JP2007209055A - Portable electronic equipment, charge control method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide portable electronic equipment and a charge control method which enable charge of a battery to be continued even in an operation mode. <P>SOLUTION: This portable electronic equipment is equipped with the first judging means (69) which judges the existence of the input of an external power source, the second judging means (73) which judges the operation/nonoperation of an electronic circuit provided in its own equipment, and a battery charge means (70) which charges the battery, using approximately the whole current of the above external power source when the above first judging means judges the existence of the above external power source and that the above second judging means judges the nonoperation of the above electronic circuit, and charges the battery, using residual currents which are left after subtracting the quantity of currents required for operation of the above electronic circuit from the quantity of the currents of the above external power source when the above first judging means judges the existence of the above external power source and that the second judging means judges the operation of the above electronic circuit. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is portable and can be used in a state of being charged or set on a charging / mounting table (hereinafter referred to as a cradle). More particularly, portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and portable small personal computers, and more specifically, improved portable electronic devices and charge control that can continue to be charged even when used in a cradle The present invention relates to a method and a program.

  In general, a portable electronic device such as a digital camera operates with a rechargeable battery (secondary battery). Battery charging is broadly divided into one that is performed by connecting a cable from the AC adapter directly to a portable electronic device, and one that is performed via a mounting table called a cradle or used as an interface with a personal computer. . Hereinafter, a portable electronic device that employs the latter charging method will be described.

  Many portable electronic devices can be used not only for portable use but also for being mounted on a cradle. For example, in the case of a digital camera, it is possible to play an image while it is set in the cradle and transfer the image to a personal computer. The accessories (or optional items) of these portable electronic devices include: Includes AC adapter and cradle.

  Here, the AC adapter is an electronic component for producing an external power source having a predetermined current and a predetermined voltage from a commercial power source (in Japan, a single-layer AC of 100 V). The AC adapter attached to most portable electronic devices is small and light, and has only the minimum current supply capability (and therefore inexpensive) required for the portable electronic device.

  The reason is mainly due to cost requirements. That is, compared with a small output type AC adapter (for example, output current of 550 mA) that can be obtained relatively inexpensively, a large output type AC adapter (for example, output current of 900 mA) has several times the volume and price. Moreover, this is because it cannot be adopted in the field of portable electronic devices where cost competition is fierce.

  For example, the following non-patent document 1 describes usage precautions regarding a liquid crystal digital camera attached with an AC adapter corresponding to the small output type described above. According to it, “The battery cannot be charged during the slide show. Please end the slide show when charging.”

  Note that the output current of the AC adapter attached to the digital camera cannot cover the current required for the slide show (operation mode for sequentially playing back and displaying captured images) and the current required for charging the battery. This suggests that the operation mode has priority specifications (specifications for stopping battery charging during execution of the operation mode).

"EXILIM EX-Z3 Instruction Manual" Casio Computer Co., Ltd.

  As described above, the non-patent document 1 has a specification that gives priority to the operation mode, that is, a specification that does not charge the battery during the execution of the operation mode such as a slide show. As long as the charging of the battery is not resumed, there is a problem that the waiting time for the battery charging becomes long and the convenience (portability use) of the portable electronic device is hindered.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable electronic device that can continue charging a battery even in an operation mode.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, first determination means for determining the presence / absence of input from an external power source, second determination means for determining operation / non-operation of an electronic circuit provided in the device itself, and the first When the determination means determines that the external power supply is present and the second determination means determines that the electronic circuit is not operating, the battery is charged using substantially the entire current of the external power supply, while the second When the determination unit determines that the external power source is present and the second determination unit determines the operation of the electronic circuit, the current amount necessary for the operation of the electronic circuit is calculated from the current amount of the external power source. A portable electronic device comprising battery charging means for charging a battery using the subtracted remaining current.
A second aspect of the present invention is the portable electronic device according to the first aspect, wherein the operation of the electronic circuit is data transfer performed with an external device.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the portable electronic device is a portable television, and the operation of the electronic circuit is a reception / playback operation of a television broadcast. Equipment.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the portable electronic device is a digital camera, and the operation of the electronic circuit is a reproduction operation of a captured image. It is.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the portable electronic device is a mobile phone, and the operation of the electronic circuit is a standby operation, an incoming call operation, or a call operation. It is an electronic device.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a first step for determining whether or not an external power source is input, a second step for determining operation / non-operation of an electronic circuit provided in the device itself, and the first step When it is determined that the external power source is present and the non-operation of the electronic circuit is determined in the second step, the battery is charged using substantially the entire current of the external power source, while in the first step When it is determined that there is an external power source and the operation of the electronic circuit is determined in the second step, a residual current obtained by subtracting the current amount necessary for the operation of the electronic circuit from the current amount of the external power source is obtained. And a third step of charging the battery using the charging control method.
The invention according to claim 7 is a first step of determining whether or not an external power source is input to the computer, a second step of determining operation / non-operation of an electronic circuit provided in the device, and When the presence of the external power source is determined in one step and the non-operation of the electronic circuit is determined in the second step, the battery is charged using substantially the entire current of the external power source, while the first When the presence of the external power source is determined in step and the operation of the electronic circuit is determined in the second step, the remainder obtained by subtracting the current amount necessary for the operation of the electronic circuit from the current amount of the external power source And a third step of charging the battery using the current.

