JP2013002890A - Portable terminal system, portable terminal, program, recording medium and portable terminal system control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stably maintain a sharing state of current position information for a long time.SOLUTION: A representative terminal 2 includes: position information acquisition means 41 for acquiring present position information; data transmission means 42 for transmitting the present position information to each subordinate terminal 3; data reception means 43 for receiving information on a battery of each subordinate terminal 3 from each subordinate terminal 3; representative terminal selection means 52 for selecting the next representative terminal 2 on the basis of its own battery information and the received battery information; data transmission means 42 for transmitting the selection result; and list update means 53 for changing a setting so as to be a subordinate terminal 3 when it itself is not selected to be the next representative terminal. Each subordinate terminal 3 has data transmission means 62 for transmitting the battery information and list update means 64 for changing a setting to be a representative terminal 2 when it itself is selected to be the next representative terminal 2.

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile terminal system, a mobile terminal, a program, a recording medium, and a control method for the mobile terminal system that include a plurality of mobile terminals that require current position information, operate on a battery, and can communicate wirelessly.

  Conventionally, a GPS receiving terminal system in which one GPS receiving terminal among a plurality of GPS receiving terminals is defined as a representative terminal is known as a portable terminal system (see Patent Document 1). In this GPS receiving terminal system, the representative terminal receives positioning signals from a plurality of GPS satellites and acquires current position information (GPS position information) continuously or periodically. On the other hand, if the subordinate terminal (a GPS receiving terminal other than the representative terminal) can communicate within the short-range wireless communication area of the representative terminal, the subordinate terminal determines that the subordinate terminal is in the same location as the representative terminal and does not perform GPS positioning. GPS position information is periodically received through short-range wireless communication. The representative terminal updates and displays the current position on the screen based on the current position information acquired by itself, and the subordinate terminal displays the current position on the screen based on the current position information transmitted from the representative terminal. Update and display position. As described above, the current position information acquired by the representative terminal is shared among the plurality of GPS receiving terminals, thereby reducing the power consumption of the plurality of GPS receiving terminals. At this time, the representative terminal is periodically replaced in consideration of the power consumption concentrated on the representative terminal.

JP 2010-117241 A

Incidentally, in recent years, with the spread of smartphones and mobile phones equipped with a GPS reception function, navigation applications and game applications utilizing the GPS reception function are increasing. Therefore, it is conceivable to reduce the power consumption of a plurality of mobile phones by sharing the current position information using the above configuration.
However, in the above configuration, when the representative terminal is replaced, a mobile phone with a low battery level may be used as the representative terminal. Then, the remaining battery level is lost due to the acquisition of the current position information and the transmission of the current position information to the subordinate terminal, and the acquisition / transmission of the current position information is delayed. That is, there is a problem that the current position information sharing state cannot be continued stably for a long time.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile terminal system, a mobile terminal, a program, a recording medium, and a control method for the mobile terminal system that can stably continue a shared state of current position information for a long time.

  The portable terminal system according to the present invention includes a plurality of portable terminals that require current position information, operate on a battery, and can communicate wirelessly. The plurality of portable terminals includes one representative terminal and one or more other terminals. The representative terminal includes a current position information acquisition unit that acquires current position information by receiving a signal from a satellite, and a current position that transmits the acquired current position information to each dependent terminal. An information transmitting unit; a consumption information receiving unit that receives consumption information indicating the battery consumption status of each dependent terminal from each dependent terminal; consumption information indicating its own battery consumption status; and the received consumption information of each dependent terminal Based on the above, a representative terminal selection unit that selects the next representative terminal from a plurality of portable terminals, and a selection result transmission unit that transmits a selection result of the representative terminal selection unit to each subordinate terminal, When it is determined from the selection result that the terminal is not selected as the next representative terminal, a setting change unit that performs setting change to function as a subordinate terminal is provided, and each subordinate terminal transmits consumption information to the representative terminal. A consumption information transmission unit, and a setting change unit that performs a setting change to function as a representative terminal when it is determined that the next representative terminal is selected from the selection result transmitted from the representative terminal. It is characterized by that.

  In this case, it is preferable that the representative terminal selection unit selects, as the representative terminal, a mobile terminal having the largest remaining battery capacity among the plurality of mobile terminals.

