JP2003140785A - Portable information terminal and portable settlement terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stably use a portable information terminal by estimating a battery capacity corresponding to functions necessary for the processing of the terminal, and preventing the stop of the functions which are being used by the terminal. SOLUTION: In this portable information terminal, a plurality of objects to be driven by a battery such as a display means 6, a communicating means 7, and a printer 8 are driven after a power is supplied from the battery. When the objects to be driven by the battery to be operated with the current battery voltage are not able to be stably driven based on discharging characteristics based on the number of times of charging/discharging of the battery detected when the operation of each of the objects to be driven by the battery is controlled and the current battery voltage on the discharging characteristics, a control means 1 controls a part or whole part of the operations of the objects to be driven by the battery in order to preliminarily prevent the objects to be driven by the battery from being stopped in the middle or the whole device from being stopped in the middle.

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 that operates using a battery as a power source, and more particularly to portable information that can be used for business such as electronic payment by regulating the operation of the terminal according to the voltage state of the battery. The present invention relates to terminals and mobile payment terminals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A portable information terminal operates using a battery as a power source. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional portable information terminal (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-45133). In such a portable information terminal, a control unit 50 such as a CPU controls the whole using a battery as a driving power source.

The battery voltage monitor 51 detects the battery voltage, and the temperature monitor 52 detects the environmental temperature. The clock monitoring unit 53 detects the CPU clock of the control unit 50. These detected values are input to the control unit 50.

The voltage of the battery is affected not only by the direct detection of the above voltage but also by the environmental temperature and the number of clocks of the CPU. The control unit 50 accurately determines the remaining battery level based on these detected values. As a result, the battery can be effectively used and the battery replacement can be prompted at a more appropriate time.

As a portable information terminal, there is a portable payment terminal. This mobile payment terminal executes a payment process of communicating with a center or the like and performing authentication based on the input of information on a user's card or the like and purchase information on a product or the like.

[0006]

In a single settlement process executed by such a portable settlement terminal, a series of processes such as screen display of information, communication with the center, and printout of settlement result are performed. Therefore, for this series of processing,
In addition, the battery capacity is required, and when the remaining battery level is exhausted during the payment process, the payment process stops midway, which causes a problem that the payment process cannot be performed. In addition, if the payment process is stopped halfway, it may be unclear whether or not the payment process is required again depending on the time when the payment process is stopped.

As described above, in the conventional structure that only detects the remaining battery level, it is impossible to determine whether or not the payment process is performed, and there is a problem that the operability of the mobile payment terminal is deteriorated. In particular, the screen display of the display unit, communication with the center, and print output from the printer each require different battery capacities, and the printer can be inserted into and removed from the mobile payment terminal and is used when necessary. The usage pattern changes, and at the time of this usage pattern change, the operator relied on the intuition whether settlement processing could be performed based on the detection of the remaining battery level.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and can estimate the battery capacity according to the function required for the processing of the terminal, prevent the function from stopping while the terminal is in use, and use the terminal stably. The purpose is to provide a portable information terminal and a portable payment terminal that can be used.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a portable information terminal of the present invention is a portable information terminal operating with a battery as a driving power source, and a battery voltage monitoring means for detecting the voltage of the battery, Charge / discharge frequency monitoring means for detecting the charge / discharge frequency of the battery, a plurality of battery drive targets such as display means, communication means, etc., which operate using the battery as a drive power source and have different battery consumption characteristics, and the detected battery Based on the discharge characteristics based on the number of times of charging and discharging, and the current battery voltage on the discharge characteristics, the battery drive target that cannot be stably driven by the current battery voltage is selected, and the operation of the battery drive target is partially or entirely performed. And a control means for controlling the regulation.

