DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0087] Hereinafter, description is made of embodiments of the present invention, with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1

[0088] Hereinafter, description is made of Embodiment 1 of the present invention, with reference to the drawings.

[0089] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a telephone system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Note that, according to this embodiment, an audio codec type in a conventional mobile phone communication, and that in a Internet telephone communication, are the same.

[0090] This present system is composed of a mobile phone 100 and a home gateway 200 . Further, the mobile phone 100 is wirelessly connectable to the home gateway 200 . Further, by connecting to a base station 300 , communication is available via a public network (including both of analog and digital systems). Further, the home gateway 200 is connectable to the Internet. The mobile phone 100 connects to the home gateway 200 to enable communication via the Internet.

[0091] In a case where a user conducts the communication from inside the home, the user can select either the communication via the Internet, or the communication via the public network. Further, when the wireless communications with the home gateway 200 is not possible, for example in a case where the mobile phone 100 has been taken outside the home, only the communication via the public network is available.

[0092] Next, description is made regarding the configuration of the mobile phone 100 and the home gateway 200 , which constitute the above-mentioned telephone system, with reference to FIG. 2 .

[0093] First, description is given regarding the configuration of the mobile phone 100 .

[0094] The mobile phone 100 is constituted by an audio input unit 101 , an audio output unit 102 , a data input unit 103 , a codec processing unit 104 , a main processing unit 105 , a signal processing unit 106 , a selection processing unit 107 , wireless processing units 108 and 109 , and antennas 110 and 111 .

[0095] After voice from the speaker (the user) is inputted into the audio input unit 101 , the audio input unit 101 processes the received voice, and audio data is outputted. The audio output unit 102 processes the audio data and outputs audio to the speaker. The data input unit 103 has a key operating unit, which is used, for example, when setting a switch between usage inside the home and that outside the home, and when inputting destination telephone number. The codec processing unit 104 performs an A/D conversion, a D/A conversion, and encoding/decoding processing on the audio data. The main processing unit 105 performs control of each processing unit. Further, it also has a memory 105 a inside it.

[0096] Inside the memory 105 a, there are stored a wireless ID assigned to the home gateway, a wireless ID assigned to the user's own mobile phone (mobile phone 100 ), a telephone number assigned to the mobile phone 100 , and a telephone number book for managing the telephone number assigned to the user's own mobile phone and opposite destination telephone numbers.

[0097] The signal processing unit 106 performs signal processing such as an error correction processing and the like. The selection processing unit 107 , in response to the control by the main processing unit 105 , selects either one of the wireless processing units 108 and 109 , and sends/receives a signal to/from the selected wireless. processing unit. The wireless processing units 108 and 109 perform a D/A conversion, an A/D conversion, and a modulation/demodulation according to the communications format used. The antennas 110 and 111 send/receive a signal via radio waves.

[0098] Note that, the wireless processing unit 108 and the antenna 110 are communication means used in the case where the mobile phone 100 is used outside the home (i.e., the conventional communication by the mobile phone), and they send/receive the signal to/from the base station. Further, the wireless processing unit 109 and the antenna 111 are communications means used in the case where the mobile phone 100 is used inside the home (i.e., the communication by the Internet telephone) and send/receive the signal to/from the home gateway 200 .

[0099] Next, the configuration of the home gateway 200 is explained. The home gateway 200 gives the above-mentioned mobile phone 100 the Internet telephone function. The home gateway 200 is arranged, for example, inside the home of the user who owns the above-mentioned mobile phone 100 . Therefore, when the user is inside the home, via the home gateway 200 , the user can receive an Internet telephone service with his or her own mobile phone 100 .

[0100] The home gateway 200 is constituted by a main processing unit 201 , a wireless processing unit 202 , a communications control unit 203 , an antenna 204 , and a signal processing unit 205 .

[0101] The main processing unit 201 performs control of each processing unit and also has a memory 201 a built inside it. In the memory 201 a there are stored an IP address of the home gateway 200 (whatsoever specifies the opposite party, such as a mail address is valid), a wireless ID assigned to itself, and a wireless ID assigned to the wireless communications destination.

[0102] The wireless processing unit 202 performs a D/A conversion, an A/D conversion and a modulation/demodulation processing according to the communications format used. The communications control unit 203 performs communications processing of connecting to the Internet. The antenna 204 sends/receives a signal via radio waves. The signal processing unit 205 performs signal processing such as error correction processing on the send/receive data.

[0103] Next, description is made regarding application form of the above-mentioned mobile terminal device, and operations at that time.

[0104] <Communication Outside the Home>

[0105] Description is made regarding the case where the mobile phone 100 is used outside the home. In the case where the mobile phone 100 is used outside the home, the wireless communications are not performed to the home gateway 200 , and the communication using the Internet telephone via the home gateway 200 is not performed. Therefore, in this case, the communications using the conventional mobile phone mode is performed. In other words, the communication (the communications) using the public network via the base station 300 is performed.

