JP2012169877A - Portable terminal and control method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable terminal which is easily found when buried in snow, and to provide a control method of the portable terminal.SOLUTION: A portable terminal 100 according to an embodiment of this invention has a housing 51, heat generating mechanism parts 191 and 192, a posture information obtaining part 8, and a control part 1. The heat generating mechanism parts 191 and 192 are respectively provided at different positions. The posture information obtaining part 8 obtains posture information of the housing 51. The control part 1 selectively allows the upper heat generating mechanism part 191, from among the heat generating mechanism parts 191 and 192, to generate heat according to the posture information.

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and a control method thereof, and more particularly to a mobile terminal that can be searched when lost and a control method thereof.

  Mobile terminals such as mobile phones, PHS (Personal Handyphone System), PDA (Personal Data Assistance, Personal Digital Assistants) are small and light and are convenient to carry. Therefore, there is a risk that the portable terminal may be lost during carrying. Therefore, some portable terminals have a function of facilitating searching for portable terminals when lost.

  For example, when a searcher approaches a search target mobile terminal, a method has been proposed in which the search target mobile terminal notifies the position by light or sound (Patent Document 1). In this method, the searcher recognizes the approximate position of the lost parent device (search target portable terminal) using GPS (Global Positioning System). The searcher searches for the parent device based on the approximate position information of the parent device. When the searcher approaches the predetermined range from the parent device, the child device possessed by the searcher starts communication with the parent device. Then, the slave unit notifies the searcher that the searcher is approaching the master unit within a predetermined range by using a vibrator. Further, the master unit notifies the searcher of its own position by emitting light or sound. Thereby, the searcher can discover a search object portable terminal.

  Also, a technique has been proposed in which the search method for a mobile terminal is changed in accordance with the positions of the searcher and the lost mobile terminal (Patent Document 2). In this method, when the distance between the lost portable terminal and the search portable terminal is within the communicable distance of the wireless USB communication, the lost portable terminal and the search portable terminal directly perform the wireless USB communication. I do. The search portable terminal displays the distance from the communication result to the lost portable terminal. Thereby, it is possible to search for a mobile terminal even indoors where it is difficult to use GPS due to the influence of disturbance.

JP 2003-284154 A JP 2008-148166 A

  However, when the inventor examined the above method, it was found that the above method has the following problems. When the lost mobile terminal is buried in snow, the searcher cannot visually recognize the mobile terminal. Therefore, even if the lost mobile terminal emits sound or light, it is difficult for the searcher to recognize it. Furthermore, in the snowy area, the surrounding scenery is also snow-colored, and there are extremely few clues for searching. Therefore, it is more difficult to find a mobile terminal than when searching for a mobile terminal in an area other than normal weather or a snowy area.

  Further, since sound and light are absorbed in the snow, it becomes more difficult for the searcher to recognize the sound and light from the lost mobile terminal. As a result, even if the searcher approaches the lost mobile terminal by the above method, it is difficult to find the lost mobile terminal.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a portable terminal that can be easily found even when buried in snow and a control method thereof.

  A portable terminal according to an aspect of the present invention includes a housing, a plurality of heat generating units provided at different positions, a posture information acquiring unit that acquires posture information of the housing, and the posture information, Control means for selectively generating heat from the heat generating means on the upper side of the plurality of heat generating means.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a portable terminal, which obtains posture information of a housing and selects an upper heat generating device from among a plurality of heat generating devices provided at different positions according to the posture information. Heat.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, even if it embeds in snow, the portable terminal which can be discovered easily, and its control method can be provided.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a mobile terminal 100 according to a first embodiment. 3 is a perspective view schematically showing a position where a heat generating mechanism is provided in the mobile terminal 100 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a perspective view schematically showing a position where a heat generating mechanism is provided in the mobile terminal 100 according to the first embodiment. FIG. It is a figure which shows the condition where the lost portable terminal 100 was buried in snow. It is a figure which shows the condition where the lost portable terminal 100 was exposed by the snow melting process. 3 is a flowchart showing a search method when the mobile terminal 100 according to the first embodiment is lost. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a search terminal 101 according to a first embodiment. FIG. It is a figure which shows the condition where the portable terminal 200 concerning Embodiment 2 was exposed by the snow melting process.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted as necessary.