The mobile payment terminal of the present invention is a mobile payment terminal in which each unit sequentially operates in the order of the process of payment processing using a battery as a driving power source, and battery voltage monitoring means for detecting the voltage of the battery, and the number of charge / discharge cycles of the battery. And a plurality of battery-driven targets such as display means and communication means, which operate under the control of the control means using the battery as a driving power source and which have different battery consumption characteristics. According to a process order, the corresponding battery-driven object among the plurality of battery-driven objects is operation-controlled to perform settlement processing, and the discharge characteristic based on the detected number of times of charging and discharging the battery and the current discharge characteristic Based on the battery voltage of, the battery drive target that cannot be stably driven by the current battery voltage is selected, and the battery drive target is selected. Characterized in that a control means for some or all regulatory control operation.

Further, the temperature monitoring means for detecting the environmental temperature of the battery may be provided, and the control means may be used by correcting the discharge characteristic with the current environmental temperature.

Further, as a plurality of the battery driven objects, a printer which is detachable and operates by receiving power supply from the battery at the time of connection is provided, and the control means detects the presence or absence of the connection of the printer, and controls the printer. It may be configured to recognize the battery drive target and execute the regulation control of the operation.

Further, the control means, each time it drives each battery driven object to be operated in the process of the settlement processing, the discharge characteristic based on the detected number of times of charge and discharge of the battery, and the discharge characteristic. Based on the current battery voltage above, it is determined whether or not the battery-driven target can be stably driven with the current battery voltage, and if the stable operation cannot be performed, the operation of the battery-driven target is partially or wholly controlled. It can be configured.

Further, the control means, when printing is driven by the printer in the process of the settlement process, a discharge characteristic based on the detected number of times of charge and discharge of the battery, and a current battery voltage on the discharge characteristic. It is also possible to determine whether or not printing can be completed for all the number of printing lines based on the amount of battery consumption corresponding to the number of printing lines, and if the printing cannot be completed, the printing operation of the printer may not be executed. .

In the mobile payment terminal having the above-mentioned structure, a plurality of battery-driven objects such as display means, communication means, printers, etc. are selectively driven in response to each process of payment processing when the battery power is supplied. The control means follows the order of the payment process,
A corresponding battery-driven object among the plurality of battery-driven objects is operation-controlled to perform a payment process. At this time, if the battery drive target cannot be stably driven by the current battery voltage based on the discharge characteristic based on the detected number of times of charge and discharge of the battery and the current battery voltage on the discharge characteristic, this battery drive is performed. Partially or partially regulates the target operation. As a result, it is possible to prevent the battery-driven object from being stopped halfway and the settlement process to be stopped halfway.

[0016]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a portable information terminal of the present invention. In the following description, the above-mentioned mobile payment terminal will be described as an example of the mobile information terminal. This mobile payment terminal executes a payment process of communicating with a center or the like and performing authentication based on the input of information on a user's card or the like and purchase information on a product or the like.

In this portable settlement terminal, the control means 1 such as a CPU controls the whole by using a battery (not shown) as a driving power source. The battery voltage monitoring means 2 detects the voltage of the battery, and the temperature monitoring means 3 detects the environmental temperature. The clock monitoring means 4 detects the CPU clock of the control means 1.
The charge / discharge frequency monitoring means 5 detects the charge / discharge frequency (charge frequency) of the battery. These detected values are input to the control means 1.

In a single settlement process executed by such a portable settlement terminal, a series of processes such as screen display of information, communication with the center, and printout of settlement results are performed. For this reason,
The mobile payment terminal is provided with a display unit 6 for displaying payment information, a communication unit 7 for communicating with the center, and a printer 8 for printing out the payment result. The display unit 6, the communication unit 7, and the printer 8 including the control unit 1 are all battery-powered targets that operate by receiving power supply from the battery and consume the battery.

In addition to the above, the mobile payment terminal is provided with a card reader for reading the card information by inserting the card as a battery driven object. The card reader itself moves the card by the manual operation of the operator. Since it is configured to read information, the battery consumption is extremely low and does not contribute to the battery consumption in this embodiment.