[0106] First, in the case of sending the audio, a mode for usage outside the home is set from the data input unit 103 by switching between an outside-the-home and inside-the-home usage. Then, from the data input unit 103 , the destination telephone number (any format specifying the opposite party may be used, for example the conventional telephone number, the IP address or the mail address) is inputted, and the user waits for establishment of a call connection (a- state in which the communications path for communication is established) with the telephone of the opposite party.

[0107] The input of the telephone number may be performed through direct input using the key operating unit arranged to the data input unit 103 , and also performed by selecting the telephone number of a opposite party from the telephone number book stored in the memory 105 a.

[0108] The call connection with the opposite party via the base station is established, and after that, when the user speaks to the audio input unit 101 , the voice signal is A/D converted by the codec processing unit 104 , and after that, it is encoded according to a predetermined audio codec type. As the codec type, any codec type, which is used in PDC, PHS, CdmaOne, W-CDMA, Cdma2000, GSM, IMT2000 and other such communications method, or G.711, G.729, G729A, G723.1, G.726, G.722.1, AMR-WB and the like, can be used, but the codec type is not limited to these, and other formats maybe used. Further, the audio may be sent in the unencoded form as it is.

[0109] The signal processing unit 106 attaches header information and an error correction code to the audio data processed by the codec processing unit 104 according to the communications method used in the communication, converts the audio data into audio data which is appropriate for communications, and outputs it to the selection processing unit 107 .

[0110] The selection processing unit 107 outputs to the wireless processing unit 108 the communications audio data which was sent from the signal processing unit 106 , according to an instruction from the main processing unit 105 . The wireless processing unit 108 performs the modulation processing and the like according to the communications method to be used, and after that, it outputs the communications audio data via the antenna 110 as radio waves. This audio is sent via the base station 300 to the opposite party.

[0111] Next, description is made regarding a case in which the mobile phone 100 receives a communications audio data from the opposite party.

[0112] The communications audio data is received by the antenna 110 . The communications audio data received by the antenna 110 is demodulated at the wireless processing unit 108 according to the communications method to be used. At the selection processing unit 107 , the communications audio data sent from the wireless processing unit 108 is outputted just as it is, to the signal processing unit 106 in response to an instruction of the main processing unit 105 .

[0113] The signal processing unit 106 uses the error correction code to extract from the communications audio data only the audio portion having no error, and treats this portion as the audio data, and outputs it to the codec processing unit 104 . The codec processing unit 104 performs decoding on the audio data according to the predetermined audio codec type, and the decoded data undergoes the D/A conversion, and is outputted from the audio output unit 102 as the audio. At this time, if the audio data has not been encoded, the decoding is not performed at the codec processing unit 104 .

[0114] The above-mentioned audio sending/receiving processing enables the communication outside the home to be performed.

[0115] Communication Inside the Home

[0116] (1) A case of establishing the call connection from the user's own mobile terminal device to the opposite party

[0117] Description is made regarding a case of using the mobile phone 100 inside the home. In this case, the wireless communications between the mobile phone 100 and the home gateway 200 are available. Therefore, while sending/receiving the audio data to/from the home gateway 200 , the communication can be performed via the Internet. Of course, as in the above-mentioned “Communication outside the home”, the communication in the conventional mobile phone mode via the base station 300 is also available. Hereinafter, description is made regarding the case of performing the Internet telephone communication via the home gateway 200 .

[0118] First, in the case of sending the audio (voice) to the opposite party, the mode for usage inside the home is set from the data input unit 103 of the mobile phone 100 , by means of the input for switching between outside-the-home and inside-the-home usage. Then, when the telephone number (whatever specifies the opposite party's home gateway, the IP address or the mail address format or the like may also be used in addition to the telephone number, but as an example, the telephone number is used here) of the opposite party's home gateway corresponding to the opposite party's phone is inputted from the data input unit 103 , the telephone number is sent to the home gateway 200 by means of a processing mentioned below.

[0119] First, the telephone number inputted from the data input unit 103 is sent via the main processing unit 105 to the signal processing unit 106 . Depending on the communications method (for example, Bluetooth, IEEE802.11a, IEEE802.11b, IEEE802.11e, IEEE802.11g, IrDA or any other type with the standard of wireless communications) used in the wireless communications with the home gateway 200 , the signal processing unit 106 adds the header information and the error correction code and the like, to the telephone number, a wireless ID specifying the destination device of the wireless communications read out from the memory 105 a via the main processing unit 105 , and the like, and converts them into an appropriate communications telephone number data, and outputs these to the selection processing unit 107 .

