JP2002077378A - Portable telephone device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable telephone device capable of automatically controlling the lighting of backlight, without specially adding components according to the remaining cell power or special operation. SOLUTION: The portable telephone, which controls the lighting of backlight over indicators and/or key operating unit according to the remaining cell power comprises a first table, which divides the remaining cell power into a plurality of levels and allots level values, a second table which allots timer counter values corresponding to the level values, and a lighting control means for lighting the backlight until the timer counter value is reached. The level value of the remaining cell power is decided by referencing the first table when keys are depressed at the key-operating unit. If the level value exceeds a predetermined level value, the backlight is lighted and a timer counter value to be set by referencing the first, and second tables is read and set in the lighting control means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable telephone, and more particularly, to a portable telephone having a display unit such as a liquid crystal and a key operation unit using a battery as a power source, and a backlight of the display unit and / or the key operation unit. The present invention relates to a mobile phone that performs lighting control according to a remaining amount.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, various methods have been proposed for suppressing power consumption of a portable telephone having a low power consumption function by cutting off power supply to a circuit unit which is not necessary for waiting for communication. For example, JP-A-10-24289
In the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-264, the mode is quickly shifted to the low current consumption mode in response to a user's request, thereby suppressing the current consumption of the device. As another method, it is also known that the backlight is automatically turned off after a predetermined time after the last key is pressed by the key operation unit. A method is also known in which an optical sensor is mounted, and when the surroundings are bright, the backlight is automatically turned off based on a detection signal from the sensor.

[0003]

In the prior art described above, for example, in the method described in the above-mentioned publication, the user needs to perform an operation particularly when turning off the backlight.
In the method of automatically turning off the backlight after a certain period of time after the last key press, regardless of the remaining battery power, the backlight automatically turns off after a certain period of time after the last key press or the user turns off the light in advance. Mode must be switched to Further, in the method using a sensor, it is necessary to mount a control optical sensor on a device. The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the related art, and effectively controls the lighting time of the backlight and the brightness of the backlight according to the level of the remaining battery power, thereby effectively reducing the internal battery power. An object is to provide a mobile phone which can reduce power consumption.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a display and / or display.
Or a first table in which the backlight of the key operation unit is controlled to be turned on according to the remaining battery level, in which the remaining battery level is divided into a plurality of levels and a level value is assigned,
A second table to which a timer counter value is assigned in accordance with the level value; and lighting control means for turning on the backlight until the timer counter value is reached. The level value of the remaining battery level at the time of the determination is determined with reference to the first table, and when the level value exceeds a predetermined level value, the backlight is turned on and the first table and the first The timer counter value to be set is read out with reference to two tables and set in the lighting control means.

Further, according to the present invention, in a portable telephone for controlling lighting of a backlight of a display and / or a key operation unit according to a remaining battery level, the remaining battery level is divided into a plurality of levels and a level value is assigned. A first table, a second table in which a dimming level value corresponding to the level value is determined, and a duty ratio is assigned in accordance with the dimming level value;
Lighting control means for turning on the backlight at a predetermined duty ratio until a predetermined timer counter value is reached, and the level value of the battery remaining amount when a key is pressed by the key operation unit. Is determined by referring to the first table, and when the level value exceeds a predetermined level value, the backlight is turned on,
A duty ratio to be set is read out with reference to the first table and the second table, and set in the lighting control means together with the predetermined timer count value.

Further, according to the present invention, in a portable telephone for controlling lighting of a backlight of a display and / or a key operation unit according to a remaining battery level, the remaining battery level is divided into a plurality of levels and a level value is assigned. A first table, a dimming level value and a timer counter value corresponding to the level value, and a second table in which a duty ratio is assigned in accordance with the dimming level value. Lighting control means for turning on the backlight at a predetermined duty ratio, when the key is pressed by the key operation unit, the backlight is turned on, and the level value of the battery remaining amount is set to the The determination is made with reference to the first table, the duty ratio and the timer count value to be set are read out with reference to the second table, and set in the lighting control means. It is obtained by the.