  The control method of the mobile terminal system according to the present invention includes a plurality of mobile terminals that require current position information, operate on a battery, and can communicate by wireless communication, and the plurality of mobile terminals include one representative terminal and the mobile terminal system. A mobile terminal system control method that functions as one or more subordinate terminals other than the above, wherein the representative terminal acquires a current position information acquisition step of acquiring current position information by receiving a signal from a satellite, and the acquired current position information A current position information transmission step for transmitting to each subordinate terminal, a consumption information receiving step for receiving consumption information indicating the battery consumption status of each subordinate terminal from each subordinate terminal, consumption information indicating its own battery consumption status, and reception A representative terminal selection step of selecting the next representative terminal from a plurality of portable terminals based on the consumption information of each subordinate terminal A selection result transmission step for transmitting the selection result in the step to each subordinate terminal, and a setting change for changing the setting to function as a subordinate terminal when it is determined from the selection result that the next representative terminal has not been selected. And when each subordinate terminal determines that itself is selected as the next representative terminal from the consumption information transmission step of transmitting consumption information to the representative terminal and the selection result transmitted from the representative terminal, And a setting change step for changing a setting for functioning as a representative terminal.

  According to these configurations, since the selection (replacement) of the next representative terminal is performed based on the battery consumption status of each mobile terminal, the mobile terminal with the remaining battery level does not become the representative terminal. Therefore, the current position information sharing state can be stably continued for a long time. As the “battery consumption status”, for example, the battery remaining amount as a specific numerical value, the remaining amount ratio of the battery with respect to the complete storage state, and as a result, the battery consumption as a specific numerical value or the complete storage state The percentage of battery consumption relative to the In addition, as a configuration of “selecting a representative terminal based on consumption information”, for example, a configuration in which a mobile terminal having the largest remaining battery level is used as a representative terminal, or a portable terminal having the smallest remaining battery level is selected as a representative terminal Configurations that are excluded from the above, and configurations that determine the priority at the time of selection according to battery consumption information are conceivable. Note that the wireless communication is preferably wireless communication in which the communicable distance is a short distance (100 m or less, and more specifically, 20 m or less). .

  In the above portable terminal system, it is preferable that the representative terminal selection unit selects the representative terminal when the battery remaining amount of the representative terminal reaches a set threshold value.

  According to this configuration, since the remaining battery level of the representative terminal does not exceed the threshold, it is possible to reliably avoid the remaining battery level of the representative terminal.

  In this case, it is preferable that the representative terminal selection unit sets and changes the threshold value so as to decrease step by step each time a representative terminal is selected.

  According to this configuration, each time a representative terminal is selected, the threshold value is lowered stepwise so that the representative terminal selection interval can be increased, and the representative terminal is frequently selected. Can be prevented.

  In the above mobile terminal system, it is preferable that the representative terminal selection unit selects the representative terminal when a predetermined period has elapsed since the previous selection of the representative terminal.

  According to this configuration, since the representative terminal is regularly selected, the remaining battery power in the plurality of portable terminals can be advanced on average.

  On the other hand, each subordinate terminal, when the wireless communication with the representative terminal is disconnected, among the one or more subordinate terminals, a disconnection consumption determination unit that determines whether or not its own battery level is the most, It is preferable to further include a disconnection setting change unit that changes a setting for functioning as a representative terminal when it is determined that its own battery level is the largest.

  According to this configuration, even if the wireless communication with the representative terminal is accidentally disconnected, the current position information sharing state can be automatically restored.

  In this case, the representative terminal includes a consumption information list transmitting unit that periodically transmits a consumption information list including consumption information indicating its own battery consumption status and the received consumption information of each dependent terminal to each dependent terminal. In addition, it is preferable that the disconnection consumption determination unit perform determination based on the consumption information list transmitted from the representative terminal.

  According to this configuration, in consideration of the possibility of the representative terminal being disconnected, the battery consumption information (consumption information list) of all mobile terminals is transmitted in advance from the representative terminal to each subordinate terminal, and the information is shared. Thus, even when the representative terminal is disconnected, the current position information sharing state can be quickly restored.

  In this case, each mobile terminal has a predetermined application started, and the representative terminal starts the predetermined application and receives terminal information of the mobile terminal from a new mobile terminal capable of wireless communication. It is preferable to further include an information receiving unit and a terminal adding unit that uses the mobile terminal as a component of the mobile terminal system based on the received terminal information.

