JP2011205851A - Electronic apparatus and notification control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic apparatus that precisely predicts available time.SOLUTION: A portable terminal 10 is an electronic apparatus driven by a rechargeable battery 4, and includes: a status estimating part 20 for estimating expected use status (active day or nonactive day) of the portable terminal 10, a remaining capacity detecting part 16 for detecting a remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery 4, a power calculation part 12 which calculates power used per unit time according to the expected use status, a prediction part 22 for predicting available time according to the expected use status that has been estimated by the status estimating part 20, based on the remaining capacity detected by the remaining capacity detecting part 16 and the used power calculated based on the expected use status, and a notification part 24 which displays the available time predicted by the prediction part 22 on a display screen 2.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device and a notification control method.

  An electronic device such as a mobile phone generally includes a rechargeable battery, and each device in the electronic device is operated by the rechargeable battery. Thus, in an electronic device provided with a rechargeable battery, the battery capacity of the rechargeable battery gradually decreases due to its use, and eventually the battery capacity becomes zero and cannot be used. By the way, it is often a problem if the battery capacity becomes zero and the electronic device suddenly becomes unusable, so the future usable time is predicted from the average value of the past current consumption, and the predicted usable time is determined in advance. Various techniques for notifying the user have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2009-207281 A

  However, the conventional technology for predicting the usable time calculates the average value of the current consumption amount over a certain number of days and predicts the usable time based on this average value and the current remaining amount of the rechargeable battery. Although the predicted value does not deviate greatly, the prediction accuracy is not necessarily high. In particular, in the case of electronic devices such as mobile phones, even if the same user is used, the frequency of use differs from the case where the frequency of use is not so high depending on the day. In some cases, the usable time could not be accurately predicted.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device and a notification control method that can accurately predict the usable time.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an electronic device according to the present invention is an electronic device driven by a rechargeable battery, and a state estimation unit that estimates a scheduled use state of the electronic device, and a remaining amount of the rechargeable battery A remaining amount detecting means for detecting the remaining amount, a predicting means for predicting an available time according to the scheduled use situation estimated by the situation estimating means based on the remaining amount detected by the remaining amount detecting means, and a prediction by the predicting means And a notifying means for notifying of the available usable time.

  Moreover, in order to solve the said subject, the alerting | reporting control method which concerns on this invention is an alerting | reporting control method of the utilization time in the electronic device driven with the rechargeable battery, Comprising: The use scheduled condition of an electronic device is estimated. Based on the situation estimation step, the remaining amount detection step for detecting the remaining amount of the rechargeable battery, and the remaining amount detected in the remaining amount detection step, the usable time corresponding to the scheduled use situation estimated in the situation estimation step And a notification step for notifying the usable time predicted in the prediction step.

  According to the electronic device or the notification control method, the expected use situation of the electronic device is estimated, and the usable time according to the estimated use schedule situation is predicted. In this case, the usage time is predicted according to the estimated usage schedule, so the usage frequency of the user is high or the usage frequency is not so high. Even if it is etc., the usable time according to those situations can be predicted, and the usable time can be accurately predicted.

  In the electronic device, the situation estimation unit includes a device position acquisition unit that acquires the device position information of the electronic device, and a home position registration unit that registers the user's home position information. Based on the information and the home position information, it may be determined whether or not the user is at home, and the scheduled use situation of the electronic device may be estimated from the determination result. In this case, since the usage schedule of the electronic device is estimated by simple means such as whether or not the user is at home, the usable time can be reduced without complicating the configuration of the electronic device. Predict with high accuracy.

  The electronic device includes power calculating means for calculating the power used per unit time according to the planned use situation, and the predicting means uses the used power calculated according to the planned use situation, according to the planned use situation. The usable time may be predicted. Further, the power calculation means calculates the power consumption using the reduced capacity of the rechargeable battery and the usage time, and the usage time is detected from the detection time when the predetermined operation was detected after the charging was started. It may be the time until the next charging start time. In this case, when calculating the power used for predicting the usable time, it is possible to exclude the time from when charging is started until there is a predetermined operation, so for example, It is possible to reflect the situation in which charging is started before going to bed at night and the electronic device is not used at all until it wakes up the next morning in the prediction of usable time, and as a result, the usable time can be predicted more accurately. it can.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the usable time of an electronic device can be estimated accurately.

