JPH11346186A - Mobile radio terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mobile radio terminal which can perform set change even for a basic function of a radio, such as demodulating/modulating processing by downloading. SOLUTION: In a mobile radio terminal which has wideband radio transmission/reception devices 1 and 2, a wideband A/D to D/A converter 3 and a digital signal processor 4 which can execute radio baseband processing 5, sound band data processing 6 and control processing 7 for each part of the mobile radio terminal needed for digital radio communication, including channel separation and demodulating/modulating processing of the radio digital signal by the use of a software/radio technique, the digital signal processor 4 downloads the software, which uses the software/radio technique including the software that defines a radio function, from a reception circuit used for the radio communication and stores it, and enables execution by the downloaded software for the radio base band processing 5 by activating the stored software.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a mobile radio terminal using software radio technology, and more particularly, to a mobile radio terminal using software radio technology.
The present invention relates to a mobile radio terminal using software radio technology that obtains software used for radio communication by downloading.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, portable telephones, PHSs, pagers, and the like have rapidly become widespread. In these mobile communication networks, new communication services have been added, communication functions have been enhanced by supporting data communication, or functions on networks have been advanced. And specifications have been diversified, and in order to quickly respond to new services including those, there is a demand for quick changes and updates of functions and specifications in each device on a network. As a means for satisfying the request, for example, exchange software is downloaded on a network including a base station. That is, in the base station or the like, without changing the medium in which the program such as the ROM is stored, the stored software is added or changed by downloading, or replaced by downloading with a newly created program. As a result, even when specifications are frequently changed, such as when starting up a new system, it is possible to respond quickly. However, in the conventional replacement by software download, the purpose is limited to additional changes of additional services and various bug fixes in base stations and the like, and replacement by software download is actually performed for purposes other than the purpose. Absent.

[0003] As for the execution form of software download for the purpose of replacing a program in a base station or the like, there are two types of execution: a case where maintenance is performed in a state where services of a network including the base station or the like are stopped; In some cases, network services that include a service are performed while the service is running. In the case of a download performed by a base station or the like in a maintenance state in which the network service is stopped, the programs and data operated by the base station and the like are stored while the service is stopped. Although there is no danger of the program or data being damaged, the service on the network is temporarily interrupted. In a normal communication network, even if the purpose is to update programs and data, it is not preferable to interrupt the service, and if there is an effect on the service such as a call being interrupted being interrupted. Is not tolerated. Therefore, generally, the software is downloaded from the base station or the like while the service is in the operating state. As a specific example in which software such as a base station is downloaded while the above-mentioned service is operating, two systems for operating a network service are prepared, and one of the systems is used to provide the service. While continuing operation, download new software to the other system, and after the download is completed,
The method of switching the operating system to the newly downloaded system, or as another specific example, the software that is being updated with the currently operating software in an empty memory area in a memory for storing programs and data such as base stations. A plug-in method or the like for downloading only software for comparing software has been proposed, and the software is downloaded without affecting services during communication. As described above, a conventional example of downloading software for replacement (update) in a network base station or the like has been described.
Regarding software download on a network terminal, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-261745 describes a mobile phone and a mobile phone system capable of rewriting a function program by downloading a program, and a processing method thereof. In this way, by providing a software download function to the network or the provided device, the new system specification can be set before the standardization of the new system specification is determined or immediately after the standardization of the system specification is determined. Can be provided to networks and devices.

[0004]

However, in a conventional wireless communication system, basic functions in a wireless communication system such as a modulation / demodulation system and an access system used therein are based on specifications determined in advance. Because it is composed mainly of hardware, and the important parts for it are composed of hardware, etc., these are hardware restrictions in the wireless communication system, and changes and updates of the basic functions are described above. There was a problem that it was not as easy as downloading software. Therefore, in a conventional wireless communication system, not only software for operating and controlling the above-described basic function itself, but also software for peripheral functions related to the basic function is not downloaded. As a reason why software related to the basic function is not downloaded, for example, a case of a mobile phone system will be described below. In the mobile phone system, an increase in the number of subscribers has led to a shift from an analog system having one channel at one frequency to a digital system capable of using multiple channels at one frequency. Among them, the use of an efficient method has been studied based on the announcement of technical breakthroughs, their development and technical standardization, and the prospect of their components and mass production technology. However, at the start of the development of the mobile radio terminal of such a digital system on the manufacturer side, the access method of the digital system to be provided in the future will be the time division multiple access TDMA system or the code division multiple access. In many cases, it is not known whether to use the CDMA method or the modulation method of the QPSK method or the QAM method. For this reason, the hardware of mobile radio terminals in these digital systems is usually designed with a hardware configuration that takes into account only the current system rather than a configuration that assumes a modulation system or the like to be adopted in the future. ing. Therefore, if the hardware of the mobile wireless terminal does not support the basic function itself, the basic function itself cannot be changed, and software download related thereto is not performed.

