JP2001077742A - Portable information terminal and its radio communication function switching method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce power consumption by easily switching ON and OFF a radio communication function. SOLUTION: A world timer processing part 31 measures the time of an area specified at a key input part 13. A switching control part 21 discriminates whether or not the area whose time is measured by the world timer processing part 31 is an area wherein a radio communication can be made by a radio communication processing part 10, i.e., in the communication service zone of a mobile body communication network. The switching control part 21 when deciding that the area is in the communication service zone controls a power supply switching part 12 to stop the supply of the electric power from a power source 11 to the radio communication processing part 10 and turn OFF the radio communication function.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable information terminal having a wireless communication function and capable of performing wireless communication using a mobile communication network, and more particularly to a portable information terminal capable of reducing power consumption and the portable information terminal. The present invention relates to a wireless communication function switching method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There has been known a portable information terminal capable of performing wireless communication using a mobile communication network, transmitting and receiving an electronic mail, and browsing an Internet homepage. Some of such portable information terminals have various functions possessed by an electronic organizer, such as a world clock, a schedule book, and an address book. Further, there are terminals in which a terminal itself has a wireless communication function, and can perform wireless communication by transmitting and receiving a wireless signal to and from a base station of a mobile communication network like a mobile telephone device.

Here, in general, a device that performs wireless communication by transmitting / receiving a radio signal to / from a base station of a mobile communication network is located outside a communication service area of the mobile communication network in a power-on state. Then, an operation of confirming the radio wave state for returning to the service area, called a perch scan, is performed.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional portable information terminal, a perch scan is executed even when it is clear that the terminal is out of the communication service area of the mobile communication network. That is, for example, when a user enters a PDC (Personal
A portable information terminal having a digital telephone function of the Digital Celler (GSM) system is
perch scans are carried out when they are brought into an area where mobile communication networks of the cations type are installed (for example, when they are brought from Japan to Europe), even though they are clearly out of the communication service area. And wasting power.

[0005] In this regard, as a method of reducing power consumption when the mobile station is out of the communication service area, a method of reducing the frequency of perch scanning is considered. However, perch scanning cannot be completely stopped. Some power had to be wasted.

Further, when it is clear that the wireless communication function is out of the communication service area, a method of manually turning off the wireless communication function by a key operation or the like may be considered, but it takes time and effort.
If the user forgets to turn off the wireless communication function, a perch scan is performed, which wastes power.

The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and provides a portable information terminal capable of easily switching on / off a wireless communication function to reduce power consumption and a method for switching the wireless communication function. The purpose is to do.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a portable information terminal according to a first aspect of the present invention performs wireless communication via a mobile communication network by transmitting and receiving wireless signals. Means, a time measuring means for measuring time in a predetermined area, an area specifying means for specifying an area where the time measuring means measures time, and an area for which the time measuring means specified by the area specifying means measures time. Determining whether or not the mobile communication network is in a communication service area of a mobile communication network used for performing wireless communication by the wireless communication means; and determining that the mobile communication network is out of the communication service area, stopping the operation of the wireless communication means. Switching means for stopping the wireless communication function while being out of the communication service area while enabling data processing without transmission and reception of wireless signals.

According to the present invention, the clock means measures the time in the area designated by the area designating means, and the operation switching means operates the wireless communication means by the wireless communication means in the area where the time is measured. It is determined whether the mobile communication network is within the communication service area of the mobile communication network to be used. When the operation switching unit determines that the mobile station is out of the communication service area, the operation switching unit stops the operation of the wireless communication unit so that the wireless communication unit does not perform the perch scan. This allows
The on / off of the wireless communication function can be switched in conjunction with the change of the time measurement area, and the power consumption can be reduced by easily switching the on / off of the wireless communication function.

The area designation means includes schedule registration means for preliminarily registering, as a schedule, an area in which the time measurement means measures time together with the date and time, and the operation switching means includes a register based on the schedule registration means and the time measurement means. Based on the measured time, the clock means determines whether or not the area where the time is measured is within the communication service area, and if it is determined that the area is outside the communication service area, the operation of the wireless communication means is stopped. It is desirable. Thus, the wireless communication function can be switched on / off in conjunction with the schedule function, and the wireless communication function can be easily switched on / off to reduce power consumption.