It is a perspective view which shows the portable terminal which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of a portable terminal. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of a portable terminal. It is a flowchart at the time of performing alerting | reporting control with the portable terminal which concerns on this embodiment. It is a flowchart at the time of performing alerting | reporting control with the portable terminal which concerns on this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the description of the drawings, if possible, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a mobile terminal 10 including at least a display screen 2 configured by a liquid crystal display and a rechargeable battery 4 for driving various built-in devices. It is. In this portable terminal 10, the usable time estimated from the remaining amount of the rechargeable battery 4 at that time can be displayed on the display screen 2 in response to an operation input from the user. In the present embodiment, the portable terminal 10 will be described below as an example. However, any electronic device including the rechargeable battery 4 may be used, and the present invention is not limited to the portable terminal and is applied to a small personal computer, a music player, and the like. May be.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the portable terminal 10 physically includes a CPU 10a, a RAM 10b, a ROM 10c, an input device 10d, an output device 10e, a communication device 10f, and a recording device 10g, which are connected to a bus 10h. Has been. The CPU 10a loads predetermined computer software (including a computer program for executing processing performed by the mobile terminal 10 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5) stored in a built-in memory such as the ROM 10c or the recording device 10g into the RAM 10b. Are executed to control the mobile terminal 10 in an integrated manner.

  The input device 10d is an input device including an input button, an acceleration sensor, and the like, and outputs input data to the CPU 10a. The output device 10e is a display device such as an LCD or an audio output device such as a speaker, and displays character information and the like (for example, information indicating usable time) input from the CPU 10a on the display screen 2. The communication device 10f is an interface for performing a call or communication with another portable terminal via a communication network or the like, a GPS device for receiving GPS signals and acquiring current position information. The recording device 10g stores computer software executable by the CPU 10a. Each function to be described later is a function realized by the CPU 10a executing computer software stored in the ROM 10c, the recording device 10g, or the like, and operating each component of the mobile terminal 10 shown in FIG.

  Next, the functional configuration of the mobile terminal 10 will be described with reference to FIG. Functionally, the portable terminal 10 includes a power calculation unit 12 (power calculation unit), a storage unit 14, a remaining amount detection unit 16 (remaining amount detection unit), an operation detection unit 18, and a situation estimation unit 20 (situation estimation unit). , A prediction unit 22 (prediction unit), and a notification unit 24 (notification unit). The remaining amount detection unit 16 is a part that detects the remaining battery level of the rechargeable battery 4 of the mobile terminal 10 when an instruction to detect the remaining battery level is received from another function unit.

  The power calculation unit 12 is a part that calculates the power used per unit time in the mobile terminal 10 according to the usage frequency status of the mobile terminal 10. The “usage frequency situation” used here is a situation corresponding to the usage frequency of the mobile terminal 10. For example, when the mobile terminal 10 is frequently used, the usage frequency is high. If you do not use it very often, it is a situation where the frequency of use is low. In the present embodiment, hereinafter, a case where the usage frequency is high is referred to as “active situation (also referred to as“ active day ”)”, and conversely, a case where the usage frequency is low is referred to as “inactive situation” (also referred to as “non-active day”). A description will be given of an example in which the usage frequency situations estimated by the situation estimation unit 20 described later are these two situations. However, the usage frequency situation is not limited to these, and may be three or more usage frequency situations.

  When the mobile terminal 10 is connected to the charger and the charging of the rechargeable battery 4 is started, the power calculation unit 12 uses the start as a trigger signal to calculate the previous use start time and the battery capacity at the end of the previous charge. Information is acquired from the storage unit 14. Details of generation of information between the previous use start time and the battery capacity at the end of the previous charge will be described later, but the previous use start time acquired from the storage unit 14 and the battery capacity at the end of the previous charge are , A flag (active flag or non-active flag) is associated, and when the power calculation unit 12 acquires information on the previous use start time and the battery capacity at the end of the previous charge, this flag is also included. get. In addition, the power calculation unit 12 acquires time information at the time of calculating the power consumption per unit time from a timer (not shown), and detects the remaining battery level at that time via the remaining amount detection unit 16. And information on the remaining battery level is also acquired.