  According to this configuration, since a new mobile terminal can be automatically added to the mobile terminal system as a component of the mobile terminal system, the mobile terminal system can be flexibly expanded, and the acquired current position Information can be used effectively.

  The mobile terminal of the present invention is applied to the above mobile terminal system.

  According to this configuration, the power consumption can be reduced by having the function of sharing the current position information.

  The program according to the present invention causes a computer to function as each unit in the portable terminal.

  The recording medium of the present invention is characterized in that it can be read by a computer on which the above program is recorded.

  According to these configurations, the portable terminal described above can be easily realized simply by installing the program on a computer.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing a mobile terminal system according to the present embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the portable terminal. It is the functional block diagram which showed the portable terminal system. It is the figure which showed an example of the terminal management list. It is the flowchart which showed the period operation. It is the flowchart which showed the representative terminal change process. It is the flowchart which showed the coping action at the time of cutting. It is the flowchart which showed the starting process of the new portable terminal.

  Hereinafter, a mobile terminal system, a mobile terminal, a program, a recording medium, and a control method for the mobile terminal system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present embodiment, a mobile terminal system to which the present invention is applied is exemplified. In this mobile terminal system, a plurality of mobile terminals that require current location information and can perform wireless communication by short-range wireless communication are grouped into one group, and the current acquired by one mobile terminal (representative terminal) in the group The position information (GPS position information) is shared within the group.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a mobile terminal system SY. As shown in FIG. 1, the portable terminal system SY includes a plurality of portable terminals 1 that have a short-range wireless communication device 13 and operate as a battery, and connect the plurality of portable terminals 1 to each other by short-range wireless communication. Configured. Moreover, each portable terminal 1 has started the predetermined application, and can mutually communicate by near field communication.

  The plurality of mobile terminals 1 function as one representative terminal 2 and one or more subordinate terminals 3 by setting, respectively, and the representative terminal 2 and each subordinate terminal 3 are mutually connected by short-range wireless communication. It is connected to the. The settings of the representative terminal 2 and the subordinate terminal 3 can be changed as appropriate.

  As shown in FIG. 2, each mobile terminal 1 includes a battery 11 that supplies stored electricity, a GPS receiver 12 that receives a GPS signal from a GPS satellite (satellite) and acquires current position information, A short-range wireless communication device 13 that performs short-range wireless communication with the mobile terminal 1, a control device 14 that controls these devices, and a flash ROM 34 that stores various data are provided. In addition, the portable terminal 1 here assumes the smart phone, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) etc., for example.

  The GPS receiver 12 receives a GPS signal with an antenna, and calculates current position information (latitude and longitude) based on the received GPS signal. The short-range wireless communication device 13 is a so-called near-field type wireless communication device, and enables short-range wireless communication (for example, 20 m or less).

  The control device 14 includes a CPU 31, a ROM 32 and a RAM 33. The CPU 31 is a central processing unit and performs various arithmetic processes. Although not particularly shown, the CPU 31 has a timer for measuring the current time. The ROM 32 stores a control program for the CPU 31 to perform various arithmetic processes, and the RAM 33 is used as a work area when the CPU 31 performs various arithmetic processes.

  The flash ROM 34 stores current position information and a connection terminal management list described later. In addition, a program for acquiring position information is stored. This program is included in the predetermined application (game application or navigation application). By executing this program, each function shown in FIG. 3 is configured.

  Here, the functional structure of the portable terminal system SY will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the mobile terminal system SY includes one representative terminal 2 and one or more subordinate terminals 3. The representative terminal 2 includes a position information acquisition unit (current position acquisition unit) 41, a data transmission unit (current position information transmission unit, a selection result transmission unit, and a consumption information list transmission unit) 42, and a data reception unit (consumption information reception unit). Terminal information receiving unit) 43, battery information acquisition unit 48, execution determination unit 51, representative terminal selection unit (representative terminal selection unit) 52, list update unit (setting change unit, terminal addition unit) 53, Connection state monitoring means 47. Further, the representative terminal 2 includes a position information buffer 45 and a terminal management database 46 whose main parts are the flash ROM 34.

