JP2010206706A - Terminal device, battery residual quantity display method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately display the battery residual quantity of an apparatus such as a cellular phone terminal. <P>SOLUTION: Charging/discharging characteristics of a mounted secondary battery and its charging capacity are stored as a battery profile. Based on the stored battery profile and an operational state of the terminal device, the battery residual quantity of the mounted secondary battery is estimated and a virtual battery residual quantity is calculated. The calculated virtual battery residual quantity is then displayed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a terminal device suitable for application to, for example, a mobile phone terminal, a battery remaining amount display method applied to the terminal device, and a program to which the method is applied.

  In recent years, in a terminal device using a secondary battery such as a mobile phone terminal as a power source, a device having a function of notifying the remaining battery capacity has been commercialized. As a function to notify the remaining battery level, conventionally, the battery voltage is monitored, and based on the voltage value obtained by monitoring, the remaining battery level and remaining time are always displayed, or when the power is turned on, the remaining level is displayed. A notification method is adopted. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, the voltage between the terminals of the battery 2 of the mobile phone terminal 1 is measured, and the remaining battery level is calculated from the measured voltage value. Then, the calculated remaining amount is displayed in the display panel 3 as a remaining amount display 4 such as a graphic. The displayed remaining amount display 4 is a display with a relatively small number of steps, for example, about three steps or four steps.

  Patent Document 1 has a description of an example of a portable terminal that performs battery remaining amount display.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-32261

  By the way, a device with a battery remaining amount display function such as a conventional mobile phone terminal only measures the voltage of the battery at any time and displays the remaining amount of the battery. Therefore, the accurate remaining battery amount is not always displayed. There was a problem that could not be said. For example, the battery state may change due to the influence of external heat and humidity, and it cannot be said that an accurate remaining amount display can be performed only from the voltage value.

  For example, when considering user convenience, it is preferable to display the remaining battery level with a somewhat accurate numerical value such as a percentage. However, the terminal voltage of the battery fluctuates due to external factors such as temperature and humidity, and it has been difficult to convert the terminal voltage as it is into an accurate remaining charge.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and an object thereof is to make it possible to accurately notify the user of the charge amount of the battery.

  The present invention for solving the above problems stores the charge / discharge characteristics and charge capacity of a mounted secondary battery as a battery profile. Then, based on the stored battery profile and the operating state of the terminal device, the remaining battery level of the attached secondary battery is estimated to calculate the remaining virtual battery level. Then, the calculated virtual battery remaining amount is displayed.

  According to the present invention, the virtual battery remaining amount is calculated and held based on the battery profile and the operating state of the terminal device without measuring the actual terminal voltage of the secondary battery. The remaining amount is displayed using the calculated virtual battery remaining amount.

  According to the present invention, by calculating the virtual battery remaining amount and displaying the battery remaining amount from the calculated virtual battery remaining amount, the mounted secondary battery is imitated by software processing, such as temperature Without being affected by the outside world, it is possible to predict the remaining amount without the measurement error of the battery voltage. Thereby, the display accuracy of the remaining battery level is increased, and the convenience of the user can be improved.

It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the terminal device of the example of one embodiment of this invention. It is a principle figure by the example of one embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process example by the example of one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of a display screen of the confirmation screen of the mobile telephone terminal by the example of one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a system item by the example of one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the power consumption coefficient table by the example of one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the battery aging degradation coefficient by the example of one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process example by the example of one embodiment of this invention. It is the principle figure which showed the concept of the conventional battery remaining charge display.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in the following order.
1. Overall configuration of terminal (Fig. 1)
2. Principle of remaining virtual battery (Figure 2)
3. Calculation of virtual battery and processing based on the calculation (FIGS. 3 to 7)
4). Virtual battery remaining amount correction process (FIG. 8)
5). Modification of the embodiment

<1. Overall configuration of terminal: Fig. 1>
Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The present embodiment is an example applied to a mobile phone terminal which is a mobile terminal device.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration example of a mobile phone terminal 100 as an example of the present embodiment. The mobile phone terminal 100 includes a control unit 101 made of a microprocessor or the like. The control unit 101 includes a control line 150 in which a control signal is transmitted or a data line 160 in which data is transmitted. Connected to each part. And the control part 101 communicates with each part through these lines, and controls operation | movement of each part. Further, the control unit 101 performs a virtual battery calculation process, and performs a battery remaining amount display process based on the calculated remaining virtual battery amount. Processing related to the virtual battery will be described later.