  According to the present invention, the battery of the portable electronic device can be charged by the external power source, and the current amount necessary for the operation is subtracted from the current amount of the external power source while the portable electronic device is operating. The battery can be charged with the remaining current. Therefore, it is possible to provide a portable electronic device that can continue to charge the battery even in the operation mode, and the convenience (portable use) of the portable electronic device is not hindered.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, taking application to a digital camera as an example. It should be noted that the specific details or examples in the following description and the illustrations of numerical values, character strings, and other symbols are only for reference in order to clarify the idea of the present invention, and the present invention may be used in whole or in part. Obviously, the idea of the invention is not limited. In addition, a well-known technique, a well-known procedure, a well-known architecture, a well-known circuit configuration, and the like (hereinafter, “well-known matter”) are not described in detail, but this is also to simplify the description. Not all or part of the matter is intentionally excluded. Such well-known matters are known to those skilled in the art at the time of filing of the present invention, and are naturally included in the following description.

  FIG. 1 is a front view and a rear view of a digital camera 10 of the present embodiment. In this figure, a digital camera 10 has a retractable lens barrel 12, a strobe light emission window 13, a finder front window 14 and the like disposed on the front surface of a camera body 11 having a shape suitable for carrying (here, a box shape). A power switch 15 and a shutter button 16 are disposed on the upper surface of the camera body 11, and a finder rear window 17, a shooting mode / playback mode switch 18, a zoom operation / playback display mode switch 19 on the back of the camera body 11, A MENU button 20, an up / down / left / right movement button 21, a SET button 22, a DISP button 23, a liquid crystal monitor 24, and the like are arranged. In addition, a cradle connection terminal 25 and a lid 26 are provided on the bottom surface of the camera body 11. By opening the lid 26, a battery 27 mounted inside the camera body 11 and a large-capacity external memory 28 such as a card type memory or a card type hard disk can be attached and detached.

  FIG. 2 is a connection state diagram of the digital camera 10 and the cradle 29. In this figure, the cradle 29 is formed with a recess 30 for placing (also referred to as a set) the digital camera 10, and a connector 31 is provided at a predetermined position of the recess 30. When the digital camera 10 is set in the recess 30, the cradle connection terminal 25 (see FIG. 1) provided on the bottom surface of the digital camera 10 and the connector 31 are connected.

  In addition, the cradle 29 is provided with several operation buttons (for example, a PHOTO button 32 and a USB communication start button 33) and several indicator lights (for example, a charge lamp 34 and a USB communication lamp 35). When the PHOTO button 32 is pressed with the digital camera 10 set to 29, a slide show is performed on the digital camera 10. When the USB communication start button 33 is pressed while the digital camera 10 is set in the cradle 29, the digital camera 10 (specifically, the digital camera 10 is provided inside the digital camera 10 using a USB protocol) using a USB protocol. The external memory 28) can be accessed. The charge lamp 34 lights in red while the battery 27 of the digital camera 10 is being charged, and the USB communication lamp 35 performs USB communication with the personal computer 37 (see FIG. 3). Lights up green for a while.

  FIG. 3 is a connection state diagram of the cradle 29, the AC adapter 36, and the personal computer 37. A DC input terminal 38 and a USB terminal 39 are provided on the rear surface of the cradle 29. By inserting a jack 42 of a cable 41 extending from an AC adapter 36 inserted into an outlet 40 such as a wall surface into the DC input terminal 38, an external power source DCin having a predetermined current and voltage generated by the AC adapter 36 is obtained. The digital camera 10 can be supplied via the connector 31 of the cradle 29.

  Further, by connecting the USB terminal 39 of the cradle 29 and the USB port 43 of the personal computer 37 with the USB cable 44, as described above, the digital camera 10 set in the cradle 29 and the personal computer 37 are connected. USB communication is performed, and a photographed image can be transferred to the personal computer 37 by the USB communication.