[0007]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a portable telephone to which the present invention is applied.

[0008] A signal transmitted and received via the antenna 1 is transmitted to the microphone 5 and the speaker 6 via the radio unit 2, the control unit 3, and the call control unit 4. The control unit 3 controls the radio unit 2 and the call control unit 4 and also controls the display unit 10 and the operation unit 9. Further, a memory 7 is connected to the control unit 3 and stores various information such as a control program and a telephone number. Further, a timer 8 is provided, and controls the lighting of a backlight described later via the control unit 3. A backlight is mounted on the operation unit 9 and / or the display unit 10, and the display is easily viewed by turning on the backlight for a predetermined time. Power to all these components is supplied by a built-in battery 11.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The remaining amount of the battery (battery) is measured at regular intervals, for example, every 1 to 2 seconds (step 201). As a result of this measurement, the remaining battery level is divided into a plurality of levels, and level values are assigned and stored in Table 1. For example, when the remaining battery level n is lower than A volt, the level is set to 0, when the remaining battery level is lower than B volt, the level is 1. When the remaining battery level is lower than C volt, the level is classified as level m and stored in the table 1. The number of these levels may be set to 4 to 5 levels. This table 1 can be stored, for example, in the memory 7 of FIG. Also, a table 2 is prepared in which timer counter values are assigned in correspondence with the level values. For example, when the remaining battery level n is less than or equal to level 1, 2 is assigned as the counter value. When the remaining battery level n is between level 1 and level 2, 3 is assigned as the counter value. When the remaining battery level n is equal to or lower than the level m, w is assigned as a counter value. The table 2 to which the timer counter value is assigned in accordance with the level value in this manner can be stored in the memory 7 in the same manner as the table 1.

Next, when a key is pressed on the key operation unit 9 (step 202), the table 1 and the table 2 stored in the memory 7 are referred to and the level of the current battery remaining amount n is set to any level. It checks whether there is, and sets a counter value corresponding to the level in the lighting control means. The lighting control means can be constituted by the timer 8 and the control unit 3 in FIG.

For example, in FIG. 2, when the current battery remaining amount n is equal to or lower than the level 0 (step 203), the backlight is not turned on because the battery remaining amount is scarce (step 204). If the level is equal to or lower than level 1 (step 205), the backlight is turned on and the timer counter value is set to 2 (step 206). On the other hand, when the battery remaining amount n is equal to or less than the level m (step 20).
8) Turn on the backlight and set the timer counter value to w (step 209). The state in which the remaining battery power is about 50% of the full power state is defined as level m. In this case, the counter value w is set so that the backlight lighting time is about 10 seconds.

As described above, when the backlight is turned on and the timer counter value is set to a predetermined value in steps 206 and 209, the timer 8 starts counting and determines whether or not the count value matches the set counter value. Is performed (step 207). If the count value has not reached the set counter value, the timer counts up (step 210), and counts up until the count value reaches the set counter value. When the count value reaches the set counter value, the backlight is turned off (step 204). Therefore, in this embodiment, when the remaining battery power is low, the timer reaches a specified timer count value immediately after the key is pressed and the light is turned off. When the remaining battery power is large, the light is turned on for a long time (about 10 seconds) and then turned off.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing another embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the backlight is controlled to be turned on only when the remaining battery level n is equal to or higher than a predetermined level, that is, other than level 0 (step 305). The following procedure is the same as that shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing still another embodiment. In the case of the present embodiment, when the remaining battery level n is high, for example, the battery is lit continuously or with a high duty ratio, and the duty ratio of pulse lighting is reduced each time the remaining battery level is reduced, and the backlight Performs pulsed light emission to reduce current consumption. The pulse emission cycle at this time is a short cycle,
For the user, it seems as if the light gradually diminishes as the battery power decreases.