The battery consumption of each means will be described. In the display unit 6, a light emitting element such as an LED, which is a backlight for illuminating the liquid crystal display surface, consumes a battery. The communication unit 7 consumes a battery in the transmission / reception unit for communication with the center. Note that the transmission / reception unit varies the transmission / reception level (sensitivity) according to the transmission / reception state, and consumes more battery as the transmission / reception level is controlled to be higher. These display means 6 and communication means 7 are originally incorporated in the housing of the mobile payment terminal.

On the other hand, the printer 8 is separated from the mobile payment terminal, is connected to the mobile payment terminal only when printing out the payment process, and operates by receiving battery power from the mobile payment terminal. The printer 8 has a thermal head, performs thermal printing, and is equipped with a motor for feeding a sheet. The printing using the printer 8 is performed by a predetermined number of lines, the driving time corresponds to this number of lines, and the battery consumption also increases in accordance with the increase of the number of lines. The control means 1
Detects the connection state of the printer 8 and drives printing only when necessary in the settlement process.

Here, the description will be made in the order of high battery consumption. Since the printer 8 includes a thermal head and a motor, the printer consumes the largest amount. Next, the backlight provided in the display means 6 consumes the battery. Finally, it becomes the communication means 7.

Therefore, a predetermined time and battery capacity are required for a series of settlement processes. When the battery level is exhausted during the payment process, the payment process stops midway and the payment process cannot be performed.
Control is performed to avoid this.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing discharge characteristics according to the number of times of charge and discharge. In the figure, cy is the number of times of charging, and as the number of times of charging increases, the voltage and the discharge capacity (charging capacity) decrease. The control means 1 selects a corresponding curve from the discharge characteristics (curves) shown in FIG. 2 based on the charge / discharge frequency detected by the charge / discharge frequency monitoring means 5. Specifically, this curve is composed of numerical values such as a table.

Then, the control means 1 refers to the table of the corresponding number of times of charging, and at present, the battery voltage monitoring means 2
The position on the curve in the voltage portion detected by is determined, and future voltage drop characteristics are predicted based on this curve.

The control means 1 predicts the remaining amount of the battery based on the discharge characteristics shown in FIG. For example, in the discharge characteristic of FIG. 2, when all the settlement processing (display means 6, transmission means 7, printer 8) at one time in the mobile payment terminal is equal to or higher than the threshold value L1 of the voltage that can be performed, the mobile payment terminal. It is determined that the remaining battery level is normal, and execution of the series of settlement processes is permitted. On the other hand, when the settlement process is executed, if the threshold value L1 or less, a series of settlement processes is restricted.

Further, the control means 1 considers a factor for correction based on the discharge characteristic of FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing discharge characteristics according to temperature. As shown in FIG. 3, the lower the environmental temperature of the mobile payment terminal, the lower the discharge characteristic, and the lower the battery voltage in a short time. The control means 1 performs temperature correction on the discharge characteristic of FIG. 2 based on the environmental temperature detected by the temperature monitoring means 3 by using a correction coefficient which is facilitated in advance corresponding to the discharge characteristic shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the contents of the regulation executed for the settlement processing by the control means 1. The control means 1 judges whether or not the regulation is applied to the display means 6 and the communication means 7 provided in the mobile payment terminal as standard. When the printer 8 is connected, this printer 8
Also, whether or not the regulation is applied is processed.

In the following description, the printer 8 is connected to the mobile payment terminal, the control means 1 recognizes this, and as a payment process, the backlight of the display means 6 is turned on, the communication data is transmitted and received by the communication means 7, and the printer 8 is operated. An example will be described in which printing is performed.

In the following description, the battery voltage is monitored in three stages. The voltage values have a relationship of VL <VM <VH. The voltage VL corresponds to a voltage that enables communication (transmission of payment data) by the communication unit 7. The voltage VM corresponds to a voltage with which the backlight of the display unit 6 can be turned on. Voltage V
H corresponds to a voltage at which the printer 8 can print.
The battery voltage monitoring means 2 detects the current battery voltage in three stages by using three thresholds of VL, VM and VH.