[0120] The selection processing unit 107 outputs, to the wireless processing unit 109 , the communications telephone number data sent from the signal processing unit 106 , according to the instruction from the main processing unit 105 . The wireless processing unit 109 performs the modulation processing and the like according to the communications method to be used, and after that, sends the communications telephone number data over radio waves via the antenna 111 .

[0121] The communications telephone number data is received by the wireless processing unit 202 via the antenna 204 of the home gateway 200 . The wireless processing unit 202 performs demodulation processing on the received communications telephone number data according to the communications method to be used, and outputs this to the signal processing unit 205 . The signal processing unit 205 uses the error correction code and extracts from the communications telephone number data the telephone number and the wireless ID with no error, and outputs these to main processing unit 201 .

[0122] The main processing unit 201 compares the provided wireless ID and its own wireless ID stored in the memory 201 a, and in a case where both are the same, a call control explained below is executed. On the other hand, in a case where both are not the same, a response data for notifying this fact is provided to the signal processing unit 205 , and a response is sent via the wireless processing unit 202 to the mobile phone 100 .

[0123] In the call control, the main processing unit 201 incorporates the opposite party's telephone number provided from the mobile phone 100 , its own IP address stored in the memory 201 a, and a server IP address and the like described below, into call control data, and sends this to a communications control unit 203 .

[0124] Here, the call control refers to control for establishing a communications path with the opposite party over the Internet (for example, a server 1 , which terminal A is connected to, searches for a server 2 , which terminal B is connected to and establishes communications path instead of terminal A, and sends the call control data received from terminal A to terminal B via the server 2 ). In addition it refers to control for searching for the opposite party's location (Before the above-mentioned control, inquiring of the server which manages the correspondence between the user's telephone number and user ID and the like, and the opposite party's address, for example, the IP address, and specifying the opposite party's address, for example the IP address corresponding to the opposite party's telephone number, the user ID and the like), and determining the audio codec type to be used in the communication, and the like. These controls are executed using a protocol such as SIP, H.323, MGCP, or MEGACO.

[0125] The main processing unit 201 adds a UDP or TCP header, an IP header and the like to the call control data, and performs the call connection to the opposite party through the communications control unit 203 , for example, an RJ45 modular interface connected to the Internet.

[0126] When the call connection with the opposite party is established, the user starts speaking into the audio input unit 101 at the mobile phone 100 . Subsequently, the processing up to the codec processing unit 104 and the signal processing unit 106 is the same as the audio sending processing outside the home. Therefore, the details are omitted here.

[0127] The communications audio data outputted from the signal processing unit 106 is inputted into the selection processing unit 107 , and according to the instruction from the main processing unit 105 , the selection processing unit 107 outputs the communications audio data to the wireless processing unit 109 . The wireless processing unit 109 sends the communications audio data to the home gateway 200 .

[0128] The antenna 204 of the home gateway 200 receives the communications audio data, and sends it to the wireless processing unit 202 . Hereinafter, the processing performed on the received communications audio data up to the wireless processing unit 202 and the signal processing unit 205 is the same as the processing at the time of sending the above-mentioned telephone number. That is, the audio data processed by the signal processing unit 205 is inputted into the main processing unit 201 , and is converted into a data structure for sending/receiving the communications audio data over the Internet (for example, the RTP header, the UDP or TCP header, the IP header and other codes are attached). The converted data is outputted to the Internet via the communications control unit 203 to the opposite party.

[0129] Note that, the sending of the audio data after establishing the communications path is performed via the home gateway 200 as described above, but the receiving of the audio data from the opposite party is also performed via the home gateway 200 . That is, the main processing unit 201 of the home gateway 200 processes the opposite party's audio data received via the communications control unit 203 to remove the RTP header, the UDP or TCP header, the IP header and the like, and then outputs this to the signal processing unit 205 . The signal processing unit 205 attaches the header information and the error correction code and the like to convert it into the appropriate communications audio data, depending on the communications method used in the wireless communications with the mobile phone 100 (for example, Bluetooth, IEEE802.11a, IEEE802.11b, IEEE802.11e, IEEE802.11g, IrDA or any other method with wireless communications standard may be used) and outputs it to the wireless processing unit 202 .

[0130] The wireless processing unit 202 performs the modulation processing, according to the communications method to be used, and after that, via the antenna 204 , sends the opposite party's communications audio data to the mobile phone 100 over radio waves. The data is received by the wireless processing unit 109 via the antenna 111 of the mobile phone 100 , and thereafter, the same processing as the audio reception processing during the outside-the-home usage is performed on the opposite party's communications audio data. Accordingly, the opposite party's communication data is outputted from the audio output unit 102 .

[0131] (2) A case of establishing the call connection from the opposite party to the user's own mobile terminal device

[0132] Description is made regarding a case of establishing the call connection from the opposite party to the user's own mobile phone 100 , via the Internet.

