KR101033927B1 - Method for limit use of specific module in mobile communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for restricting the use of a specific module in a mobile communication terminal including a basic communication module and a plurality of additional modules. Selecting a specific module to restrict the use of, limiting the use of the power supply to the selected specific module, and limiting the use of the module to the user. Including a process of displaying an error message indicating that it is limited and unable to use, limiting use of a module not used by the user may prevent unnecessary waste of power.

Power supply, digital camera, MP3, communication module, additional module

Description

METHODS FOR LIMIT USE OF SPECIFIC MODULE IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL}             

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention;

2 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for limiting use of a communication module of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

3 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of turning on the power of the mobile communication terminal in a state in which the use of the communication module of the mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention is restricted.

The present invention relates to a method for limiting the use of a particular module in a mobile communication terminal.

Mobile communication terminals are rapidly spreading due to the convenience of portable. Therefore, service providers (terminal manufacturers) are competitively developing terminals with more special functions to secure many users.                         

For example, the mobile communication terminal may be a phone book, a game, a short message, the Internet, an e-mail, a morning call, or an MP3 audio layer. -3) It provides various additional functions such as digital camera.

In addition, peripheral devices that are used by being attached or added to the mobile communication terminal in hardware are also developing. For example, a detachable or built-in digital camera module, a TV receiving module capable of receiving Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DBM), and an MP3 file can be played. MP3 modules can be roughly divided.

Recently, functions using the modules in a mobile communication terminal have been attracting attention. The MP3 playback function using the MP3 module, the digital camera function using the digital camera module, and the digital multimedia broadcasting reception function using the TV receiving module are combined with the convenience of the portable communication terminal. The trend is increasing.

As described above, as additional functions of the mobile communication terminal are added, a problem about power usage occurs. In particular, the mobile communication terminal according to the prior art always communicates with the base station and checks the state of each other even when the communication module is not used. Thus, power is still consumed without using the communication module. That is, since the conventional mobile communication terminal does not have a function of restricting the use of a specific module, power is supplied to a module that the user does not want to use. There is this.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for limiting the use of a specific module in a mobile communication terminal.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for limiting the use of a specific module in a mobile communication terminal, the process of displaying the use limit setting menu in a use limit setting mode, and limiting use of the setting menu. And selecting a specific module and limiting use by cutting off power supplied to the selected specific module.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In describing the present invention, when it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described a technique for limiting the use of a specific module in a mobile communication terminal. Meanwhile, the functions of the communication module to be described below include a call service, a short message service (SMS) message, a multimedia message service (MMS) message, an enhanced message service (EMS) message, the Internet, and an e-mail. ), And so on.

1 shows a configuration of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention. In the following description, the mobile communication terminal includes a cellular phone, a personal communication system (PCS), a personal digital assistant (PDA), and an international mobile telecommunication-2000 (IMT2000) terminal. It is meant to include all, the following description will be described with the general configuration of the above examples.

Referring to FIG. 1, a control unit (MPU: Micro-Processor Unit) 100 controls the overall operation of the mobile communication terminal. For example, it performs processing and control for voice calls and data communications, and functions to limit the use of specific modules in accordance with the present invention in addition to conventional functions. Therefore, in the following description, description about the process and control of the normal control part 100 is abbreviate | omitted.

The communication module 102 performs a function of transmitting and receiving a radio signal of data input and output through an antenna. For example, in the case of transmission, after performing channel coding and spreading of data to be transmitted, RF processing is performed to transmit the data. In case of reception, the received RF signal is converted into a baseband signal. The baseband signal is de-spreaded and channel decoded to restore data.

The camera module 104 converts the image data captured by the image into digital data, and then stops the digital data to obtain a still image and outputs the still image to the display unit 108. The display unit 108 displays and outputs information processed by the mobile communication terminal, and displays a video signal provided from the camera module 104.

The keypad (key pad) 112 is a numeric key buttons of 0-9, menu button (menu), cancel button (clear), confirmation button, call button (TALK), end button (END), Internet access button, A plurality of function keys such as a navigation key (or a direction key) button (▲ / ▼ / ◀ / ▶) are provided, and key input data corresponding to a key pressed by the user is provided to the controller 100.

The data memory 110 performs a function for temporarily storing various information processed by the controller 100, and stores various updatable storage data such as a phone book, a calling message, and a received message. The power supply unit 114 supplies power to operate various functions of the mobile communication terminal.