[0011] The operation switching means may include means for activating the wireless communication means upon detecting that the area in which the time measurement means measures the time has been changed to a communication service area by the area designation means. desirable.

It is preferable that a power supply for supplying operating power is provided, and that the operation switching means stop supplying power from the power supply to the wireless communication means when the wireless communication means is in a stop state. This makes it possible to completely stop the wireless communication function and reduce power consumption.

A portable information terminal according to a second aspect of the present invention is a portable information terminal that performs wireless communication via a mobile communication network by transmitting and receiving a wireless signal, a power supply including a battery, And a mobile communication network for specifying a current location based on a location registered in the schedule registration means and using the current location for wireless communication by the wireless communication means. It is determined whether it is within the communication service area or not, and when it is determined that it is out of the communication service area,
Power supply switching means for stopping supply of power from the power supply to the wireless communication means.

A method for switching a wireless communication function of a portable information terminal according to a third aspect of the present invention is a wireless communication method for a portable information terminal capable of performing wireless communication via a mobile communication network by transmitting and receiving wireless signals. A function switching method, comprising: a timekeeping step of measuring time in a predetermined area, an area designation step of designating an area to measure time in the timekeeping step, and the timekeeping step designated in the area designation step. It is determined whether or not the area whose time is to be measured is within the communication service area of the mobile communication network, and if it is determined that the time is out of the communication service area, the wireless processing is performed while the data processing without transmission and reception of wireless signals is enabled. Operation switching step of stopping the communication function.

According to the present invention, the clocking step measures the time of the area specified in the area specifying step, and the operation switching step determines whether the area whose time is measured in the clocking step is a communication service of the mobile communication network. It is determined whether it is within range. Then, in the operation switching step, when it is determined that the mobile station is out of the communication service area, the wireless communication function is stopped while data processing without transmission / reception of a wireless signal can be executed.
Thus, the wireless communication function can be switched on / off in conjunction with the change of the time measurement area, and the power consumption can be reduced by simply switching the wireless communication function on / off.

The area specifying step includes a schedule registration step of pre-registering, as a schedule, an area for which the time is measured in the time counting step together with the date and time, and the operation switching step includes: Based on the time measured in the step, it is determined whether or not the area where the time is measured in the time counting step is within the communication service area of the mobile communication network. It is desirable to stop the wireless communication function while enabling data processing without signal transmission and reception. This allows the wireless communication function to be turned on / off in conjunction with the schedule function.
The power can be switched off and the wireless communication function can be easily switched on / off to reduce power consumption.

[0017] Preferably, the operation switching step includes a step of activating a wireless communication function upon detecting that an area for measuring time in the timing step has been changed to a communication service area.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a portable information terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a portable information terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The portable information terminal 100 has a function of performing wireless communication using a mobile communication network. As shown in FIG.
0, power supply 11, power supply switching unit 12, key input unit 13, display unit 14, processing control unit 15, antenna 1
6 is provided.

The wireless communication processing unit 10 performs wireless communication by transmitting and receiving wireless signals to and from a base station of a mobile communication network.

The power supply 11 is composed of a lithium ion secondary battery or the like, and supplies power to each part of the portable information terminal 100.

The power supply switching unit 12 is composed of a semiconductor switch or the like, and switches between supplying and stopping power supply from the power supply 11 to the wireless communication processing unit 10.

The key input unit 13 includes a keypad, a touch panel sheet, and the like.
It is a command input section to the.

The display unit 14 is an LCD (Liquid Crystal D)
isplay) and the like, for displaying an image according to the processing result of the processing control unit 15.

The processing control unit 15 has a RAM (Random Acces
C with s Memory) and ROM (Read Only Memory)
The mobile information terminal 100 is configured by a PU (Central Processing Unit) or the like, and controls the operation of the entire portable information terminal 100. The transmission / reception processing unit 20, the switching control unit 21, and the data processing unit 22 are provided.

The transmission / reception processing unit 20 includes the radio communication processing unit 10
The signal received from the data processing unit 22 is subjected to processing such as decoding and converted into a form that can be processed by the data processing unit 22, or the data received from the data processing unit 22 is subjected to processing such as encoding and processed by the wireless communication processing unit 10. This is for performing signal processing such as conversion into a processable form.