[0133] As described above, the opposite party's home gateway obtains the IP address of the home gateway 200 from the above-mentioned server by means of a call control similar to the one mentioned above, and the IP address is used to establish the call connection with the home gateway 200 .

[0134] After that, at the main processing unit 201 of the home gateway 200 , the opposite party's audio data received via the communications control unit 203 undergoes the processing opposite from that performed at the sending pricess, whereby the RTP header, the UDP or TCP header, the IP header and the like are removed, and then it is outputted to the signal processing unit 205 . The signal processing unit 205 attaches the header information and the error correction code and the like onto the opposite party's audio data and the wireless ID which specifies the destination device of the wireless communications opposite party and is read out from the memory 105 a via the main processing unit 105 , converts them into the appropriate communications audio data, according to the communication format (for example, Bluetooth, IEEE802.11a, IEEE802.11b, IEEE802.11e, IEEE802.11g, IrDA and any other format with wireless communications standard may be used) used in the wireless communications with the mobile phone 100 , and outputs it to the wireless processing unit 202 .

[0135] The wireless processing unit 202 performs the modulation processing and the like according to the communications method to be used, and after that, sends out the communications audio data over radio waves via the antenna 204 . This data is received by the wireless processing unit 109 via the antenna 111 of the mobile phone 100 .

[0136] The wireless processing unit 109 performs the demodulation processing on the received communications audio data, according to the communications method to be used, and outputs it to the selection processing unit 107 . The selection processing unit 107 provides this to the signal processing unit 106 . The signal processing unit 106 extracts the wireless ID from the communications audio data, and provides this to the main processing unit 105 . The main processing unit 105 compares the provided wireless ID and the wireless ID stored in the memory 105 a, and in the case where both are the same, it instructs the signal processing unit 106 to perform processing of the communications audio data. The signal processing unit 106 receives this and performs the error correction on the received communications audio data, and provides this to the codec processing unit 104 . Thereafter, the same processing as the audio receipt processing outside the home is performed, and the audio data is converted into the audio signal and outputted from the audio output unit 102 .

[0137] Note that, in the above case, in the case where the main processing unit 105 distinguished that the provided wireless ID and the wireless ID stored in its own memory 105 a are not the same, the main processing unit 105 provides the response data for notifying of this fact to the signal processing unit 106 , and causes a response transmission to the home gateway 200 , via the wireless processing unit 109 . When the home gateway 200 receives this response data, it emits a notification response indicating that communications with the user's own mobile phone 100 is impossible to the opposite party's home gateway, via the communications control unit 203 .

[0138] Similarly, communications with the user's own mobile phone 100 becomes impossible as in the case where the user's own mobile phone 100 is taken outside the home, the home gateway 200 sends the notification response indicating that the communications with the user's own mobile phone 100 are impossible to the opposite party's home gateway 200 , via the communications control unit 203 . In this case, the main processing unit 201 distinguishes whether or not the communications with the user's own mobile phone 100 are possible, depending on the presence/absence of the response from the user's own mobile phone 100 . In other words, after performing the wireless communication via the above-mentioned wireless processing unit 202 , in the case where there is no response from the user's own mobile phone 100 during a given duration of time, it is distinguished that the communications with the user's own mobile phone 100 are impossible.

[0139] Note that, the receiving of the audio data after the communications path is established is performed via the home gateway 200 , as described above, but the sending of the audio data to the opposite party's phone is also performed via the home gateway 200 . The processing of the audio data at the time of sending is similar to the processing explained at the above-mentioned (1). Therefore, description is omitted here.

[0140] FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the processing on the sending side with respect to “(1) the case of establishing the call connection from the user's own mobile terminal device to the opposite party”, among the above-mentioned processing.

[0141] The user operates the data input unit 103 of the mobile phone 100 to set to the inside-the-home communication mode (S 101 ), and when the telephone number of the opposite party's home gateway is inputted (S 102 ), the mobile phone 100 reads the wireless ID of the user's home gateway 200 out from the memory 105 a, and sends the wireless ID and the telephone number to the home gateway 200 (S 103 ).

[0142] The home gateway 200 extracts the wireless ID from the receive data (S 104 ), and compares this wireless ID to the wireless ID stored in the memory 201 a, and determines whether or not the received wireless ID is appropriate (S 105 ). Then, if the wireless ID is appropriate, the call control is executed (S 106 ). Then, when the communications with the opposite party's home gateway becomes possible (S 107 ), the communication with the opposite party's phone is started.

[0143] FIG. 4 is a flow chart of processing on the receiving side in “(2) the case of establishing the call connection from the opposite party to the user's own mobile terminal device”, among the above-mentioned operations.

