JP2009021744A - Portable terminal, power consumption managing method, power consumption management program and program recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable terminal for controlling operation on the basis of an estimated battery state by estimating the battery state after performing desired particular processing. <P>SOLUTION: A battery state estimating part 109 controls to change operation contents in a transmitting and receiving part 102 and/or an application on the results obtained by a power consumption determining part 106 by estimating power consumption of the transmitting and receiving part 102 during using a band that can transmit and receive data through a network 110 and power consumption of a data processing part 103 during processing data in accordance with an operation in each application for executing various services. As control to change the operation contents of the transmitting and receiving part 102, a transfer band of data transmitted and received to/from the network 110 is changed, and an operation for selecting any network among a plurality of networks is performed when the plurality of networks can be used. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable terminal, a power consumption management method, a power consumption management program, and a program recording medium, and in particular, a plurality of wireless communication paths can be used, and any one of a plurality of communication paths can be arbitrarily selected. The present invention relates to a mobile terminal capable of communication, a power consumption management method, a power consumption management program, and a program recording medium.

  Conventionally, in a portable terminal capable of transmitting and receiving data using a plurality of communication channels, when selecting a communication channel to be used, communication having sufficient reception strength in consideration of the reception strength of each of the plurality of communication channels It is common to perform an operation to select and use a path.

  Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-180174 “Mobile Terminal Control Program and Mobile Terminal Device” in Patent Document 1 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-15155 “Radio Communication Device and Radio Communication System Using the Same”. ”Discloses a method of selecting a communication path to be used according to the remaining battery level. In this case, if the remaining battery capacity exceeds a predetermined capacity, it is not possible to appropriately determine which communication path to use for communication, and depending on the selection result, it is more than necessary. However, there is a problem that it is not considered that the power consumption fluctuates depending on the operating state of an application to be used in the future.

  On the other hand, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-26735 “Portable wireless communication terminal and storage device” in Patent Document 3 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-259457 “Multi-service wireless communication system” in Patent Document 4, using location information, A technique for changing a communication path to be used is disclosed. According to this disclosure, since it is necessary to determine the communication path to be used in advance for all positions, it is impossible to cope with the case where the radio wave condition changes with time. In addition, since it is necessary to set optimal communication paths in advance for all positions, it takes a lot of time and effort to check the radio wave conditions in advance, which is not realistic.

  Japanese Patent No. 3369760 “Radio communication system” of Patent Document 5 discloses that in a system composed of a base station and a receiver, the transmission power of the base station can be known by the ID transmitted from the base station. On the side, a method of reducing the power consumption of the receiver by selecting a base station with low transmission power is disclosed. However, in this method, since the reference for selecting a connection destination base station as a receiver depends on the transmission power for each base station notified by the base station, all the base stations to which the receiver is connected Therefore, it is necessary to assume that it is necessary to notify the receiving terminal of its own transmission power as a known value, and this cannot be applied when communication using a plurality of communication paths is selectively performed.

  Further, in Japanese Patent No. 3814311 “Wireless terminal apparatus, wireless communication system” of Patent Document 6, when a communication method is selected in a terminal capable of communication using a plurality of communication methods, a predetermined selection is made. A method for determining which of the standards to use is determined using the remaining battery level at that time. When this method is used, since only the current battery remaining amount is used as the determination condition, it is not taken into account how the remaining battery amount becomes after the communication method determination processing is performed.

  Also, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-050510 “Information processing device, wireless module, electronic control device, power control method, power control program, and recording medium” of Patent Document 7, the state of the battery and the electric field strength for each application are described. There is disclosed a method of registering in a table in advance what kind of profile is to be used depending on the state, and performing an operation accordingly. However, even this method does not take into account what state will be in the future in order to control the operation using the current state within a predetermined range.

As described above, various types of mobile terminals (transmission / reception devices) capable of selectively using a plurality of communication paths can select a more appropriate communication path in consideration of low power consumption. A method has been proposed.
JP 2006-180174 A JP 2004-15155 A JP 2005-26735 A JP 2003-259457 A Japanese Patent No. 3369760 Japanese Patent No. 3813431 JP 2006-50510 A

  Generally, in a portable terminal capable of performing communication using a plurality of communication paths, it has been conventionally necessary for the user to specify which communication path is used for communication. In addition, a system capable of automatically determining a communication path to be selected according to a specific condition has been proposed. However, in a case where low power consumption is required, such as a portable portable terminal driven by a battery. As described above, it is difficult to say that an optimal selection method is realized.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and estimates the future battery state due to both the power consumption in the transmission / reception unit and the power consumption in the data processing unit from the state of the communication path, and the desired specific An object of the present invention is to provide a portable terminal, a power consumption management method, a power consumption management program, and a program recording medium for estimating a battery state after processing and controlling operation based on the estimated battery state. Yes.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the portable terminal, the power consumption management method, the power consumption management program, and the program recording medium according to the present invention adopt the following characteristic configurations.