  The position information acquisition means 41 acquires the current position information of the representative terminal 2 itself with the GPS receiver 12 as a main part. The data transmission means 42 uses the short-range wireless communication device 13 as a main part, and mainly transmits current position information and a terminal management list described later to each subordinate terminal 3. The data receiving means 43 has the short-range wireless communication device 13 as a main part and mainly receives battery information from each subordinate terminal 3. The battery information acquisition means 48 acquires battery information (consumption information) indicating the remaining battery level (battery consumption status) of its own battery 11.

  The position information buffer 45 stores the acquired current position information. The terminal management database 46 stores a terminal management list (consumption information list). As shown in FIG. 4, the terminal management list is a list storing information for each mobile terminal 1, and for each mobile terminal 1, the terminal name of the mobile terminal 1 and the short-range wireless communication device of the mobile terminal 1. 13 short-range wireless communication device IDs, the settings of the representative terminal 2 (M) and subordinate terminal 3 (S) of the mobile terminal 1 (hereinafter referred to as M / S setting), and the remaining battery of the battery 11 of the mobile terminal 1 The amount and the time when the remaining battery level is acquired are stored. Note that the M / S setting in the mobile terminal 1 of the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46 is treated as it is as the M / S setting of itself.

  The execution determination unit 51 determines whether or not to execute a representative terminal replacement process for replacing the representative terminal 2. The representative terminal selection means 52 selects the next representative terminal 2 in the representative terminal replacement process. The list update unit 53 updates the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46 based on the selection result of the representative terminal selection unit 52 and the obtained battery information.

  The connection state monitoring unit 47 monitors the connection state of wireless communication with another mobile terminal 1 by the short-range wireless communication device 13 and detects the mobile terminal 1 in which the wireless communication is disconnected.

  The slave terminal 3 includes a battery information acquisition unit 61, a data transmission unit (consumption information transmission unit) 62, a data reception unit 63, a list update unit (setting change unit and disconnection setting change unit) 64, and a GPS management unit. 65, a connection state monitoring unit 66, and a terminal determination unit (consumption determination unit at disconnection) 67. Similarly to the representative terminal 2, the subordinate terminal 3 includes a position information buffer 45 and a terminal management database 46. The battery information acquisition unit 61 acquires battery information (consumption information) indicating the remaining battery level (battery consumption status) of its own battery 11. The data transmission means 62 uses the short-range wireless communication device 13 as a main part, and mainly transmits the acquired battery information to the representative terminal 2. The data receiving means 63 mainly receives the current position information and the terminal management list from the representative terminal 2 with the short-range wireless communication device 13 as a main part.

  The position information buffer 45 stores the received current position information. The current position information stored in the position information buffer 45 is used for the predetermined application (game application or navigation application). The terminal management database 46 stores a terminal management list. The list updating unit 64 overwrites the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46 with the received terminal management list. Similar to the representative terminal 2, the M / S setting of the mobile terminal 1 on the terminal management database 46 is treated as the M / S setting of itself.

  The GPS management means 65 switches the power of the GPS receiver 12 on and off. That is, when the setting of the subordinate terminal 3 is changed to the representative terminal 2, the GPS receiver 12 is activated to switch the power supply from OFF to ON. On the other hand, after changing from the representative terminal 2 to the subordinate terminal 3, the GPS receiver 12 is stopped and the power supply is switched from ON to OFF.

  The connection state monitoring unit 66 monitors the connection state of wireless communication with another mobile terminal 1 by the short-range wireless communication device 13 and detects the mobile terminal 1 in which the wireless communication is disconnected. When the wireless communication with the representative terminal 2 is disconnected, the terminal determination unit 67 determines whether or not its own battery remaining amount is the highest among all the subordinate terminals 3, and identifies itself as the new representative terminal 2 Decide whether or not.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 5, the periodic operation performed by the portable terminal system SY will be described. The periodic operation is performed periodically, and includes position information sharing processing (S1 to S5), list sharing processing (S1, S3, S4 and S6), battery update processing (S7 to S11), and representative terminal replacement processing ( S14) is executed (however, the representative terminal replacement process determines whether or not execution is performed by the execution determination (S12) every time the periodic operation is performed). In the position information sharing process, the current position information acquired by the representative terminal 2 is transmitted to the subordinate terminal 3 to be shared. In the list sharing process, the terminal management list updated by the representative terminal 2 is transmitted to the subordinate terminal 3 and shared. In the battery update process, the battery information of each mobile terminal 1 is acquired and updated to the latest one. In the representative terminal replacement process, the M / S setting in the mobile terminal 1 in the group is changed, and the representative terminal 2 is replaced. In the periodic operation, these processes are executed as a series of operations.