First, the voltage of the battery monitored by the battery voltage monitoring means 2 is detected (S1). It is determined whether the detected voltage exceeds the voltage VL (S2). If it exceeds VL (S2-No), the regulation control for communication via the communication means 7 is not executed (execution is permitted).

When the detected voltage is equal to or lower than VL (S2-Yes), the printing by the printer 8 is regulated (S3), and the fact that printing is not possible is displayed on the display means 6 (S4). Then, the backlight is turned off (S5),
The display means 6 indicates that the battery of the mobile payment terminal needs to be charged (S6), and communication (transmission of payment data to the center) regulation control by the communication means 7 is controlled (S7). In this case, control for lowering the transmission / reception level by the communication means 7 or transmission data can be stored in a storage means (not shown) and retransmitted after the battery is charged or replaced.

When the detected voltage exceeds VL, it is judged whether or not it exceeds the voltage VM (S8). If it exceeds VM (S8-No), the lighting control of the backlight of the display unit 6 is not executed. In this case, the backlight of the display unit 6 is not limited to the structure of always lighting,
The display means 6 is displayed at a predetermined time such as when the card is settled or when the display is switched.
The lighting control may be performed for a predetermined time in association with the display of a predetermined character or the like.

When the detected voltage is less than or equal to VM (S8-Yes), the printing by the printer 8 is regulated (S9), and the fact that printing is not possible is displayed on the display means 6 (S10). Also, the lighting of the backlight is regulated and controlled,
The backlight is turned off (S11). Even when the backlight is turned off, a predetermined display is displayed on the display surface of the LCD or the like, and the display content can be visually recognized.

When the detected voltage exceeds VM, it is determined whether the voltage exceeds VH (S12). If it exceeds VH (S12-No), the restriction control for all (communication means 7, display means 6, printer 8) is not executed (execution of all is permitted).

When the detected voltage is below VH (S12-Yes), the printing by the printer 8 is regulated and controlled (S13), and the fact that printing is impossible is displayed on the display means 6 (S14). Details of the regulation control for the printer 8 described above will be described later.

In this way, by operating only each unit operable with the detected battery voltage and not operating with the detected battery voltage, or not operating each unit which is unstable even if operated (regulatory control). Even if the battery voltage drops, each unit can be stably operated at each battery voltage and the card settlement business can be performed. at the same time,
As much as possible, the mobile payment terminal can be operated with reduced power consumption and battery consumption can be suppressed.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the details of the regulation control for the printer 8. The printer 8 consumes the most battery among the mobile payment terminals.
Further, the longer the printing period (printing line) of the input payment printing data is, the more the battery is consumed. Therefore, when the battery is exhausted during the operation of the printer 8, the operation of the entire mobile payment terminal (control means 1) may be stopped midway, not limited to printing by the printer 8. Such a midway stop during the settlement process causes the above-mentioned problem and must be prevented.

The flowchart shown in FIG. 5 is executed at the time of the print regulation control of the printer 8 shown in FIG. 4 (S3).
Details of the processing contents of S9 and S13). Here, the print lines are divided into small, medium, and high in advance. In the illustrated example, the small is, for example, 1 to 20 rows, the middle is 21 to 100 rows, and the high is 101.
Line to maximum number of printable lines is set.

First, the control means 1 detects a print line by line count or the like (S20). For example, if the print line is middle, then the charge / discharge count is obtained from the charge / discharge count monitoring means 5, and the preset charge / discharge count X1 of the battery corresponding to "medium" (for example, 100 lines). Compare (S2
1). As a result, a different battery voltage adapted to the current charge / discharge frequency is used as a threshold depending on whether the battery charge / discharge frequency exceeds the set value X1.

