JP2000032673A - Portable telephone device with battery remainder display function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable terminal device for reporting the level of the remainder of a battery accurately, corresponding to remaining usable time without being affected by the difference in a consumption current for each device. SOLUTION: A portable telephone device is provided with a battery 3, a radio part 1, a means 5 for measuring the consumption current of the device and the remainder of the battery, a display part 2 of the level of the remainder, and a means 6 for calculating the level of the remainder by variably setting the reference value of the remainder of the battery according to the consumption current value and comparing a battery remainder measurement value with a reference value. Since dispersion between lots and the capacity of a battery to be loaded can be absorbed, the level of the remainder of the battery corresponding to the remaining usable time can be displayed to a user, even at portable terminal device having a different consumption current.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable terminal device driven by a battery, and more particularly, to a portable telephone device having a battery remaining amount display function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 3-145343 discloses that the remaining power of a battery is calculated by calculating the power consumption of a device every time according to a use condition based on a predetermined coefficient and storing the information. A portable electronic device for notifying has been proposed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H8-237336 discloses that after switching from a standby mode to a talk mode in which power consumption is large, the battery voltage drops below the reference voltage and is switched to the second display. It returns to the standby mode again and even if the battery voltage becomes higher than the reference voltage,
A mobile phone device controlled to maintain the second display has been proposed.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned prior art has the following problems.

[0005] The problem is that in the conventional portable telephone device, the display of the remaining battery level and the remaining available time may not be compatible.

For example, even among lots of the same type of portable telephone device, there is a case where there is a variation in a time ratio in which each level of the remaining battery level is displayed. More specifically, a certain lot has a long usable time after "level 2 → 1" is displayed, and another lot has a short usable time after "level 2 → 1" is displayed. That is.

[0007] The first reason is that even if the mobile phone devices are of the same type, the remaining battery capacity changes over time due to variations between lots of the mobile phone devices and errors in the capacity of the batteries loaded in the mobile phone devices. This is because the situation is different.

The second reason is that the reference value (threshold value) to be compared with the measured value of the remaining battery power is constant, even though the current consumption of the devices is different from each other.

An object of the present invention is to provide a portable terminal device capable of notifying a remaining battery level corresponding to a remaining usable time.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable terminal device comprising: means for varying a reference value of a remaining battery level according to a measurement result of a current consumption of the device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable terminal device according to a second aspect, which measures a current consumption of the device, a variation between devices of the device, and / or a capacity error of a battery loaded in the device. Means for varying the reference value of the remaining battery charge according to the magnitude of the current consumption.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable terminal device according to a third aspect, comprising: a battery; a unit for measuring current consumption of a device driven by the battery; a unit for measuring a remaining battery level; Between the devices having different current consumptions, the effective usable time after the notification of the battery remaining at a predetermined level is possible regardless of the magnitude of the current consumption. So as to be as constant as possible, according to the measurement result of the current consumption,
Means for variably setting the reference value of the battery remaining amount.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the portable terminal device is provided with means (the resistor 4 and the analog / digital converter 5 in FIG. 1) for measuring the current consumption of the device. By providing such a current consumption measuring means in the portable terminal device, the current consumption of each device can be accurately measured.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a battery remaining amount reference value (battery remaining amount) is set for each device in consideration of variations in current consumption for each device and variations in capacity for each loaded battery. Means for variably setting or automatically setting the display threshold value. by this,
In other words, a relatively accurate remaining battery level is displayed.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a means for measuring the current consumption and the remaining battery level of a portable terminal device (resistor 4 of FIG. 1, analog /
A digital conversion unit 5).

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the current consumption of a battery (battery 3 in FIG. 1), a radio unit for transmitting / receiving radio waves (radio unit 1 in FIG. 1), and a device driven by the battery are reduced. The means for measuring (resistor 4,
Analog / digital converter 5), means for measuring the remaining battery level (resistor 4 in FIG. 1, analog / digital converter 5), and variably setting a reference value to be compared with the remaining battery level according to the measurement result of the current consumption Means for comparing the measured remaining battery level with a set reference value, obtaining a remaining battery level based on the comparison result (control section 6 in FIG. 1), and a display section for displaying the remaining battery level (Display unit 2 in FIG. 1).

As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, when the present invention is applied to portable terminal devices of the same type, variations between lots and errors in the capacity of batteries loaded in these devices are absorbed. In each of the lots, the user is notified of the accurate remaining battery level corresponding to the remaining usable time.

As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, when the present invention is applied to the same portable terminal device, changes over time in battery capacity and errors in the amount of battery charge are absorbed. The user is notified of the accurate remaining battery level corresponding to the remaining usable time.