(1) Transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving data via a network, data processing means for processing data according to the operation of each application that implements various services,
In a portable terminal comprising at least power consumption determining means for determining power consumption in the data processing means according to the operation of the application and for determining power consumption in the transmission / reception means,
Based on the power consumption estimated to be required for future communication in the transmission / reception means and the power consumption estimated to be required for future data processing in the data processing means, the transmission / reception means and / or the application A mobile terminal that changes and controls the operation content.
(2) The power consumption determination means determines power consumption in the transmission / reception means in accordance with the characteristics of the data to be transmitted / received. As characteristics of the data to be transmitted / received, a data generation period, a data transmission period, data The mobile terminal according to (1), wherein at least one of the total amount of data, the remaining amount of data to be transmitted, and the amount of data to be transmitted (burst property) is included.
(3) When performing change control of the operation content in the transmission / reception means, based on the estimation results of power consumption of the transmission / reception means and the data processing means, the transmission / reception means transmits / receives data to / from the network. The mobile terminal according to (1), wherein the transfer band is changed and controlled.
(4) When the portable terminal is capable of communication with a plurality of networks, the power consumption determination means includes means for determining the power consumption in the transmission / reception means for each of the networks, and the operation content in the transmission / reception means (1), (2) or (3) for selecting one of the plurality of networks based on the estimation result of the power consumption of the transmission / reception means and the data processing means. ) Mobile devices.
(5) When performing the change control of the operation content in the transmission / reception means and / or the application, the data processing means will be consumed in the future reflecting the estimation result of the amount of data that can be transmitted / received in the transmission / reception means in the future. Any one of the above (1) to (4) that controls to change the operation contents in the transmission / reception means and / or the application based on the estimation result obtained by changing the power consumption and the estimation result of the power consumption of the transmission / reception means Mobile phone.
(6) When the operation content change control in the application is performed, the change in the operation content of the application is reflected to change the power consumption that will be consumed in the transmission / reception means in the above (1) to (5) Any portable terminal.
(7) Provided with schedule management means for performing the operation of the mobile terminal based on a pre-registered schedule, and at a specific time point arbitrarily designated based on the operation content performed according to the schedule by the schedule management means The portable terminal according to any one of (1) to (6), wherein power consumption in the transmission / reception means and power consumption in the data processing means are estimated.
(8) The portable terminal according to (7), wherein the arbitrarily specified specific time is a time when the arbitrarily specified specific processing is completed.
(9) The mobile terminal according to (7), wherein the arbitrarily specified specific time is a specific time specified in advance, and the time when the arbitrarily specified repetitive processing is finished.
(10) Characteristics of the data to be transmitted / received in a portable terminal provided with at least a transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving data via a network and a data processing means for processing data according to the operation of each application that implements various services A power consumption management method for determining and managing power consumption in the transmission / reception means according to the power consumption in the data processing means according to the operation of the application,
Based on the power consumption estimated to be required for future communication in the transmission / reception means and the power consumption estimated to be required for future data processing in the data processing means, the transmission / reception means and / or the application A power consumption management method for changing and controlling the operation content.
(11) When performing change control of the operation content in the transmission / reception means, based on the estimation results of power consumption of the transmission / reception means and the data processing means, the transmission / reception means transmits / receives data to / from the network. (10) The power consumption management method according to (10), wherein the transfer band is changed and controlled.
(12) When the portable terminal is capable of communication with a plurality of networks, the power transmission / reception means is determined for each of the networks, and the transmission / reception is performed when changing the operation content of the transmission / reception means. The power consumption management method according to (10) or (11), wherein one of the plurality of networks is selected based on a power consumption estimation result of the means and the data processing means.
(13) When performing change control of the operation content in the transmission / reception means and / or the application, the data processing means will be consumed in the future reflecting the estimation result of the amount of data that can be transmitted / received in the transmission / reception means in the future. (10), (11) or (11), wherein the operation content in the transmission / reception means and / or the application is changed and controlled based on the estimation result obtained by changing the power consumption and the estimation result of the power consumption of the transmission / reception means. 12) Power consumption management method (14) A power consumption management program for implementing any one of the power consumption management methods (10) to (13) as a program executable by a computer.
(15) A program recording medium in which the power consumption management program according to (14) is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium.

  According to the portable terminal, power consumption management method, power consumption management program, and program recording medium of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

  First, in a device driven by a battery, such as a portable terminal, by assuming the future state by estimating the power consumption required for data transmission / reception and the power consumption required for application operation, Since the operation to be executed is determined, communication can be performed by efficiently using a limited remaining battery level.

  Secondly, in a portable terminal capable of transmitting and receiving data using a plurality of communication paths, when determining which communication path is used for communication, not the current battery state, Judging by using the estimation result of the battery state, and determining the battery state according to the operating state of the application, it is possible to select a more suitable communication path in consideration of the remaining battery level in the future. It becomes possible.