  A communication circuit 102, a display unit 103, an operation unit 104, and a memory 105 are connected to the control line 150.

  An antenna 106 is connected to the communication circuit 102, and the communication circuit 102 demodulates the radio wave obtained by the antenna 106 and extracts an audio signal, a video signal, and the like transmitted from the base station. Also, the audio signal transmitted from the speaker 107 that outputs the audio signal input via the data line 160 and the microphone 108 that picks up the surrounding audio and converts it into the audio signal, and the video signal controlled by the control unit 101 are displayed. Then, a process of converting to radio waves and outputting to the antenna 106 is performed.

  The display unit 103 includes a display panel 109 configured by a liquid crystal panel or the like and a drive unit of the display panel 109, and includes a telephone number of an incoming call, an e-mail message transmitted and received through the antenna 106, The image taken from the camera is displayed. A battery remaining amount described later is also displayed using the display panel 109. The operation unit 106 includes dial keys such as numerals and other various function keys. When those keys are pressed by the user, an operation signal corresponding to the operation content is generated and supplied to the control unit 101.

The memory 105 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory). The memory 105 stores software necessary for controlling the mobile phone terminal 100 and calculating a virtual battery. A battery profile to be described later is also stored in the memory 105. The memory 105 also stores data that is temporarily generated when the control unit 101 performs control.
Although not shown, the mobile phone terminal 100 according to the present embodiment includes a battery mounting portion to which a secondary battery (battery) is mounted. And the supply of the power which a terminal requires from the secondary battery with which the battery mounting part was mounted | worn is received. The power obtained from the secondary battery is supplied by a power circuit (not shown) in the terminal by converting each circuit in the terminal to a power source having a necessary voltage. As the secondary battery, for example, a lithium ion battery is used.
In addition, a battery measuring unit that measures the terminal voltage of the secondary battery mounted on the battery mounting unit is provided, but the voltage measured by the battery measuring unit is used only auxiliaryly as described later, When making the determination, the terminal voltage of the battery is not used directly.

<2. Principle of remaining virtual battery: Fig. 2>
Next, a process for managing the remaining amount of the attached secondary battery in the mobile phone terminal 100 of the present embodiment will be described.
In the present embodiment, the control unit 101 performs virtual battery calculation processing, and performs battery remaining amount display processing based on the calculated virtual battery remaining amount.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the principle of remaining amount display using this virtual battery. That is, although the mobile phone terminal 100 includes the secondary battery 130, the control unit 101 calculates the virtual battery remaining amount 101a based on the operation status in the terminal without measuring the terminal voltage of the secondary battery 130 or the like. To do. Based on the calculated virtual battery remaining amount 101 a, the control unit 101 performs a battery remaining amount display 111 on the display panel 109. In the example of FIG. 2, an example of displaying the remaining battery level as a percentage value (ie, a percentage display example) is shown as the remaining battery level display 111.
The battery remaining amount display 111 shown in FIG. 2 is always displayed on the display panel 109. Alternatively, when the user performs some operation, the corresponding battery remaining amount display 111 is performed. Alternatively, it may be possible to switch between the conventional three-stage display shown in FIG. 9 and the battery remaining amount display 111 in percentage shown in FIG.

<3. Calculation of virtual battery and processing based on the calculation: FIGS. 3 to 7>
Next, a processing example for calculating the virtual battery remaining amount in the mobile phone terminal 100 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The process of the flowchart of FIG. 3 is started when the cellular phone terminal 100 is first activated. It is also executed when the secondary battery is replaced with a new one.

