JPH11168837A - Charging device for portable communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a communication operation during charging from being poorly affected while adopting a non-contact-type charging system due to electromagnetic induction, by providing a charging circuit for charging the secondary battery of portable communication equipment without any contact, and turning on/off the charging operation due to the charging circuit based on a communication operation timing. SOLUTION: A charging timing control circuit 13 turns on/off a charging control circuit 12 so that charging can be stopped completely by the transmission and reception slots of an RF part 15a according to the output of a photodiode D1 that receives a charge timing control signal. By this sort of timing control, no induced magnetic field is generated at a gap (d) between coils L1 and L2 while the RF part 15a of a body circuit 15 is transmitting and receiving signals, thus positively preventing communication from being poorly affected by the induced magnetic field.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a charging device for a portable communication device using a secondary battery as a power source for a paging receiver, a portable telephone, a PHS, or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Cellular phones and PHS (Personal)
When charging a secondary battery built in a portable communication terminal such as a Handyphone System, a charging terminal provided on both the device and the charger is usually placed on a dedicated charger at a predetermined position. Are brought into contact with each other to charge the secondary battery.

[0003]

However, in particular, the charging terminal on the side of the portable communication terminal has a structure exposed on the outer surface of the device, which is disadvantageous in making the portable device waterproof. In addition, there is a risk that the terminals may be short-circuited due to adhesion of water droplets or the like.

[0004] In recent years, a system employing a non-contact type charger utilizing electromagnetic induction has become mainstream for various devices such as a conductive toothbrush which incorporates a secondary battery. Also, the adoption of this charging method has begun to be considered.

[0005] However, there is a special requirement that a portable communication terminal must be able to perform a communication operation at the same time even during charging, and if the above-mentioned non-contact type charger is adopted, it is generated by electromagnetic induction. However, there is a problem that a strong magnetic field affects the communication operation and hinders a good call or the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to employ a non-contact type charging method by electromagnetic induction while adversely affecting a communication operation during charging. It is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile communication device-free charging device.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In a charging device for a mobile communication device using a secondary battery as a power source, a charging circuit for charging the secondary battery of the mobile communication device in a non-contact manner, and a detecting unit for detecting a communication operation timing of the mobile communication device, Control means for controlling on / off of the charging operation by the charging circuit based on the operation timing detected by the detecting means.

With such a configuration, it is possible to execute charging without adversely affecting the communication operation while employing a non-contact charging method using electromagnetic induction. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the detecting means includes a receiving means for receiving a signal indicating a communication operation timing transmitted from the portable communication device, and the control means comprises: The on / off control of the charging operation by the charging circuit is performed in accordance with the signal obtained by the receiving means.

With this configuration, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, charging is performed without adversely affecting the communication operation while employing a non-contact charging method using electromagnetic induction. be able to.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication device for communicating with the portable communication device, and the detecting means detects a communication operation timing of the communication device. The control means performs on / off control of the charging operation by the charging circuit in accordance with the communication operation timing detected by the detecting means.

According to this structure, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, in a device which uses a portable communication device as a child device and also serves as a parent device and a charging device corresponding to the child device, The charging can be performed without adversely affecting the communication operation during charging while employing a non-contact charging method by electromagnetic induction, and a signal indicating a communication operation timing is transmitted to the portable communication device in particular. Since there is no need to provide a member for performing the operation, the structure of the outer surface of the portable communication device is very advantageous when the portable communication device has a waterproof structure.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the receiving means receives a signal indicating communication operation timing transmitted by light.

With such a configuration, in addition to the operation of the second aspect of the present invention, a signal representing the communication operation timing is reliably transmitted with a simple and inexpensive circuit configuration, and the communication operation by charging is performed. Adverse effects can be avoided.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the receiving means receives a signal indicating a communication operation timing transmitted via a coupling path of electromagnetic induction by the charging circuit. It is characterized by the following.

According to this structure, in addition to the operation of the second aspect of the present invention, the charging is performed without adversely affecting the communication operation during the charging while employing the non-contact charging method by electromagnetic induction. It is not necessary to form a member for transmitting a signal indicating a communication operation timing on the outer surface of the portable communication device, so that the portable communication device may have a waterproof structure. It is very advantageous.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows the circuit configuration, wherein 1 is a portable terminal, 2
Is a charger of the portable terminal 1, and 3 is an AC plug connected to the charger 2.

