JP2000304841A - Position measuring method in portable information processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress power supply consumption in a position measuring device and shorten the time required for measuring position in the position measuring device. SOLUTION: When a demand related to position measurement arises in a CPU of PDA(Personal Digital Assistant) (100), a switch controlling the supply of power supply to a GPS receiver from a battery in the PDA is turned on (102). An ASIC in the GPS receiver starts its operation in accordance with it. At this time, the results of position measurement at the time of previous position measurement are read from a memory backed-up by the battery (200) to end position measuring operation in a short time (202). When the results of position measurement are obtained (206, 104), the CPU turns off the switch (106) to shut off the supply of power supply to a circuit in the GPS receiver including the ASIC. While the supply of power supply is shut off, the results of position measurement are held by the memory.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a portable information terminal (Pe
The present invention relates to a positioning method in a portable information processing apparatus such as a PDA (rsonal Digital Assistants).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a means for expanding the functions and capabilities of a portable information processing apparatus, a card slot has been conventionally provided in a portable information processing apparatus, and various media or apparatuses have been designed and inserted so that they can be inserted into the card slot. The method of manufacturing is used. For example, PCMCIA (Personal
A card containing a memory, a disk, a modem, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, and the like is created inside a card-shaped casing according to the Computer Memory Card International Association (standard). By using this card, functions such as storage and recording of a device having a card slot conforming to the PCMCIA standard, such as a notebook personal computer, can be expanded, or functions such as communication and positioning can be added thereto. . Further, in devices such as digital still cameras and PDAs, in order to be able to store video data or to expand the storage capacity,
A compact flash (CF) or the like is used. The CF has a configuration in which a flash memory or the like is housed in a card-shaped casing. In order to use the CF, it is necessary to provide a card slot compatible with the CF on the portable information processing apparatus side.

[0003]

The positioning of the card as viewed from the main body of the portable information processing apparatus is to extend the capacity of the main body of the portable information processing apparatus quantitatively, This is the addition of new functions that the device itself does not have. Therefore, since the card is an accessory or an accessory to the main body of the portable removal processing apparatus, the card interface is often configured to be able to supply power to the card from the portable information processing apparatus. Looking from the card,
It is not necessary to provide an independent power supply unit on the card side as long as the portable information processing device to be inserted and mounted has a power supply unit and can receive power supply from the power supply unit via the card interface. Therefore, power supply to the card inserted and mounted in the PCMCIA slot or CF slot is
It is general to reduce the size and weight of the card by using a power supply unit of the portable information processing apparatus to be inserted and mounted via a card interface, in other words, to reduce the size and weight of the card by using a common power supply unit.

Here, for a portable information processing apparatus,
It is required that the frequency of replacement / charging of the built-in battery serving as the power supply unit be reduced as much as possible, that is, performance that can be used continuously for as long as possible without replacement / charging. When the power supply to the card is performed from the main body of the portable information processing apparatus, discharge and consumption of the power supply section of the main body are promoted, so that the time in which the card can be continuously used without replacement or charging is shortened. In order to suppress this problem, it is sufficient to supply power to the card from the power supply unit of the main unit only when necessary.