[0005] Further, the software download described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-261745 is not a software download without changing the basic function of wireless communication in a base station or the like connected to a network at all times. It also describes downloading software in mobile radio terminals. However, in that document, although the outline of the sequence for downloading the software is described, the software is described only for those that do not involve the change of the basic function of the wireless communication similarly to the above. Furthermore, no specific method for transmitting a software program as described in the present invention from a base station to a mobile radio terminal is described in any of these publications. Therefore, it is not considered that the above-mentioned patent publication includes the contents of the invention of the present application or suggesting a part of the contents of the present invention. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem, and uses software radio (SR) technology to perform basic functions of a radio device, such as modulation and demodulation processing, which were conventionally configured by hardware. An object of the present invention is to provide a mobile wireless terminal that also downloads basic functions by describing software.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile radio terminal, comprising: a broadband radio transmission / reception unit capable of radio transmission / reception at a predetermined frequency in all bands; Wideband A / D-D / A conversion means capable of bidirectionally converting a transmitted and received wideband wireless analog signal and a wireless digital signal, and performing channel separation and modulation / demodulation processing on the wireless digital signal using software radio technology Digital signal processing means for performing radio baseband processing necessary for digital radio communication including, and performing voice band data processing before and after the radio baseband processing and control processing of each unit of the mobile radio terminal including the above means. In the mobile radio terminal, the digital signal processing means is software for defining a radio function from a reception line used for the radio communication. Software that uses the software and radio technology, including air, is downloaded and stored, and the stored software is activated to perform at least the wireless baseband processing. The software radio includes software for defining a wireless function by providing digital signal processing means capable of performing wireless baseband processing required for digital wireless communication including channel separation and modulation / demodulation processing on the wireless digital signal using Downloading software using technology. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the mobile wireless terminal according to the first aspect, the download of the software is performed as a message using a control channel, and includes software for defining a wireless function. As a result, downloading as a message of the control channel became possible. In the mobile radio terminal according to claim 3, claim 1 or 2
3. The mobile wireless terminal according to claim 1, wherein the download of the software is performed via a "user / user" information element of a "user information" message of a layer 3 call control in an open system interconnection (OSI) model. By including the software that defines the wireless function, download via the “user / user” information element has become possible. In the mobile radio terminal according to claim 4, in the mobile radio terminal according to claim 1 or 2, the software download is performed by a layer 3 radio management message or a mobility management message "operator" in an open system interconnection (OSI) model. In addition to the "user / user" information element, a layer 3 radio management message or a mobility management message "operator specific information" can be generated by including software for defining a radio function. It became possible to do through. In the mobile radio terminal according to claim 5, in the mobile radio terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the software defining the downloaded radio function includes at least software to be requested. A software request including information indicating the type of software, a software response including information indicating the type and version of the software to be responded, and indicating the type of software to be downloaded and the start and end of the download A download control including information, a download response including information indicating the type of software to be downloaded, the start and end of the download, and whether the download can be accepted, and information indicating the number of the divided download data. Indicates the download data including and the number of the divided download data It is characterized by including the definition of each built-in message of download data confirmation including information and software switching including information indicating the type and version of downloaded software. You can now download software that can perform the necessary wireless baseband processing.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, a software radio technology (hereinafter, referred to as SR) used in the present invention will be described. The SR describes the basic functions of the radio, such as the modulation and demodulation method and the access method, by software. Therefore, since the basic functions of the wireless terminal can be easily changed without changing the hardware, this is an effective technique for solving the problems described in the section of “Problems to be Solved by the Invention”. The “system extension” of the SR terminal is performed by download through wireless, and the limitation of the technology depending on the hardware as described above is also limited by the “system extension”.
By VHDL (verilog Hardware)
It can be overcome by downloading the Disclosure Language (Language). For details of the SR, see Joe Mitola: “The Software
are Radio Architecture “, l
EEE Communications Magazin
e, Vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 26-38
(May 1995). Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings in the order of a hardware configuration, a software configuration, handling of software to be downloaded, and a download sequence. First, the hardware configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 1 which is a block diagram illustrating the general configuration of general hardware of a terminal using an SR. In FIG. 1, an antenna 1, an RF conversion unit 2, a wideband A / D-D / A conversion unit (hereinafter, referred to as an AD unit), and a software processing unit 4 are provided. Further includes a wireless baseband processing unit 5, a data processing unit 6, and a control unit 7. Each of the components from the antenna 1 to the software processing unit 4 via the RF conversion unit 2 and the AD unit 3 is connected in series. In the software processing unit 4, the control unit 7 is connected to the wireless baseband processing unit 5 and the data processing unit 6, and the wireless baseband processing unit 5 is connected to the data processing unit 6, and the wireless baseband processing unit Reference numeral 5 is connected to the AD unit 3. As described above, the software processing unit 4 including the wireless baseband processing unit 5, the data processing unit 6, and the control unit 7
However, the download of the software used in the present invention is a part to which the software base radio processor used in the present invention is particularly applied, especially the wireless baseband processing unit 5. This is a portion that is configured by hardware in the related art, is not subjected to software processing, and is not a download target.