  Then, the power calculation unit 12 uses the previous use start time (for example, 6:00 am) acquired from the storage unit 14 and the use time (for example, 9:00 pm) at the time of calculation of the used power acquired from the timer. While calculating time (for example, 15 hours), the difference (decrease capacity) of the battery capacity at the time of the end of the last charge acquired from the storage part 14 and the battery residual amount at the time of calculation of used electric power is calculated. Based on the calculated usage time and the calculated battery capacity difference, the power calculation unit 12 that has calculated the usage time and the difference is one hour between the end of the previous charging and the current charging. Calculate the power used per unit. The power usage calculated in this way is the power usage according to the usage frequency status of either the active status or the inactive status, and the power calculation unit 12 calculates the previous usage start time and the previous usage time. Based on the flag associated with the battery capacity, it is determined which usage frequency situation is used, and it is stored in the storage unit 14 as the usage power of the determined usage frequency situation. Note that the storage unit 14 can store two types of power used, that is, power used according to an active situation and power used according to an inactive situation.

  The operation detection unit 18 is a part that determines whether or not a predetermined operation has been performed after charging of the rechargeable battery 4 is started and determines the end of charging. The predetermined operation is an operation for detecting that the situation changes from a situation in which the mobile terminal 10 is not being used by the user to a situation in which the mobile terminal 10 is expected to be used after being charged. It is. For example, when the motion detection unit 18 is configured by an acceleration sensor built in the mobile terminal 10, the motion detection unit 18 detects a predetermined motion by detecting that the mobile terminal 10 has moved by the acceleration sensor. Is executed. When such a predetermined operation is detected, the operation detection unit 18 outputs a detection signal to the power calculation unit 12 and the remaining amount detection unit 16, and uses the detection time when the operation is detected as the use start time. The battery capacity of the rechargeable battery 4 at that time is acquired, and these are stored in the storage unit 14. As described above, by using the operation detection unit 18, the use time described above is the time when the user of the mobile terminal 10 is sleeping and the mobile terminal 10 is not used at all after the charging of the rechargeable battery 4 is completed. Can be removed from.

  The situation estimation unit 20 is a part that estimates the usage frequency situation of the mobile terminal 10 and includes a terminal position acquisition unit 26 (device position acquisition unit) and a home position registration unit 28 (home position registration unit). The terminal position acquisition unit 26 is a part that acquires terminal position information of the mobile terminal 10 and is configured by, for example, a GPS device or the like (automatic GPS). The home position registration unit 28 is a part that registers the user's home position information in advance and stores it in the storage unit 14. The situation estimation unit 20 accepts an operation input when the user desires to display the available time, and acquires the terminal position information of the mobile terminal 10 by the terminal position acquisition unit 26, and the home position. The location information of the user's home is acquired via the registration unit 28, and the positional relationship between the two is compared. As such a comparison, for example, the situation estimation unit 20 performs a comparison based on whether or not the position indicated by the terminal position information of the mobile terminal 10 is 3 km or more away from the user's home.

  When the position indicated by the terminal position information of the mobile terminal 10 is 3 km or more away from the user's home, the situation estimation unit 20 is likely to be an active day for going out such as work or play. If the position indicated by the terminal position information of the mobile terminal 10 is not 3 km or more away from the user's home, the possibility of non-active day at or near the house is estimated. Estimate high and set inactive flag. By making such a determination, the usage frequency status of the mobile terminal 10 at that time is estimated. The situation estimation unit 20 outputs a situation signal indicating the estimated usage frequency situation to the prediction unit 22. The above-described flag is associated with the use start time stored in the storage unit 14 by the operation detection unit 18 and the battery capacity at that time.

  The prediction unit 22 is based on the remaining battery level at the prediction point detected by the remaining amount detection unit 16 and the used power calculated and stored by the power calculation unit 12 according to the usage frequency situation. This is a part for predicting the available time according to the usage frequency situation estimated in (1). When the prediction unit 22 acquires the status signal indicating the usage frequency status from the status estimation unit 20, the storage unit 14 stores any usage power registered as the usage frequency status (active or inactive) indicated by the acquired status signal. Read from. Further, the prediction unit 22 detects the remaining battery level of the rechargeable battery 4 at the time when the prediction is performed via the remaining amount detection unit 16. Then, the prediction unit 22 calculates and predicts a usable time (for example, 5 hours) from the read used power and the detected remaining battery level. The prediction unit 22 outputs time information indicating the usable time predicted in this way to the notification unit 24.

