JP2008166883A - Communication channel quality information display device, its method and mobile communication terminal using it - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to perform high-speed data communication and to improve throughput as a system by notifying the user of information for estimating a more suitable place for the high-speed data communication using an outgoing common channel in a mobile communication system using an HSDPA system. <P>SOLUTION: By displaying the ratio of pilot signal power to total reception power from a serving cell on a screen, a signal-to-noise ratio to be actually obtained when the user of the mobile communication terminal performs the high-speed data communication using the outgoing common channel is estimated, the mobile communication terminal is moved to an optimum position while confirming screen display when performing outgoing high-speed data communication, and thus data communication is performed at a speed higher than before. As a result, the throughput as the entire system is improved as well. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication line quality display apparatus and method, and a mobile communication terminal using the same, and more particularly to a communication line quality display method in a mobile communication terminal in a mobile communication system that performs data communication using a downlink common channel. is there.

  In general, in a mobile communication terminal in a mobile communication system, a transmission / reception power level is displayed in order to notify a user of a reception radio wave situation at a location where the mobile communication terminal is located. FIG. 3 shows a schematic functional block diagram of the mobile communication terminal for that purpose.

  Referring to FIG. 3, the mobile communication terminal includes an antenna 1, a receiving unit 2, a control unit 3, an audio output unit 4, a screen display unit 5, an input device 6, and a transmission unit 7. Has been. The receiving unit 2 includes a radio receiver 21 that performs high-frequency signal filtering and frequency conversion to obtain a baseband signal, an A / D (analog / digital) conversion unit 22 that digitally converts the baseband signal, and the digital baseband. And a demodulator 23 that demodulates the signal.

  The audio output unit 4 is a speaker, the screen display unit 5 is an LCD display unit, the input device 6 is a key operation unit, and the transmission unit 7 has a function of transmitting data to be transmitted to the base station. The control unit 3 is a CPU that controls these units.

  In such a configuration, the received signal from the base station by the antenna 1 is subjected to high-frequency signal filtering and frequency conversion in the radio receiver 21 in the receiving unit 2, and is output to the A / D converting unit 22 as a baseband signal. The The A / D converter 22 converts this baseband signal into a digital value and outputs it to the demodulator 23. The demodulator 23 despreads and demodulates the digitized baseband signal and outputs data transmitted from the base station.

  Further, the wireless receiver 21 notifies the control unit 3 of the total reception level including the current interference wave. The control unit 3 outputs the data output from the demodulation unit 23 to the audio output unit 4 and the screen display unit 5. In addition, according to the total reception level output from the wireless receiver 21, a display is made on the screen display unit 5 to notify the user of the reception radio wave situation at the location where the mobile communication terminal is located. ing.

  Here, in a W-CDMA (Widebande-Code Division Multiple Access) mobile communication system, there is an HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) system that enables high-speed data communication using a downlink shared channel (DSCH). is there. In such high-speed data communication using the downlink common channel, data to be transmitted to the mobile communication terminal is transmitted only from the base station of the serving cell, so that only the total received power level is displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. In this configuration, since signals from a plurality of base stations adjacent to the mobile communication terminal reach the mobile communication terminal, even if the received electric field is strong, the transmission radio waves from other base stations become interference waves and high-speed data Communication may not be possible.

  In the mobile communication terminal in the HSDPA system, since the current total reception level is displayed on the screen display unit 5, the line quality when the high-speed data communication using the downlink common channel is to be performed is changed to the data communication. You cannot guess from the screen display before or during data communication. In such a case, when the user of the mobile communication terminal notices that the speed does not increase after actually starting communication, the user can move the terminal to the dark cloud and find a place where data can be received at a higher speed. There is no choice but to search or communicate at the same speed.

  That is, because the user of the mobile communication terminal cannot be notified of a place with better line quality, the user cannot move the mobile communication terminal to a place suitable for data communication. The throughput of high-speed data communication using the downlink common channel as a system will not be improved.

