JP2001230881A - Phone line usage - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem due to the fact that a conventional network connection employing a telephone set cannot have sufficiently utilized a telephone line because line interruption timing is independently of timing of phone call imposition. SOLUTION: By the method of this invention, telephone lines is effectively utilized by selectively executing processing having already been registered for a remaining time when a line interruption request cowes and there is the remaining time for an available speech under the same charging.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method for using a telephone line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of personal computers, the use of networks such as the Internet and LANs is increasing. There are two forms of connection to the network: a constant connection method using a dedicated line, and a method of temporarily connecting using a modem and a telephone line.

[0003] In the former, the user is easy to use because the line is always connected, but there is a problem that the cost is high.
On the other hand, in the latter method using a telephone line, it is necessary to make a telephone call to connect to the network, but the cost required for connection is as low as the telephone charge used during the connection time, and there is no need for constant connection. Widely used by individual users. Internet connection using telephone line is PP
It is called P (Point to Point Protocol).
RFC1171 (Request for Comments) enacted by ask Force)
1171) stipulates the method and has already become the de facto standard. In addition to connecting to the Internet, some night security systems at stores and health monitoring systems for elderly households use a telephone line to transmit the status of monitoring sensors to a remote server at regular intervals. .

[0004]

In a connection system using a telephone line, a telephone call is made to connect to a network, and the telephone line is disconnected when necessary processing is completed. Normally, telephone charges are based on a time-based rate system in which charging is performed per unit time. For example, a general subscriber telephone is charged for 10 yen by talking for 3 minutes in the same area. If the connection time is shorter than the unit time, for example, in the above case, the charge is the same regardless of whether the line is disconnected in 1 second or 2 minutes and 59 seconds.

[0005] While the Internet has a usage method of being connected to a network for several tens of minutes, such as browsing the Web, all processes are completed by connecting to the network for about ten seconds, for example, for sending and receiving electronic mail. There is something.
In some remote monitoring systems, the state of several sensors is transmitted via a network at regular intervals, but a data transmission time of about several seconds is sufficient. As described above, when the communication is completed in much shorter time than the unit time of the charging and the telephone line is disconnected, it cannot be said that the telephone line is effectively used. In the first place, the timing of ending the use of the network by the computer and the timing of billing the telephone are irrelevant, so that the telephone line cannot be used effectively in principle.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-243208 discloses a method for effectively using the remaining time during which a call can be made within the same billing (hereinafter referred to as the remaining talkable time within the same billing). This is to check the telephone line status during the same chargeable remaining time after the facsimile communication is completed, and perform learning so that efficient communication can be performed next time. However, this method is a method related to the communication line control of FAX, and does not take into consideration the extension of various services by transmitting different data in the remaining chargeable time within the same charge.

Therefore, in the present invention, the effective use of the remaining time within the same chargeable telephone call is effective. For example, another service such as transmission and reception of data or a program is added to the remaining chargeable time within the same chargeable charge, or more detailed data is transmitted. The purpose is to transmit and receive.

[0008]

In order to realize this,
Processing is performed in the following procedure on a general hardware configuration for connecting to a network using a telephone line, that is, on a system including a computer, a telephone line, a modem, and a terminal adapter.

First, at the start of communication, the connection time starts to be measured when the telephone line is connected. In the conventional communication method, the telephone line is cut off when the main purpose communication is completed, but in the present invention, when the main purpose communication is completed, the remaining time within the same chargeable call is calculated, and sufficient time remains. If it is determined that there is, another process registered in advance is executed. At this time, if the process can be divided and executed during the current communication and the next communication, the process is divided and executed so that the process is completed within the same chargeable remaining time within the same charge. If a plurality of processes have been registered, the process to be executed is determined based on the priority order, the registration order, and the like. After the process is executed within the same chargeable remaining time within the same charge, the line is disconnected.