  The process of the flowchart in FIG. 3 is executed under the control of the control unit 101. If it demonstrates according to the flowchart of FIG. 3, the model number of the mobile telephone terminal 100 will be acquired first (step S102). For example, when communication is possible between the mobile phone terminal 100 and the secondary battery, the model number is acquired from a control unit (not shown) in the secondary battery through the communication. In the case of a secondary battery incapable of communication, a plurality of types of model numbers prepared for the mobile phone terminal 100 are stored in the terminal 100 in advance. Then, a list of the stored model numbers is displayed and selected by a user operation. After acquisition (or after selection), a battery stored in the mobile phone terminal 100 is specified, and a battery profile for the battery is set (step 102). The battery profile is stored in the memory 105 in the mobile phone terminal 100 and is data indicating the charge capacity, charge characteristics, and discharge characteristics of the secondary battery. Data about how much power is consumed when each function of the mobile phone terminal 100 is executed may be stored as a battery profile. The functions here are all functions of the cellular phone terminal 100 such as a call function, a mail transmission / reception function, a mail text input function, an image display function, etc., and a user operation such as location registration of the terminal to the base station. It also includes functions that are performed independently of each other.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 3, it is determined whether or not the battery stored next is new (step S103). The determination in this case is determined by selecting a screen displayed on the display panel 109. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the screen displayed at this time displays 121 on the display panel 109 as “Is the installed battery new?” And selects the answers 122 and 123.

  When a new secondary battery is used, the remaining battery level of the charge amount specified as a new battery is acquired (step S105). On the other hand, if the battery is not a new secondary battery, the actual remaining battery level is measured from the battery voltage or the like (step S104), and the actual remaining battery level is acquired (step S105).

  When the processing so far is completed, the control unit 101 starts the virtual battery system (step S106). The actually acquired battery remaining amount is converted into a virtual battery remaining amount (step S107).

  Next, based on the total battery charge capacity calculated from the battery profile, a value obtained by converting the converted virtual battery remaining amount as a percentage is displayed on the display panel 109 (step S108). Here, for example, it is displayed as shown in FIG.

  In this state, the control unit 101 determines whether the mobile phone terminal 100 is performing any function (step S109). Here, when any function is being executed, the battery usage consumption due to the execution of the corresponding function is calculated (step S110), and the amount of battery usage consumption is subtracted from the virtual battery remaining amount (step S111). . This is always monitored while the mobile phone terminal 100 is activated, and the battery usage is calculated every time all functions are used, and the virtual battery remaining amount is calculated by the amount of battery usage. Is subtracted. On the other hand, when the mobile phone terminal 100 is in the power-off state and no function is executed in step S109, the process proceeds to the next step S112.

Here, an example of the calculation process of the virtual battery remaining amount by detecting the battery use consumption when the built-in application is used and subtracting the amount of the battery use consumption will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 5, consider the case where the power consumption of the entire system, the total battery charge capacity, and the system operating voltage are set when the terminal is powered on. However, in FIG. 5, α is a power consumption coefficient (a rate of increase depending on the application or function used), β is an aging deterioration coefficient (a rate of decrease in capacity at full charge due to aging of the battery), and t _c is a timer counter (program The counter is incremented by 1 (ie, used amount).

The system current consumption (I _cc ) [A] when the application or function used is expressed by the following equation.
I _cc = (5 × α) ÷ 4.0 = 1.25 × α

The drivable time T _O [h] (= the remaining amount of the virtual battery) is expressed by the following equation.
T _O = (1000 × β−t _c ) ÷ I _cc = 0.8 × ((1000 × β−t _c ) ÷ α)

This equation can be interpreted as follows. As α increases, the driving time decreases. That is, it becomes variable depending on the application and function used. The driving time decreases as β decreases. That is, it becomes variable depending on the battery life. If t _c is should be increased, driving time is reduced.