  The notification unit 24 is a part that notifies the usable time predicted by the prediction unit 22. When the notification unit 24 acquires time information indicating the available time from the prediction unit 22, the notification unit 24 displays the available time indicated by the time information on the display screen 2 of the mobile terminal 10 (see FIG. 1). Thereby, the user can know the usable time estimated according to the use condition at that time. In the present embodiment, the notification means is displayed on the display screen 2, but the notification may be made by voice using a speaker or the like.

  Then, the alerting | reporting control method in the portable terminal 10 provided with the structure mentioned above is demonstrated in detail with reference to FIG.4 and FIG.5.

  First, when the mobile terminal 10 is connected to the charger and charging of the rechargeable battery 4 is started (step S1), the process proceeds to steps S2 and S3, where the previous use start time and the battery capacity at the end of the previous charge are set. It is determined whether or not the information is stored in the storage unit 14 and whether or not there is a flag (active flag or non-active flag) associated with the information. When charging is performed for the first time in the portable terminal 10, since these pieces of information are not stored, the process proceeds to step S8 as it is. On the other hand, if it is determined in steps S2 and S3 that there is information on the previous use start time and the battery capacity at the end of the previous charge and a flag associated therewith, the process proceeds to step S4.

  In step S4, the power calculation unit 12 acquires time information at the time of calculating the power consumption per unit time from a timer (not shown), and the previous use start time acquired from the storage unit 14 (for example, 6:00 AM). ) And the time (for example, 9:00 pm) at the time of calculating the power consumption obtained from the timer, the usage time (for example, 15 hours) between them is calculated. When the usage time is calculated in this way, the power calculation unit 12 then measures the remaining battery level at that time via the remaining amount detection unit 16, and the last charge obtained from the storage unit 14 at the end of the previous charging. A difference (reduced capacity) between the battery capacity and the remaining battery level at the time of calculating the power consumption is calculated (step S5).

  Subsequently, based on the calculated usage time and the difference between the battery capacities, the power calculating unit 12 calculates the power used per hour from the end of the previous charging to the current charging. (Step S6). The power consumption calculated in this way is the power usage according to the usage frequency status of either the active status or the inactive status, and the power calculation unit 12 uses the previous usage start time and the previous usage time. Based on the flag associated with the battery capacity, it is determined which usage frequency situation, and the usage power of the determined usage frequency situation is stored in the storage unit 14 (step S7). Note that the storage unit 14 can store only one of two types of power used, that is, power used according to an active situation and power used according to an inactive situation. One of the used powers is updated each time.

  Subsequently, the motion detection unit 18 determines whether or not acceleration is detected (step S8). In step S8, when a predetermined acceleration is detected, the motion detection unit 18 acquires the time when the motion was detected as the use start time, and acquires the battery capacity of the rechargeable battery 4 at that time. Is stored in the storage unit 14 (step S9). In addition, when acceleration is detected in step S8, charging of the mobile terminal 10 is finished, and use of the mobile terminal 10 is started by the user.

  Subsequently, when the user who has started using the mobile terminal 10 performs an operation for displaying the available time of the mobile terminal 10 (step S10), the process proceeds to step S11, and the terminal position acquisition of the situation estimation unit 20 is performed. The terminal position information of the mobile terminal 10 is acquired by the unit 26 and the position information of the user's home is acquired via the home position registration unit 28, and is indicated by the terminal position information of the mobile terminal 10 by the situation estimation unit 20. It is determined whether or not the position to be read is 3 km or more away from the user's home.

  Then, when the situation estimation unit 20 determines that the position indicated by the terminal position information of the mobile terminal 10 is 3 km or more away from the user's home, the situation estimation unit 20 uses the active day for going out such as work or play. If it is determined that there is a high possibility that an active flag is set (step S12), on the other hand, if it is determined that the position indicated by the terminal position information of the mobile terminal 10 is not more than 3 km away from the user's home A non-active flag is set on the assumption that there is a high possibility that the non-active day is at or near the house (step S13). These flags are associated with the use start time stored in the storage unit 14 by the operation detection unit 18 and the battery capacity at that time, and are used when calculating the use time at the next charge.

  If the situation estimation unit 20 determines that the position indicated by the terminal position information of the mobile terminal 10 is 3 km or more away from the user's home, the process proceeds to step S14, and the used power registered as active Is read from the storage unit 14. On the other hand, if the situation estimation unit 20 determines that the position indicated by the terminal position information of the mobile terminal 10 is not more than 3 km away from the user's home, the process proceeds to step S15 and the use registered as inactive Electric power is read from the storage unit 14.