In the operation of the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the broadband signal input from the antenna 1 is converted by the RF converter 2 into the intermediate frequency IF. This IF signal is sent to the AD unit 3 without being channel-separated in a wide band. The AD unit 3 collectively converts the input wideband signal into a digital signal and sends the digital signal to the wireless baseband processing unit 5 in the software processing unit 4. The wireless baseband processing unit 5 performs “channel processing” of bit operations such as channel separation, modulation / demodulation, and error correction using the above-described SR technique. The processing of the wireless baseband processing unit 5 is performed by hardware in the conventional configuration, but in the present embodiment, the DSP (D
This is performed by software on a high-speed programmable processor such as an digital signal processor. Of the digital signals from the wireless baseband processing unit 5, audio and the like are sent to the data processing unit 6, and communication control data is sent to the control unit. The control unit 7 performs wireless line control, call connection control, and the like based on the communication control data transmitted from the wireless baseband processing unit 5, and has two systems for data to be downloaded. The data processing unit 6 performs data processing such as facsimile and modem in addition to voice processing. The outline of the operation at the time of wireless reception has been described above. Conversely, when a transmission signal from the wireless baseband unit 5 is transmitted, the transmission signal is D / A converted by the AD unit 3, and
The frequency conversion and power amplification are performed by the RF conversion unit 2, and the antenna 1
Is transmitted to a base station or the like via the.

Next, the configuration of software in the hardware shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a software configuration diagram of the wireless communication terminal using the SR, and includes a baseband processing unit 8, a download control unit 9, and a communication control unit 10. The baseband processing unit 8 is configured as shown in FIG.
It includes the basic functions described in the wireless baseband processing unit 5 and performs each processing of a channel separation processing 81, a modulation / demodulation processing 82, and a bit stream processing 83, and is a processing which is a main object of software downloaded by the present invention. Is the software that implements Download control unit 9
Controls the download of software.
It operates in accordance with download data sent from the network side via the communication control unit 10 described later, and control commands sent before and after the data. Also, it controls transmission and reception of signals to and from the wireless baseband processing unit 8. The communication control unit 10 is the same as a conventional terminal, and is shown in detail in FIG. FIG. 3 shows the communication control unit 10 of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a software structure of OSI.
Is adopted. In FIG. 3, a layer 17 indicated as a human interface (HMI) performs dial input from a keyboard, displays various information on an LCD, and the like. The layer 15 indicated as layer 3 and the layer 16 indicated as an upper layer (referred to as a service layer) of the layer 3 are both a radio management function (RT), a mobility management function (MM), and a call processing function ( CC). Radio management function (RT: Radio Frequency T)
The transmission management means control of a radio line, and a mobility management function (MM: M
“Obility Management” means location reputation and authentication. Call processing function (CC: Cal
I Control) means call connection control such as outgoing and incoming calls, and is defined by ITU-TQ. 931 is performed. Layer 2 is a link access process (LAPDM: L
Ink Access Procedure for
Digital Mobile channel) and ITU-TQ. 921 is performed. The layer 1 performs frame synchronization, channel coding of a data frame, and an instruction to the baseband processing unit 8. Under the control of the management 11, each layer integrates and transmits and receives signals to and from the network. The software shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 operates on a real-time OS. As described above, the software of the present embodiment includes the baseband processing unit 8 to be downloaded.
And the download control unit 9 and the communication control unit 10 are separately configured.