In this way, if the user records in advance the processing to be executed during the remaining chargeable time within the same charge, the user connects to the network and, after the communication for the main purpose is completed, the call within the same charge. The process is executed using the remaining time available. For example, if the process registered by the user is to download a file, the file is downloaded. At this time, if the file is large, it is not possible to end all the download processing within the same chargeable remaining time within the same charge, but a protocol that can interrupt and resume the download midway, for example, FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
By downloading as much as possible within the same billing available remaining time and repeating the download from the next time the telephone line is used, the entire file can be downloaded.

In addition, for example, in a remote monitoring system,
If a still image of the site is sent with the remaining available time within the same charge after sending the state of the monitoring sensor, a more detailed understanding of the current situation can be made without extra communication costs. In this case, the speed of the modem used in the system is low,
If all video data cannot be transmitted in one communication,
As in the case of the above-mentioned download, by dividing and transmitting a video to a size that can be transferred within the same chargeable remaining time, for example, one video data may be transmitted by communication once every three times. .

In this communication system, since a telephone line is used for connection between computers, when the computer and the computer are directly connected via a telephone line, communication can be performed within the same chargeable remaining time within the same charge. It is limited to directly connected computers.

However, this does not apply to a case where a computer can be connected to another computer network via a directly connected computer such as an Internet connection. In this case, it is possible to transmit and receive data to and from another server after the main purpose communication is completed.

[0014]

FIG. 1 shows a system to which the present invention can be applied. A client computer (10) and a server computer (20) form a network via a telephone line with modems (11, 21), respectively. If the terminal of the telephone network (3) is not an analog line but an ISDN line, a terminal adapter is used instead of a modem. Also, like an Internet system, a server computer (2
0) is connected to another network system (4). In this case, the client computer (10) can access the network (4) via the server computer (20).

Next, a description will be given of the remaining callable time within the same billing handled in the present invention. With current general subscriber telephones, telephone charges are charged per unit time. For example, for calls within the same ward, 10 yen is charged for 3 minutes. That is, it is possible to talk for 3 minutes with a charge of 10 yen, and the time during which the call can be made with the same charge is (Dc). When the talk time is (t) (t ≦ Dc × n), the minimum natural number n that satisfies (t ≦ Dc × n) is the billing frequency.

In general, (t = Dc × n) hardly exists, and usually (t <Dc × n). Dc × n-t in this case
Is defined as the remaining time within the same charge. This time is a surplus time during which a call can be made with the same charge, and the present invention aims to make effective use of this time.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the present invention in a client computer. It comprises a communication management unit (100) for managing communication, an application (101), a process activation unit (102), and a process registration table (103). The communication management module (100) further includes a communication control unit (1001), a communication time monitoring unit (1002), a remaining chargeable time within same charge calculation unit (1003), and a charge acquisition unit (1004). (1001)
Is a modem control unit (10011) and a data transmission / reception unit (1
0012).

When the application (101) performs network communication using a telephone line, the communication management means (10
Access the communication control unit (1001) in (0). If a network connection has already been established using a telephone line, data transmission / reception is directly performed via the data transmission / reception unit (10012). If the telephone line is disconnected, a call is made using the modem control unit (10011), and after establishing a network connection, data transmission and reception are performed in the same manner. When the line is connected, the call time monitoring unit (1
002) records the time. The remaining chargeable time within same charge calculation unit (1003) is a charge amount acquisition unit (1004)
From the call time monitoring unit (1)
002) to obtain the talk time, and calculate the talkable remaining time within the same charge. As a method by which the charging amount obtaining means (1004) obtains a charging method, a method of referring to a table in which a charging method for each connection destination is recorded can be considered. In addition to this, for example, when a call charge can be acquired in real time during a call, it may be used.

In the process registration table (103), applications to be executed during the same chargeable remaining time within the same charge are recorded. The process starting means (102) is a module for starting the process by referring to the process registration table (103).