An AC power supply obtained by inserting the AC plug 3 into an outlet (not shown) is rectified to a predetermined DC current by a rectifier circuit 11 in the charger 2 and then transmitted through a charge control circuit 12 for power transmission. The coil L1 is excited. The charge control circuit 12 intermittently controls the excitation of the coil L1 by a DC voltage in accordance with a signal from a charge timing control circuit 13 that operates in response to the output of the photodiode D1. ,
When the portable terminal 1 is mounted on the charger 2, the coil L
The power is transmitted to a power receiving coil L2 in the portable terminal device 1 which is arranged at a distance of d from the mobile terminal 1.

The power transmitted to the coil L2 is charged to the secondary battery B by the charging control circuit 14, and the power charged to the secondary battery B is charged by the charging control circuit 14 to the main body circuit 1.
5, the entire main circuit 15 including the RF unit 15a to which the antenna 16 is connected can execute a communication operation.

However, in the main body circuit 15, the RF unit 1
For example, TDMA via the antenna 16 to which 5a is connected
/ TDD (Time Division Multiple)
leAccess / Time Division Du
(plex: time division multiple access / time division duplex), and transmits a signal to the charging timing control circuit 17 a predetermined time before the start timing of the transmission slot and the reception slot.

In response to a signal from the main circuit 15, the charging timing control circuit 17 activates an infrared diode D2 provided at a position facing the photodiode D1 when the portable terminal 1 is mounted on the charger 2. Drive on.

In the above configuration, the operation is as follows. First, as an initial state, when the portable terminal 1 whose operation has been stopped is attached to the charger 2, a DC current obtained by rectifying an AC current from the AC plug 3 by the rectifier circuit 11 is supplied to the charge control circuit 12. When the coil L1 flows through the coil L1,
Power is transmitted to the portable terminal 1 by the induction magnetic field transmitted through the gap d between L2, the secondary battery B is charged, and power is also supplied to the main circuit 15.

After the secondary battery B has been charged in this way, when the portable terminal 1 is to perform a communication operation next, the charge control circuit 14 of the portable terminal 1 firstly operates the charge control circuit 14 of the secondary battery B. The state of charge is confirmed by the voltage between the two terminals to determine whether the secondary battery B can be used. Here, when a user operation is performed, only when the charge control circuit 14 determines that the secondary battery B is usable, the main circuit 1
5 starts the communication operation.

When the main circuit 15 starts a communication operation,
The main body circuit 15 sends a timing signal to the charging timing control circuit 17 immediately before each slot in accordance with the timing at which the RF unit 15a operates, that is, the transmission slot and the reception slot. The charging timing control circuit 17
A charge timing control signal is generated in accordance with the timing signal to drive (turn on / off) the infrared diode D2.

The output of the photodiode D1 which receives the infrared signal by the lighting of the infrared diode D2,
The charging timing control circuit 13 controls the charging control circuit 12 to be turned on / off at appropriate timings to interrupt power supply to the mobile terminal 1.

FIG. 2 shows an operation state of each of the above-mentioned parts.
When the main body circuit 15 sends a timing signal to the charging timing control circuit 17 in accordance with the communication operation timing of the RF unit 15a of the main body circuit 15 shown in FIG. 2A, the charging timing control circuit 17 shown in FIG. Such a charge timing control signal is generated to drive (turn on / off) the infrared diode D2.

As shown in the figure, the charge timing control signal includes a recognition code at the beginning of each pulse and an end confirmation code at the end of the pulse to prevent malfunction due to external light or the like. Respectively.

The output of the photodiode D1 receiving the charge timing control signal causes the charge timing control circuit 13 to operate the RF unit 15 as shown in FIG.
The charging control circuit 12 is turned on / off so that charging is completely stopped in the transmission slot and the reception slot in a.

By performing such a timing control, the RF unit 15a of the main circuit 15 operates in the gap d between the coils L1 and L2 during the transmission and reception operations while adopting the non-contact charging method. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent communication from being adversely affected by the induction magnetic field.