In addition, the MP3 module 106 stores an MP3 music file, and plays a process of reproducing an audio signal using the stored MP3 file. The voice processing unit 116, also referred to as a codec, performs a function of performing input / output processing of a voice signal through the microphone 118 and the speaker 120. For example, the digital data provided from the controller 100 is converted into an analog voice signal and output to the outside through the speaker 120, and the voice signal applied from the microphone 118 is converted into digital data to the digital data. Provided to the controller 100.

2 illustrates a procedure for limiting a communication module in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, first, in step 201, the controller 100 checks whether a usage limit setting key is input by a user's key operation. If the usage limit setting key is not input, the control unit 100 proceeds to step 217 to perform a corresponding mode (eg, standby mode). When the usage limit setting key is input, the controller 100 proceeds to step 203 and displays a usage limit setting menu. For example, "0: privacy protection, 1: reception restriction, 2: international telephone restriction, 3: communication module restriction, 4: MP3 module restriction, 5: camera module restriction, and 6: TV reception module restriction."

The following description will be described by limiting the use of the communication module, for example, the limitation of the MP3 module, camera module, TV receiving module is performed in the same way.

In operation 205, the controller 100 determines whether item 3 (communication module restriction) is selected by the user's key operation. If the "communication module restriction" is selected, the control unit 100 proceeds to step 207 to display a communication module restriction selection window. For example, display "Restrict the use of the call module? 0: Yes, 1: No".

In the state where the communication module limit selection window is displayed, the controller 100 proceeds to step 209 to check whether item 0 (eg) is selected by a user's key operation. If the item “Yes” is not selected, the controller 100 proceeds to step 213 and checks whether item 1 is selected.

If the "Yes" item is selected, the control unit 100 proceeds to step 211 to cut off the power applied to the communication module 102 from the power supply unit 114 to deactivate the communication module 102 The algorithm ends.                     

On the other hand, the control unit 100 checks whether the "no" item is selected in step 213. If the item “No” is not selected, the controller 100 returns to step 209. If the "no" item is selected, the control unit 100 proceeds to step 215 to maintain the power applied from the power supply unit 114 to the communication module 102 to activate the communication module 102. After maintaining the state, the algorithm is terminated.

3 illustrates a procedure of turning on the power of the mobile communication terminal in a state in which the communication module of the mobile communication terminal is limited according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the controller 100 determines whether power is supplied to the mobile communication terminal in step 301. When power is supplied to the mobile communication terminal, that is, when the power is turned on, the controller 100 proceeds to step 303 to check whether the use of the communication module 102 is restricted. If the use of the communication module 102 is not limited, the control unit 100 proceeds to step 311 and the communication module 102 is activated to hold a channel and maintain a state while exchanging a signal with a base station and maintaining a communication function. Perform the operation to perform. If the use of the communication module 102 is restricted, the control unit 100 proceeds to step 305 to cut off the power applied from the power supply unit 114 to the communication module 102 so that the communication module 102 can be used. By deactivating), the use of the communication module is restricted to use only additional modules such as an MP3 or a digital camera from the beginning of turning on the power.

In the state where the communication module 102 is deactivated, the control unit 100 proceeds to step 307 to check whether communication is attempted. If the communication attempt is not made, the controller 100 ends the present algorithm.

If the communication is attempted, the controller 100 proceeds to step 309 and displays a communication impossible message on the display window to indicate that the communication module 102 is inactivated. Thereafter, the controller 100 ends the present algorithm.

Here, the communication attempt, for example, when a call button is input to talk to the other party, when the Internet use key is input to use the Internet in the mobile communication terminal, when to send a message to the other party, etc. Includes all of them.

The above-described embodiment restricts the use of the communication module 102 to use only the additional module in the mobile communication terminal. In another embodiment, the use of additional modules such as an MP3 or a digital camera may be restricted. In this case, the mobile communication terminal may limit the use of additional modules not desired by the user among the additional modules to activate only the additional module or the communication module desired by the user.

Meanwhile, in the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by the equivalents of the claims.

As described above, the present invention has the advantage of limiting the use of a particular module. That is, since the power of the mobile communication terminal is limited, there is an advantage that the limited power can be used more efficiently when the module desired by the user is used by preventing the waste of the power by limiting the use of the module that the user does not want.

Claims (3)

In the method for limiting the use of a specific module in a mobile communication terminal comprising a basic communication module and a plurality of additional modules, Displaying a list of the basic communication module and a plurality of additional modules in the usage limit setting mode; Selecting a specific module to limit the use of the list; And limiting use by cutting off power supplied to the selected specific module. The method of claim 1, The plurality of additional modules, MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer-3) module, a camera module, TV (Television) receiving module, characterized in that it comprises a module. The method of claim 1, If attempting to use a particular module for which the usage is restricted, further comprising displaying an unavailable message of the module.

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