  As shown in FIG. 5, in the periodic operation, the representative terminal 2 first acquires its own current position information by the position information acquisition unit 41 (S1: current position information acquisition step), and then stores its own position information buffer 45. (S2). Then, the data transmitting means 42 transmits the acquired current position information and the terminal management list (selection result) stored in the terminal management database 46 to each subordinate terminal 3 (S3: current position information transmitting step).

  On the other hand, each subordinate terminal 3 receives the current position information and the terminal management list from the representative terminal 2 by the data receiving means 43 (S4), and stores the received current position information in its own position information buffer 45 ( S5). Further, the list update unit 64 overwrites the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46 with the received terminal management list (S6). As a result, the position information sharing process and the list sharing process are completed.

  Next, each subordinate terminal 3 acquires its battery information (remaining battery capacity) by the battery information acquisition means 61 (S7). Then, the data transmission means 62 transmits the acquired battery information, its own terminal information (terminal name and short-range wireless communication device ID), and the acquisition time when the battery information is acquired to the representative terminal 2 as a unit ( S8: Consumption information transmission step).

  On the other hand, the representative terminal 2 receives battery information, terminal information, and battery information acquisition time from each subordinate terminal 3 (S9: consumption information receiving step). Then, after the battery information acquisition means 48 acquires its own battery information (S10), the list update means 53 uses the received information and the acquired battery information to determine the terminal on the terminal management database 46. The management list is rewritten (S11). As a result, the battery information is updated to the latest one, and the battery update process is completed.

  After that, the representative terminal 2 performs execution determination of the representative terminal replacement process by the execution determination unit 51 (S12). In this execution determination, it is determined whether or not a preset execution condition is satisfied at the time of execution determination. The execution condition is, for example, “(1) The battery remaining amount has reached a set threshold value. (2) The number of periodic operations from the previous selection of the representative terminal 2 is a predetermined number or more. (3) The previous time A predetermined time has elapsed since the selection of the representative terminal 2 ”, and can be selected and set from the setting screens of the representative terminal 2 and the subordinate terminal 3. Note that a configuration screen may be displayed and execution conditions may be selected and set in a series of processes during the representative terminal replacement process. Moreover, it is preferable to change the setting so that the threshold value when (1) is selected decreases step by step each time the representative terminal change process is performed. For example, when the initial threshold value is set to 970 mAh, the threshold value after finishing the first representative terminal replacement process is set to 920 mAh obtained by subtracting the adjustment value 50 mAh from the initial value 970 mAh, and then adjusted each time the representative terminal replacement process is finished. It is assumed that the value is subtracted by 50 mAh.

  If it is determined by the execution determination that the execution condition is not satisfied (S13: No), the periodic operation is terminated without executing the representative terminal replacement process. On the other hand, if it is determined that the execution condition is satisfied (S13: Yes), the representative terminal replacement process is executed (S14), and then this periodic operation is terminated.

  Next, the representative terminal replacement process (S14) will be described with reference to FIG. In the representative terminal replacement process, one representative terminal 2 (old representative terminal), one subordinate terminal 3 (new representative terminal candidate) selected as the representative terminal 2 in this operation, and one representative terminal 2 in this operation Since the behavior differs with the other subordinate terminals 3 that are not selected, the description will be divided into these three. In the state before processing, the representative terminal 2 (old representative terminal) has the GPS receiver 12 powered on, and the subordinate terminal 3 (new representative terminal candidate and other subordinate terminals 3) It is assumed that the power supply of the device 12 is turned off.

  As shown in FIG. 6, first, the representative terminal 2 selects the next representative terminal 2 from all the portable terminals 1 based on the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46 by the representative terminal selection unit 52. (S21: Representative terminal selection step). Specifically, taking into account the remaining battery level of each mobile terminal 1, the mobile terminal 1 with the largest remaining battery level is selected as the next representative terminal 2.