In the configuration of FIG. 1, the operation timing of the RF unit 15a of the main body circuit 15 in the portable terminal 1 is transmitted to the charger 2 using the infrared diode D2 and the portable terminal 1. However, the portable terminal 1 may be used as a slave, and a charger / communication base station 4 having a communication function as a master may be used instead of the charger 2 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows another example of the configuration of the first embodiment. The same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted. In the charger / communication base station 4, the DC power rectified by the rectifier circuit 11 is supplied to the main circuit 21 together with the charge control circuit 12. The main body circuit 21 is a portable terminal 1
In the same manner as the main circuit 15, the RF unit 21a to which the antenna 22 is connected is driven by the supplied power to perform a communication operation. A combined charge timing control signal is created and sent directly to the charge control circuit 12, and the ON / OFF control is performed so that the charging of the portable terminal 1 is completely stopped in the transmission slot and the reception slot.

With such a configuration, the charging operation for the portable terminal 1 is not performed at the timing of the communication operation in the main circuit 15 of the portable terminal 1 but for the communication in the main circuit 21 in the charger / communication base station 4. It can be controlled based on the operation.

Therefore, the transmission / reception structure using the infrared diode D2 and the photodiode D1 in FIG. 1 becomes unnecessary, and not only can the structure of both the portable terminal 1 and the charger / communication base station 4 be simplified, but also the structure can be simplified. The portable terminal 1 adopting the non-contact charging method in order to minimize the exposure of the structural members such as the terminals on the outer surface for the above reasons.
A configuration particularly suitable for

(Second Embodiment) Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 shows the circuit configuration, which is basically the same as the configuration shown in FIG. 1, and therefore, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

Thus, the ferrite cores FC1 and FC2 are concentrated on the coil L1 on the charger 2 side and the coil L2 on the portable terminal 1 side in order to concentrate magnetic flux due to electromagnetic induction.
Is added. These ferrite cores FC1, FC2
Use a magnetic material having a large magnetic capacity that does not cause magnetic saturation due to an induction magnetic field caused by charging power.

Therefore, even at the time of charging, these ferrite cores FC1 and FC2 have a sufficient margin until they are magnetically saturated, and if the signal has a level sufficiently smaller than the charging power, the charging power is converted into an induction magnetic flux. And can be transmitted in a superimposed manner.

However, the ferrite core F on the charger 2 side
A coil L3 that forms a plurality of coil units with the coil L1 is provided for C1. The coil L3 is connected to the charging timing control circuit 13 via a low-pass filter 31.

Similarly, a coil L4 that forms a plurality of coil units with the coil L2 is disposed on the ferrite core FC2 on the portable terminal 1 side.
Is connected to the charging timing control circuit 17 via the low-pass filter 32.

The operation of the above configuration is as follows. First, as an initial state, when the portable terminal 1 whose operation has been stopped is attached to the charger 2, a DC current obtained by rectifying an AC current from the AC plug 3 by the rectifier circuit 11 is supplied to the charge control circuit 12. , Power is transmitted to the portable terminal 1 by an induction magnetic field transmitted through the gap d between the ferrite cores FC1 and FC2 which are spatially magnetically coupled, and the secondary battery B is charged. Thus, power is also supplied to the main body circuit 15.

After charging the secondary battery B in this manner, when the portable terminal 1 is to perform a communication operation next, the charge control circuit 14 of the portable terminal 1 firstly sets The state of charge is confirmed by the voltage between the two terminals to determine whether the secondary battery B can be used. Here, when a user operation is performed, only when the charge control circuit 14 determines that the secondary battery B is usable, the main circuit 1
5 starts the communication operation.

When the main circuit 15 starts a communication operation,
The main body circuit 15 sends a timing signal to the charging timing control circuit 17 immediately before each slot in accordance with the timing at which the RF unit 15a operates, that is, the transmission slot and the reception slot. The charging timing control circuit 17
A pulse-shaped charging timing control signal is generated in accordance with the timing signal, and the coil L4 is driven to be excited through the low-pass filter 32.

The signal generated by exciting the coil L4 is superimposed on the above-mentioned induced magnetic field between the ferrite cores FC2 and FC1,
Picked up by the coil L3, the low-pass filter 3
1 and received by the charging timing control circuit 13, and the charging timing control circuit 13 receives the signal and controls the charging control circuit 12 to turn on / off at appropriate timing to interrupt the power supply to the portable terminal 1. .