  Preferred embodiments of a portable terminal, a power consumption management method, a power consumption management program, and a program recording medium according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, the portable terminal and the power consumption management method according to the present invention will be described. However, the power consumption management method may be implemented as a power consumption management program that can be executed by a computer. Needless to say, the power consumption management program may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium.

(Features of the present invention)
Prior to the description of the embodiments of the present invention, first, the outline of the features of the present invention will be described. In a portable terminal (transmission / reception device) that is driven by a primary battery or a secondary battery and transmits / receives data using a plurality of communication paths, the present invention predicts a future change in the remaining battery level and performs processing operations. It is characterized by providing a portable terminal (transmission / reception device) that can be changed.

  In other words, the present invention predicts current battery remaining capacity and future trends in terminal usage status, radio wave environment, and the like, and restricts the use of terminal functions. As will be clear from the development status of information communication terminals such as (Personal Handy-Phone System) terminals, notebook PCs (Personal Computers), and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), one-segment tuners, wireless LAN (Local Area Network) It is predicted that the number of mobile terminals equipped with a plurality of communication methods such as the Blue-Tooth function and driven by a built-in battery will increase, and in such circumstances, an effective method of battery management method for mobile terminals is proposed. The feature of the present invention is that it can be provided.

(Configuration of the first embodiment)
Next, a configuration example of the first embodiment of the mobile terminal according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the mobile terminal according to the present invention. A mobile terminal 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a control unit 101, a transmission / reception unit 102, a data processing unit 103, a data processing state determination unit 104, an application operation control unit 105, a power consumption determination unit 106, a battery unit 107, and a battery state determination unit 108. The battery state estimation unit 109 is provided at least, and the transmission / reception unit 102 is connected to the network 110 and performs data transmission / reception operations.

  A portable terminal 100 in FIG. 1 is a portable information processing apparatus that can be connected to a network 110. For example, the portable terminal 100 is a cellular phone terminal, PHS (Personal Handy-Phone System), PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), or A portable terminal device such as a notebook PC (Personal Computer).

  The control unit 101 is a part that controls the operation of the entire mobile terminal 100, and includes a transmission / reception unit 102, a data processing unit 103, a data processing state determination unit 104, an application operation control unit 105, a power consumption determination unit 106, and a battery unit 107. Then, each part including battery state determination unit 108 and battery state estimation unit 109 is controlled. Here, for example, the control unit 101 stores not only a CPU (Central Processing Unit) but also a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc., and a storage area for programs and data for CPUs to execute processing. Is included.

  The transmission / reception unit 102 is a part that transmits and receives data via the network 110. The data processing unit 103 is a part that processes various types of data. Like the control unit 101, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. It includes a program for the CPU to execute processing, a data storage area, and the like.

  The data processing state determination unit 104 is a part that determines the processing state of the data processing unit 103, and may be determined by using information on what application is operating in the data processing unit 103. , Use the CPU, ROM, or RAM resource usage status to determine whether the application is operating using most of the CPU, ROM, or RAM, or whether it is operating with very little use. Also good.

  The application operation control unit 105 is a part that controls the processing in the data processing unit 103. For example, the application operation control unit 105 can restrict the operation of the application that operates in the data processing unit 103, or can perform the maximum processing as the application operation. Or to be.

  The power consumption determination unit 106 is a part that determines power consumption under a certain condition. For example, the power consumption determination unit 106 determines power consumption required when transmission / reception is performed using the transmission / reception unit 102, or the data processing unit 103 Based on the determination result of the processing status by the data processing state determination unit 104, the data processing unit 103 determines the required power consumption.

  The battery unit 107 is a part that supplies electric power for driving the mobile terminal 100, and is configured by a primary battery or a secondary battery. The battery state determination unit 108 is a part that determines the state of the battery unit 107, and determines the remaining battery level in the battery unit 107 or the battery capacity.

  The battery state estimation unit 109 uses the power consumption determined by the power consumption determination unit 106 and the battery state determined by the battery state determination unit 108 to change how the state of the battery unit 107 changes in the future. Or a battery state after a specific time has elapsed.

  The network 110 is a so-called communication network, such as a mobile phone network, a PHS network, a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), a wired LAN, or a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network).

(Description of operation of the first embodiment)
Next, the operation of the mobile terminal 100 in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the battery state estimating unit 109 of the mobile terminal 100 of FIG. 1 showing an example of the mobile terminal according to the present invention.

  In FIG. 2, first, the battery state determination unit 108 checks the current remaining battery level of the battery unit 107 (step S1). As the confirmation result of the remaining battery level of the battery unit 107, a determination result classified into several stages such as a fully charged state or a remaining battery level (1/2) may be obtained as the confirmation result. Alternatively, a specific battery remaining amount may be obtained.