  If the selected mobile terminal 1 is the representative terminal 2 itself (old representative terminal) (S22: Yes), the replacement of the representative terminal 2 is unnecessary, and thus this process is terminated. On the other hand, when the selected portable terminal 1 is not the representative terminal 2 itself (is any dependent terminal 3) (S22: No), the data transmitting means 62 selects the selected dependent terminal 3 (new representative). A representative terminal notification indicating the selection is transmitted to the terminal candidate) (S23).

  The selected dependent terminal 3 (new representative terminal candidate) receives the representative terminal notification by the data receiving means 63 (S24). When the representative terminal notification is received, the GPS management unit 65 executes the activation process of the GPS receiver 12 (S25). Then, the data transmission means 62 transmits the result of the activation process (whether the activation is successful) to the representative terminal 2 (S26). Although illustration is omitted, if the activation process fails due to the activation process, the representative terminal 2 that has received the activation result prevents the subordinate terminal 3 that has failed to activate the GPS receiver 12 from becoming a new representative terminal candidate again. Then, after rewriting the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46, the process starts again from the representative terminal selection process (S21). For example, in the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46, a predetermined label is added to the head of the terminal name of the subordinate terminal 3 that has failed to start or the remaining battery level of the subordinate terminal 3 is rewritten to zero. In addition, the number of failures as a new parameter may be stored in the terminal management list.

  When the representative terminal 2 receives the activation result (successful activation in this case) by the data receiving means 43, the representative terminal 2 reflects the selection result in the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46 (S28). That is, the own M / S setting is rewritten from the representative terminal 2 (M) to the subordinate terminal 3 (S), and the M / S setting of the selected subordinate terminal 3 is changed from the subordinate terminal 3 (S) to the representative terminal 2 (M). Rewrite to By rewriting the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46, the representative terminal 2 is changed in setting so as to function as the subordinate terminal 3 (setting change step). When the selection result is reflected in the terminal management list, the data transmission means 42 transmits the terminal management list to each subordinate terminal 3 other than itself (S29: selection result transmission step). And the GPS receiver 12 is stopped by the GPS management means 65 (S30).

  On the other hand, each subordinate terminal 3 excluding the old representative terminal receives the terminal management list from the old representative terminal by the data receiving means 63 (S31). Then, the list update unit 64 overwrites the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46 with the received terminal management list (S32). By this overwriting, the subordinate terminal 3 of the new representative terminal candidate is changed in setting so as to function as the representative terminal 2 (setting change step). Thus, the representative terminal change process is completed.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 7, a handling operation at the time of disconnection performed in each mobile terminal 1 will be described. When the representative terminal 2 and each subordinate terminal 3 detect disconnection of wireless communication with any one of the mobile terminals 1 by the connection state monitoring means 47 and 66, an action at the time of disconnection is executed.

  As illustrated in FIG. 7, when the representative terminal 2 detects the mobile terminal 1 that has been disconnected from the wireless communication by the connection state monitoring unit 47 (S41: Yes), the list update unit 53 causes the terminal on the terminal management database 46 to be displayed. The information of the disconnected mobile terminal 1 is deleted from the management list (S42). Then, the data transmission means 42 transmits the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46 to each subordinate terminal 3 except for the disconnected one (S43).

  On the other hand, when the subordinate terminal 3 detects the mobile terminal 1 whose wireless communication is disconnected by the connection state monitoring unit 47 (S44: Yes), the subordinate terminal 3 determines whether or not the disconnected mobile terminal 1 is the representative terminal 2. (S45). When it is determined that the terminal is not the representative terminal 2 (S45: No), the terminal determination unit 67 now refers to the terminal management list, and the remaining battery level of all the subordinate terminals 3 is determined. It is determined whether it is the highest (S46). When the own battery remaining amount is the highest (S46: Yes), the list update unit 64 deletes the information of the disconnected representative terminal 2 in the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46, and also the own mobile terminal 1 Are rewritten from the subordinate terminal 3 (S) to the representative terminal 2 (M) (S47). Then, the data transmission means 62 transmits the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46 to each other dependent terminal 3 (S48). Thereafter, the GPS management unit 65 activates the GPS receiver 12 (S49) and turns on the power.

  On the other hand, when the disconnected mobile terminal 1 is the representative terminal 2 (S45: Yes), or when all the subordinate terminals 3 have a higher battery level than themselves (S46: No), The process shifts to a terminal management list reception waiting state (S50). When the terminal management list is received from the representative terminal 2 or the subordinate terminal 3 having the highest remaining battery level by the data receiving unit 63 (S50: Yes), the terminal management is performed using the received terminal management list by the list updating unit 64. The terminal management list on the database 46 is overwritten (S51). This completes the operation.