Embodiment 1
First, the portable terminal according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the mobile terminal 100 according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile terminal 100 includes a control unit 1, a storage unit 2, a display unit 3, an operation unit 4, a notification unit 5, a wireless communication unit 6, a position information acquisition unit 7, a posture information acquisition unit 8, and heat generation. It has a mechanism portion 9, a heat-proof mechanism portion 10, a waterproof mechanism portion 11, an antenna 12, and a housing 51.

  The control unit 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), for example, and functions as a control unit that controls the operation of the mobile terminal 100. That is, the control unit 1 controls, for example, the operations of the storage unit 2, the display unit 3, the operation unit 4, the notification unit 5, the wireless communication unit 6, the position information acquisition unit 7, the posture information acquisition unit 8, and the heat generation mechanism unit 9. . The control unit 1, the storage unit 2, the display unit 3, the operation unit 4, the notification unit 5, the wireless communication unit 6, the position information acquisition unit 7, the posture information acquisition unit 8, and the heat generation mechanism unit 9 include a battery (not shown). ) Is supplied with power.

  The storage unit 2 functions as a storage unit that stores information necessary for the control unit 1 to control the operation of the mobile terminal 100. The storage unit 2 is configured by a storage medium such as a RAM. The display unit 3 functions as a display unit that displays information used by the user of the mobile terminal 100 in response to a command from the control unit 1. The operation unit 4 functions as an operation unit for the user of the mobile terminal 100 to input information to the mobile terminal 100 by key input or the like. The notification unit 5 includes a sound speaker, an LED, a vibration motor, and the like, and functions as a notification unit that notifies the user of an incoming call or an incoming mail according to a command from the control unit 1.

  The wireless communication unit 6 functions as a wireless communication unit that performs communication with the outside via the antenna 12. The wireless communication unit 6 transmits information from the control unit 1 to the outside via the antenna 12. The wireless communication unit 6 receives an external signal via the antenna 12 and transfers the received signal to the control unit 1.

  The location information acquisition unit 7 functions as a location information acquisition unit that acquires the current location of the mobile terminal 100 based on base station information and the like. Then, the position information acquisition unit 7 notifies the control unit 1 of the acquired position information. The control unit 1 can also control the position information acquisition operation of the position information acquisition unit 7.

  The posture information acquisition unit 8 functions as posture information acquisition means for acquiring posture information of the mobile terminal 100. Then, the posture information acquisition unit 8 notifies the control unit 1 of the acquired posture information. The control unit 1 can also control the posture information acquisition operation of the posture information acquisition unit 8.

  A plurality of heat generating mechanism portions 9 are provided, and are arranged along the surface of the housing 51 or inside the housing 51. In FIG. 1, only one heat generating mechanism 9 is displayed for simplification of the drawing. The heat generating mechanism unit 9 functions as a heat generating unit that generates heat under the control of the control unit 1. Thereby, the temperature of the portable terminal 100 can be raised. Hereinafter, the heat generating mechanism will be described in detail. 2A and 2B are perspective views schematically showing positions where the heat generating mechanism portion is provided in the portable terminal 100. FIG. In FIGS. 2A and 2B, a contour line at a position that cannot be directly visually recognized is indicated by a broken line. In FIGS. 2A and 2B, only the outlines of the portable terminal 100 and the heat generating mechanism are displayed for the sake of simplicity.

  In the portable terminal 100, as shown in FIG. 2A, for example, heating mechanism portions 191 and 192 are provided. The heat generating mechanism portions 191 and 192 correspond to the heat generating mechanism portion 9 shown in FIG. The heat generation mechanism 191 is provided on the upper surface side of the portable terminal 100, that is, the casing 51, and the heat generation mechanism portion 192 is provided on the lower surface side of the portable terminal 100, that is, the casing 51.

  Moreover, in the portable terminal 100, as shown, for example to FIG. 2B, the heating mechanism parts 193-196 are provided. The heat generating mechanism sections 193 to 196 correspond to the heat generating mechanism section 9 shown in FIG. The heat generating mechanisms 193 to 196 are provided on the mobile terminal 100, that is, on each side surface of the housing 51.

  That is, in the present embodiment, the heat generating mechanism is mounted on the exterior portion where the mobile terminal 100 is exposed to the outside air. The heat generating mechanism portion can be provided so as to be exposed to the outside of the housing, or can be incorporated inside the housing.