  In parallel with the operation of step S1, a band that can be secured by the transmission / reception unit 102 is estimated (step S2). When estimating the band that can be secured, for example, the mobile terminal 100 may make an independent determination based on received power, bit error rate, or the like, or a server device or base station (not shown) connected via the network 110 You may make it acquire the information regarding the band which can be ensured from an apparatus.

  Next, based on the estimated bandwidth information, the power consumption determining unit 106 estimates the power consumption consumed in the transmission / reception unit 102 (step S3). In parallel, based on the estimated bandwidth information, the data processing state determination unit 104 estimates the state when the data processing unit 103 performs processing corresponding to the available bandwidth. (Step S4), and further, the processing load of the data processing unit 103 is estimated (Step S5). Next, power consumption in the data processing unit 100 is estimated based on the estimated processing load (step S6). For example, when the bandwidth that can be secured is wide, the amount of data to be transmitted / received increases, so the power consumption in the data processing unit 103 increases, and when the bandwidth cannot be secured much, the amount of data to be transmitted / received decreases. It can be determined that the power consumption required for processing by the data processing unit 103 is small.

  Through the above processes, the current remaining battery level obtained by the battery state determination unit 108 in step S1, the power consumption of the transmission / reception unit 102 estimated by the power consumption determination unit 106 in step S3, and in step S6 Then, using the power consumption of the data processing unit 103 estimated by the power consumption determination unit 106, the battery state estimation unit 109 estimates a future battery state when processing using the estimated band information is performed. (Step S7).

  Here, regarding the determination of the battery state, after a predetermined time has elapsed, it may be determined how much remaining battery power of the battery unit 107 remains, or the processing of the content to be processed is terminated. It may be determined whether the remaining battery level of the battery unit 107 remains at the end of the process, or the application operation currently being performed may be determined. A determination may be made as to how long the operation can be performed from the present time.

  In FIG. 2, the power consumption in the transmission / reception unit 102 and the processing load in the data processing unit 103 are estimated based on the band that can be secured, but the determination is based on the communication quality of the network 110. Alternatively, when the network 110 is a wireless network, the determination may be made based on the radio wave condition.

  Next, the operation when the operation of the application is controlled using the estimation result of the battery state estimated by the battery state estimation unit 109 in the flowchart of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 is a flowchart for activating the application operation control unit 105. FIG. 4 is an example in which the application operation control unit 105 controls the operation of the application based on the battery state estimation result of the battery state estimation unit 109. It is a flowchart for demonstrating.

  First, in FIG. 3, when the estimation result of the battery state of the battery unit 107 estimated by the battery state estimation unit 109 according to the flowchart of FIG. 2 is acquired (step S11), the application operation is performed to control the operation of the application. The control unit 105 is activated (step S12). When the application operation control unit 105 is activated, the operation of the flowchart of FIG. 4 is activated. That is, the application operation control unit 105 determines the remaining battery level to be left using the estimation result of the battery state of the battery unit 107, and controls the operation of the application.

  In FIG. 4, first, the remaining battery level to be left is determined using the estimation result of the battery state of the battery unit 107 (step S21). When it is determined that the remaining battery level may be small (when the remaining battery level is low in step S21), the application operation control unit 105 increases the amount of data transmitted / received by the transmitting / receiving unit 102. That is, the operation is controlled to expand the data communication band (step S22). On the other hand, if it is determined that the remaining battery level is high (in the case of “requires a high battery level” in step S21), the application operation control unit 105 limits the amount of data that can be transmitted / received by the transmitting / receiving unit 102, The operation is controlled so as to control the application operation, that is, to reduce the bandwidth for data communication (step S23).

  For example, when an application such as streaming processing is assumed, it can be estimated that the wider the available bandwidth, the higher the processing load on the data processing unit 103 can be performed. Furthermore, in such a case, it can be estimated that the power consumption required in the data processing unit 103 increases. Therefore, when it is determined in step S21 that a large amount of remaining battery power is to be left (in the case of “requires a large amount of remaining battery power” in step S21), the data processing unit 103 is prevented from performing processing with a high processing load. If the control is performed and, conversely, it is determined that it is not necessary to leave the remaining battery level (when the remaining battery level is low in step S21), the data processing unit 103 performs processing with a high load. Control is possible.

  Note that the processing timing of the application operation control unit 105 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is performed when, for example, the data processing unit 103 needs to transmit / receive data via the transmitting / receiving unit 102. Alternatively, it may be performed each time a predetermined time elapses.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, based on the power consumption estimated to be required for future communication in the transmission / reception unit 102 and the power consumption estimated to be required for future data processing in the data processing unit 102. Thus, the operation content in the transmission / reception unit 102 and / or the application is changed and controlled. Here, when performing change control of the operation content in the transmission / reception unit 102, based on the estimation result of power consumption of the transmission / reception unit 102 and the data processing unit 103, change control of the transfer band of data transmitted / received to / from the network 110 is performed. To do.