  USB (Universal Serial Bus) refers to a general-purpose interface for connecting a personal computer and peripheral devices. USB-compatible peripheral devices are characterized in that they can be inserted and removed even when the personal computer is turned on, and settings can be made automatically. There are a low-speed mode (transfer speed 1.5 Mbps) for low-speed devices such as a mouse and a keyboard, and a full-speed mode (480 Mbps in the 12 Mbps / USB 2.0 standard) for high-speed devices such as a hard disk.

  FIG. 4 is an internal block diagram of the digital camera 10. In this figure, the digital camera 10 can be classified into an imaging system 45, a control system 46, an image storage system 47, a display system 48, an operation system 49, a power supply system 50, and the like according to functions.

  Explaining for each of these systems, the imaging system 45 includes a photographic lens group 51 with a zoom function and an autofocus function housed in the lens barrel 12 in front of the body, and two subject images that have passed through the photographic lens group 51. An electronic imaging unit 52 composed of a CCD (Charge Coupled Devices), a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), etc. for converting into a three-dimensional image signal, and an image processing for performing a required image processing on the image signal from the electronic imaging unit 52 Unit 53 and an image memory 54 for temporarily storing the image signal after the image processing, a focus drive unit 55 for driving a focus mechanism (not shown) of the lens barrel 12, and driving the zoom mechanism. A zoom drive unit 56, a strobe light emission unit 57 provided in the strobe light emission window 13 on the front surface of the body, and a strobe drive for driving the strobe light emission unit 57 And a shooting control unit 59 for controlling these units (electronic imaging unit 52, image processing unit 53, focus driving unit 55, zoom driving unit 56, strobe driving unit 58).

  The control system 46 controls each of the above systems to centrally control the operation of the digital camera 10, and a program memory 61 that stores various control programs and data necessary for the operation of the CPU 60 in a nonvolatile manner. The external interface unit 62 inputs and outputs USB standard data to and from an external device (for example, the personal computer 37 in FIG. 3) via the cradle connection terminal 25 and the cradle 29 provided on the bottom surface of the camera body 11. With.

  The image storage system 47 includes a memory interface unit 63 and an external memory 28 detachably connected to the memory interface unit 63. The display system 48 includes a display control unit 65 including a video memory (VRAM 64) that temporarily holds display data appropriately output from the CPU 60, and a liquid crystal monitor 24 that visualizes and displays an output signal of the display control unit 65. Is provided.

  The operation system 49 includes various operation buttons provided on each part of the camera body 11, that is, a shutter button 16, a shooting mode / playback mode switching switch 18, a zoom operation / playback display mode switching switch 19, a MENU button 20, An operation input unit 66 including a left / right movement button 21, a SET button 22 and a DISP button 23, and an input circuit 67 for inputting an operation signal from the operation input unit 66 to the CPU 60 are provided.

  The power supply system 50 includes a power supply unit 68 and a battery 27. The power supply system 50 uses the power from the battery 27 when the digital camera 10 is portable (used in a state where it is not set in the cradle 29). Is generated and output by the power supply unit 68. On the other hand, when the digital camera 10 is fixedly used (used in a state set in the cradle 29), either the power of the battery 27 or the power (DCin) from the AC adapter 36 is used. An internal power supply voltage necessary for the operation of each unit is generated and output by the power supply unit 68. However, when the AC adapter 36 is connected to the cradle 29, the internal power supply voltage required for the operation of each part of the digital camera 10 is obtained using the power (DCin) from the AC adapter 36 instead of the power of the battery 27. Generated and output by the power supply unit 68. That is, in order to avoid the consumption of the battery 27, the external power source DCin from the AC adapter 36 is preferentially used.

Here, the charging of the battery 27 will be outlined.
The power supply system 50 of the present embodiment charges the battery 27 using the external power supply DCin from the AC adapter 36 while the digital camera 10 is set in the cradle 29 and the digital camera 10 is in the non-operating state. This is in common with the prior art at the beginning. However, in the related art, while the digital camera 10 set in the cradle 29 performs an arbitrary operation (for example, a slide show), the charging of the battery 27 is stopped. The difference is that the battery 27 is continuously charged while being executed.

  FIG. 5 is a conceptual configuration diagram of the power supply unit 68. In this figure, the power supply unit 68 includes an external power supply input determination unit 69, a charge control unit 70, an internal power supply voltage generation unit 71, a table 72, a camera operation determination unit 73, and a battery charge current calculation unit 74.