The switching control unit 21 controls the operation of the power supply switching unit 12 in accordance with the processing result of the data processing unit 22 to switch between supply and stop of power supply from the power supply 11 to the wireless communication processing unit 10. belongs to.

The data processing section 22 is for executing various data processing, for example, by executing application software on an OS (Operating System), and has a logical configuration of a schedule processing section. 30 and a world clock processing unit 31.

The schedule processing unit 30 realizes a so-called schedule book function, registers a user's schedule input from the key input unit 13 by specifying a date and time, and displays the schedule in response to a request from the key input unit 13. 14 for display.

The world clock processing unit 31 realizes a clock function that can be used worldwide, and measures time in a predetermined area designated by the key input unit 13 and an area registered in the schedule processing unit 30. This is for displaying on the display unit 14.

The operation of the portable information terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below. This portable information terminal is a terminal that can easily switch on / off a wireless communication function and reduce power consumption by inputting a place name for setting a world clock.

When the portable information terminal 100 executes a process using a wireless communication function within a communication service area,
The data processing unit 22 executes a process according to the instruction received from the key input unit 13 and displays the execution result on the display unit 14 to notify the user.

For example, when transmitting an e-mail, the data processing unit 22 transmits transmission data (data for the e-mail) to the transmission / reception processing unit 20 in accordance with an instruction received from the key input unit 13. The transmission / reception processing unit 20 performs processing such as encoding on the transmission data received from the data processing unit 22, sends the data to the wireless communication processing unit 10, and causes the antenna 16 to transmit a wireless signal to a base station of a mobile communication network.

On the other hand, when receiving an electronic mail, the wireless communication processing unit 10 extracts predetermined information data from the wireless signal received by the antenna 16 and
Performs processing such as decoding on the information data extracted by the wireless communication processing unit 10 and sends the information data to the data processing unit 22. The data processing unit 22 executes a process according to the data received from the transmission / reception processing unit 20, and notifies the user by displaying the execution result on the display unit 14 or the like.

The portable information terminal 100 can automatically switch on / off the wireless communication function by using the world clock function to determine whether or not the current location is within the communication service area. . That is, when the user operates the key input unit 13 and designates an area for measuring time, for example, a country name of a business trip destination, to the world clock processing unit 31, the world clock processing unit 31 sets the time being measured to Key input unit 13
The time is adjusted by changing to the time of the area specified by.

At this time, the switching control unit 21 determines that the area where the world clock processing unit 31 is measuring the time is the radio communication processing unit 1
It is determined whether or not the mobile communication network is in an area where wireless communication can be performed according to 0, that is, a communication service area of a mobile communication network. When the switching control unit 21 determines that the area where the world clock processing unit 31 is measuring time is outside the communication service area, the switching control unit 21 controls the power supply switching unit 12 to switch the power supply 11 from the wireless communication processing unit 10. To stop supplying power to the This makes it possible to automatically turn off the wireless communication function when out of the communication service area so that the perch scan is not executed, and reduce power consumption with simple settings.

When the user's destination is known in advance, the user can operate the key input unit 13 to specify the date and time in the schedule processing unit 30 and register the destination. The schedule processing unit 30 periodically checks the destination schedule registered by the user,
The current position is specified in accordance with the time measured by 1 and the world clock processing unit 31 determines whether or not to change the region in which the time is measured.

When the schedule processing unit 30 determines that the world clock processing unit 31 changes the area for measuring the time,
The world clock processing unit 31 is notified of the destination of the registered user, and instructs to change the time. World Clock Processor 3
When instructed by the schedule processing unit 30 to change the time, the time adjustment unit 1 changes the time being measured to a local time corresponding to the destination of the user notified by the schedule processing unit 30, and adjusts the time.

At this time, the switching control unit 21 determines that the area where the world clock processing unit 31 is measuring the time is the wireless communication processing unit 1
It is determined whether or not the mobile communication network is in an area where wireless communication can be performed according to 0, that is, a communication service area of a mobile communication network. When the switching control unit 21 determines that the area where the world clock processing unit 31 is measuring time is outside the communication service area, the switching control unit 21 controls the power supply switching unit 12 to switch the power supply 11 from the wireless communication processing unit 10. To stop supplying power to the This allows the user to register the destination schedule, change the time according to the schedule, and automatically turn off the wireless communication function when the current location is outside the communication service area to reduce power consumption can do.