FIG. 3 illustrates the configuration of the process registration table (103). The process registration table (103) is a table including a process name (1031), a remaining estimated processing time (1032), and a priority (1033).
The processing name (1031) stores the name of the processing to be actually performed or the processing activation means. The estimated remaining processing time (1032) is an estimate of how much time is required to complete the processing. For example, in a case where a file is divided and downloaded, an approximate time required to complete the process can be estimated from the number of bytes not yet downloaded and the average transfer speed. The priority (1033) stores the priority of the process. Processing name (1031) of these items
Are not required items. In addition, these items may be set by a user or may be set by software. As an example of the case where the software sets the table, for example, a case where a program that detects that a new version of a program is distributed during network connection registers the download program of the update program.

Next, the flow of processing when communication is started will be described with reference to FIG.

When the application (101) or the user starts communication using the telephone line, a communication start request is sent to the communication control unit (1001) (process 1001).
0).

The communication control unit (1001) connects the telephone line through the modem control unit (10011) to start communication (process 10020), and at the same time, notifies the communication time monitoring unit (1002) of the time at which the telephone line was connected. (Process 10
030).

Next, a process when a user or an application attempts to disconnect communication will be described with reference to FIG. When the communication is completed, the communication control unit (1001) is notified of the end of the communication (step 1101).
0). In this case, the communication control unit (1001) inquires of the communication time monitoring unit (1002) to the same chargeable talk remaining time calculation means (1003) about the same chargeable talk remaining time. Talk time remaining calculation means (100
3) Calculates the remaining available time within the same billing from the billing information obtained from the billing amount acquisition means (1004) and the talk time obtained from the talk time monitoring unit (1002), and sends it (process 11020). If the remaining chargeable time within the same charge is less than the threshold value 1, the line is disconnected and the communication is terminated (processing 11030, 11070). The threshold value 1 is the minimum sum of the time required for the system to start and terminate the application and the time required for disconnecting the line, but is necessary as a margin for safely applying the present invention. Depending on this, a constant may be multiplied or added. If the remaining chargeable time within the same charge is larger than the threshold value, an appropriate process is started from the process registration table (process 11040). As a method of selecting this processing,
It is conceivable to execute from the one with the highest priority, to execute from the one with the remaining estimated processing time (1033) having the longest remaining communicable time within the same charge, or to register in the order of registration. If the remaining time within the same billing is below the threshold value 2 (step 11050), the processing is interrupted (step 1106).
0), disconnect the line through the communication control unit (Process 110)
70). The threshold value 2 is the minimum value of the time required for the system to terminate the application and the time required for disconnecting the line, but may be a constant value if necessary to safely apply the present invention. May be added or added. When the process is started in the process 11040, a value obtained by subtracting the threshold value 1 from the remaining time within the same chargeable payment may be passed as a parameter. In this case, it becomes possible to end the process spontaneously when the specified time comes. Finally, the process registration table (103) is updated (process 11).
080).

For transmission and reception of a file, if a protocol supporting transfer from the middle of the file or interruption during the file, for example, FTP specified in RFC463 of the IETF, which is already widely used, is used, communication on the way is performed. Even if is disconnected, transmission / reception can be started from the continuation at the next communication.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram of the monitoring system. The sensor (501) and the still camera (502) are added to the system of FIG. Examples of applications of such a system include nighttime unmanned monitoring devices in stores and the like, health management monitors of elderly households, and the like. In the conventional system, the state of the sensor (501) is periodically transmitted over a telephone line, and monitored by the server computer (20). When the sensor (501) is an on / off two-state sensor, the amount of information to be transmitted is extremely small, so the time required for transmitting the sensor state is short, and it cannot be said that the telephone line was used effectively. By applying the present invention, it is possible to transmit an image captured by, for example, the still image camera (502) to the server using the remaining chargeable time within the same charge.