As described above, the ferrite cores FC1, FC1,
Since the FC2 is not magnetically saturated even during charging, the pulse of the charging timing control signal is transmitted without distortion. Since this charging timing control signal passes through the magnetic path for charging, it is necessary to separate them.
In particular, the charging power has a very large signal level as compared with the charging timing control signal, so that it is necessary to prevent this from affecting a circuit system handling the control signal.

Normally, a relatively high value of several hundred KHz is selected as the frequency of the charging power in order to increase the charging efficiency. On the other hand, the charging timing control signal may have a low control speed, so that it can be selected in a frequency band of 100 KHz or less even if the effective pulse rising speed is maintained.

Therefore, the low-pass filters 31, 32
By setting the cut-off frequency of
It is possible to reliably separate the charging power of about Hz from the charging timing control signal of 100 KHz or less.

Since the control signal is superimposed on the electromagnetic induction path for charging in this way, even if the charger 2 does not have the function as the communication base station as shown in FIG. The transmission / reception structure using the infrared diode D2 and the photodiode D1 is unnecessary, and a non-contact charging method is adopted to minimize the exposure of structural members such as terminals on the outer surface for structural reasons such as waterproofness. A configuration particularly suitable for the portable terminal device 1 described above.

Although the first and second embodiments have been described with reference to a case where the present invention is applied to a portable terminal that performs both transmission and reception and its charger, a portable terminal that uses a secondary battery as a power source is described. It goes without saying that a communication device can be easily applied to a reception-only device such as a paging receiver or a transmission-only device such as a remote controller. In addition, the present invention can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist thereof.

[0047]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, charging can be performed without adversely affecting communication operation while employing a non-contact charging method using electromagnetic induction. According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects of the first aspect of the present invention, in a device in which a portable communication device is used as a child device and a parent device and a charging device corresponding to the child device are used, A member that can perform charging without adversely affecting a communication operation during charging while employing a non-contact charging method by induction, and that transmits a signal indicating a communication operation timing to the portable communication device in particular. This is very advantageous in terms of the structure of the outer surface, such as when the portable communication device has a waterproof structure.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, a signal representing a communication operation timing is reliably transmitted with a simple and inexpensive circuit configuration to avoid adverse effects on the communication operation due to charging. be able to.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, in addition to the operation of the second aspect of the present invention, the communication operation during charging is adversely affected while employing the non-contact type charging system by electromagnetic induction. Charging can be performed without
In particular, since a member for transmitting a signal indicating a communication operation timing need not be formed on the outer surface of the portable communication device, the structure is very advantageous when the portable communication device has a waterproof structure.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a circuit configuration according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart illustrating an operation according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another circuit configuration according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a circuit configuration according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Portable terminal device 2 ... Charger 3 ... AC plug 4 ... Charger and communication base station 11 ... Rectifier circuit 12 ... Charge control circuit 13 ... Charge timing control circuit 14 ... Charge control circuit 15 ... Body circuit 15a ... RF part 16 ... Antenna 17 ... Charge timing control circuit 21 ... Body circuit 21a ... RF section 22 ... Antenna 31, 32 ... Low pass filter (LPF)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A charging device for a portable communication device using a secondary battery as a power supply, a charging circuit for charging the secondary battery of the portable communication device in a non-contact manner, and detecting a communication operation timing of the portable communication device. And a control unit for controlling on / off of the charging operation by the charging circuit based on the operation timing detected by the detecting unit. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means includes a receiving means for receiving a signal indicating a communication operation timing sent from said portable communication device, and said control means controls said signal in response to a signal obtained by said receiving means. The charging device for a portable communication device according to claim 1, wherein on / off control of a charging operation by the charging circuit is performed. 3. A communication device unit for communicating with the portable communication device, wherein the detection means detects a communication operation timing of the communication device unit, and the control means detects a communication operation timing detected by the detection means. The charging device for a portable communication device according to claim 1, wherein on / off control of a charging operation by the charging circuit is performed in accordance with a timing. 4. The charging device for a portable communication device according to claim 2, wherein said receiving means receives a signal indicating a communication operation timing transmitted by light. 5. The mobile communication device according to claim 2, wherein the receiving unit receives a signal indicating a communication operation timing transmitted through a coupling path of electromagnetic induction by the charging circuit. apparatus.