For example, referring the table shown in the table indicating the battery aging factor table and Figure 7 shows the power factor of Figure 6 the α and beta, drivable time by substituting the equation of T _O T _{O [h} ] (= The remaining amount of virtual battery).
However, in the table showing the power consumption coefficient in FIG. 6, a coefficient of 1.2 is set when the application A is used, 2.0 is set when the application B is used, and 1.5 is set when the function C is used. ing. Further, in the table showing the battery aging degradation coefficient in FIG. 7, 0.9 is used when the elapsed year is 1, 0.6 is applied when the elapsed year is 2, and 0.4 is applied when the elapsed year is 3 years. The coefficient is set.

  In this case, the remaining amount of the virtual battery is represented by the drive operation time, but may be represented by voltage or current.

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. When the virtual battery remaining amount is subtracted in step S111 and (when it is determined that no function is being executed in step S109), it is determined whether the mobile phone terminal 100 is being charged (step S112). If the battery is not charged, the virtual battery remaining amount is subtracted from the normal standby discharge prediction of the mobile phone terminal 100 (step S113) On the other hand, if the battery is charged, the power transmission set in the battery profile is performed. The virtual battery remaining amount is added by the prediction (step S114) However, if the charging is interrupted, the process proceeds to the next step S115.

  Next, the current virtual battery remaining amount is determined (step S115). That is, it is determined whether or not the required virtual battery remaining amount set in the battery profile is exceeded. If it is equal to or greater than the virtual battery remaining amount, it is determined whether battery replacement is necessary (step S116). If there is no need to replace the battery, the process returns to step S108. If it is necessary to replace the battery in step S116, the display panel 109 displays that it is time to replace the battery (step S117), and the mobile phone terminal 100 is turned off (step S118).

  On the other hand, if it is not equal to or greater than the required virtual battery remaining amount in step S115, it is displayed that battery charging is necessary (step S119), and the mobile phone terminal 100 is turned off (step S120).

  Then, when the mobile phone terminal 100 is connected to the charging device and the mobile phone terminal 100 is activated (step S121), the process returns to step S104.

In this way, the mobile phone terminal 100 can always accurately check the remaining battery level regardless of the environment and usage frequency of the terminal itself.
In other words, the battery voltage stored in the mobile phone terminal has changed greatly in an environment such as external heat and humidity fluctuations, and the remaining battery power measured in that situation is displayed. It was difficult to display the remaining battery level. On the other hand, in the case of the example of the present embodiment, the virtual battery is reproduced by software, and the remaining amount is accurately predicted. Since the on-board battery is imitated only by software, it is possible to predict the remaining amount without the measurement error of the battery voltage.

<4. Virtual Battery Remaining Correction Process: FIG. 8>
Next, a process for correcting the virtual battery remaining amount of the secondary battery attached to the mobile phone terminal of the present embodiment based on the actual remaining amount of the secondary battery will be described with reference to FIG.
This correction process is performed when the secondary battery is charged.
The processing will be described below with reference to FIG.

  First, when charging is started, the remaining amount of virtual battery is changed based on the charging current and charging time, and charging is completed with full charge (step S201). In parallel with the virtual battery processing, the remaining charge level of the actual secondary battery is also detected by measuring the actual battery voltage or the like, and the charging is completed until the battery is fully charged (step S203). Then, accurate values of the virtual battery remaining amount and the actual battery remaining amount are acquired (steps S202 and S204).

  Then, the remaining amounts of the virtual battery and the actual battery are compared (step S205). In this comparison, it is determined whether the virtual battery remaining amount is equal to the actual battery remaining amount (step S206). If they are not equal in step S206, charging is performed until the actual remaining battery level becomes equal to the remaining virtual battery level (step S207). Thereafter, the process returns to step S205 and the comparison is performed again.

  On the other hand, when the virtual battery remaining amount is equal to the actual battery remaining amount in step S206, this flowchart is ended.