Next, handling of downloaded software will be described. The method of downloading from the network side to the wireless communication terminal is basically performed by wireless as described above. In this method, the program data to be downloaded is stored in the "user information" in the same manner as voice and modem data. There are a method of transmitting the information on the information channel (TCH) and a method of transmitting the message on the control channel (CCH) as the "message" related to the communication control transferred at the layer 3. In general, program data such as software is not a “message” related to communication control, and it is considered appropriate to handle it as “user information”. However, since data such as voice, facsimile, and modem are transmitted as "user information" during communication, the service cannot be stopped and downloaded as described above without using the "user information". Therefore, it is difficult to download the software at the same time as the communication of the "user information". Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the program data can be handled as a “message”. By doing so, it becomes possible to perform software download using the control channel (CCH) while transmitting voice and the like using the information channel (TCH). The message used for the download is a “user information” message of the layer 3 call control. The reason is that
This is because the message transmission procedure and coding are defined and general, and the call control message has a retransmission control function because it is transmitted in one layer 2 frame. In addition, since the message of the standard is used for both the “user information” message and one frame of the layer 2, consistency with the existing system can be maintained.
By the way, since a specific method of using the “user / user” information element is not specified in the standard, a message is embedded in the information element and “user information” is transmitted / received to download. Message to be embedded in user information (hereinafter referred to as "embedded message")
Are defined as the following seven.

(1) Software version request: Information indicating the type of software to be requested (for example, communication control, wireless baseband, download control) is included. (2) Software version response: The type of software to be responded and its version information are described. (3) Download control: Information indicating the type of software to be downloaded and the start / end of download is described. (4) Download response: Information indicating the type of software to be downloaded, start / end of download, and whether or not download control has been accepted. (5) Download data: Download data and information indicating the number of divisions are listed. (6) Download data confirmation: Information indicating the number of division of the confirmed data is included. (7) Software switching: The type of downloaded software and its version information are listed.

Next, a software download sequence will be described. FIG. 4 is a message diagram showing an outline of downloading in the embodiment of the present invention.
Sequence chart (MSC: Message Se)
sequence chart (hereinafter, referred to as a sequence diagram)). (1) Software version check: The network requests the terminal software version (S1), and the terminal returns the version (S2). (2) Start of download: The network sends a download start command (S3), and the terminal responds to this (S4).
return it. (3) Download: The entire data is divided and downloaded from the network to the terminal (S5). During downloading, an error check or the like is appropriately entered. (4) Download end: When the download of the entire data is completed, the network sends a download end command (S6), and the terminal returns a response (S7). (5) Software switching: The network sends a software switching command (S8), and the terminal switches to the newly downloaded software.