  Subsequently, when used power is read in step S14 or step S15, the process proceeds to step S16, and the remaining amount detection unit 16 detects the remaining battery level of the rechargeable battery 4 at the time of prediction. Then, the usable time (for example, 5 hours) is calculated by the prediction unit 22 based on the used power read in either step S14 or step S15 and the detected remaining battery level (step S17). After the usable time is calculated in step S17, the notification unit 24 displays the usable time on the display screen 2 (step S18). Thereby, the user can know the available time.

  Thus, according to this embodiment, the use schedule situation (active or non-active) of the portable terminal 10 is estimated, and the usable time according to the estimated use schedule situation is estimated. Therefore, even when the usage frequency of the user is high (active) or when the usage frequency is not so high (non-active), the usable time according to the status is predicted. The usable time can be accurately predicted.

  In the present embodiment, the situation estimation unit 20 includes a terminal position acquisition unit 26 that acquires the terminal position information of the mobile terminal 10 and a home position registration unit 28 that registers the user's home position information. Based on the position information and the home position information, it is determined whether or not the user is at home, and the scheduled use situation of the mobile terminal is estimated from the determination result. For this reason, since the use schedule situation of the mobile terminal 10 is estimated by simple means such as whether or not the user is at home, the usable time without complicating the configuration of the mobile terminal 10 Can be accurately predicted.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, the power calculation part 12 which calculates the electric power used per unit time according to a use plan condition is provided, and the prediction part 22 uses the use power calculated according to the use plan condition. The usable time corresponding to the planned use situation is predicted, and the power calculating unit 12 calculates the used power using the reduced capacity and the used time of the rechargeable battery, It is the time from the use start time at which a predetermined acceleration was detected after the start of charging until the start time of the next charging. For this reason, when calculating the electric power used for predicting the usable time, it is possible to exclude the time from the start of charging until the use start time, so that, for example, sleep at night Since the usage time is not included in the usage time until you start charging the next time and wake up the next morning, this situation can be reflected in the prediction of available time, The usable time can be predicted with higher accuracy.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was concretely demonstrated based on the embodiment, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the motion detection unit 18 directly detects a predetermined movement by the acceleration sensor and stores the use start time and the battery capacity. However, the use start time indirectly using the alarm function. Etc. may be calculated. In the above embodiment, there is no particular limitation on the usage time used to calculate the power usage per unit time. However, the usage time is only used when the usage time is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (for example, 6 hours or more). The power may be calculated. By providing the threshold value in this way, it is possible to average the calculated power consumption.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 ... Display screen, 4 ... Rechargeable battery, 10 ... Mobile phone, 12 ... Power calculation part, 16 ... Remaining amount calculation part, 18 ... Motion detection part, 20 ... Situation estimation part, 22 ... Prediction part, 24 ... Notification part, 26: Terminal position acquisition unit, 28 ... Home position registration unit.

Claims (5)

An electronic device driven by a rechargeable battery,
A situation estimation means for estimating a planned use situation of the electronic device;
A remaining amount detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of the rechargeable battery;
A predicting unit that predicts a usable time according to the scheduled use situation estimated by the situation estimating unit based on the remaining amount detected by the remaining amount detecting unit;
Informing means for informing the usable time predicted by the predicting means;
An electronic device comprising: The situation estimation unit includes a device position acquisition unit that acquires device position information of the electronic device, and a home position registration unit that registers home position information of the user.
The situation estimation means determines whether or not the user is at home based on the device position information and the home position information, and estimates a planned use situation of the electronic device from the determination result. The electronic device according to claim 1. Comprising power calculating means for calculating power used per unit time according to the planned use situation,
3. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the predicting unit predicts the usable time according to the planned use situation by using the used power calculated according to the planned use situation. 4. machine. The power calculation means calculates the power consumption using the reduced capacity and usage time of the rechargeable battery,
The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the usage time is a time from a detection time at which a predetermined operation is detected after charging is started to a start time of the next charging. A notification control method of available time in an electronic device driven by a rechargeable battery,
A situation estimation step for estimating a planned use situation of the electronic device;
A remaining amount detecting step for detecting the remaining amount of the rechargeable battery;
Based on the remaining amount detected in the remaining amount detecting step, a predicting step for predicting an available time corresponding to the scheduled use situation estimated in the situation estimating step;
A notification step of notifying the usable time predicted in the prediction step;
A notification control method comprising:

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