Thus, even after the wireless communication function is automatically turned off, data processing without wireless communication can be executed. For example, the user operates the key input unit 1
3 to input a predetermined instruction to activate the telephone directory function, and request that the telephone number registered in the data processing unit 22 be displayed. Upon receiving an instruction from the key input unit 13, the data processing unit 22 executes a process corresponding to the telephone directory function, and causes the display unit 14 to display the telephone directory recorded in a memory (not shown). it can.

Thereafter, the world clock processing unit 31 receives an instruction from the key input unit 13 or the schedule processing unit 30
When the instruction to change the time is given again by the instruction from, the time under measurement is changed to the time in the designated area to adjust the time. At this time, the switching control unit 21 determines whether or not the area where the world clock processing unit 31 is measuring the time is within the communication service area of the mobile communication network, and determines that the area is within the communication service area. Then, the power supply switching unit 12 is controlled to start supplying power from the power supply 11 to the wireless communication processing unit 10. Thus, when the current location is within the communication service area, the wireless communication function can be automatically turned on.

For example, the communication system for performing wireless communication by the wireless communication processing unit 10 is PDC (Personal Digital Celer).
ler) method, where the current location is Tokyo and the current time is 19
It is assumed that it is 10:30 am (Japan time) on August 15, 1999. In this case, since the PDC system is used as a mobile communication system in Tokyo, power is supplied from the power supply 11 to the wireless communication processing unit 10.

Then, the location of the portable information terminal 100 is changed to London from 2:00 pm (Japan time) on August 17, 1999, and further, on August 2, 1999.
We will return to Tokyo from 8:00 am (Greenwich Mean Time) on the 2nd. The user operates the key input unit 13 to register these schedules in the schedule processing unit 30.

The schedule processing section 30 monitors the world clock processing section 31 and, when it is 2:00 pm on August 17, 1999 in Japan time, the world clock processing section 31 changes the time measurement area to London. Notify to do.

When the world clock processing unit 31 receives a notification from the schedule processing unit 30 that the time in London is to be measured, the world clock processing unit 31 changes the current time from the currently measured time in Tokyo to the time in London. Delay by time. Here, in London, GSM is used as a mobile communication system.
(Global System for Mobile communications) system is used, and the PDC system cannot be used.

The switching control unit 21 determines that the area where the world clock processing unit 31 measures the time has been changed from Tokyo to London, and thus determines that it is outside the communication service area of the PDC system. To stop the supply of power from the power supply 11 to the wireless communication processing unit 10.

After that, the schedule processing unit 30 monitors the world clock processing unit 31 so that
At 8:00 am on August 22, 2009, the world clock processing unit 3
1 is notified to change the time measurement area to Tokyo.

When the world clock processing unit 31 receives notification from the schedule processing unit 30 that the time in Tokyo is to be measured,
The current time is advanced by 9 hours to change from the time in London currently being measured to the time in Tokyo.

The switching control unit 21 determines that the area where the world clock processing unit 31 measures the time has been changed from London to Tokyo, and thus determines that it is within the communication service area of the PDC system. To start the supply of power from the power supply 11 to the wireless communication processing unit 10. As described above, while staying in London, which is outside the communication service area of the PDC system, the wireless communication processing unit 10 is automatically
Power can be stopped, and power consumption can be reduced with simple settings.

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is determined whether or not the time measurement area is within the communication service area. If it is determined that the time measurement area is outside the communication service area, the wireless communication function can be automatically turned off. Thus, the wireless communication function can be switched on / off in conjunction with the world clock function, so that the user does not forget to switch the wireless communication function, and power consumption can be reduced with simple settings.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications and applications are possible. For example, in the above embodiment, when the world clock processing unit 31 changes the time, the switching control unit 21 has been described as determining whether or not it is within the communication service area. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
That is, for example, even when the destination of the user registered in the schedule processing unit 30 does not need to change the time measured by the world clock processing unit 31,
The switching control unit 21 may determine whether the destination of the user is within the communication service area.