  According to the above configuration, since the selection (replacement) of the next representative terminal 2 is performed based on the remaining battery level of each mobile terminal 1, the mobile terminal 1 whose battery level has decreased is set as the representative terminal 2. There is no end. Therefore, the current position information sharing state can be stably continued for a long time.

  In addition, by setting the execution condition of the representative terminal change process to “(1) the remaining battery level has reached the set threshold value”, the remaining battery level of the representative terminal 2 does not exceed the threshold value. It is possible to reliably avoid the remaining battery level of the representative terminal 2 from being lost.

  Furthermore, at the time of setting (1), every time the representative terminal 2 is selected, the threshold value is lowered stepwise so that the selection interval of the representative terminal 2 can be increased, and the representative terminal 2 is frequently selected. Can be prevented.

  Furthermore, the execution condition of the representative terminal change process is “(2) The number of periodic operations from the previous selection of the representative terminal 2 is a predetermined number or more” or “(3) From the previous selection of the representative terminal 2. Since the representative terminal 2 is periodically selected by setting “the predetermined time has elapsed”, it is possible to averagely reduce the remaining battery level in the plurality of mobile terminals 1.

  In addition, by performing the disconnection handling process in each subordinate terminal 3, even if the wireless communication with the representative terminal 2 is accidentally disconnected, the sharing state of the current position information can be automatically restored.

  Further, in consideration of the possibility that the representative terminal 2 is disconnected, battery information (terminal management list) of all the mobile terminals 1 is transmitted in advance from the representative terminal 2 to each subordinate terminal 3, and the information is shared. By setting (list sharing processing), the shared state of the current position information can be quickly restored even when the representative terminal 2 is disconnected.

  In addition, in this embodiment, although it was the structure which performs the data communication between the portable terminals 1 by the near field communication using a near field, if it is a near field communication, it will not restrict to this, For example, optical wireless communication such as infrared communication may be used.

  In the present embodiment, the representative terminal selection means selects the representative terminal 2 using the remaining battery level as the battery consumption status. However, the remaining battery rate is used instead of the remaining battery level. (Percentage relative to the power storage completion state) may be used, or the battery consumption may be used.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, in the representative terminal replacement process, the mobile terminal 1 with the highest remaining battery level is selected as the next representative terminal 2, but the representative terminal 2 is selected based on the battery consumption status. However, the configuration is not limited to this. For example, the mobile terminal 1 with the lowest remaining battery level or the mobile terminal 1 with the remaining battery level equal to or less than a predetermined threshold is excluded from the selection candidates, and the representative terminal is sequentially or randomly from the remaining mobile terminals 1 2 may be selected. Moreover, the priority at the time of selection is determined according to the remaining battery level, and the priority and other factors (for example, the difference in power consumption caused when the device configuration or the installed application differs depending on the mobile terminal 1). In addition, the representative terminal 2 may be selected.

  Furthermore, in the mobile terminal system SY of the present embodiment, a plurality of mobile terminals 1 that are constituent elements are connected to each other, but the subordinate terminals 3 and the subordinate terminals 3 are not connected to each other. The structure which connects with the terminal 3 may be sufficient. In such a case, it is necessary to perform connection processing between the representative terminal 2 and each subordinate terminal each time the representative terminal 2 is changed by the representative terminal replacement process or the disconnection action.

  In the present embodiment, the description about the addition of the mobile terminal 1 constituting the mobile terminal system SY is omitted, but a new mobile terminal 1 (hereinafter referred to as a new mobile terminal) is configured by the setting / operation by the user. Or a configuration in which a new portable terminal that starts a predetermined application and can communicate by short-range wireless communication is automatically added as a component. Here, with reference to FIG. 8, a startup process of a new portable terminal related to the latter configuration will be described. This activation process is a process performed due to activation of the predetermined application including the program for acquiring position information, and is a process for causing a new portable terminal to belong to the portable terminal system SY. In addition, when there are a plurality of mobile terminal systems SY capable of wireless communication, it can be said that the mobile terminal system SY is determined to belong to.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the new mobile terminal first activates the short-range wireless communication device 13 (S61) and determines whether or not it has been activated (S62). If the activation has failed (S62: No), an error is displayed (S63) and the process is terminated.