  The heat-insulating mechanism unit 10 functions as a heat-insulating unit that prevents heat generated from the heat-generating mechanism unit 9 from being conducted to the inside of the mobile terminal 100. Thereby, it can prevent that the part weak to the high temperature inside the portable terminal 100 fails by heat. The waterproof mechanism unit 11 functions as a protective unit that prevents liquid such as water from entering the mobile terminal 100. Thereby, failure of the internal circuit of the portable terminal 100 can be prevented.

  Next, a search method when the mobile terminal 100 is lost will be described. FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating a situation where the lost mobile terminal 100 is buried in snow. It is assumed that the heat generating mechanism of the mobile terminal 100 is provided at the position shown in FIG. 2A. For example, if the mobile terminal is lost in a cold region, the mobile terminal 100 is buried in the snow 103 due to subsequent snowfall or the like. In this embodiment, the mobile terminal 100 is searched using the search terminal 101 in this situation.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a search method when the mobile terminal 100 is lost. First, the search terminal 101 issues a snow position notification command 102 to the mobile terminal 100 by wireless communication. The mobile terminal 100 receives the snow position notification command 102 from the search terminal 101 (step S1).

  When receiving the in-snow position notification command 102, the mobile terminal 100 performs a posture information acquisition process of the mobile terminal 100 itself (step S2). That is, the mobile terminal 100 recognizes which surface of the mobile terminal 100 (housing 51) is upward, that is, facing the snow surface, as posture information. The posture information can be obtained, for example, by detecting gravitational acceleration using an acceleration sensor (step S3).

  Based on the posture information acquired in step S <b> 2, the mobile terminal 100 causes the upper heat generation mechanism unit to generate heat among the heat generation mechanism units provided in the mobile terminal 100. That is, the mobile terminal 100 performs a snow melting process for generating heat at the heat generating mechanism 191 close to the surface layer side of the snow 103. Thereby, the snow accumulated above the portable terminal 100 can be melted (step S4). FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a situation where the lost mobile terminal 100 is exposed by the snow melting process. As illustrated in FIG. 3B, the mobile terminal 100 is exposed from the snow by the snow melting process, and the searcher can visually recognize the mobile terminal 100.

  In addition, although heat is generated from the heat generation mechanism during the snow melting process, the heat prevention mechanism 10 prevents the generated heat from being conducted to the internal circuit of the mobile terminal 100. Moreover, although water is generated when the snow melts, the waterproof mechanism 11 prevents water from entering the internal circuit of the mobile terminal 100. That is, the mobile terminal 100 includes the heat-insulating mechanism unit 10 and the waterproof mechanism unit 11, so that snow melting processing can be performed without causing the mobile terminal 100 to malfunction.

  Along with the snow melting process, the notification unit 5 performs a notification process to notify the searcher of the position of the mobile terminal 100 (step S5). As an example of the notification process, a notification method such as making a sound, emitting light, or vibrating the mobile terminal 100 can be used.

  Next, the search terminal 101 will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a configuration of main parts of the search terminal 101 according to the first embodiment. The search terminal 101 includes a control unit 21, a storage unit 22, a display unit 23, an operation unit 24, a wireless communication unit 26, an antenna 32, and a housing 52. The control unit 21, the storage unit 22, the display unit 23, the operation unit 24, the wireless communication unit 26, the antenna 32, and the housing 52 are the control unit 1, the storage unit 2, the display unit 3, the operation unit 4, and the wireless terminal 100 of the mobile terminal 100. Since the communication unit 6, the antenna 12, and the casing 51 have the same functions, the description thereof is omitted. That is, a mobile terminal having the same configuration as the mobile terminal 100 can be used as the search terminal 101.

  As described above, according to this configuration, even when a lost portable terminal is buried in snow, the lost portable terminal can be exposed by the snow melting process. Therefore, according to this configuration, it is possible to provide a mobile terminal that can be easily found even when buried in snow and a control method thereof.

Embodiment 2
Next, a portable terminal according to the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a situation where the mobile terminal 200 according to the second embodiment is exposed by the snow melting process. As shown in FIG. 6, the mobile terminal 200 has a configuration in which optical sensors 41 and 42 are added to the mobile terminal 100. The optical sensors 41 and 42 function as a light detection unit that detects light applied to the mobile terminal 200. Since the other structure of the portable terminal 200 is the same as that of the portable terminal 100, description is abbreviate | omitted.

