb 2002 |
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JP |
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WO 01/35585 |
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May 2001 |
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WO |
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Primary Examiner: Gelin; Jean
Assistant Examiner: Ajibade-Akonai; Olumide
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Whitham Curtis Christofferson &
Cook, PC
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for downloading a data file to a portable
communications terminal comprising: said portable communication
terminal automatically selecting from a first wireless path having
flat rate billing and a second wireless path having measured rate
billing, said automatic selecting including: detecting whether said
first wireless path is available to said portable communications
terminal for downloading said file at the current location and in
response to detecting that said first wireless path is available at
said current location, said portable communication terminal
downloading said file using said first wireless path, and in
response to detecting that said first wireless path is not
available at said current location, detecting whether said second
wireless path is available and, in response to detecting that said
second path is available, said portable communication terminal
downloading said file from said second wireless path.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said portable communication
terminal, while downloading said data file through said second
path, repeats said detecting whether said first path is available
and, in response to detecting said first wireless path becoming
available prior to completion of the downloading, switches to
download a remainder of said data file from said first wireless
path.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein said portable communication
terminal acquires a data file from a server unit connected to a
network by communication at the current location.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein said portable communication
terminal requests said server unit to divide and supply a data
file; said server unit, in response to said request, divides the
data file and sequentially transmits each part of said data file to
said portable communication terminal; and said portable
communication terminal performs said selecting every time each part
of said data from said server unit is received.
5. The method of claim 3, further comprising: said portable
communication terminal requesting said server unit to transmit a
plurality of data files; and said server unit, in response to said
requesting, sends different data files corresponding to said data
files requested by said portable communication terminal to said
first and second wireless paths, wherein said selecting further
includes detecting whether said first and said second wireless
paths are concurrently available to said portable unit at said
current location, and in response to said selecting detecting that
said first and second wireless paths are available to said portable
unit at said current location, said portable communication terminal
downloads at least a first of the data files transmitted from said
server unit by way of said first wireless path and concurrently,
with at least a portion of said downloading, downloads another of
said data files by way of said second wireless path.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein said portable communication
terminal transmits an audio call signal during said downloading at
the current location.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said portable communication
terminal transmits a video call signal during said downloading at
the current location.
8. A portable communication terminal comprising: a first
communication section for wireless connecting to a first wireless
path, said first wireless path having flat rate billing; a second
communication section for wireless connecting to a second wireless
path, said second wireless path having measured rate billing; a
communication control section, for automatically selecting, in
response to a request for downloading a data file, among said first
wireless path and said second wireless path for downloading said
file, wherein said communication control section is constructed and
arranged to perform said automatic selecting by first detecting
whether said first wireless path is available to said portable
communications terminal for downloading said file at the current
location and in response to detecting that said first wireless path
is available at said current location, controlling said first
communication section to download said file to said portable
communication terminal using said first wireless path, and in
response to detecting that said first wireless path is not
available at said current location, detecting whether said second
wireless path is available and, in response to detecting that said
second path is available, controlling said second communication
section to download said file to said portable communication
terminal using said second wireless path.
9. The portable communication terminal of claim 8, wherein said
communication control section is constructed and arranged such
that, when controlling said communication second section to
download said data file using said second path, it repeats said
detecting whether said first path is available and, in response to
detecting said first wireless path becoming available prior to
completion of the downloading, switches to control said first
communication section to download a remainder of said data file
using said first wireless path.
10. The portable communication terminal of claim 8, wherein said
communication control section is constructed and arranged to
control said first and second communication sections to download a
data file in divided parts, and said communication control section
repeats said selecting every time each of said parts is
received.
11. The Portable communication terminal of claim 8, wherein said
communication control section is further constructed and arranged
to detect whether said first and said second wireless paths are
concurrently available to said portable unit at said current
location and, in response to said detection, and is constructed and
arrange to control, based on said detecting, said first
communication section to download a data file using said first
wireless path concurrent with second communication sections
downloading at least a second data files using said second wireless
path.
12. The portable communication terminal of claim 8, wherein each of
said first and second communication sections is constructed and
arranged to transmit an audio call signal during said downloading
at the current location.
13. The portable communication terminal of claim 8, wherein each of
said first and second communication sections is constructed and
arranged to transmit a video call signal during said downloading at
the current location.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a technique for a portable communication
terminal capable of utilizing a plurality of wireless paths with
different billing systems to select a communication path.
2. Description of Related Art
It has been made possible for a portable communication terminal
such as a portable telephone set to access a communication network
and acquire a data file of music, pictures or the like from a given
server device. Patent Document 1 (JP-3164085B) and Patent Document
2 (JP 2002-64869A) disclose techniques for reducing the
communication cost of such a service. When the volume of
communication data to be transmitted between a client and a server
exceeds a predetermined level in the system disclosed in Patent
Document 1, the data to be transmitted is divided and sent out by
way of a communication network with a measured rate billing system
and a communication network with a connection time billing system.
A portable wireless terminal of Patent Document 2 uses a non-public
wireless line for downloading contents and a public mobile
communication system for settlement of accounts.
However, with the system of Patent Document 1, if the contents are
partly transmitted by way of a communication network with a
connection time billing system, it will be difficult to reduce the
communication cost because the transmission time becomes longer as
the communication data increases. The system of Patent Document 2,
on the other hand, is accompanied by a problem that the mobility of
the user who is trying to download contents is limited because all
the contents have to be acquired from a given server by way of a
non-public wireless line and hence the user has to remain in the
area where the line can be captured.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above-identified problems, it is therefore an object
of the present invention to provide a method of selecting a
wireless path that allows a smooth communication to take place,
while suppressing the communication cost by means of a portable
communication terminal.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided
a method for selecting a wireless path of a portable communication
terminal capable of using a first wireless path to which flat rate
billing system is applied and a second wireless path to which
measured rate billing system is applied, the method comprising:
detecting a candidate for wireless path being available at the
current location; and performing a communication at the current
location using the first wireless path when the first wireless path
is detected as a candidate for wireless path.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is
provided a portable communication terminal comprising: a first
communication section performing a communication by way of a first
wireless path to which flat rate billing system is applied; a
second communication section performing a communication a
communication by way of a second wireless path to which measured
rate billing system is applied; and a communication control
section, detecting a candidate for wireless path being available at
the current position and, performing a communication at the current
location by the first communication section when the first wireless
path is detected as a candidate for wireless path.
According to still another aspect of the invention, there is
provided a wireless communication system comprising: a portable
communication terminal according to the invention as defined above;
and server unit communicably connected to the portable
communication terminal; wherein the server unit provides the
portable communication terminal with a data file; and each of the
first communication section and the second communication section of
the portable communication terminal requests the server unit to
provide a data file and acquires the data file.
According to the invention, it is possible for a portable
communication terminal to use a line of flat rate billing system
with priority in order to suppress the communication cost.
Additionally, even if the portable communication terminal is in an
area where a line of flat rate billing system is not available, the
user can try to use a line of measured rate billing system. As a
result, it is possible to use a portable communication terminal in
various place.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of wireless
communication system according to the invention, illustrating the
configuration thereof;
FIG. 2 is an illustration of an operation of selecting wireless
paths in the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the operation procedure of the portable
communication terminal of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is an illustration of an example of selecting wireless path
of the embodiment of FIG. 2;
FIG. 5 is an illustration of an operation of selecting wireless
path in another embodiment of wireless communication system
according to the invention; and
FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of the embodiment of wireless
communication system of FIG. 5, illustrating the configuration
thereof.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
First Embodiment
Now, the present invention will be described in greater detail by
referring to the accompanying drawings that illustrate preferred
embodiments of the invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram
of an embodiment of wireless communication system according to the
invention, illustrating the configuration thereof. Referring to
FIG. 1, the system 100 of the embodiment comprises a portable
communication terminal 10, which may typically be a portable
telephone set or a personal information terminal for schedule
management and some other purposes, and a server unit 20 possessed
by the telecommunication service provider for the portable
communication terminal 10 that is connected to an Internet
100a.