FIG. 6 is a discharge characteristic diagram of the battery, in which the vertical axis represents the printable voltage and the horizontal axis represents the number of print lines. If the number of times of charging / discharging the battery is within the set number of times of charging / discharging X1 (S21-Yes), the discharge characteristic C1 corresponding to the number of times of charging / discharging X1 is referred to (S22). Then, the current battery voltage Y detected by the battery voltage monitoring means 2 is detected on the discharge characteristic C1 (S23).

Next, the control means 1 compares the current battery voltage Y with the voltage Vy which is assumed to be the voltage drop until the end of printing of the number of lines to be printed "medium" (S24). As a result, if the battery voltage Y is Vy or higher (S24-Ye
s), it becomes possible to stably print the number of voltage lines "medium" (S25).

On the other hand, the current battery voltage Y is the set value Vy.
If it is lower (S24-No), the battery voltage at the end of printing the number of rows "medium" becomes equal to or lower than the voltage Vy, and thus the printer 8 controls the printing (S29). In this way, by predicting the battery consumption, it is possible to prevent the operation of the mobile payment terminal from being stopped during printing.

Further, the number of times the battery is charged and discharged is the set value X1.
If it exceeds (S21-No), the discharge characteristic C2 (see FIG. 6) corresponding to the number of times of charge / discharge X1 is correspondingly referred to (S26). The discharge characteristics are such that the number of charge / discharge cycles of the battery is X1 or more and within a predetermined number of times X2. Then, the current battery voltage detected by the battery voltage monitoring means 2 on this discharge characteristic C2 is obtained (S2).
7).

Next, the control means 1 compares the current battery voltage Z with the voltage Vz which is assumed to be the voltage drop until the end of printing of the number of lines to be printed "medium" (S28). As a result, if the battery voltage Z is Vz or higher (S28-Ye
s), it becomes possible to stably print the number of voltage lines "medium" (S25).

On the other hand, the current battery voltage Z is the set value Vz.
If it is lower (S28-No), the battery voltage at the end of printing the number of lines "medium" becomes equal to or lower than the voltage Vz, and therefore the printing by the printer 8 is restricted and controlled (S29). As a result, it is possible to prevent the operation of the mobile payment terminal from being stopped during printing. When printing is restricted, print data can be stored in a storage unit (not shown) and reprinted after the battery is charged or replaced.

The above description has been made only for the case of the print line "medium". However, for the print lines "small" and "high", the voltage corresponding to the print line is assumed to be the voltage drop until the end of printing. It is possible to prevent the operation stoppage of the mobile payment terminal on the way in the same way as described above, regardless of the size of the print line, by setting the respective settings and performing the determination process.

In the details of the regulation control shown in FIG. 5, the configuration for controlling the printing by predicting the battery consumption amount based on the printing line in the printing operation of the printer 8 has been described. Not limited to this, the regulation control can be similarly controlled in detail similarly for the respective units other than the printer 8, the data transmission / reception of the communication unit 7, and the backlight lighting of the display unit 6.

For example, it is possible to change the transmission level in the communication of the communication means 7 or to change the lighting time of the backlight in the display means 6 more finely according to the number of times the battery is charged and discharged and the current battery voltage. In addition, the temperature, which is a factor that changes the battery characteristics, can be used as an input parameter, and the control target is
In addition to the above, it is also possible to change the CPU clock of the control means 1.

In the above embodiment, the portable payment terminal which continuously executes a series of payment processing including card reading, display, communication and printing has been described. Not limited to this, by applying the present invention to a general-purpose portable information terminal, by monitoring the operation of each unit, to determine the battery capacity required for the constituent unit to be operated, like the above description, It is possible to prevent the operation from being stopped halfway due to exhaustion of the battery.

[0051]

According to the present invention, whether or not a battery-driven object can be stably driven is determined based on the remaining battery level during operation of the battery-driven object, and when the battery-driven object cannot be stably driven, the battery-driven object is determined. Since the configuration of (1) is regulated and controlled, it is possible to forcibly drive the battery-driven target to stop the operation halfway or to prevent the entire portable information terminal from stopping, thereby enabling stable operation.