[0144] When the call control with the opposite party's home gateway is completed, the home gateway 200 reads out the wireless ID of the user's mobile phone 100 from the memory 201 a, and sends the receive audio data and the wireless ID to the mobile phone 100 (S 201 ).

[0145] The mobile phone 100 extracts the wireless ID from the receive data (S 202 ), and compares this wireless ID and the wireless ID stored in the memory 105 a, and determines whether or not the received wireless ID is appropriate. Then, a response data according to the determination result is sent to the home gateway 200 (S 203 ).

[0146] On the home gateway 200 side, it is determined whether or not the response data is received from the mobile phone 100 within the given duration of time (S 204 ), and in the case where the response data is not received within the given duration of time, a notification indicating that the communication is impossible is sent to the opposite party's home gateway. Further, also in the case where the received response data indicates that the wireless ID is not appropriate (S 205 ), the notification indicating that the communication is impossible is sent to the opposite party's home gateway.

[0147] If the wireless ID is appropriate, the audio data from the opposite party's home gateway is sent in sequence to the mobile phone (S 206 ). Accordingly, the communication processing with the opposite party's phone is started.

Embodiment 2

[0148] FIG. 5 is a main portion block diagram showing a configuration of a telephone system, showing Embodiment 2 of the present invention. This embodiment shows a case where the audio codec type during the conventional mobile phone communication and the audio codec type during the Internet telephone communication are different.

[0149] The mobile phone 100 is constituted by the audio input unit 101 , the audio output unit 102 , the data input unit 103 , the codec processing unit 104 , the main processing unit 105 , the signal processing unit 106 , the selection processing unit 107 , the wireless processing unit 108 , the wireless processing unit 109 , the antenna 110 and the antenna 111 .

[0150] Further, the home gateway 200 is constituted by the main processing unit 201 , the wireless processing unit 202 , a communications control unit 203 , the antenna 204 , the signal processing unit 205 , the codec processing unit 206 and the signal processing unit 207 .

[0151] The structural difference from Embodiment 1 described above is that the home gateway 200 has the codec processing unit 206 , the signal processing unit 207 , the audio input unit 208 and the audio output unit 209 . In accordance with Embodiment 2, in the case where the wireless communications with the user's own mobile phone 100 cannot be performed, the communication is performed via the audio input unit 208 and the audio output unit 209 of the home gateway 200 .

[0152] Hereinafter, Embodiment 2 is explained centered on the points of difference from Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0153] The processing in the case where the mobile phone 100 is used outside the home (the case where the communication is performed according to the conventional mobile phone mode), is the same as in Embodiment 1, but in the case of usage inside the home (the case where the communication is performed in the Internet telephone mode), the processing is different from the above-mentioned embodiment. Hereinafter, description is made regarding the case of sending from inside the home via the Internet.

[0154] In this case, similarly to Embodiment 1 described above, the send/receive of the audio data is performed between the mobile phone 100 and the home gateway 200 , as the communication is performed via the Internet. First, the mode for usage inside the home is set from the data input unit 103 by switching between outside-the-home and inside-the-home usage.

[0155] Then, after inputting the opposite party's telephone number from the data input unit 103 , the user waits for the completion of the call connection (the state in which the communications path for the communication is established) to the opposite party's telephone via the communications control unit 203 . The processing up to this point is the same as in Embodiment 1 (explained with respect to the case in which the audio is sent from inside the home), and no special processing is performed at the codec processing unit 206 and the signal processing unit 207 .

[0156] After the call connection is established, when the user speaks into the audio input unit 101 , the codec processing unit 104 performs on the voice signal processing other than encode decode processing, for example the A/D conversion, and after that, the signal processing unit 106 attaches the header information and the error correction code and the like to covert it into appropriate communications audio data, and outputs it to the selection processing unit 107 .

[0157] In this way, in the case of communicating via the home gateway 200 , the codec processing unit 104 performs the A/D conversion but not the encode processing. This is because this embodiment is different from the Embodiment 1 above in that the codec type in the conventional mobile phone communication and the codec type in the Internet telephone communication are different. The codec processing corresponding to the Internet telephone is performed by the codec processing unit 206 of the home gateway 200 , as described below.

[0158] Subsequent to the codec processing unit 104 , the processing up to the signal processing unit 205 is the same processing as when sending the telephone number according to Embodiment 1. Thus, the signal processing unit 205 provides the communications audio data received from the user's own mobile phone 100 to the codec processing unit 206 . After that, at the codec processing unit 206 , the communications audio data is encoded according to a predetermined audio codec type as that used in the mobile phone 100 described in the Embodiment 1. Of course, the data may be provided in the unencoded form just as it is.

[0159] The signal processing unit 207 attaches the header information and the error correction code to the audio data processed by the codec processing unit 206 , to convert it into the appropriate audio data, and this is outputted to the main processing unit 201 .