  By performing the charging process in this manner, the difference between the virtual battery remaining amount and the actual remaining charging amount of the secondary battery is corrected each time charging is performed, and no error is accumulated in the virtual battery remaining amount. .

<5. Modification of Embodiment>
In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the present invention is applied to the mobile phone terminal has been described. However, even if the present invention is applied to a portable terminal device driven by a secondary battery other than the mobile phone terminal. Good.

  In the above-described embodiment, the battery profile is stored in advance in the terminal device, and the virtual battery remaining amount is calculated using the stored battery profile. On the other hand, when a model such as a model number is acquired for the attached secondary battery, the battery profile of the secondary battery of that type is acquired from some center by communication processing and held in the terminal device. Good. Alternatively, each time a new type of secondary battery (battery) is developed (sold), the battery profile of the secondary battery may be transmitted from the center side to the terminal device as upgrade information.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the terminal voltage of the attached secondary battery is not measured except during charging. However, the terminal voltage of the attached secondary battery is measured at a certain period, and the virtual battery remaining amount and the actual battery remaining amount You may make it correct | amend an error at any time.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the control unit 101 has a function of creating the virtual battery remaining amount in advance. However, the software (program) for performing the processing of the present invention shown in the flowchart of FIG. The software may be installed in an existing terminal device so that the terminal device that performs the processing described in the embodiment can be used. In this case, the software may be distributed by being stored in some medium in addition to being distributed by wireless transmission or the like.

  In the above-described embodiment, the virtual battery remaining amount is used to display the battery remaining amount, but may be used for other processing. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, the aging of the battery is taken into account, and when the deterioration over a predetermined level is detected by the aging detected by the processing of the flowchart of FIG. You may make it display on a display part.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Cell-phone terminal, 101 ... Control part, 102 ... Communication circuit, 103 ... Display part, 104 ... Operation part, 105 ... Memory, 106 ... Antenna, 107 ... Speaker, 108 ... Microphone, 109 ... Display panel, 150 ... Control Line, 160 ... Data line

Claims (7)

A battery mounting portion to which a secondary battery is mounted;
A storage unit for storing a charge / discharge characteristic and a charge capacity of a secondary battery mounted on the battery mounting unit as a battery profile;
Based on the battery profile stored in the storage unit and the operating state of the terminal device, a control unit that estimates the remaining battery level of the secondary battery mounted on the battery mounting unit and obtains a virtual battery remaining level;
And a display unit that displays a virtual battery remaining amount obtained by the control unit. A battery measuring unit for measuring characteristics of the secondary battery mounted on the battery mounting unit;
The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sets an initial value of the virtual battery remaining amount as a real battery remaining amount of a secondary battery calculated from a measurement value of the battery measuring unit. The battery measurement unit performs measurement of the characteristics of the secondary battery as needed,
The terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the control unit performs correction of the virtual battery remaining amount as needed by comparison with the actual battery remaining amount of the secondary battery calculated from the measurement value of the battery measuring unit. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sets an initial value of the virtual battery remaining amount based on information on a remaining battery amount acquired when the terminal device is activated. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit predicts a lifetime of a secondary battery attached to the battery attachment unit from a prediction of a usage state of a secondary battery due to a change in the remaining virtual battery amount. In the battery remaining amount display method in the terminal device that uses the attached secondary battery as a power source,
The charge / discharge characteristics and charge capacity of the attached secondary battery are stored as a battery profile,
Based on the stored battery profile and the operating state of the terminal device, the remaining battery level of the attached secondary battery is estimated to calculate the remaining virtual battery level,
A battery remaining amount display method for displaying the calculated virtual battery remaining amount. A storage process for storing the charging / discharging characteristics and charging capacity of the attached secondary battery as a battery profile;
Based on the stored battery profile and the operating state of the terminal device, a calculation process for estimating the battery remaining amount of the attached secondary battery and calculating the virtual battery remaining amount;
A program that causes the information processing apparatus to execute display processing for displaying the calculated virtual battery remaining amount.

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