  Further, when performing change control of the operation content in the transmission / reception unit 102 and / or the application, the consumption that will be consumed in the data processing unit 103 in the future by reflecting the estimation result of the amount of data that can be transmitted / received in the transmission / reception unit 102 in the future. Based on the estimation result obtained by changing the power and the estimation result of the power consumption of the transmission / reception unit 102, the operation content in the transmission / reception unit 102 and / or the application can be changed and controlled. Further, when the change control of the operation content in the application is performed, the operation of changing the power consumption in the transmission / reception unit 102 is also performed by reflecting the change result of the operation content of the application.

(Description of the effect of this embodiment)
According to the present embodiment, in a device driven by a battery such as a portable terminal, a future state is assumed by estimating power consumption required for data transmission / reception and power consumption required for application operation. Since the operation to be executed at present is determined, communication can be performed by efficiently using a limited remaining battery level.

(Configuration of Second Embodiment)
Next, a configuration example of the second embodiment of the mobile terminal according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the mobile terminal according to the present invention. The mobile terminal 200 shown in FIG. 5 includes a control unit 101, a first transmission / reception unit 102, a second transmission / reception unit 202, a data processing unit 103, a data processing state determination unit 104, an application operation control unit 105, a power consumption determination unit 106, and a battery. Unit 107, battery state determination unit 108, battery state estimation unit 109, and communication path selection unit 211, and the first transmission / reception unit 102 is connected to the first network 110 as in FIG. 1. The second transmission / reception unit 202 newly added to FIG. 1 is connected to the second network 210 different from the first network 110 to perform the data transmission / reception operation. I'm in charge. In this embodiment, the transmission / reception unit 102 connected to the network 110 shown in FIG. 1 is distinguished from the second transmission / reception unit 202 connected to the second network 210 in the present embodiment. "First" is added as a prefix.

  That is, in the mobile terminal 200 of FIG. 5, the same components as those of the mobile terminal 100 of FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIG. A second transmission / reception unit 202 that transmits / receives data via the second network 210, a first transmission / reception unit 102 connected to the first network 110, and a second transmission / reception unit 202 connected to the second network 210. And a communication path selection unit 211 for determining which one to select is added.

  As described above, the second transmission / reception unit 202 newly added in the present embodiment is a part that transmits / receives data via the second network 110.

  The communication path selection unit 211 is a part that determines whether or not communication is possible with respect to each of the first transmission / reception unit 102 and the second transmission / reception unit 202 and selects one as a transmission / reception unit used for communication. This is a part that determines a communication path to be used for communication by determining a state in which only one of the first transmission / reception unit 102 and the second transmission / reception unit 202 can communicate, both can communicate, and both cannot communicate. . Here, as a communication path used for communication, either the first transmission / reception unit 102 or the second transmission / reception unit 202 may be used, or both may be used.

  The second network 210 is a communication network different from the first network 110. For example, a mobile phone network, a PHS network, a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), a wired LAN, or a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) may be a different type of communication network from the first network 110. As described above, when there are a plurality of communication networks for providing different services by different communication carriers, the communication network is the same type as that of the first network 110, but the communication carriers may be different communication networks.

(Description of the operation of the second embodiment)
Next, the operation of the mobile terminal 200 in FIG. 5 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the communication path selection unit 211 of the mobile terminal 200 of FIG. 5 showing a different example of the mobile terminal according to the present invention.

  6A, first, the battery state estimation unit 109 estimates the battery state when communication is performed using the first transmission / reception unit 102 connected to the first network 110 (step S31), and the second A battery state is estimated when communication is performed using the second transmission / reception unit 202 connected to the network 210 (step S32).

  Based on the estimation result of the battery state in the battery state estimation unit 109, the communication path selection unit 211 determines which communication path is in a more desirable battery state (step S33). When it is determined that communication using the first transmission / reception unit 102 is more desirable as the battery state (in the case of “first transmission / reception unit” in step S33), a communication path using the first transmission / reception unit 102 is selected ( Step S34). On the other hand, when it is determined that it is more preferable to perform communication using the second transmission / reception unit 202 (in the case of “second transmission / reception unit” in step S33), a communication path using the second transmission / reception unit 202 is selected. (Step S35).

  In FIG. 6A, it is determined that only one of the first transmission / reception unit 102 and the second transmission / reception unit 202 performs data transmission / reception. 2 It may be determined that both the transmission / reception unit 202 is used, or in some cases, it may be determined that communication using the first transmission / reception unit 102 and the second transmission / reception unit 202 is not performed. good.

  In addition, the estimation of the battery state by the battery state estimation unit 109 in steps S31 and S32 of FIG. 6A is assumed to be performed according to the sequence shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2 of the first embodiment.

  As described above, in the portable terminal 200 capable of transmitting and receiving data using a plurality of communication paths, when determining which communication path is used for communication, not the current battery state but the future Judgment is made using the estimated battery status, and the battery status is determined according to the operating status of the application, and a more suitable communication path is selected in consideration of the remaining battery level in the future. Is possible.