Here, referring to Patent Documents 1 and 2, a technique for measuring a communication environment is disclosed in order to connect to a base station capable of maintaining optimum communication quality when a mobile communication terminal is handed over in a mobile communication system. .
JP 2000-270356 A JP 2006-262077 A

  In the configuration of the conventional mobile communication terminal shown in FIG. 3, since the current total reception level is displayed as described above, the line when high-speed data communication using the downlink common channel is attempted. There is a drawback that the quality cannot be estimated from the screen display before or during data communication. In addition, since it is impossible to notify the user of a place with better line quality, the user cannot move the mobile terminal to a place suitable for data communication. Therefore, a high speed using a downlink common channel as a system can be used. There is a disadvantage that the throughput of data communication does not increase.

  The techniques of Patent Documents 1 and 2 relate to measurement of the reception environment at the time of handover and are not intended to solve the above-described drawbacks.

  An object of the present invention is to notify a user of information for estimating a place more suitable for high-speed data communication using a downlink common channel, thereby enabling the user to perform higher-speed data communication, It is an object to provide a communication line quality display apparatus and method for a mobile communication terminal capable of improving throughput as a system, and a mobile communication terminal using the same.

  A communication line quality display apparatus according to the present invention is a communication line quality display apparatus in a mobile communication terminal in a mobile communication system that performs high-speed data communication using a downlink common channel, and a user can select a place suitable for the data communication. It includes a means for displaying communication line quality information, which is information for estimation.

  A mobile communication terminal according to the present invention uses the communication line quality display device described above.

  A communication line quality display method according to the present invention is a communication line quality display method in a mobile communication terminal in a mobile communication system that performs high-speed data communication using a downlink common channel, and a user can select a place suitable for the data communication. The method includes a step of displaying communication line quality information that is information for estimation.

  According to the present invention, since it is possible to estimate the channel quality obtained by data communication before starting data communication using the downlink common channel, the user moves to a place with good channel quality in advance and performs data communication. There is an effect that can be started. Further, according to the present invention, even during data communication using the downlink common channel, the user can move the mobile communication terminal to a more suitable place by calculating the pilot strength to interference wave ratio and displaying it on the screen. Therefore, there is an effect that higher-speed data communication can be performed.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, the effect of reducing downlink transmission power and shortening the data communication time can be obtained by performing higher-speed data communication by the user. As a result, the line throughput is improved, and more users can be connected. There is an effect that high-speed data communication can be performed.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the same parts as those in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals. The mobile communication terminal in the present embodiment is different from the conventional example shown in FIG. 3 in that a pilot strength measuring unit 24 is added between the A / D conversion unit 22 and the control unit 3 in the receiving unit 2. Since the other configuration is the same as that of FIG. 3, the description thereof is omitted.

  The pilot strength measuring unit 24 calculates the signal strength of the serving cell (usually the cell having the strongest signal strength) from the digitized baseband signal input from the A / D conversion unit 22 as a ratio to the total received power. And output to the control unit 3. The control unit 3 outputs the reception data input from the demodulation unit 23 to the audio output unit 4 as audio data or outputs it to the screen display unit 5 as image data according to the call type.

  Further, the control unit 3 receives the ratio of the pilot signal strength and the total received power from the pilot strength measurement unit 24 and displays the communication line quality on the screen display unit 5 according to the ratio. Further, the control unit 3 has a function of outputting data input from the input device 6 (such as a microphone or a camera) to the transmission unit 7. The transmission unit 7 performs modulation / spreading processing on transmission data input from the control unit 3, further converts the transmission data into a high-frequency signal, and transmits radio waves from the antenna 1, which is the same as the conventional example.

Next, the principle of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, if base station A (not shown) is a base station of a serving cell and base station B (not shown) is an adjacent base station, the ratio of the desired wave to the interference wave from the serving cell received by the mobile communication terminal SIR is
SIR = (Received power of desired wave from base station A)
/ (Total received power from base station A + total received power from base station B)
Can be calculated by

  When the mobile communication terminal is located at the point a, the total received power from the base station B is the lowest, and as a result, the SIR is maximized. When the mobile communication terminal moves to the point c, the SIR is minimized even though the total received power received by the mobile communication terminal is not different from that at the point a.