  When the mobile terminal 200 is exposed from the snow by the snow melting process, the mobile terminal 200 is irradiated with light (for example, sunlight) from the environment. The optical sensor 41 provided on the upper side receives light from the environment. When the intensity of light received by the optical sensor 41 is larger than a preset value, the control unit 1 stops the heat generation of the heat generating mechanism unit 191. That is, the snow melting process can be terminated when the mobile terminal 200 is exposed. As a result, excessive heat generation can be prevented and battery consumption can be prevented.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, when the mobile terminal is buried in snow, a space may be generated between the mobile terminal and snow. In this case, by using the vibration function for notification of the mobile terminal, the surrounding snow can be crushed and the snow can be brought into contact with the mobile terminal. Thereby, it is possible to perform a snow melting process effectively.

  When the charge level of the battery of the portable terminal is not sufficient, it can be notified to the search terminal. In this case, when the charge level of the battery is equal to or lower than the reference level, it is possible to prevent the battery from being consumed by prohibiting the execution of the snow melting process with high power consumption. As a result, it is possible to enable only other search functions such as GPS, which consume less power than snow melting, and to prevent a situation in which searching for a mobile terminal becomes impossible. Moreover, even when the charge level of the battery becomes equal to or lower than the reference level during the snow melting process, the snow melting process can be stopped.

  Moreover, although the above-mentioned embodiment demonstrated the portable terminal which has a box-shaped shape, the shape of a portable terminal is not restricted to this example. For example, the shape of the mobile terminal may be a shape with rounded corners or an elliptical cross-sectional shape. In addition, the shape of the mobile terminal may be a shape that can be partially folded around the hinge portion. Furthermore, the shape which the full length of a portable terminal expand | extends may be sufficient when two parts piled up and down slide.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the heat-insulating mechanism unit is provided on the upper surface, the lower surface, or the side surface of the mobile terminal has been described, but the arrangement of the heat-insulating mechanism unit is not limited to these examples. For example, the heat-insulating mechanism can be disposed on all of the upper surface, the lower surface, and the side surface.

  The portable terminal according to the above-described embodiment is not limited to a specific terminal, and includes, for example, a portable terminal having a communication function such as a mobile phone, a camera having a communication function, a media player having a communication function, and the like.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,21 Control part 2,22 Memory | storage part 3,23 Display part 4,24 Operation part 5 Notification part 6,26 Wireless communication part 7 Position information acquisition part 8 Attitude information acquisition part 9,191-196 Heat generation mechanism part 10 Thermal insulation mechanism Part 11 Waterproof mechanism part 12, 32 Antenna 41, 42 Optical sensor 51, 52 Case 100, 200 Mobile terminal 101 Search terminal 102 Position notification command in snow 103 Snow

Claims (9)

A housing,
A plurality of heating means provided at different positions,
Posture information acquisition means for acquiring posture information of the housing;
A control unit that selectively heats the upper heating unit among the plurality of heating units according to the posture information.
Mobile device. The plurality of heat generating means are exposed on the surface of the casing or are incorporated in the casing.
The mobile terminal according to claim 1. An antenna for transmitting and receiving signals;
The control means causes the attitude control means to acquire the attitude information according to a signal received via the antenna, and starts heat generation of the upper heating means selected according to the attitude information. And
The portable terminal according to claim 1 or 2. Further comprising a battery,
The control means stops the heat generation of the upper heat generating means when the charging capacity of the battery is less than a predetermined value before starting the heat generation of the upper heat generating means.
The portable terminal as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3. The control means stops the heat generation of the upper heat generating means when the charge capacity of the battery becomes less than a predetermined value after starting the heat generation of the upper heat generating means. ,
The mobile terminal according to claim 4. It further comprises a light detection means for detecting the irradiated light,
When the intensity of light detected by the light detection means is greater than a predetermined value, the control means stops the heat generation of the upper heat generation means,
The portable terminal as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 5. In addition, the portable terminal further comprises a heat insulating means for suppressing heat conduction due to the heat generation to a portion other than the plurality of heat generating means.
The portable terminal as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 6. It further comprises a protective means for preventing liquid from entering the portable information terminal,
The portable terminal as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 7. Get the posture information of the housing,
In accordance with the posture information, among the plurality of heat generating means provided at different positions, the upper heat generating means is selectively heated.
Control method of mobile terminal.

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