The telecommunication service provider possessing the server unit
20 provides a service of delivering contents such as music,
pictures or the like to the user's portable communication terminal
10 by means of wireless communications using a short distance
wireless communication system like a wireless LAN or a packet
communication system for portable telephone sets. The
telecommunication service provider applies a flat rate billing
system, which charges a fixed amount for a predetermined period
regardless of the time spent for communications and the volume of
received data, to a short distance wireless communication system.
And the telecommunication service provider applies a measured rate
billing system, which charges an amount determined as a function of
the acquired data, to a packet communication system.
As shown in FIG. 1, the portable communication terminal 10 includes
a short distance wireless communication section 11 having a short
distance wireless communication feature, a mobile communication
section 12 having a wireless communication feature like that of a
portable telephone set and a wireless control section 13 for
selectively driving the short distance wireless communication
section 11 or the mobile communication section 12 in the portable
communication terminal 10. A wireless LAN standard such as
IEEE802.11b or IEEE802.11g or Bluetooth.RTM. that is a known short
distance wireless communication standard may be applied to the
short distance wireless communication section 11.
The server unit 20 includes a short distance wireless antenna 21
for communicating with the short distance wireless communication
section 11 and the mobile communication section 12 of the portable
communication terminal 10 and a mobile base station 22. It acquires
a data file on the Internet 100a in response to a request from the
portable communication terminal 10 and supplies the data file to
the portable communication terminal 10. The short distance wireless
antenna 21 is arranged at a public place such as a railway station
or a shopping center. The server unit 20 provides short distance
wireless communication services in the communication area of the
short distance wireless antenna 21 to the registered user who has
paid a registration fee of a predetermined amount.
The user of the system 100 of this embodiment applies for
registration in advance for the use of the wireless paths of the
telecommunication service provider possessing the server unit 20 by
means of a registration form image as illustrated in FIG. 2. The
illustrated registration image shows an example which is registered
for using "line A" of a flat rate billing system and "line B" of a
measured rate billing system.
The part for the "line B" of the registration form image of FIG. 2
includes "acquisition conditions" for specifying the upper limit of
data volume that the user can acquire from the server unit 20 and
that of communication charge for data acquisition on a monthly
basis, a "download categories" item for specifying the category of
the file that the user downloads from the server unit 20 and a
"size" item for specifying the upper limit of file size that can be
downloaded. The communication charge is suppressed from infinitely
increasing by providing restrictions for communications by way of
the line of measured rate billing system.
Under the "acquisition upper limit" item of FIG. 2, the maximum
volume of data that can be acquired per month is defined to be
"20480 KB" at the cost of " 2,000" as computed according to the
measured rate billing system of the telecommunication service
provider as "acquisition conditions". Under the "download
categories" item, it is defined that the user can acquire files of
the data formats of "text (txt, htmls", etc.)" and "image (jpg,
gif, png, etc)" but cannot acquire files of the data formats of
"music (wav, mp3, mid, etc)" and "picture (mov, avi, 3gp,
etc.)".
Additionally, while "no limit" is selected under the "size" item in
the illustrated instance, it is possible to define the limit for
acquiring data per file. If "acquirable up to 10 KB" is defined,
the user cannot download a file whose file size exceeds "10 KB".
The user makes a user registration to the server unit 20 by means
of the illustrated registration image from the portable
communication terminal 10 or a personal computer.
The portable communication terminal 10 and the server unit 20 can
exchange a data file of contents that are to be downloaded by
dividing the data file. As for the technique for dividing and
downloading a file, for example, a byte range request of RFC2616 as
defined by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) may be
utilized if HTTP is used as communication protocol. It is possible
to divide the file to be downloaded into packets of a predetermined
volume of data to acquire the file by defining the byte range. Even
if the HTTP communication is interrupted, it is not necessary to
receive the file from the beginning when the communication is
resumed. In other words, it is possible to begin to receive the
file from the remaining part when the communication is resumed.
When a file is divided for downloading, it is desirable to know the
size of the file in advance typically by a HEAD request of HTTP.
However, it should be noted that techniques that can be used for
dividing and downloading a file is not limited to the above
described one and a program that the user creates may be used for
that purpose.