  That is, when communication with a plurality of networks, for example, two networks of the first network 110 and the second network 210 is possible, the power consumption determination unit 106, for example, with the first transmission / reception unit 102 for each of the plurality of networks. Means for determining the power consumption in each of the second transmission / reception units 202 are provided, and the power consumption of the first transmission / reception unit 102, the second transmission / reception unit 202, and the data processing unit 103 when performing change control of the operation content in data transmission / reception. On the basis of the estimation result, the first transmission / reception unit 102 or the second transmission / reception unit 202, that is, the first network 110 or the second network 210 is selected, and further, the first network 110 or the second network 210 is selected. The transfer bandwidth of data sent to and received from To your.

  In FIG. 6B, when the channel selection operation starts, the application operation is determined (S301), the remaining amount of data to be transmitted is confirmed (S302), and the remaining amount of data to be transmitted / received is determined (S303). ) If the remaining amount of data is small, a broadband communication path is selected within a range where power consumption is allowable (S304), and the process is terminated. On the other hand, if continuous data transmission is required in S303, a communication path with as little power consumption as possible is selected (S305), and the process ends.

  For example, if an application such as VolP (Voice over IP) where short data needs to be sent periodically is assumed, a call can be made as long as possible using a communication path with as low a power consumption as possible. It is better to do so. In such a case, control is performed so that transmission / reception is performed by selecting a communication path that requires less power to transmit short data. In such a case, control is performed so that transmission / reception is performed by selecting a communication path that requires less power to transmit short data. On the other hand, when the amount of remaining data that needs to be transferred is known, such as when downloading a file, the time required for transmission and reception is reduced by performing high-speed data transfer, and the remaining battery level after transfer increases. In this case, control is performed so that communication is performed by selecting a higher-speed communication path.

(Configuration of Third Embodiment)
Next, a configuration example of the third embodiment of the mobile terminal according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the third embodiment of the mobile terminal according to the present invention. The mobile terminal 300 shown in FIG. 7 includes a control unit 101, a first transmission / reception unit 102, a second transmission / reception unit 202, a data processing unit 103, a data processing state determination unit 104, an application operation control unit 105, a power consumption determination unit 106, and a battery. Unit 107, battery state determination unit 108, battery state estimation unit 109, communication path selection unit 211, communication path state estimation unit 312, position information acquisition unit 313, schedule management unit 314, and first transmission / reception 5, the unit 102 is connected to the first network 110 to perform data transmission / reception operations, and the second transmission / reception unit 202 is connected to the second network 210 to perform data transmission / reception operations. ing.

  Here, in the mobile terminal 300 of FIG. 7, the same components as those of the mobile terminal 200 of FIG. 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 5, but the mobile terminal 200 of FIG. On the other hand, a channel state estimation unit 312 that newly estimates a future channel state according to the current location, a position information acquisition unit 313 that acquires the current location information of the mobile terminal 300, and scheduling A schedule management unit 314 for managing the management is added.

  As described above, the communication channel state estimation unit 312 is a part that estimates a future communication channel state, and estimates a communication channel state such as a bandwidth and an error rate, for example.

  The position information acquisition unit 313 is a part that acquires information about the current position of the mobile terminal 300. For example, the position information acquisition unit 313 receives GPS (Global Positioning System) data and acquires current position information. Alternatively, the first transmission / reception unit 102 or the second transmission / reception unit 202 may be used to acquire position information using communication with a wireless communication station (base station).

  In addition, the schedule management unit 314 is a part that manages schedule information related to an application. For example, the schedule management unit 314 can manage a schedule for sounding an alarm or can process broadcast data in the data processing unit 103. , Manage schedules such as recording reservations.

(Description of operation of the third embodiment)
Next, the operation of the mobile terminal 300 in FIG. 7 will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the power consumption estimation operation of the first transmission / reception unit 102 and the second transmission / reception unit 202 of the mobile terminal 300 of FIG. 7 showing still another example of the mobile terminal according to the present invention. 2 corresponds to the power consumption estimation process in the transmission / reception unit 102 shown in step S3 of FIG. 2, and the other process of the battery state estimation unit 109 in this embodiment, that is, the step of FIG. The current battery level determination process in S1, the power consumption estimation process of the data processing unit 103 in steps S4 to S6 in FIG. 2, and the battery state determination process in step S7 in FIG. 2 are described in FIG. It is assumed that the battery state is estimated by the same processing as each of the steps.

  In FIG. 8, as the power consumption estimation operation in the first transmission / reception unit 102 and / or the second transmission / reception unit 202, first, the location information acquisition unit 313 acquires the current location information of the mobile terminal 300 (step S41). Next, based on the acquired current position information, it is estimated how the state of communication via the transmission / reception unit will change for the first transmission / reception unit 102 and / or the second transmission / reception unit 202 (step). S42).