Here, FIG. 5 shows further details of the download (S5) shown in the sequence diagram of FIG. In FIG. 5, the entire downloaded program is divided into a plurality of bytes so as to be included in a “user / user” information element. A unit for performing retransmission control between a network and a terminal is referred to as Windows, and one Win
dow is composed of N bytes. The entire data to be downloaded is first divided into M windows (Win = 1 / M to Win = M / M). Each of the M pieces of download data is stored in its Windows
A number (Div = 1 / N to Div = N / N) is further assigned to each w and sent in order. This number is called Division. In FIG. 5, the terminal transmits N data (S51 to S51).
53), the window (Win = 1)
Is returned (S54) to the effect that the reception of the request has been confirmed. In response to the response (S54) and successful transmission of one window, the network continues to the next window.
(Win = 2) data is transmitted in order (S55 to S56). Here, for example, Windows (Wi
If the reception of n = 2 fails, a confirmation response (S5)
Since 7) does not return to the network, the network retransmits the entire window (Win = 2) data. Hereinafter, the last Window (Win
= M) is transmitted from the network (S58), a response (S59) is returned, and Win is sequentially performed in accordance with the above procedure until all windows have been downloaded.
The download process of dow is repeated. by the way,
In the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, the download is performed using the information element “user / user” of the layer 3 call control message “user information”. This enables downloading via the control channel while performing voice transmission via the information channel. Furthermore,
Since the standard messages are used, consistency with existing systems can be maintained.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the SR
By providing software download functions to mobile wireless terminals using technology, similar to the conventional change by downloading system software at the base station of a network, standardization of system specifications can be performed before standardization of system specifications or system specifications can be standardized. Immediately after the determination, the mobile radio terminal can provide the system service newly standardized. For example, TDMA and CDM
If a dual mode terminal having a different access method such as A is realized according to the present invention using the above-described SR technology, once mobile radio terminals are distributed by one of the methods, channel separation, modulation / demodulation processing, bit stream Even in the case of changing to the other method of software related to the basic function of the wireless device such as processing, it is possible to correspond to a different communication method without changing the hardware by downloading through a wireless communication line. More specifically,
This is effective when applied to a dual mode device of a digital mobile phone (PDC) and a CDMA mobile phone.
In the above description, the message used for downloading is described as “user information” for call control, but may be “operator-specific information” for wireless management or mobility management. When the "operator-specific information" message is used for downloading, there is no stipulation on the transmission procedure, coding, and usage, and all the operations are required by the operator. Further, since the radio management message and the mobility management message are transmitted in a layer 2 UI frame, compared to an I frame,
This has the advantage that there are few headers and the transmission speed is high.

[0015]

As described above, in the mobile radio terminal according to the present invention, the software is constituted by the radio baseband processing unit, the download control unit and the communication control unit using the SR technology, and the layer 3 call control "user The software is downloaded via the "Information" message.
In the mobile radio terminal, it is possible to easily add and change additional services, fix bugs, and further change basic functions such as a modulation / demodulation method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a mobile radio terminal according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a software configuration of the mobile radio terminal according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram of a communication control unit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an outline of downloading software according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing details of software download according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Antenna, 2 ... RF conversion part, 3 ... Broadband A / D-D / A conversion part, 4 ... Software processing part, 5 ... Wireless baseband processing part, 6 ..Data processing part, 7 ... Control part, 8 ... Baseband processing part, 9 ... Download control part, 10 ... Communication control part, 11 ... Management part, 12 ... Real time OS part, 13 ... Layer 1 part, 14 ... Layer 2
, 15: Layer 3 section, 16: Higher layer section (RT, MM, CC), 17: Higher layer section (HM
I), 81: channel separation processing, 82: modulation / demodulation processing, 83: bit stream processing

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A broadband wireless transmission / reception unit capable of wireless transmission / reception at a predetermined frequency of all bands, and a wideband A capable of bidirectionally converting a wideband wireless analog signal and a wireless digital signal transmitted / received by the wideband wireless transmission / reception unit. / D / D / A conversion means and software radio technology for performing radio baseband processing required for digital radio communication including channel separation and modulation / demodulation processing on the radio digital signal, and before and after the radio baseband processing. A digital signal processing unit capable of executing voice band data processing and control processing of each unit of the mobile wireless terminal including each of the units, wherein the digital signal processing unit is a receiving line used for the wireless communication. Download software using the software and radio technology, including software for defining wireless functions A mobile radio terminal characterized in that the radio baseband processing can be performed by executing the stored software and executing the stored software. 2. The mobile radio terminal according to claim 1, wherein the download of the software is performed as a message using a control channel. 3. The download of the software is performed via a “user user” information element of a “user information” message of a layer 3 call control in an open system interconnection (OSI) model. Item 1
Or the mobile wireless terminal according to 2. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the software is downloaded via a layer 3 radio management message or a mobility management message “operator specific information” in an open system interconnection (OSI) model. A mobile wireless terminal according to claim 1. 5. The software defining the wireless function to be downloaded includes at least a software request including information indicating a type of software to be requested, and a type of software to be responded to. Software response including information indicating the version, download control including information indicating the type of software to be downloaded and start and end of download, type of software to be downloaded and start and end of download And a download response including information indicating whether the download is accepted, and download data including information indicating the number of the divided download data,
It includes the definition of each built-in message of download data confirmation including information indicating the number of the divided divided download data and software switching including information indicating the type and version of downloaded software. The mobile radio terminal according to claim 1.