  External power supply input determination unit 69 determines the presence or absence of external power supply DCin, and outputs a signal indicating the determination result (external power supply input determination signal H1) to charge control unit 70. This external power supply input determination signal H1 is active when the external power supply DCin is “present” and inactive when the external power supply DCin is “not present”. However, “existing” of the external power source DCin means a state where the voltage value and current value of the external power source DCin are within a predetermined allowable range (allowable range of the output voltage and output current of the AC adapter 36). The power supply DCin “no” means a state where DCin = 0 V or DCin is not within the allowable range. Here, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the output current of the AC adapter 36 is 550 mA and the output voltage is 5V.

When the external power supply input determination signal H1 is active, that is, when the external power supply DCin is “present”, the charging control unit 70 selects the external power supply DCin and outputs it to the internal power supply voltage generation unit 71. When the input determination signal H1 is inactive, that is, when the external power source DCin is “none”, the voltage of the battery 27 (hereinafter referred to as Vbat) is selected and output to the internal power source voltage generation unit 71.
In addition, the charging control unit 70 performs charging current control of the battery 27 in accordance with a signal (battery charging current signal H2) indicating the amount of battery charging current calculated by the battery charging current calculation unit 74.

  The main points of the charge current control of the battery 27 are (1) while the digital camera 10 is not operating, the battery 27 is charged using almost the entire current of the external power source DCin, while (2) the digital camera 10 is operating. For example, during the slide show, the battery 27 is charged with the remaining current obtained by subtracting the current required for the slide show from the total current of the external power source DCin.

  The internal power supply voltage generation unit 71 is configured based on the external power supply DCin or the battery voltage Vbat selected by the charge control unit 70. Each unit of the digital camera 10 (electronic imaging unit 52, image processing unit 53, focus drive unit 55, zoom drive unit 56) The internal power supply voltage necessary for the operation of the strobe drive unit 58) is generated and output.

  The table 72 holds current consumption amounts for each operation type of the digital camera 10 (sequential playback of images such as a slide show, single playback of images, and image transfer). For example, a storage element such as a semiconductor memory or a dip It consists of mechanical data holding elements such as switches.

  FIG. 6 is an example conceptual diagram of the table 72. This table 72 is a main block of the digital camera 10 (a block with a relatively large current consumption), for example, the CPU 60, the liquid crystal monitor 24, the program memory 61, etc. In addition to these, the current consumption amount for each reception tuner, etc.) is covered, and the total current consumption amount for each operation type is held. In the illustrated example, the total current consumption at the time of file transfer execution is retained. 350 mA as the amount, 200 mA as the total current consumption when the slide show is executed, and 450 mA as the total current consumption when the TV viewing is executed.

  Here, it is needless to say that these total consumption current amounts are merely explanatory values. The important point is that all the current consumption amounts are smaller than the output current (550 mA) of the AC adapter 36 of the AC adapter 36. This is because some residual current is generated when the total current consumption is subtracted from the output current (550 mA) of the AC adapter 36. The battery charging current calculation unit 74 described later outputs the value of the remaining current as a signal indicating the amount of battery charging current (battery charging current signal H2).

  The camera operation determination unit 73 looks up the total current consumption corresponding to the operation mode with reference to the table 72 according to an operation mode signal (a signal indicating the operation type being executed) appropriately output from the CPU 60. The total current consumption (hereinafter referred to as Pa) is output to the battery charging current calculation unit 74.

  The battery charging current calculation unit 74 calculates the total consumption looked up from the table 72 corresponding to the operation mode from the output current (550 mA according to the above example; hereinafter referred to as Pb) in the specification of the AC adapter 36. The remaining current value (hereinafter referred to as Pc) obtained by subtracting (current amount) is obtained, and the Pc is output to the charging control unit 70 as the battery charging current signal H2.

The power supply unit 68 having such a configuration can perform the following operations.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an operation flowchart of the power supply unit 68. In this flowchart, when the digital camera 10 is placed on the cradle 29, first, the external power supply input determination unit 69 determines the presence or absence of the external power supply DCin (step S1).

  If the external power source DCin is “present”, charging of the battery 27 is started using the external power source DCin (step S2), and then it is determined whether or not the camera operation is started (step S3). “Camera operation” means that, for example, image transmission or a slide show is performed by the digital camera 10 placed on the cradle 29.

  If the camera is not operating, it is determined whether the battery 27 is fully charged (step S4). If it is fully charged, the battery 27 is completely charged (step S5), and the process returns to the first step S1. If the battery is not charged, the camera operation start determination (step S3) and subsequent steps are repeated.

  If the result of the camera operation start determination (step S3) is YES, first, the total current consumption (Pa) corresponding to the camera operation type is looked up from the table 72 (step S6). Here, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the looked up Pa is 350 mA.