  Here, as a method of estimating the state of communication via the transmission / reception unit, that is, the channel state, information that associates the history of the current location information with the future channel state is held in the mobile terminal 300. Alternatively, it is possible to acquire data of the future communication path state from a server device or a wireless communication station (base station) (not shown) connected via the first network 110 and / or the second network 210. good. Moreover, you may make it estimate based on an original logic in the portable terminal 300 using the acquired present position information and the present communication channel state.

  Thereafter, the power consumption determining unit 106 estimates the power consumption consumed in the first transmission / reception unit 102 and / or the second transmission / reception unit 202 (step S3).

  8, the current remaining battery level obtained by the battery state determination unit 108 in step S1 shown in FIG. 2 and the first estimated by the power consumption determination unit 106 in step S43 of FIG. Step S7 in FIG. 2 is performed using the power consumption of transmission / reception unit 102 and / or second transmission / reception unit 202 and the power consumption of data processing unit 103 estimated by power consumption determination unit 106 in step S6 of FIG. As described above, the battery state estimation unit 109 estimates a future battery state when processing using a communication band is performed at the current position. Further, by repeating the operation of FIG. 8 described above, the estimation of the battery state may be repeated as the position is moved.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining an example in which the application operation control unit 105 controls the operation of the application based on the estimation result of the battery state of the battery state estimation unit 109 of the mobile terminal 300 of FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining an example different from FIG. 4 in which an application operation control unit 105 controls the operation of an application based on a battery state estimation result of a battery state estimation unit 109 of the mobile terminal 100.

  When the battery state estimation unit 109 acquires the battery state estimation result of the battery unit 107 according to the flowcharts of FIGS. 8 and 2, the application operation control unit 105 is then activated to control the operation of the application, and FIG. The operation of the flowchart is started. That is, the application operation control unit 105 determines the remaining battery level to be left using the estimation result of the battery state of the battery unit 107, and controls the operation of the application.

  After acquiring the estimation result of the battery state by the sequence in FIG. 8 and FIG. 2 (step S51), the schedule management unit 314 acquires schedule data regarding the application to be executed in the future (step S52). Thereafter, the remaining battery level to be left in the future is determined on the schedule data relating to the application to be executed in the future (step S53).

  When processing that requires a large amount of remaining battery power is assumed on the schedule data (in the case of “requires a large amount of remaining battery power” in step S53), the application operation control unit 105 includes the first transmission / reception unit 102 and The operation is controlled so as to control the application operation by limiting the amount of data that can be transmitted / received by the second transmission / reception unit 202, that is, to reduce the bandwidth for data communication (step S55). On the other hand, when the battery remaining amount is not so necessary, such as when there is no particular schedule for executing the application (when “the battery remaining amount may be low” in step S53), the application operation control unit 105 performs the first transmission / reception. The operation is controlled so as to increase the amount of data transmitted / received by the unit 102 and / or the second transmitting / receiving unit 202, that is, to expand the band for data communication (step S54).

  For example, in the schedule data related to the application to be executed in the future, when there is a schedule for recording reservation of broadcast data, a large amount of remaining battery power is required, so that the data processing is restricted. In addition, for example, when it can be predicted that the remaining battery level will run out, a wider bandwidth is secured in the first network 110 and the second network 210 in order to back up the data in the mobile terminal 300 in advance. An available network is selected, and an operation for transmitting data in the portable terminal 300 as soon as possible is performed.

  As described above, the conditions of the first network 110 and the second network 210 that will be used in the future are predicted, and the power selection when using each of them as a communication network is assumed, and the operation of selecting a communication path and the operation of an application are performed. By controlling, it is possible to set the future battery status to a desired usage state, and to perform control suitable for application scheduling.

  Here, the schedule management unit 314 performs the operation of the mobile terminal 300 based on a schedule registered in advance, and can be arbitrarily set based on the operation content performed according to the schedule registered in advance by the schedule management unit 314. It is also possible to estimate the power consumption in the first transmission / reception unit 102 and / or the second transmission / reception unit 202 and the power consumption in the data processing unit 103 at a specific time designated in FIG. In addition, the arbitrarily specified specific time point can be a point in time when the specified process is arbitrarily specified, or a specified number of times specified in advance, and the point in time when the execution of the arbitrarily specified repetition process is ended. It is also possible to do.

  The configuration of the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above. However, it should be noted that such examples are merely illustrative of the invention and do not limit the invention in any way. Those skilled in the art will readily understand that various modifications and changes can be made according to a specific application without departing from the gist of the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 1st Embodiment of the portable terminal which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the battery state estimation part of the portable terminal of FIG. It is a flowchart for starting the application operation control part of the portable terminal of FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an example in which an application operation control unit of the mobile terminal in FIG. 1 controls the operation of an application. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 2nd Embodiment of the portable terminal which concerns on this invention. (A) It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the communication path selection part of the portable terminal of FIG. (B) It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 3rd Embodiment of the portable terminal which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the estimation operation | movement of the power consumption of the 1st transmission / reception part of a portable terminal of FIG. 7, and a 2nd transmission / reception part. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example in which the application operation control part of the portable terminal of FIG. 7 controls the operation | movement of an application.