  Thus, even if the total received power received by the mobile communication terminals is the same, the SIR may differ greatly. As a result, even if the total received power is large, high-speed data communication using the downlink common channel is performed. In some cases, sufficient line quality cannot be obtained. Therefore, as described above, by calculating and displaying the SIR, it is possible to measure the channel quality when receiving the downlink common channel from the serving cell.

  On the other hand, the SIR calculation cannot be measured unless data communication is actually started, but the ratio of the pilot signal that is always transmitted by the base station in the mobile communication system using the CDMA method and the interference wave is measured. Thus, it is possible to estimate the communication line quality obtained when data communication is performed.

  Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described. A mobile communication terminal that has received a signal from a base station (not shown) by the antenna 1 performs high-frequency signal filtering and frequency conversion by the radio receiver 21 in the receiving unit 2, and performs a base operation on the D / A converting unit 22. Output as a band signal. Upon receiving this baseband signal, the D / A converter 22 converts the baseband signal into a digital value and outputs the digital value to the demodulator 23 and the pilot strength measuring unit 24.

  Upon receiving the digitized baseband signal, the pilot strength measuring unit 24 calculates the pilot strength to interference wave ratio (SIR) of the serving cell from the signal, and notifies the control unit 3 of the calculation result. The control unit 3 that has received the pilot cell-to-interference wave ratio (SIR) of the serving cell controls the screen display unit 5 in order to perform screen display according to the value.

  In the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention, since the demodulator 23 and the pilot strength measuring unit 24 can operate independently, the pilot strength to interference wave ratio is calculated even during high-speed data communication using the downlink common channel, The result can be displayed on the screen display unit 5.

  As described above, in the present invention, in a mobile communication terminal of a mobile communication system (for example, HSDPA of a W-CDMA system) capable of high-speed data communication using a downlink common channel (DSCH), a location where the mobile communication terminal is located. It is possible to display step by step how well it is suitable for downlink high-speed data communication.

  Thus, by displaying the pilot signal power to total received power ratio from the serving cell on the screen, the signal to noise ratio actually obtained when the user of the mobile communication terminal performs high-speed data communication using the downlink common channel. Therefore, it is possible to provide information that allows the user to estimate a suitable place for downlink high-speed data communication. As a result, when performing downlink high-speed data communication, it is possible to move the mobile communication terminal to an optimal position while confirming the screen display, and thus it is possible to perform data communication at a higher speed than before. As a result, it is possible to improve the throughput of the entire system.

It is a functional block diagram of the mobile communication terminal of the Example of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the Example of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the mobile communication terminal for demonstrating a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Antenna 2 Receiving part 3 Control part 4 Audio | voice output part 5 Screen display part 6 Input device 7 Transmission part 21 Radio | wireless receiver 22 A / D conversion part 23 Demodulation part 24 Pilot strength measurement part

Claims (9)

  A communication line quality information display device in a mobile communication terminal in a mobile communication system that performs high-speed data communication using a downlink common channel, the communication line being information for a user to guess a suitable place for the data communication An apparatus comprising means for displaying quality information.   2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said means measures and displays a ratio between pilot signal power and total received power as said information.   3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said means comprises measuring means for measuring a ratio between said pilot signal power and said total received power, and display means for displaying the measurement result.   The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the mobile communication system is an HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) system, and the downlink common channel is a DSCH (Downlink Shared Channel).   A mobile communication terminal comprising the apparatus according to claim 1.   A communication line quality information display method in a mobile communication terminal in a mobile communication system that performs high-speed data communication using a downlink common channel, and a communication line that is information for a user to guess a suitable place for the data communication A method comprising the step of displaying quality information.   The method according to claim 6, wherein the step includes a step of measuring and displaying a ratio between pilot signal power and total received power as the information.   The method according to claim 7, wherein the step includes a measurement step of measuring a ratio between the pilot signal power and the total received power, and a display step of displaying the measurement result.   The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the mobile communication system is an HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) method, and the downlink common channel is a DSCH (Downlink Shared Channel).

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