[0160] The main processing unit 201 converts the audio data to a data structure (for example, attaching the RTP header, the UDP or TCP header, the IP header and the like) for sending/receiving it over the Internet. This audio data is outputted to the Internet via the communications control unit 203 , and then it is sent to the opposite party.

[0161] Next, description is made regarding a case where a call connection request is received from the opposite party.

[0162] Similarly to Embodiment 1 described above, the opposite party's home gateway obtains an IP address of the home gateway 200 from the above-mentioned server by means of the call control, and this IP address is used to establish the call connection with the home gateway 200 .

[0163] After that, in order to determine whether or not the wireless communications are possible with the user's own mobile phone 100 , the main processing unit 201 of the home gateway 200 reads out the wireless ID from the memory 201 a , and generates connection request data which includes this. Then, the main processing unit 201 outputs the connection request data via the signal processing unit 207 , the codec processing unit 206 , the signal processing unit 205 and the wireless processing unit 202 , over radio waves from the antenna 204 .

[0164] The mobile phone 100 having received the data processes it in its wireless processing unit 109 and its signal processing unit 106 , and extracts the wireless ID from the data and sends this to the main processing unit 105 . The main processing unit 105 determines whether or not the wireless ID is the same as its own wireless ID stored in the memory 105 a. Then, in the case where they are the same, the response data indicating that connection is possible is generated, and in the case where they are not the same, the response data indicating that connection is impossible is generated. The response data is processed by the signal processing unit 106 , the selection processing unit 107 and the wireless processing unit 109 , and after that, it is outputted over radio waves from the antenna 111 .

[0165] The response data is received by the antenna 204 of a home gateway, and after that it is provided to the main processing unit 201 via the signal processing unit 205 , the codec processing unit 206 and the signal processing unit 207 . The main processing unit 201 analyzes the response data, and in the case where it indicates that the connection is possible, the audio data from the communications control unit 203 is provided to the mobile phone 100 .

[0166] In other words, the data received via the communications control unit 203 undergoes the processing opposite from the processing at the time of sending the data, so that the RTP header, the UDP or TCP header and the IP header and the like are removed, and the data is outputted to the signal processing unit 207 . The signal processing unit 207 uses the error correction code to extract from the communications audio data only the audio portion which has no error, and treats this portion as the audio data, and outputs it to the codec processing unit 206 . The codec processing unit 206 performs decode processing according to a decoding type depending on the predetermined audio codec type, and then outputs this to the signal processing unit 205 .

[0167] After that, the processing up to the signal processing unit 106 in the mobile phone 100 is the same receive processing as that in Embodiment 1. After that, at the codec processing unit 104 , processing other than the encode/decode processing, for example, only the D/A conversion, is performed, and the audio is outputted from the audio output unit 102 . Further, the voice inputted from the audio input unit 101 of the mobile phone 100 passes through the path and processing opposite from the above-mentioned receive processing, and the processed audio data is outputted from the communications control unit 203 of the home gateway 200 to the opposite party's home gateway via the Internet. Accordingly, the mobile phone 100 can be used to perform the Internet telephone communication.

[0168] In the case where the above-mentioned response data from the mobile phone 100 indicates that the connection is not possible, or in a case where the response data is not returned from the user's own mobile phone 100 within a given duration of time, the main processing unit 201 provides the audio data from the communications control unit 203 to its own audio output unit 209 .

[0169] In other words, by performing the processing opposite from the time of sending on the data received through the communications control unit 203 , the RTP header, the UDP or TCP header, the IP header and the like are removed, and this is outputted to the signal processing unit 207 . The signal processing unit 207 uses the error correction code to extract from the communications audio data only the audio portion with no error and treats this as the audio data, and outputs it to the codec processing unit 206 . The codec processing unit 206 performs the decode processing according to the given audio codec type, and then, outputs this to the audio output unit 209 . Accordingly, the user can listen to the audio spoken by the opposite party.

[0170] Further, the voice signal, which the user has inputted into the audio input unit 208 , undergoes the A/D conversion and the encode processing by the codec processing unit 206 , and after that it is provided to the signal processing unit 207 . The signal processing unit 207 performs attaching the error correction code and the like to the audio data, and then, sends this to the main processing unit 201 . The main processing unit 201 sends this to the communications control unit 203 . Thus, the user's audio data is sent to the opposite party's telephone via the Internet.

[0171] In this way, in accordance with Embodiment 2, the present invention can also be applied to the case where the audio data codec type of the conventional mobile phone communication and the Internet telephone communication are different, and additionally in the case where the wireless communications with the user's own mobile phone 100 are impossible, the communication with the opposite party becomes available with the home gateway 200 . Thus, convenience can be improved even more than in Embodiment 1 described above.