Now, the sequence of operation of the system 100 of the embodiment
will be described by referring to the flow chart of FIG. 3.
Firstly, the user of the portable communication terminal 10
requests the server unit 20 to download the file of certain
contents by operating the terminal 10. Then, the server unit 20
notifies the portable communication terminal 10 of the size of the
file (Step S1).
Then, the wireless control section 13 of the portable communication
terminal 10 detects a candidate for wireless path available at the
current location of the terminal 10 and determines if the
candidates include at a line of flat rate billing system or not.
If, it is determined that there is a line of flat rate billing
system as a result (Step S2: Yes), the wireless control section 13
orders the short distance wireless communication section 11 to
download the data file. If the data file cannot be divided and
downloaded from the server unit 20 to the portable communication
terminal 10 (Step S3: No), the short distance communication section
11 receives the data file supplied from the server unit 20 by way
of the short distance wireless antenna 21 collectively at a time
(Step S4).
If, on the other hand, the data file can be divided and downloaded
from the server unit 20 to the portable communication terminal 10
(Step S3: Yes), the short distance wireless communication section
11 requests the server unit 20 to divide and download the data
file, and sequentially receives the divided file from the server
unit 20 that received the request. In this stage of operation, the
short distance wireless communication section 11 checks if the
current location is found in the communication area of the flat
rate billing system or not each time the communication section 11
receives a succeeding part of the divided file (Step S6: Yes). The
processing operation ends when all the divided file is received
(Step S6: No).
If the wireless control section 13 of the portable communication
terminal 10 determines that no line of flat rate billing system is
available at the current location at the time of starting the
downloading operation or during the operation of dividing and
downloading the file (Step S2: No) but a line of measured rate
billing system is available (Step S7: Yes), the section 13 then
determines if it can proceed with the current downloading operation
by referring to the respective conditions for the measured rate
billing system described above by referring to FIG. 2. If the
wireless control section 13 determines that it can proceed with the
current downloading operation (Step S8: Yes) and can divide and
download the file (Step S9; Yes), the section 13 drives the mobile
communication section 12, which is responsible for utilizing a line
of measured rate billing system, to carry out an operation of
dividing and downloading the file from the server unit 20 in a
manner as described above (Steps S5 and S6).
If, on the other hand, it is determined that the portable
communication terminal 10 cannot divide and download the file by a
line of measured rate billing system (Step S9: No), the wireless
control section 13 determines if it can download the file
collectively by referring to the definition of the "size" item in
FIG. 2 and, if the section 13 determines that it can download the
file collectively (Step S10: Yes), the wireless control section 13
drives the mobile communication 12 to collectively download the
data file (Step S4).
If it is found that the portable communication terminal 10 can
neither make any wireless communication at the current location
(Step S7: No) nor meet the conditions for using a line of measured
rate billing system (Step S8: No) nor is it possible for the
portable communication terminal 10 to collectively download the
file by a line of measured rate billing system (Step S10: No), the
terminal 10 stands by until the radio wave situation changes as the
user moves to change its location (Step S11) and, once it gets into
an area where a line of flat rate billing system is available (Step
S2: Yes), it starts downloading the file.
Now, an instance where the wireless control section 13 of the
portable communication terminal 10 dynamically switches the
wireless path depending on the radio wave situation of the current
location will be described by referring to FIG. 4. Referring to
FIG. 4, when there is no line of flat rate billing system that is
available at the current location of the portable communication
terminal 10 and (a) it is possible to use a line of measured rate
billing system, the wireless control section 13 orders the mobile
communication section 12 to download the file and, when (b) a line
of flat rate billing system becomes available during the mobile
communication section 12 is operating to download the file because
of a change in the radio wave situation, the wireless control
section 13 switches from the mobile communication section 12 to the
short distance wireless communication section 11 to download the
remaining part of the divided file.
If (c) the line of flat rate billing system becomes no longer
available because the user moves out of the communication area or
an obstruction comes into the scene for the radio wave while the
short distance wireless communication section 11 is operating to
download the file, the wireless control section 13 switches from
the line of flat rate billing system to a line of measured rate
billing system to download the remaining part of the divided file.