In the present embodiment, a dimming level value corresponding to the level value is determined in Table 2, and a duty ratio is assigned in accordance with the dimming level value. For example, when the level value is 1 or less, the dimming level is determined to be 1, and the duty ratio is assigned to 10%. When the level value is equal to or less than m, the dimming level is set to m, and the duty ratio is set to w%.
Assign to Then, in steps 405 and 408, the dimming level is set according to the level value of the remaining battery level, and a predetermined timer counter value is set.

In the case of the present embodiment, the timer counter value is set to a predetermined value in advance, and therefore, regardless of the remaining battery level,
The lighting time of the backlight is the same. However, since the duty ratio is assigned so as to change in accordance with the level of the battery remaining amount n, for example, when the battery remaining amount n is small, the duty ratio is driven to be small and the backlight is lit dark.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the embodiment of FIG. 4 is that the dimming level is determined according to the remaining battery level, and the dimming level corresponding to the dimming level is determined. That is, a counter value to be set is set. That is, after the key is pressed (step 502), the backlight is continuously turned on (step 503), but the dimming speed can be changed according to the level of the remaining battery level. That is, when the battery level is low, the light is immediately dimmed and turned off (step 50).
6, 507, 508, 511, 512, 513), if there is a certain amount of battery remaining, the backlight is dimmed relatively slowly and then turned off (steps 509, 51).
0, 508, 511, 512, 513). As described above, in the present invention, the lighting state of the backlight is changed according to the level of the remaining battery level, so that the user can be made aware of the current remaining battery level only by looking at the state of the backlight.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the backlight can be automatically dimmed without any special components added according to the remaining battery power and without any special operation by the user. Since the backlight is turned off in a short time after the key is pressed, it is possible to provide a mobile phone with reduced battery power consumption. Furthermore, when the battery level is extremely low, it is possible to control so that the backlight is not turned on unless the user selects it. There is also an advantage that the user can be made aware of the current remaining battery level by the state of the backlight without adding a function of displaying the remaining battery level.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a mobile phone to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 control unit 7 memory 8 timer 9 operation unit 10 display unit 11 battery

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A mobile phone for controlling lighting of a backlight of a display and / or a key operation unit according to a remaining battery level, wherein the first remaining table divides the remaining battery level into a plurality of levels and assigns level values. A second table in which a timer counter value is assigned in accordance with the level value; and lighting control means for turning on the backlight until the timer counter value is reached. Determine the level value of the remaining battery level when there is, with reference to the first table,
When the level value exceeds a predetermined level value, the backlight is turned on, and the timer counter value to be set is read with reference to the first table and the second table and set in the lighting control means. A mobile phone characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. A portable telephone for controlling lighting of a backlight of a display and / or a key operation unit according to a remaining amount of a battery, wherein the first remaining table divides the remaining amount of the battery into a plurality of levels and assigns a level value. A second table in which a dimming level value corresponding to the level value is determined, and a duty ratio is assigned in accordance with the dimming level value; and a predetermined duty ratio until a predetermined timer counter value is reached. And lighting control means for turning on the backlight, wherein the level value of the battery remaining amount when a key is pressed by the key operation unit is determined with reference to the first table,
When the level value exceeds a predetermined level value, the backlight is turned on, and a duty ratio to be set is read with reference to the first table and the second table. A mobile phone set as lighting control means. 3. A portable telephone for controlling lighting of a backlight of a display and / or a key operation unit according to a remaining battery level, wherein the first remaining table divides the remaining battery level into a plurality of levels and assigns level values. A second table in which a dimming level value and a timer counter value corresponding to the level value are determined, and a duty ratio is assigned in accordance with the dimming level value, and a predetermined value is set until the timer counter value is reached. Lighting control means for turning on the backlight at a duty ratio of: the backlight is turned on when a key is pressed by the key operation unit, and the level value of the battery remaining amount is referred to the first table. The duty ratio and the timer count value to be set are read out with reference to the second table, and set in the lighting control means. Mobile phone.