Explanation of symbols

100 mobile terminal 101 control unit 102 transmission / reception unit (first transmission / reception unit)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 103 Data processing part 104 Data processing state judgment part 105 Application operation control part 106 Power consumption judgment part 107 Battery part 108 Battery state judgment part 109 Battery state estimation part 110 Network (1st network)
200 mobile terminal 202 second transmission / reception unit 210 second network 211 communication path selection unit 300 mobile terminal 312 communication path state estimation unit 313 position information acquisition unit 314 schedule management unit

Claims (15)

A transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives data via a network, a data processing unit that processes data according to an operation for each application that performs various services,
In a portable terminal comprising at least power consumption determining means for determining power consumption in the data processing means according to the operation of the application and for determining power consumption in the transmission / reception means,
Based on the power consumption estimated to be required for future communication in the transmission / reception means and the power consumption estimated to be required for future data processing in the data processing means, the transmission / reception means and / or the application A portable terminal characterized by changing and controlling the operation content.   The power consumption determination means determines the power consumption in the transmission / reception means according to the characteristics of the data to be transmitted / received, and the characteristics of the data to be transmitted / received include the data generation period, the data transmission period, and the total amount of data. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein at least one of a remaining amount of data to be transmitted and a data amount (burst property) to be transmitted at a time is included.   When performing change control of the operation content in the transmission / reception means, based on the estimation results of power consumption of the transmission / reception means and the data processing means, the transmission / reception means sets a transfer band of data transmitted / received to / from the network. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein change control is performed.   When the portable terminal is capable of communication with a plurality of networks, the power consumption determining means includes means for determining the power consumption in the transmission / reception means for each of the networks, and the operation content change control in the transmission / reception means 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of networks is selected based on a result of estimating power consumption of the transmission / reception unit and the data processing unit. Mobile devices.   When performing the change control of the operation content in the transmission / reception means and / or the application, the power consumption that will be consumed in the data processing means in the future reflects the estimation result of the data amount that can be transmitted / received in the transmission / reception means in the future. The operation content in the transmission / reception means and / or the application is changed and controlled on the basis of the estimation result obtained by changing the power consumption and the estimation result of the power consumption of the transmission / reception means. The portable terminal as described in.   6. The power consumption which will be consumed in the transmission / reception means in the future is changed by reflecting the change result of the operation content of the application when the operation content change control in the application is performed. The portable terminal in any one.   The transmission / reception means at a specific time point arbitrarily designated based on the operation content performed according to the schedule by the schedule management means, comprising schedule management means for performing the operation of the mobile terminal based on a schedule registered in advance The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein power consumption in the data processing unit and power consumption in the data processing unit are estimated.   The mobile terminal according to claim 7, wherein the arbitrarily specified time point is a time point when the arbitrarily specified process ends.   The mobile terminal according to claim 7, wherein the arbitrarily specified specific time is a specific time specified in advance, and a point in time when execution of the arbitrarily specified repetitive processing is finished. According to the characteristics of the data to be transmitted / received in a portable terminal provided with at least a transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving data via a network and a data processing means for processing data according to the operation of each application that implements various services A power consumption management method for determining and managing power consumption in the transmission / reception means and power consumption in the data processing means according to the operation of the application,
Based on the power consumption estimated to be required for future communication in the transmission / reception means and the power consumption estimated to be required for future data processing in the data processing means, the transmission / reception means and / or the application A power consumption management method characterized in that the operation content is changed and controlled.   When performing change control of the operation content in the transmission / reception means, based on the estimation results of power consumption of the transmission / reception means and the data processing means, the transmission / reception means sets a transfer band of data transmitted / received to / from the network. 11. The power consumption management method according to claim 10, wherein change control is performed.   When the portable terminal is capable of communicating with a plurality of networks, when determining the power consumption in the transmission / reception means for each of the networks and performing change control of the operation content in the transmission / reception means, the transmission / reception means and the 12. The power consumption management method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein any one of the plurality of networks is selected based on a power consumption estimation result of the data processing means.   When performing the change control of the operation content in the transmission / reception means and / or the application, the power consumption that will be consumed in the data processing means in the future reflects the estimation result of the data amount that can be transmitted / received in the transmission / reception means in the future. 13. The operation content in the transmission / reception means and / or the application is changed and controlled based on the estimation result obtained by changing the power consumption and the estimation result of the power consumption of the transmission / reception means. Power consumption management method described   14. A power consumption management program that implements the power consumption management method according to claim 10 as a program executable by a computer.   15. A program recording medium, wherein the power consumption management program according to claim 14 is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium.

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