Subsequently, when (d) a line of flat rate billing system is
captured, the wireless control section 13 drives the short distance
wireless communication section 11 to continue the operation of
downloading the remaining part of the divided file regardless if
(e) the line of measured rate billing system is still available or
not. If (f) no wireless path is available at all, the wireless
control section 13 suspends the downloading operation until the
radio wave situation changes.
As described above, when the portable communication terminal 10 of
the system 100 of the embodiment acquires a data file of contents
from the server unit 20, the wireless control section 13 operates
so as to use a line of flat rate billing system with priority to
consequently suppress the communication cost of the downloading
operation. It is known that short distance wireless communication
services such as wireless LANs provide only a small communication
area. However, according to the present invention, if the portable
communication terminal 10 moves out of a communication area while
the short distance wireless communication section 11 is downloading
a divided data file, the wireless control section 13 automatically
switches from the short distance wireless communication section 11
to the mobile communication section 12 so that the user can quickly
acquire the contents he or she wants.
Other Embodiments
While the sequence of operation according to which the portable
communication terminal 10 drives either the short distance wireless
communication section 11 or the mobile communication section 12 to
download a single data file is described above for the first
embodiment, it is also possible to download a plurality of data
files in parallel by way of a plurality of wireless paths according
to the invention. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently acquire
a plurality of data files. If "line A" of flat rate billing system
and "line B" of measured rate billing system are available as shown
in FIG. 2, the communication cost of the downloading operation can
be suppressed by using "line A" of flat rate billing system to
download a file with a large data volume.
It is also possible to use a plurality of wireless paths to which a
same billing system is applied as another technique of acquiring a
plurality of data files in parallel. For example, according to the
invention, it is possible to make both "line A" and "line C" of
flat rate billing system available in addition to "line B" of
measured rate billing system as shown in FIG. 5. Now, assume that
wireless channels that can avoid mutual interference are assigned
to "line A" and "line C" is used when the data volume of the data
file to be acquired is found under the "acquisition upper limit".
With such an arrangement, it is possible to acquire three data
files in parallel theoretically at a rate up to about 2.5 Mbps (384
kbps+1 Mbps+1.2 Mbps) in areas where three lines of "line A", "line
B" and "line C" are available.
While a plurality of wireless paths that the portable communication
terminal 10 can use are provided by a single telecommunication
service provider having a server unit 20 in the description of the
first embodiment given above by referring to FIG. 1, the user may
alternatively concludes separate agreements with telecommunication
service providers A and B for a line of flat rate billing system
and a line of measured rate billing system as shown in FIG. 6. In a
system 101 having such a configuration, the short distance wireless
communication section 11 of the portable communication terminal 10
communicates with a server unit 20a having a short distance
wireless antenna 21, while the mobile communication section 12
communicates with a server unit 20b having a mobile base station
22. A system having a configuration as shown FIG. 6 is advantageous
for an application where a data file is downloaded collectively or
a plurality of data files are downloaded in parallel.
When a portable telephone set is used as portable communication
terminal according to the invention, a line of measured rate
billing system that is used for ordinary telephone communications
and a line of flat rate billing system that is used for so-called
IP telephone communications, using VoIP (Voice over Internet
Protocol), can be selectively used for exchanging audio call
signals for telephone communications. If the portable telephone set
has a video phone feature, it is possible to selectively use a line
of measured rate billing system conforming to a moving image
communication standard such as 3G-324M and a line of flat rate
billing system using a protocol for video phone communications such
as H.323 or SIP (Session Initiation Protocol).
If a portable telephone set as described above is used, a line of
flat rate billing system is selected with priority. It may be so
arranged that, when the communication data volume exceeds the
volume limit defined for the flat rate billing system, the
excessive data is transmitted by a line of measured rate billing
system. Additionally, when a plurality of lines of measured rate
billing system are provided, it is desirable to select a line of
measured rate billing system that can transmit data at the lowest
cost with priority when a line of flat rate billing system is
switched to a line of measured rate billing system.
* * * * *