[0172] Related to Embodiment 2, FIG. 6 is a flow chart of processing in a system on the receiving side in the case where the call connection to the user's own mobile phone is established from the opposite party. Note that, the flow chart of the processing in the system on the receiving side in the case where the call connection to the opposite party is made from the user's own mobile terminal device is similar to the processing flow shown in FIG. 3 in accordance with Embodiment 1 described above.

[0173] When the call connection with the home gateway on the opposite party's side is established, the home gateway 200 reads out from memory 201 a the wireless ID of the user's own mobile phone 100 , and sends the received audio data and this wireless ID to the mobile phone 100 (S 201 ).

[0174] The mobile phone 100 extracts the wireless ID from the receive data (S 202 ), and compares this wireless ID to the wireless ID stored in the memory 105 a , and determines whether or not the received wireless ID is appropriate. Then, a response data according to the result of the determination is sent to the home gateway 200 (S 203 ).

[0175] On the home gateway 200 side, it is determined whether or not the response data is received from the mobile phone 100 within the given duration of time (S 204 ), and in the case where the response data is not received within the given duration of time, the home gateway 200 executes a communications processing by means of its own codec processing unit 206 (S 207 ). Accordingly, the communication processing using the gateway's own audio input unit 208 and audio output unit 209 is started. Similarly, also in the case where the received response data indicates that the wireless ID is inappropriate (S 205 ), the communication processing by means of its own codec processing unit 206 is executed (S 207 ).

[0176] If the wireless ID is appropriate, the audio data from the opposite party's home gateway is sequentially transferred to the mobile phone (S 206 ). Accordingly, the communication with the opposite party's phone is started.

[0177] As described above, according to the above two embodiments, the mobile phone 100 is provided with the conventional mobile phone communication function over the public network, and the local wireless communications function to communicate with the home gateway 200 , and depending on whether or not the wireless communications with the home gateway 200 are possible, the communications method is switched, whereby the mobile phone 100 is used as the conventional mobile phone outside the home and can be used as the Internet telephone inside the home, for example. Accordingly, with the same operation as with the mobile phone, anyone can easily use the Internet telephone, and in addition, if there is one home gateway 200 inside the home, the individually owned mobile phones 100 can each be used as an Internet telephone terminal.

Embodiment 3

[0178] FIG. 7 shows a configuration of a telephone system according to Embodiment 3. According to the system shown in the diagram, an exchange 400 , which includes the protocol conversion function, media conversion function, data transfer function and so on, is connected to both the Internet and the public network.

[0179] When the call connection is made by the Internet telephone, the exchange 400 references the opposite party's telephone number included in the call control data, and distinguishes whether this telephone number is the telephone number used by the Internet telephone, or the telephone number used by the public network. That is, if the initial numbers of the telephone number are “050”, it is distinguished as the telephone number for the Internet telephone, and in any other case it is distinguished as the telephone number for the public network. In the case of the telephone number for the public network, a communication path from the exchange 400 via the public network is established, and in the case of the telephone number for the Internet telephone, a communication path from the exchange 400 via the Internet is established.

[0180] Therefore, in the case of using the mobile phone 100 inside the home, the user can perform the conventional mobile phone communication via the base station 300 (hereinafter, referred to as the “public network mode”) and the communication via the home gateway 200 using the telephone number for the Internet telephone and for the mobile phone(hereinafter, referred to as the “Internet mode”.

[0181] In the communication using the Internet mode utilizing the telephone number for the mobile phone, an audio data from the mobile phone 100 is outputted to the Internet via the home gateway 200 . Then, the exchange 400 converts the audio data into analog or digital audio data appropriate for the communication on the public network, and after that, the converted audio data is sent via the public network to the opposite party's phone. Further, the audio data from the opposite party's phone is sent via the public network to the exchange 400 . Then, the audio data is converted into the audio data appropriate for the Internet telephone, and after that it is sent via the Internet to the home gateway 200 . Accordingly, the communication via the Internet and public network using the Internet mode is realized.

[0182] Note that, the modulation/demodulation processing and the processing of sending/receiving the audio data, which are performed by the mobile phone 100 and the home gateway 200 , are performed similarly to the above-mentioned Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2.

[0183] Further, also in the case of connecting from the mobile phone 100 to the public network via the base station 300 in the public network mode, the communication using the Internet can be used. That is, when the telephone number is sent from the mobile phone 100 to the base station 300 , this telephone number is obtained by the exchange 400 via the public network. The exchange 400 references the obtained telephone number, and if this telephone number is used for the Internet telephone, the call control with the opposite party's phone is executed via the Internet. Accordingly, the communication via the Internet and the public network becomes available in the public network mode.

[0184] That is, in the communication in the public network mode using the Internet telephone number, the audio data is outputted to the public network from the mobile phone 100 via the base station 300 . Then, the exchange 400 converts the audio data into the audio data appropriate for the Internet telephone, and after that the converted data is sent via the Internet to the opposite party's phone. Further, the audio data from the opposite party's phone is sent via the Internet to the exchange 400 . Then, after being converted into the digital or the analog audio data appropriate for the public network mode, it is sent via the public network to the mobile phone 100 . Accordingly, the communication mentioned above is realized.

[0185] FIG. 8 shows a configuration of the mobile phone 100 according to this embodiment. In the mobile phone 100 shown in the diagram, a location detection unit 112 and an antenna 113 are added, as compared to the mobile phone adopted in the embodiments described above.

[0186] The antenna 113 receives the data over radio waves from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite. The location detection unit 112 uses the received data over radio waves to detect the location of the mobile phone 100 , and sends the result of detection to the main processing unit 105 .

[0187] Based on the detection result from the location detection unit 112 , the main processing unit 105 distinguishes whether or not the communication by the Internet mode is available. Specifically, the main processing unit 105 compares a home position set in advance with a key operation by the user and the present location of the mobile phone 100 , to distinguish whether or not the distance between the two is equal to or below a threshold value indicating that the communications with the home gateway 200 are possible. Then, if the distance is equal to or below the threshold value, the main processing unit 105 distinguishes that the communication by the Internet mode is available, and if the distance exceeds the threshold value, the main processing unit 105 distinguishes that the communication by the Internet mode is unavailable.

[0188] In the case where the Internet mode is available, the main processing unit 105 performs control to perform the communication by the Internet mode. Further, in the case where the Internet mode is not available, it performs the communication in the public network mode. The control at the time of the communication in the Internet mode and the control at the time of the communication in the public network mode are similar to the above-mentioned Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2.

[0189] Note that, in the case where the Internet mode is available, the communication processing in the Internet mode does not have to start immediately, but rather an inquiry may be made to the user regarding whether the user selects the communication by the Internet mode or the communication by the public network mode. The inquiry at this time can employ a method for displaying on a monitor (omitted from the diagram in FIG. 8 ) on the mobile phone 100 , a method for outputting an inquiry with audio from the telephone receiver, and the like.

[0190] FIG. 9 shows a flow chart of a telephone mode setting processing, according to this embodiment. Note that, according to this embodiment, telephone number book information such as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B is stored in the memory 105 a of the main processing unit 105 . Specifically, a user name, the user's telephone number and a telephone mode are linked and stored. Here, the telephone mode can be changed as needed by operating the key operation unit.

[0191] Referring to FIG. 9 , before starting the communication, when the user inputs the telephone number (S 301 , S 301 a, S 301 b ), the main processing unit 105 references the telephone number book stored in the memory 105 a and distinguishes the telephone mode (S 302 ) of the telephone number that was inputted. Here, if the telephone mode is the Internet mode, the main processing unit 105 then references the detection result from the location detection unit 112 , and distinguishes whether or not the mobile phone 100 is at a location where the Internet mode is available (S 303 ). If it is available, the main processing unit 105 distinguishes whether or not the wireless communications with the home gateway 200 are possible (S 304 ), and if the wireless communications are possible, it distinguishes whether or not the home gateway 200 is usable for the Internet mode (S 305 ).

[0192] Here, the processing at S 304 is performed by sending the opposite party's telephone number and the wireless ID from the mobile phone 100 to the home gateway 200 , similarly to the above-mentioned Embodiments 1 and 2. In other words, the home gateway 200 compares the received wireless ID and its own wireless ID stored in the memory 105 a , and if both are the same, it sends a “wireless communications possible” response to the mobile phone 100 , and if they are not the same, it sends a “wireless communications impossible” response to the mobile phone 100 . The main processing unit 105 of the mobile phone 100 references this response, and distinguishes whether or not the wireless communications are possible. Further, in a case where there is no response within a given time duration after the opposite party's telephone number and the wireless ID are sent to the home gateway 200 , it is distinguished that the wireless communications are impossible.

[0193] Further, at the above-mentioned S 305 , in a case where the number of lines which can be used as the Internet mode is determined in advance, depending on whether or not all the lines are in use, it is distinguished whether or not the Internet mode can be used. For example, in a case where the line that can be used is only one line, if that line is being used for the communication on the home gateway 200 as shown in the above-mentioned Embodiment 2, it is distinguished that the usage of the mobile phone 100 for the Internet mode is impossible.

[0194] In the above-mentioned S 305 , when it is distinguished that the usage as the Internet mode is possible, the call control by the home gateway 200 is executed. Then, when the call connection is established, the communication using the Internet mode is started. Note that, the call control processing are similar to the above-mentioned Embodiments 1 and 2. Further, in the case where the opposite party's telephone number is the telephone number for using the public network, the communication is started after the exchange 400 establishes the communication path via the public