  Next, Pc = Pb−Pa is calculated. That is, the remaining current (Pc) obtained by subtracting Pa from the current (Pb) of the external power source DCin is calculated (step S7). The remaining current (Pc) obtained by the calculation is used for charging the battery 27 (step S8), and the battery full charge determination (step S4) and subsequent steps are repeated.

Since it is as mentioned above, in the digital camera 10 of this embodiment, the following peculiar effects are acquired.
First, when the digital camera 10 is set in the cradle 29 to which the AC adapter 36 is connected, the battery 27 of the digital camera 10 is charged using the external power source DCin from the AC adapter 36 as in the conventional case.

  When an arbitrary operation (for example, a slide show) is executed in the digital camera 10 in this state, the total current consumption (Pa) of the internal power supply voltage necessary for the operation is covered by the output current (Pb) of the external power supply DCin. , Pb-Pa residual current (Pc), for example, if Pa = 350 mA and Pb = 550 mA, then Pc = 200 mA is used for charging the battery 27.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the charging of the battery 27 can be continued using the above Pc even when the cradle is placed, for example, during a slide show. For this reason, the charging time of the battery 27 can be shortened, and the special effect of not hindering the convenience (can be taken out and used immediately) as a portable electronic device is obtained.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the above embodiment, Of course, various modifications and development examples are included in the range of the technical thought.
For example, in the above embodiment, application to the digital camera 10 is taken as an example, but a portable electronic device other than the digital camera may be used. In other words, it may be a portable electronic device that is used by being set on a charging table such as a cradle or a charging / mounting table. Examples of such portable electronic devices include portable televisions and portable image reproduction. Devices, portable telephones with an image reproduction function, portable information terminals, portable electronic devices such as portable small personal computers, and the like are conceivable.

  The operation of the digital camera 10 executed while the cradle is placed is not limited to the above-described slide show, but also data transfer such as an image file performed with the personal computer 37 or other operations such as a portable television. If there is a television broadcast receiving operation, if it is a mobile phone, it may be a standby operation, and if it is a portable information terminal or a portable small personal computer, it may be an operation for executing arbitrary software.

It is the front view and back view of the digital camera 10 of this embodiment. 2 is a connection state diagram of the digital camera 10 and a cradle 29. FIG. 4 is a connection state diagram of the cradle 29, the AC adapter 36, and the personal computer 37. FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of the digital camera 10. FIG. 3 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a power supply unit 68. FIG. It is an example conceptual diagram of a table. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an operation flowchart of a power supply unit 68.

Explanation of symbols

DCin External power supply 10 Digital camera (portable electronic device)
27 battery 68 power supply unit (first determination means, second determination means, battery charging means)
70 Charging control unit (battery charging means)
71 External power input determination unit (first determination means)
73 Camera operation determination unit (second determination means)

Claims (7)

First determination means for determining presence / absence of input from an external power source;
Second determination means for determining operation / non-operation of an electronic circuit provided in the device itself;
When the first determination means determines that the external power supply is present and the second determination means determines that the electronic circuit is not operating, the battery is charged using substantially the entire current of the external power supply. When the presence of the external power source is determined by the first determination unit and the operation of the electronic circuit is determined by the second determination unit, it is necessary for the operation of the electronic circuit from the amount of current of the external power source. And a battery charging means for charging the battery using the remaining current obtained by subtracting the amount of current. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the operation of the electronic circuit is data transfer performed with an external device. 2. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is a portable television, and the operation of the electronic circuit is a television broadcast reception / playback operation. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is a digital camera, and the operation of the electronic circuit is a reproduction operation of a captured image. 2. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is a mobile phone, and the operation of the electronic circuit is a standby operation, an incoming operation, or a call operation. A first step of determining whether or not an external power source is input;
A second step of determining the operation / non-operation of an electronic circuit provided in the device itself;
When the presence of the external power source is determined in the first step and the non-operation of the electronic circuit is determined in the second step, the battery is charged using almost the entire current of the external power source, When the presence of the external power source is determined in the first step and the operation of the electronic circuit is determined in the second step, the current amount necessary for the operation of the electronic circuit is subtracted from the current amount of the external power source. And a third step of charging the battery using the remaining current. On the computer,
A first step of determining whether or not an external power source is input;
A second step of determining the operation / non-operation of an electronic circuit provided in the device itself;
When the presence of the external power source is determined in the first step and the non-operation of the electronic circuit is determined in the second step, the battery is charged using almost the entire current of the external power source, When the presence of the external power source is determined in the first step and the operation of the electronic circuit is determined in the second step, the current amount necessary for the operation of the electronic circuit is subtracted from the current amount of the external power source. And a third step of charging the battery using the remaining current.

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