However, when the card inserted and mounted is a card-shaped GPS receiver, that is, a GPS card, if the power supply is started at the start of the positioning, the time until the end of the positioning becomes long. Specifically, it collects orbit data from GPS satellites, estimates the current location roughly, and uses the GP based on those results.
Processing such as selection of a combination of S satellites and positioning calculation based on signals from GPS satellites related to the selected combination must be performed. Dislikes that the time until the end of positioning is long, in other words, that the response to the request for positioning is slow. Conventionally, power supply from the power supply unit of the main body of the portable information processing device to the GPS card is continuously performed. To reduce the time required. On the other hand, such a method cannot sufficiently reduce the time during which the portable information processing apparatus can be continuously used without replacing or charging the battery.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to reduce the time during which a portable information processing apparatus can be continuously used without replacing or charging a battery. Improvement of power supply control from a portable information processing device to a positioning device and improvement of power usage inside the positioning device include shortening of a response time of a positioning device connected to or attached to the information processing device, for example, a GPS card. The purpose is to achieve both by combining with.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides (1) connecting or mounting a positioning device which receives a power supply from the outside and executes positioning to a portable information processing device. In the positioning method to be operated, (2) during a period in which positioning is not executed, a power storage device provided in the positioning device such that a positioning result at the previous positioning is held in a storage element provided in the positioning device. The storage element is backed up by the element, and (3) when it becomes necessary to execute positioning, power supply from the portable information processing apparatus to the positioning apparatus is started,
(4) In response to receiving the power supply from the portable information processing device, the positioning by receiving the satellite signal is started using the positioning result at the time of the previous positioning held on the storage element, and the power is supplied. The power storage device is charged by a power supply. (5) When the positioning is completed, the positioning result is written in the storage element and the positioning result is supplied from the positioning device to the portable information processing device. Power supply from the processing device to the positioning device is stopped.

As described above, while the positioning is not being performed, the result of the previous positioning is held by the storage element in the positioning device, so that when the positioning is started, the positioning result of the previous positioning is used. It is possible to omit at least part of the processing required at the start of positioning, for example, to determine the combination of positioning satellites, and to shorten the response time of the positioning device as compared with the related art. In addition, since the storage element for holding the positioning result at the time of the previous positioning by the storage element in the positioning device can be a small-capacity secondary battery or a capacitor, even if the storage device is provided, the storage device can be small. It doesn't go against the demand for weight reduction. In addition, this power storage element can be charged with electric power and electric charge from the power supply unit of the portable information processing device when performing positioning. Furthermore, the control operation on the portable information processing device side is a simple control of starting / stopping power supply from the power supply unit, for example, a battery, to the inside of the positioning device.
The burden on the circuit or software of the portable information processing device is small. In addition, the present invention can be easily implemented because the circuit or the software of the portable information processing apparatus requires little modification to implement the present invention.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an implementation environment of the present invention.
In this figure, a GP that can be inserted and mounted in a PCMCIA slot 12 of a notebook personal computer 10 is shown.
An S receiver 14 is shown. This GPS receiver 14
Is a card-shaped portion 16 inserted and mounted in the PCMCIA slot 12, and a G for receiving a signal from a GPS satellite.
It comprises a PS antenna 18 and an antenna cable 20 for connecting the card-shaped part 16 and the GPS antenna 18. Based on the signal received by the GPS antenna 18, the card-shaped portion 16, particularly a circuit housed at the end thereof, performs a positioning operation, and the personal computer 10 fetches the result of the positioning operation and displays the result of the positioning operation. The current location is displayed on the screen. In the figure, the current location is represented by a black circle symbol.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show another example of an environment for implementing the present invention. In this figure, a GPS receiver 28 used by being inserted and mounted in the CF slot 26 of the PDA 24 is shown. The GPS receiver 28 has the CF slot 26
Card-shaped portion 30 inserted and mounted in the device, and a circuit housing portion 3 for housing a circuit for performing positioning calculation and a backup battery
2 and an antenna storage section 34 for storing a GPS antenna. The antenna housing 34 is pivotably connected to the circuit housing 32 as shown in FIG. Therefore, by turning the antenna housing 34, the GPS antenna housed in the antenna housing 34 is moved away from the PDA 24, and the influence of radiation from the CPU and the like in the PDA 24 can be reduced. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the GPS antenna 36 disposed in the antenna housing 34 can be kept away from the PDA 24, so that the reception gain of the GPS antenna 36 for radiation in the PDA 24 can be suppressed. by this,
After the user issues a request for positioning, the positioning result is obtained, and the current location and the like can be promptly displayed on the screen of the display unit 38 of the PDA 24. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 40 denotes an ASIC for executing a positioning operation, reference numeral 42 denotes a backup battery, and reference numeral 44 denotes a circuit board on which these are mounted. It is.

In addition, even if the configuration shown in FIG. 5 is used instead of the configuration shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the influence of radiation from the CPU or the like in the PDA 24 can be reduced. In the figure, reference numeral 46 denotes a receiver housing section, which houses both the GPS antenna 36 and the circuit board 44. GPS antenna 3
6 is such that the low gain receiving direction is directed to the inside of the PDA 24, that is, the radiation from the inside of the PDA 24 is
6 so as not to interfere with the reception of signals from GPS satellites.

In any of the above-described environments, information such as a map and a current location can be appropriately displayed on a screen according to a user's request. For example, taking the environment shown in FIG. 5 as an example, as shown in FIG. 6, (a) first, a menu is displayed on the screen of the display unit 38, and the user selects GPS reception from this menu. At this time, (b) power supply to the GPS receiver 28 inserted and mounted in the CF slot 26 is started. When a certain period of time elapses after the power supply is started, the positioning operation in the GPS receiver 28 ends, and the positioning result, for example, information such as the current location is obtained. (C) The PDA 24 inputs this information, combines it with, for example, map information, and displays it on the screen of the display unit 38. Further, as shown in FIG.
The information obtained in step 8 may be transmitted to a base station by a mobile phone 50 or the like connected by the connector 48. Thus, the CF slot 26 of the PDA 24
GPS receiver 28 that can be inserted and used in
It is important in expanding the capabilities and functions of 24.

FIG. 8 shows a PDA 24 and a GPS when the present invention is applied to the environment shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 or FIG.
3 shows a circuit configuration of the receiver 28. As shown in FIG.
The DA 24 includes a display unit 38 having a screen for providing information to a user, an operation unit such as a button / dial provided around the display unit 38 and a touch panel integrated with the display unit 38. 52, an interface 54 for connection to the GPS receiver 28, an interface 56 for connection to the mobile phone 50, etc., a memory 58 realized by RAM, ROM, or the like, and a CP for controlling these devices.
U60 and the like. In addition, the GPS receiver 28
GPS antenna 3 for receiving signals from GPS satellites
6, an ASIC 40 for executing positioning calculation based on a signal received using the GPS antenna 36, a memory 61 for storing data used by the ASIC 40 or data calculated by the ASIC 40, an interface 62 for connection to the PDA 24, and the like. , Have.

The PDA 24 has a battery 64 serving as a power supply.
, And the GPS receiver 28 has a built-in battery 42 for backing up the memory 61. Also, the PDA 24 has an interface 54 from the battery 64.
A switch 66 is provided on a path for supplying power to the ASIC 40 and the battery 42 via the switches 62 and 62.

FIG. 9 shows a CPU having the configuration shown in FIG.
6 shows a flow of operations of the ASIC 40 and the ASIC 40. FIG. 6 (a)
7A, when a user selects a menu related to positioning from a menu displayed on the screen of the display unit 38, or when a request related to positioning occurs (1).
00), the CPU 60 turns on the switch 66 to start power supply to the GPS receiver 28 including the ASIC 40 (102). ASIC40 is a PDA
When the power supply is received from the battery 64, the operation starts. At that time, the ASIC 40 first reads the contents of the memory 61 backed up by the battery 42, that is, the positioning result at the time of the previous positioning (200). ASI
The C40 executes a positioning calculation using the read positioning result at the time of the previous positioning (202). At this time, since the positioning result at the time of the previous positioning is used, the procedure of the processing in the positioning calculation can be reduced as compared with a case where the positioning result is not used, and the positioning calculation ends in a relatively short time.

When the positioning operation is completed and information such as the current position is obtained, the ASIC 40 writes the result in the memory 61 (204), and further, the interfaces 62 and 54.
This is supplied to the CPU 60 of the PDA 24 via
06). When the positioning result is obtained from the GPS receiver 28 (104), the CPU 60 turns off the switch 66 and cuts off the power supply from the battery 64 to the circuit in the GPS receiver 28 (106). Thereafter, the CPU 60 executes processing such as displaying information on the screen of the display unit 38 based on the positioning result (108).

As described above, in the procedure shown in FIG. 9, when a request related to positioning (GPS reception request in FIGS. 6 and 7) is generated, the GPS receiver 2 is output from the battery 64.
The power supply to the inside 8 is started, and when the positioning result is obtained, this is stopped. Therefore, GPS
Although the power for operating the receiver 28 is supplied from the battery 64 in the PDA 24, the discharge and consumption of the battery 64 due to the supply can be suppressed, and the battery 6
4 can be used for a long time without being replaced or charged. In addition, even when power is not supplied from the battery 64, since the positioning result at the previous positioning is stored in the memory 61 backed up by the battery 64, the power supply from the battery 64 starts. Then, it is possible to obtain a positioning result in a relatively short time and supply it to the PDA 24. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the time from the state (a) to the state (c) can be reduced. In addition, the battery 64
Since the battery is charged by the output of the battery 64 while the power is supplied to the GPS receiver 28 from, the procedure for charging the battery 42 does not need to be specially provided. Further, the battery 42
Since it is sufficient if the memory 61 can be backed up, it can be realized by a relatively small capacity secondary battery, and in some cases, a capacitor can be used.

Further, when performing the operation shown in FIG. 7, that is, the operation involving the call to the base station or the like, as shown in FIG. It is preferable to start a calling procedure based on such as (102A). In this way, while the GPS receiver 28 is performing positioning, the mobile phone 50 or the like makes a call to the base station,
Since the connection with the base station can be established, the procedure shown in FIG. 7 can be completed in a short time. The procedure shown in FIG. 10 is particularly effective in a case where the positioning result obtained by the GPS receiver 28 is transmitted to the base station using the mobile phone 50 or the like and the corresponding map data is downloaded from the base station. It is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an implementation environment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing another example of an implementation environment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a usage form of a GPS receiver in the environment shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a position of a GPS antenna in the use mode shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view showing still another example of an implementation environment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an application of the present invention. In particular, FIG. 6A shows generation of a GPS reception request by a user operation.
(B) is a diagram showing execution of a positioning operation corresponding to this, and (c) is a diagram showing a display process based on information obtained as a result of positioning.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an application of the present invention. In particular, FIG. 7A shows generation of a GPS reception request by a user operation.
(B) is a diagram showing execution of a positioning operation corresponding to this, and (c) is a diagram showing a data transmission process based on information obtained as a result of positioning.

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of operations of a CPU and an ASIC according to the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a modified example of the procedure shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 personal computer, 12 PCMCIA slot, 14, 28 GPS receiver, 22, 38 display, 24 PDA, 40 ASIC, 42, 64 battery, 60 CPU, 61 memory, 66 switch.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2F029 AA07 AB07 AC02 5H180 AA21 BB05 BB08 FF05 FF22 FF27 FF33 5J062 BB05 CC07 HH05 9A001 BB06 HH23 JJ11 JJ78

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a positioning method in which a positioning device that receives a power supply from the outside and executes positioning is connected to or attached to a portable information processing device and operates, a period in which positioning is not executed is performed in the positioning device. The storage element provided in the positioning device backs up this storage element so that the positioning result of the previous positioning is retained on the storage element provided in The power supply from the device to the positioning device is started, and in response to receiving the power supply from the portable information processing device, the satellite signal is received by using the positioning result at the previous positioning held on the storage element. Start positioning,
The power storage device is charged by the supplied power, and when the positioning is completed, the positioning result is written on the storage element and the positioning result is supplied from the positioning device to the portable information processing device. A positioning method, comprising: stopping power supply from a processing device to a positioning device.