In particular, the mobile payment terminal has a structure in which a plurality of battery-driven objects operate in the order of a series of steps required for payment processing, and each battery-driven object is driven even though the battery consumption amount by each battery-driven object is different. Each time, it is determined whether or not the battery driven object can be stably operated, and the regulation control is performed, whereby it is possible to avoid the suspension of the payment process and the unavailability of the entire mobile payment terminal. As a result, the reliability of the mobile payment terminal can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a mobile information terminal of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing discharge characteristics by charge / discharge frequency.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing discharge characteristics by temperature.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the contents of regulation executed for settlement processing.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining details of restriction control for the printer.

FIG. 6 is a discharge characteristic diagram that is a simplified version of FIG. 2 for explaining the regulation process.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional portable information terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Control means, 2 ... Battery voltage monitoring means, 3 ... Temperature monitoring means, 4 ... Clock monitoring means, 5 ... Charge / discharge frequency monitoring means, 6 ... Display means, 7 ... Communication means, 8 ... Printer.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H02J 7/00 302 G06F 1/00 333C F term (reference) 5B011 DA01 DA13 GG03 GG14 JA06 JA09 LL08 5G003 BA01 DA14 EA06 GC05 5H030 AA06 AS11 BB21 FF27 FF44 FF51

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A portable information terminal operating with a battery as a driving power source, a battery voltage monitoring unit for detecting a voltage of the battery, a charging / discharging frequency monitoring unit for detecting a charging / discharging frequency of the battery, and a battery driving unit. A plurality of battery-driven objects such as display means and communication means that operate as power sources and have different battery consumption characteristics, discharge characteristics based on the number of times the battery is charged and discharged, and current battery voltage on the discharge characteristics Based on the above, a portable information terminal, comprising: a control means that selects the battery-driven target that cannot be stably driven by the current battery voltage and controls a part or all of the operation of the battery-driven target. 2. A mobile payment terminal in which each unit sequentially operates in the order of a payment process using a battery as a driving power source, and a battery voltage monitoring unit for detecting the voltage of the battery, and a charge / discharge count for detecting the charge / discharge count of the battery. A monitoring unit, a display unit that operates under the control of the control unit using the battery as a driving power source and that has different battery consumption characteristics;
A plurality of battery-driven targets such as communication means and the corresponding battery-driven targets among the plurality of battery-driven targets are operated and controlled to perform a payment process in accordance with the order of the process of the payment process. Based on the discharge characteristic based on the number of discharges and the current battery voltage on the discharge characteristic, the battery drive target that cannot be stably driven by the current battery voltage is selected, and the operation of the battery drive target is partially or completely controlled. A mobile payment terminal, comprising: 3. The mobile payment terminal according to claim 2, further comprising temperature monitoring means for detecting an environmental temperature of the battery, wherein the control means uses the discharge characteristic corrected by the current environmental temperature. 4. A printer, which is detachably attached to the plurality of batteries and operates by receiving power supply from the battery when connected, wherein the control means detects the presence or absence of connection of the printer, and controls the printer. The mobile payment terminal according to claim 2, wherein the mobile payment terminal recognizes the battery-driven target and executes the regulation control of the operation. 5. The discharge characteristic based on the detected number of times of charge and discharge of the battery, and the discharge characteristic, each time the control unit drives each battery-driven target to be operated in the process of the settlement process. Based on the current battery voltage above, it is determined whether or not the battery-driven target can be stably driven with the current battery voltage, and if the stable operation cannot be performed, the operation of the battery-driven target is partially or wholly controlled. Claims 2-4
The mobile payment terminal according to any one of 1. 6. The control means, when printing is driven by the printer in the process of the settlement process, a discharge characteristic based on the detected number of times of charge and discharge of the battery, and a current battery voltage on the discharge characteristic. 3. The printing operation of the printer is made non-executable when it is determined that printing can be completed for all the printing lines based on the battery consumption corresponding to the number of printing lines. 4. The mobile payment terminal according to any one of 4.