As a specific example, if Osaka is within the communication service area and Tokyo is outside the communication service area,
By operating the key input unit 13, the schedule processing unit 30
Then, the schedule of the transfer from Osaka to Tokyo is registered. Then, even if the time of the world clock processing unit 31 is not changed, the switching control unit 21 reads the registered contents of the schedule processing unit 30 and changes the current location from Osaka (a communication service area) to Tokyo (outside a communication service area). At a certain time, the power supply switching unit 12 may be controlled to stop the power supply from the power supply 11 to the wireless communication processing unit 10.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention, the power consumption can be reduced efficiently by switching the wireless communication function on / off with a simple setting.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a portable information terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 wireless communication processing unit 11 power supply 12 power supply switching unit 13 key input unit 14 display unit 15 processing control unit 16 antenna 20 transmission / reception processing unit 21 switching control unit 22 data processing unit 30 schedule processing unit 31 world clock processing unit 100 portable information terminal

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2F002 AA07 AD06 AD07 BA02 BA09 BB04 EA01 EB04 ED02 ED05 EE00 EE07 FA32 GA01 GA06 GA18 5K027 AA11 BB17 CC08 GG03 GG08 HH27 5K067 AA43 BB21 DD18 DD27 DD30 GG05 GG05 GG05 GG21

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A wireless communication means for performing wireless communication via a mobile communication network by transmitting and receiving a wireless signal, a time measuring means for measuring time in a predetermined area, and an area in which the time measuring means measures time. Whether the area where the time is specified by the area specifying means to be specified and the timekeeping means specified by the area specifying means is within a communication service area of a mobile communication network used for performing wireless communication by the wireless communication means. Operation switching means for stopping the operation of the wireless communication means when it is determined that the mobile station is out of the communication service area. A portable information terminal characterized in that a wireless communication function can be stopped while the wireless communication function is stopped. 2. The area designating means includes schedule registering means for registering, as a schedule, an area in which the time measuring means measures time together with a date and time, and the operation switching means includes a registration content of the schedule registering means and the time counting. Based on the time measured by the means,
The operation of the wireless communication means is stopped when it is determined whether the time measuring means is in a communication service area or not, and when the time measurement means is out of the communication service area, the operation of the wireless communication means is stopped. 2. The mobile information terminal according to 1. 3. The operation switching means includes means for activating the wireless communication means upon detecting that an area in which the time measurement means measures time has been changed to a communication service area by the area designation means. The portable information terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: 4. A power supply for supplying operating power, wherein the operation switching means stops the supply of power from the power supply to the wireless communication means when the wireless communication means is in a stopped state. The portable information terminal according to claim 1, 2, or 3. 5. A wireless communication means for performing wireless communication via a mobile communication network by transmitting / receiving a wireless signal; a power supply including a battery; a schedule registration means for registering a location together with a date and time as a schedule in advance; The current location is specified based on the location registered in the schedule registration means, and it is determined whether the current location is within a communication service area of a mobile communication network used for performing wireless communication by the wireless communication means. A portable information terminal, comprising: power supply switching means for stopping supply of power from the power supply to the wireless communication means when it is determined that the wireless communication means is outside the service area. 6. A wireless communication function switching method for a portable information terminal capable of performing wireless communication via a mobile communication network by transmitting and receiving a wireless signal, comprising: a time measuring step of measuring time in a predetermined area; An area designating step for designating an area for measuring time in the time keeping step; and whether or not the area for measuring time in the time keeping step designated in the area designating step is within a communication service area of a mobile communication network. And an operation switching step of stopping the wireless communication function while enabling data processing without transmitting / receiving a wireless signal when determining that the mobile information terminal is out of the communication service area. Wireless communication function switching method. 7. The area specifying step includes a schedule registration step of pre-registering, as a schedule, an area for which time is measured in the time counting step together with a date and time, the operation switching step includes: a registration content in the schedule registration step; Based on the time measured in the timekeeping step, it is determined whether or not the area where the time is measured in the timekeeping step is within the communication service area of the mobile communication network, and it is determined that the area is out of the communication service area. ,
7. The wireless communication function switching method according to claim 6, wherein the wireless communication function is stopped while data processing without transmission and reception of a wireless signal is enabled. 8. The operation switching step includes a step of activating a wireless communication function by detecting that an area where time is measured in the time counting step has been changed to a communication service area. The wireless communication function switching method according to claim 6.