In this way, the status of the site can be monitored by video, so that detailed status can be grasped and services can be improved without extra communication costs. Other,
It is also conceivable to use the sensor test within the same chargeable remaining time to increase the reliability of the system. An audio file or a moving image file may be transmitted instead of a still image.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the home server.
The home server (12) has the same position as the client computer (10) in FIG. Home server (1
2) spontaneously performs control of the home electric device (503), management of locking, and the like. The server computer (20) is connected to the home server (12) via a network, and receives data such as a locked state and a use state of an electric device. In this case, if the reception of the lock management data is regarded as an indispensable data reception, the data and the like indicating the usage status of the device can be regarded as additional data. Can be considered.

When the home servers are connected to each other via the network (41) as shown in FIG. 7, the server computer communicates with one home server (12), and after that, it is possible for the home computer to fully communicate within the same charge. If there is remaining time, another home server (4) is connected via the network (41).
It is also possible to communicate with 1). In this case, since it is possible to communicate with a plurality of home servers for one unit of billing, the overall call cost is reduced.

Although e-mail using the Internet has become widespread, terminal adapters for ISDN and PCs
Some have a function to call a mail server at regular time intervals and check whether mail has arrived. When an e-mail has arrived, a message indicating this is displayed to inform the user that the e-mail has arrived. The POP3 protocol specified by the IETF is used as a standard method for checking whether or not this mail has arrived. However, when checking only incoming mail, it can be executed with a very small amount of data exchange. .
For this reason, after checking for incoming mail, a very long remaining time within the same billing can be obtained, but this has not been used effectively in the past. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
A storage (13) such as a flash file, for example, to download a terminal adapter firmware update program or to receive an e-mail when the e-mail reception check is performed and the remaining chargeable time within the same charge is checked. In this case, it is also conceivable to read the main body of the mail as long as it can be read within the remaining chargeable time within the same billing, and then transfer it to the client computer (10) later. It is also conceivable to download a program stored on the server.

In addition to the above, for example, a method of connecting the PC to the Internet via a telephone line and downloading the OS update program after completing a short process of reading mail and the like can be considered.

[0032]

According to the present invention, in a system using a telephone for network connection, it is possible to add a new service without increasing a telephone charge.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a program for performing communication processing.

FIG. 3 is a detailed configuration diagram of a process registration table.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a procedure of a line connection process.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a line disconnection process.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an application example of the present invention to a monitoring system.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an application example of the present invention to a home server.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an application example of the present invention to a terminal adapter and a modem.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yasuko Yokoyama 1099 Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Hitachi, Ltd.System Development Laboratory (72) Inventor Kenji Kitagawa 1099 Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Stock Company Hitachi, Ltd. System Development Laboratory (72) Inventor Ritsuko Kawabata 1099, Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture F-term in Hitachi, Ltd. System Development Laboratory (Reference) BB10 CC01 EE03 EE08 EE13 EE24 EE30 FF15 FF27 FF40 GG04 GG23 HH01 HH03 HH07 HH17 JJ02 JJ03 JJ04 JJ10 JJ16 JJ18 KK02 5K101 KK02 KK16 LL02 MM04 MM05 MM07 NN22 NN25 PP06

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A network connection method using a telephone line that is charged at regular time intervals, characterized in that the line connection is continued within a time period in which communication can be performed with the same charge even after the main purpose of using the network is terminated. Communication method. 2. The program execution method according to claim 1, wherein after a main purpose of the network is completed, a process registered by a user or a program is executed until a communication time for the same charge is reached. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the main purpose is to transmit and receive the sensor data, and receive a system update program or image data and audio data within a time period in which communication with the same charge is possible after the completion of the transmission and reception. And a remote monitoring device. 4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the main purpose is to confirm data arrival to a server connected via a network, and if the data has arrived, receive the data within a time period in which communication can be performed with the same charge. Communication method. 5. A communication system according to claim 2, wherein communication between the server and the client directly connected via the telephone line is mainly performed, and another client connected to the network on the client side is received within a time period in which communication can be performed at the same charge. A communication method, comprising: