JP2516188Y2 - Battery voltage drop detection device for wireless selective call receiver - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] The present invention relates to a radio selective call receiver, and more particularly to a battery voltage drop detection device that issues an alarm when the voltage of a built-in battery drops below a predetermined voltage. Regarding

[Conventional technology]

As is well known, the wireless selective call receiver notifies the caller to the receiver carrier by receiving a wireless signal including its own calling number, in the form of ringing a speaker, blinking an LED, or vibrating a vibrator. Yes, a receiving unit that receives and demodulates a carrier wave that is modulated by a signal including a call signal and demodulates, and a speaker and LE that perform call notification.
D, Vibrator, etc., and the decoder unit, etc. that activates the notification unit when the calling number included in the demodulated signal and its own calling number stored in the receiver are compared and received It is powered by the battery built into the machine. Therefore, if the battery voltage drops, the original function of the receiver cannot be guaranteed.

Therefore, as seen in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-112732, the battery voltage is constantly compared with a predetermined voltage, and the battery voltage drops below that while the alarm unit is stopped and driven. When is detected, a low voltage alarm is issued from a speaker or the like to prompt the wearer to replace the battery.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

By the way, the maximum current consumption of the radio selective calling receiver is almost equal to the current consumption of the notification unit such as a speaker or a vibrator. That is, the current consumption of other parts such as the decoder section and the radio section is insignificant compared to the current consumption of the notification section.
On the other hand, with respect to the battery voltage, the larger the current taken out, the larger the voltage drop due to the internal resistance and the lower the voltage. Therefore, initially, when the notification unit is being driven, that is, when there is an incoming call and the notification unit issues a call notification, a decrease in the battery voltage is generally detected and an alarm is generally issued. This makes it possible for the carrier to know when it is time to replace the battery, but if the call is not received and there is no call notification for a long time, the appropriate time for battery replacement will be missed. It may end up.

In Fig. 5, the vertical axis represents voltage, and the horizontal axis represents time. Battery voltage
It shows a change with time of Vc, Vope is a minimum voltage (for example, 0.8 V) at which the decoder unit and the like can operate, and V _LVA is a threshold voltage at which a low voltage alarm is issued and is set to be slightly higher than Vope. As shown in the figure, when there is no incoming call over a long period from power-on of the radio, it is greater than V _LVA only be approached V _LVA gradually decreases the battery voltage Vc in the conventional radio selective call receiver No low voltage alarm is generated. Therefore, when Vc is close to V _LVA , that is, in the figure, when there is an _incoming call for the first time after the lapse of time T ₂ from the power-on, the maximum current consumption flows in the wireless device by the call notification by the notification unit,
As shown in the figure, the battery voltage Vc temporarily drops below V _LVA due to the internal resistance of the battery, and a low voltage alarm is issued. At this time, if the battery voltage Vc is higher than Vope, there is no problem. However, if the battery voltage Vc is lower than Vope as shown in FIG. 5, the operation of the decoder circuit or the like during the operation period of the notification unit is not guaranteed. You're still using the batteries you're using now, and you're missing the right time to replace them.

The present invention solves such a conventional problem.
The purpose is that the battery voltage Vc is set to the minimum voltage Vope of the decoder unit by driving the notification unit even if there is no incoming call for a long period.
It is to ensure that the low voltage warning can be issued to the wearer before the voltage drops below the threshold.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a battery voltage drop detecting device in a wireless selective call receiver which drives a notification unit by receiving a wireless signal including its own call number to perform call notification as follows. It is composed by various means.

Battery voltage monitoring means for monitoring the voltage of the built-in battery Current consumption means for extracting from the battery the amount of current that is insufficient to allow the maximum current consumption to flow to the receiver when activated (1) Notification of current consumption means The unit intermittently performs control to start at a timing when the unit does not issue a call notification, and the battery voltage monitoring unit detects that the battery voltage has dropped below a predetermined voltage while the current consuming unit is starting. Control means for outputting a low-voltage alarm when it is activated, or (2) the current consuming means is activated when the alerting section has not performed alerting for a certain period of time in the past, and the alerting section is alerted while the current consuming means is being activated. Control means for outputting a low voltage alarm when the battery voltage monitoring means detects that the voltage of the battery has dropped below a predetermined voltage. Operation] In the battery voltage drop detecting device in the radio selective calling receiver of the present invention, the battery voltage monitoring means monitors the voltage of the battery having the built-in battery, and the control means (1) does not notify the calling part by the notification part. The control for activating the current consumption means is performed intermittently at the timing. When the current consuming means is activated, it draws from the battery the current that is insufficient to allow the maximum current consumption to flow to the receiver, so the maximum current consumption intermittently flows to the wireless device, and the battery voltage monitoring at that time is performed. Based on the monitoring result of the means, the control means (1) determines whether to output the low voltage alarm.

Further, the control means (2) activates the current consuming means when the alerting section does not issue the alerting information for a certain period in the past, and also activates the battery voltage monitoring means during activation of the current consuming means and during alerting of the alerting portion. It is decided whether to output the low voltage alarm according to the monitoring result. Therefore, when there is an incoming call every shorter time than a certain time and the call notification is performed from the notification unit, the current consumption means is not activated and the notification unit is actually driven under the maximum current consumption. The necessity of the alarm is determined, and when there is no incoming call for a certain period of time and the notification unit does not operate, the current consuming means is activated to flow the maximum current consumption, and the necessity of the alarm is determined under that.

〔Example〕

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a radio selective calling receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention, which includes a receiving unit 3 composed of an antenna 1 and a radio unit 2, a decoder 4, a ROM 5 for storing its own calling number, Vibrator drive driver 6, vibrator
7, a speaker 8, a speaker driving driver 9, a battery voltage detecting driver 10, a battery voltage monitoring unit 11, and a battery 12 for supplying electric power to each unit of these receivers.

The battery voltage detection driver 10 is an example of a current consuming unit that extracts from the battery 12 a current component that is insufficient to allow the maximum current consumption to flow to the receiver by being activated, and the resistor R,
It consists of R _B and transistor TR. As described above, the current consumption of the notification unit is almost equal to the maximum current consumption of the receiver, and the battery voltage detection driver 10 is activated while the notification unit is stopped. The resistance R is selected so as to satisfy Imax ≦ Vc / R, where Imax is the maximum current consumption of. The resistor R _B is selected so that the collector-emitter voltage V _CE of the transistor TR is V _CE ≈0.

Further, the battery voltage monitoring unit 11 is means for comparing the voltage Vc of the battery 12 with a preset voltage V _LVA and, when Vc ≦ V _LVA is detected, notifying the decoder 4 to that effect.

The decoder 4 is a part that controls the call notification and the battery voltage drop detection.

 The operation of this embodiment will be described below.

When a radio signal transmitted from a base station or the like is received by the antenna 1, the signal amplified and demodulated by the radio unit 2 is received by the decoder 4
Is input to The decoder 4 compares the call number included in the demodulated signal with its own call number stored in the ROM 5, and if they match, the speaker driving driver 9
The receiver 8 is informed by calling the speaker 8 to sound or the vibrator driving driver 6 to vibrate the vibrator 7. This kind of operation is well known in the past,
In parallel with this, the following operation for detecting the voltage drop of the battery 12 is performed.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an operation example of the battery voltage detection control of the decoder 4. As shown in the figure, when the decoder 4 starts its operation by turning on the power, it first sets an internal counter C1 which is incremented every predetermined time to 0 (S1), and then determines whether or not the annunciator is being driven. Otherwise the counter C1 exceeds a predetermined value T ₁ (for example, a value corresponding to one hour)
It is determined whether or not it is above (S2, S3). When it is determined that the notification unit is being driven (YES in S2), the voltage of the battery 12 is determined based on the output of the battery voltage monitoring unit 11.
It is determined whether Vc is less than or equal to a predetermined voltage V _LVA (S6), and Vc> V _LVA
If so, that is, the voltage Vc of the battery 12 is
If it is larger than V _LVA , the process returns to step S1 and restarts from the initial state. On the other hand, when YES is determined in the process S6, that is, when it is determined that the voltage Vc of the battery 12 is equal to or lower than V _{LVA due to} the driving of the notification unit, the process proceeds to process S10 and a low voltage alarm is generated. This low-voltage warning may be issued in a form in which the speaker 8 or the vibrator 7 can distinguish it from the call notification as soon as the call notification is being given by the speaker 8, or in parallel with the call notification. You can go.

By performing the above operation, when an incoming call occurs at a time shorter than one hour, which corresponds to T ₁ , for example, and the call notification is performed thereby, the maximum call notification is actually performed. The necessity of alarm generation is determined under the current consumption, and in that case, the battery voltage detection driver 10 is not driven.

Then, when the counter C1 in decoder 4 step S2 by the broadcast unit driving in non as determined and processed S3 is determined to be above T _1, i.e. the call notification for a time corresponding to the last T ₁ is not performed When the determination is made, the battery voltage detection driver 10 is driven (S4). As a result, the maximum current consumption Imax of the receiver almost flows through the battery voltage detection driver 10. After that, the decoder 4 sets the internal counter C2, which is incremented every predetermined time, to 0 (S5),
The battery voltage detection driver 10 is continuously driven until the counter C2 reaches a predetermined value t (for example, a value corresponding to 20 ms), and the battery 12 is detected based on the output of the battery voltage monitoring unit 11 during that time.
It is determined whether the voltage Vc is less than or equal to the predetermined voltage V _LVA (S7, S
8). If _{Vc≤V LVA} is not detected during that time, the driving of the battery voltage detection driver 10 is stopped (S
9) Return to step S1 and restart from the initial state.
However, when Vc ≦ V _LVA is detected, the process proceeds to step S10 and a low voltage alarm is generated.

Up to the receiver, even when the incoming call is not performed long period, by the time only the battery voltage detecting driver 10 of t in the period of T _1, as shown in Figure 3 that the above operation is performed The consumption current is supplied, and the battery voltage Vc is affected by the current consumption and temporarily decreases as indicated by points a and b in the figure. Therefore, at the point of b, the voltage Vc of the battery 12
Is detected to fall below a predetermined voltage V _LVA, and a low voltage alarm is issued. In this case, the voltage of battery 12
Since Vc is equal to or higher than the minimum voltage Vcpe at which the decoder 4 and the like can operate, it is possible to prevent the current battery from being continuously used until the operation of the decoder circuit and the like is no longer guaranteed, and it is possible to replace the battery at an appropriate time.

In addition, the battery voltage detection driver 10 is set to 20 msec every hour.
Assuming that the maximum current consumption that flows at that time is 100mA, the average current consumption increase due to the addition of the battery voltage detection driver 10 is (20 ・ 10 ^-3 / 60 ・ 60) ) ・ 100 ・ 10 ^-3 ≒ 0.6μA Since the average current consumption of the decoder section or the like is usually several .mu.A to several tens .mu.A, the influence of the addition of the battery voltage detection driver 10 on the battery life can be almost ignored.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an operation example of the decoder 4 in another embodiment of the present invention. As can be seen by comparing FIG. 4 and FIG. 2, the difference between this embodiment and the previous embodiment is that the battery voltage is not detected when it is determined in step S2 that the alarm unit is being driven. However, instead of this, the battery voltage detection driver 10 is driven at a timing when the notification unit is not driven at every time corresponding to T ₁ and an alarm is generated by the detection of the battery voltage as in the previous embodiment. It is in the point that the necessity of is decided.

[Effect of device]

As described above, according to the present invention, the current consumption means is used to flow the maximum current consumption to the receiver at a certain time interval or when the notification unit has not been driven for the past certain time. It is determined whether or not the voltage has dropped below a predetermined voltage, and a low voltage alarm is issued if the voltage drops below a predetermined voltage, even if the incoming call is not made for a long period of time. It is possible to reliably detect a situation in which the battery voltage Vc has dropped below the minimum voltage Vope at which the decoder section or the like can be operated by driving, and issue a low voltage alarm. In particular, while adopting a configuration that determines the need for an alarm during the normal call alert of the alert unit, when the alert unit does not issue a call alert for a certain period of time in the past, the current consumption means is activated to determine the need for the alert. According to this configuration, the number of times the current consuming means is activated can be suppressed according to the occurrence of incoming calls.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an operation example of the decoder 4, and FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the present invention showing a time change of a battery voltage. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing another operation example of the decoder 4, and FIG. 5 is an operation explanation diagram of the prior art showing a temporal change of the battery voltage. In the figure, 1 ... Antenna 2 ... Radio section 3 ... Receiving section 4 ... Decoder 5 ... ROM 6 ... Vibrator driving driver 7 ... Vibrator 8 ... Speaker 9 ... Speaker driving driver ... Driver for detecting battery voltage that constitutes current consumption means 11 …… Battery voltage monitoring unit 12 …… Battery

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A wireless selective call receiver for driving a notification unit to perform call notification by receiving a radio signal including its own call number, and battery voltage monitoring means for monitoring the voltage of a built-in battery. A current consuming unit that extracts from the battery a current component that is insufficient to allow the maximum current consumption to flow to the receiver by being activated, and the current consuming unit is activated at a timing when the alerting unit is not calling and alerting. Control is performed intermittently,
And a control means for outputting a low voltage alarm when the battery voltage monitoring means detects that the voltage of the battery has dropped to a predetermined voltage or lower during activation of the current consumption means. A battery voltage drop detecting device in a radio selective calling receiver that features. 2. A wireless voltage selection call receiver for driving a notification unit to perform call notification by receiving a radio signal including its own calling number, and battery voltage monitoring means for monitoring the voltage of a built-in battery. A current consuming unit that extracts from the battery a current component that is insufficient to allow the maximum current consumption to flow to the receiver by being activated, and the current consuming unit when the notification unit does not perform call notification for a certain period in the past. Low voltage when it is detected that the voltage of the battery has dropped to a predetermined voltage or less by the battery voltage monitoring means during the activation of the current consuming means and the call notification of the notification unit. A battery voltage drop detecting device in a radio selective call receiver, comprising: a control unit for outputting an alarm.