As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, when applied to different types of portable terminal devices, differences in their discharge characteristics over time are absorbed, so that the remaining device can be used in any device. The user is notified of an accurate remaining battery level corresponding to the usable time.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a portable telephone device will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of a portable telephone device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, this mobile phone device includes a radio unit 1 for transmitting / receiving data to / from a base station, a display unit 2 for displaying at least a remaining battery level, and a mobile phone device for operating. A battery 3 for supplying necessary power; a resistor 4 connected in parallel or in another form to the battery 3 for detecting the remaining battery power and the current consumption of the device directly or by converting the voltage;
-To-digital converter for measuring the remaining battery power and the current consumption value, which detects the current flowing through the resistor 4 and the voltage between both ends of the resistor 4 and converts the detected current and voltage from analog to digital and outputs a digital signal. 5, a radio unit 1 and a display unit 5, and a digital signal output from the analog / digital conversion unit 5 is input. Based on the measured battery remaining amount and current consumption value, a battery remaining amount reference value (hereinafter, referred to as “ A control unit 6 for performing processing relating to setting of a “threshold”);
And a storage unit 7 for storing digital data such as a set threshold value.

The control unit 6 calculates the remaining battery power and the current consumption value of the device based on the voltage value and the current value measured using the resistor 4 and the analog / digital conversion unit 5, and calculates the calculated current consumption value. , And based on the result of comparing the remaining battery level with the threshold value, the remaining battery level is calculated, and the display unit 2 displays the remaining battery level.

Before describing the operation related to the display of the remaining battery level of the portable telephone device described above, it will be described that the discharge characteristics of the portable telephone device change with time depending on the amount of current consumption.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing, in comparison, discharge characteristics over time of portable telephone devices having different consumption currents. The same type of battery loaded in each portable telephone device has the same voltage. After the battery has been fully charged, the battery voltage is shown to change over time until the battery voltage drops to the minimum operating voltage in the same manner.

In FIG. 2, a device L is a portable telephone device in which a large current consumption flows, a device M is a portable telephone device in which a standard current consumption flows, and a device S is a portable telephone device in which a small current consumption flows. Device.

Referring to FIG. 2, in a portable telephone device that consumes a large amount of current, the remaining time (voltage) of the battery is shorter between level 3 and level 2, while the remaining time is between level 2 and level 1. It turns out that it is long. That is, the ratio of the level 2 → 1 display time to the whole (total effective usable time) is 30.3% for the device L, 14.0% for the device M, and
Is 11.9%.

Therefore, while the portable telephone device consuming a large amount of current consumes a long effective usable time after the remaining battery level reaches level 2, the portable telephone device consuming a small amount of current consumes the remaining battery level. It can be seen that the effective usable time of the device after reaching 2 is short.

For this reason, the reference level of the remaining battery level,
That is, when the threshold value is fixed, it can be seen that the effective usable time of the device after the remaining battery level reaches level 2 differs depending on the magnitude of the current consumption of the device.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the level reference value of the remaining battery level, that is, the threshold value is not fixed, but is set according to the current consumption of the portable telephone device.

For example, referring to FIG.
In addition, the level of the device L is set such that the display time of the level 2 → 1 is the same between the devices S and the usable time after the level 2 → 1 is displayed is the same. The threshold value is set low, and the threshold value of level 2 is set high for the device S.

Further, the control unit 6 classifies the devices based on the magnitude of the current consumption from the measurement result of the current consumption of the devices, and variably sets the reference value of the battery remaining amount of the device to a value corresponding to the classification. Good.

Next, an operation related to the display of the remaining battery level of the portable telephone device according to the present embodiment described with reference to FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining this operation.

In step 301 of FIG. 3, when the user turns on the power of the portable telephone device (see FIG. 1), in the next step 302, the control unit 6 causes the voltage across the resistor 4 to be measured. It is determined whether or not the battery 3 has been charged based on the value. If charged, step 303
Branch to If the battery has not been charged, the process branches to step 307, and the threshold setting process is not performed.

If it is determined in step 302 that the battery has been charged, then in step 303 the control unit 6
Causes the storage unit 7 to store the voltage value measured in step 302, and performs threshold setting processing in step 304 and subsequent steps.

Here, the current consumption of the portable telephone device greatly differs between the standby state and the talking state. The reason is,
This is because, in the standby state, transmission is basically not performed, but only reception is performed, and in the call state, transmission and reception are performed.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, different thresholds are set between the standby state and the talking state, as described below.

Further, even in a call state, the current consumption of the portable telephone device fluctuates. The reason is that the power control of the transmission radio wave is performed by the base station side.

Therefore, in this embodiment, it is determined whether or not the transmission power state is the MAX POWER transmission state (that is, the state in which the current consumption is the maximum), and the MAX PO
Based on the current consumption value in the WER transmission state, a threshold value in the call state, that is, a battery remaining amount threshold value is set.

In the standby state, the current consumption is measured without determining the condition, and the threshold value of the standby state is set based on the measured current consumption.

Following step 304, step 3
05, in step 306, the control unit 6
Is in a standby state, a call state, or another state.

If it is in the standby state, the process branches to step 308, where the control unit 6 notifies the storage unit 7 that it is currently in the standby state.
Then, the process proceeds to step 311.

In the case of the call state, the control section 6 branches to step 309, and the control section 6 informs the storage section 7 that the call state is currently in the call state.
And then determine the transmission level.

If neither the standby state nor the talking state is established, the flow branches to step 307, and the control section 7 does not change the threshold value.

In the case of a call state, following step 309, in step 310, the control section 7 determines whether or not the radio section 1 is performing communication at the maximum output (MAX POWER). If communication is not being performed at the maximum output, the flow branches to step 307, and the threshold value is not changed. If communication is being performed at the maximum output, step 31
Branch to 1.

If the transmission is being performed in the standby state or at the maximum output, in step 311, the control unit 7 causes the current consumption to be measured. Subsequently, in step 312, the process branches to step 313 if in a call state, and branches to step 314 if in a standby state.

In the case of a call state, in step 313, the control unit 7 sets a threshold value of the call state, for example, as described above with reference to FIG. 2, based on the current consumption value measured in step 311. Then, it is stored in the storage unit 7. In the case of the standby state, in step 314, the control unit 7 sets a threshold value of the standby state based on the current consumption value measured in step 311 as described above with reference to FIG. 2, for example. Is stored in the storage unit 7.

Thus, the threshold value is set according to the level of the current consumption and the mode such as the telephone call or the standby mode.

The control unit 7 can execute the above-described threshold setting process during each operation phase of the portable telephone device, for example, immediately after the start of a standby operation or immediately after a call.

Further, the control unit 7 appropriately compares the set threshold value and the remaining battery level according to the mode and the transmission level, and determines the correct remaining battery level, that is, the remaining effective usable time. Display the corresponding level.

[0051]

The effect of the present invention is that the user can be notified of the level of the remaining battery level corresponding to the remaining usable time regardless of the current consumption of the apparatus. The present invention is also applied to portable terminal devices of the same type, the same portable terminal device, and portable terminal devices of different types, and has the following effects.

That is, the first effect is that the portable terminal devices of the same type can notify the remaining battery level corresponding to the remaining usable time in any lot.

A second effect is that the same portable terminal device can notify the remaining battery level corresponding to the remaining usable time after any charging.

A third effect is that the portable terminal devices of different types can notify the remaining battery level corresponding to the remaining usable time in any device. Then, it is possible to use a common processing configuration for calculating the remaining battery level.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration of a mobile phone device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing, in comparison, discharge characteristics over time of mobile phone devices having different current consumptions;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a threshold setting process performed by the mobile phone device of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Radio part 2 Display part 3 Battery 4 Resistance 5 Analog / digital conversion part 6 Control part 7 Storage part

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2G016 CA00 CA07 CB02 CB21 CB22 CC03 CC04 CC06 CC07 CC15 CC16 CC23 CC27 CC28 CD14 CE00 CE08 5G003 BA01 CC02 DA02 DA13 EA06 FA08 GC05 5K023 AA07 BB11 HH01 HH05 LL04 5K027 FF04 KK04

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A portable terminal device comprising means for varying a reference value of a remaining battery level according to a measurement result of current consumption of the device. 2. The portable terminal device according to claim 1, wherein said device is provided with means for measuring said current consumption. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is classified based on the magnitude of the current consumption based on the measurement result of the current consumption of the apparatus, and a reference value of the remaining battery level of the apparatus is variably set to a value corresponding to the classification. Characteristic portable terminal device. 4. A means for measuring current consumption of the device, and a measure of current consumption of the device at least due to variations between lots of the device and / or errors in the capacity of a battery loaded in the device. Means for varying a reference value of the remaining battery power. 5. A battery, means for measuring current consumption of a device driven by the battery, means for measuring the remaining battery capacity, and comparing the measured value of the remaining battery capacity with a reference value, Means for informing the level of the remaining battery level, and between the devices having different current consumptions, the effective usable time after the notification of the predetermined level of the remaining battery level is possible regardless of the magnitude of the current consumption. Means for variably setting the reference value of the remaining battery charge according to the measurement result of the consumed current so as to be as constant as possible. 6. A battery, a radio unit for transmitting / receiving radio waves, a unit for measuring current consumption of a device driven by the battery, a unit for measuring remaining battery power, and a measurement result of the current consumption. Means for variably setting a reference value to be compared with the remaining battery level, comparing the measured remaining battery level with the set reference value, and obtaining the level of the remaining battery level based on the comparison result. And a display unit for displaying the level of the remaining battery power. 7. The portable telephone device according to claim 6, wherein different reference values are set in a call state and a standby state. 8. The portable telephone according to claim 7, wherein the reference value in the communication state is set according to a result of measuring the current consumption flowing when the device is transmitting at maximum output. Telephone equipment.