  On the other hand, when the short-range wireless communication device 13 can be activated (S62: Yes), a connectable terminal list is acquired from the short-range wireless communication device 13 (S64). The connectable terminal list is a list of other mobile terminals 1 that can be wirelessly connected from a new mobile terminal.

  When the connectable terminal list is acquired, it is determined whether or not there is a mobile terminal 1 belonging to the mobile terminal system SY, that is, a mobile terminal 1 that can share current position information, from the listed mobile terminals 1 (S65). . As this determination method, for example, it is conceivable to add a predetermined label to the head of the terminal name of the mobile terminal 1 belonging to the mobile terminal system SY in advance so that it is displayed in the connectable terminal list.

  If there is no portable terminal 1 belonging to the portable terminal system SY among the listed portable terminals 1 (S65: No), the GPS receiver 12 is activated (S66). At this time, if the activation process fails (S67: No), an error is displayed (S63), and this operation is terminated. On the other hand, if the activation process is successful (S67: Yes), a terminal management list (list of only information of the own mobile terminal 1) is generated and stored in the terminal management database 46 (S67: Yes) ( S68). That is, it is assumed that it is the representative terminal 2.

  On the other hand, when there is a mobile terminal 1 belonging to the mobile terminal system SY in the mobile terminals 1 listed (S65: Yes), one of the mobile terminals 1 belonging to the mobile terminal system SY is displayed. The portable terminal 1 is selected (S69), and connection processing with the portable terminal 1 is performed (S70). As a selection method here, the mobile terminal 1 at the top of the connectable end list may be selected, or may be selected at random using a random number or the like.

  Here, if the connection process with the selected portable terminal 1 is successful (S71: Yes), the terminal management list is requested to the connected portable terminal 1 (S72). When the terminal management list is received from the connected mobile terminal 1 (S73), it is determined whether or not the connected mobile terminal 1 is the representative terminal 2 of the mobile terminal system SY (S74). If it is not the representative terminal 2 (S74: No), based on the terminal information of the representative terminal 2 in the terminal management list, it is determined whether the representative terminal 2 is in the portable terminal 1 on the connectable terminal list. Determine (S75). If it is in the portable terminal 1 on the connectable terminal list (S75: Yes), connection processing with the representative terminal 2 is performed (S76).

  When the connection process with the representative terminal 2 fails (S77: No), when the representative terminal 2 is not in the portable terminal 1 on the connectable terminal list (S75: No), or when the first connection process fails In (S71: No), the selected portable terminal 1 or representative terminal 2 is deleted from the connectable terminal list, and the list of portable terminals 1 includes the portable terminal 1 belonging to the portable terminal system SY. Return to the determination (S65). That is, it is determined that connection to the mobile terminal system SY of the selected mobile terminal 1 is impossible, and the process proceeds to connection to another mobile terminal system SY.

  On the other hand, when the connection process with the representative terminal 2 is successful (S77: Yes), or when the connected mobile terminal 1 is the representative terminal 2 (S74: Yes), its battery information (the remaining battery power of the battery 11). Amount) is acquired (S78). The terminal information (terminal name and short-range wireless communication device ID), M / S setting (set to “S” here), battery information, and battery information acquisition time are representative. It transmits to the terminal 2 (S79).

  On the other hand, the representative terminal 2 receives the information by the data receiving means 43 (S80), and adds the information to the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46 by the list updating means 53 (S81). Thereby, a new portable terminal is added to the portable terminal system SY. Then, the data transmission means 42 transmits the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46 to the new portable terminal (S82). At this time, this terminal management list is also transmitted to each subordinate terminal 3 and shared.

  On the other hand, the new mobile terminal receives the terminal management list from the representative terminal 2 (S83). Then, the terminal management list on the terminal management database 46 is overwritten with the received terminal management list (S84). As a result, this process is terminated.

  According to such a configuration, since the new mobile terminal can be automatically added to the mobile terminal system SY as a component of the mobile terminal system SY, the mobile terminal system SY can be flexibly expanded, The acquired current position information can be used effectively.

  1: mobile terminal, 2: representative terminal, 3: subordinate terminal, 41: position information acquisition means, 42: data transmission means, 43: data reception means, 52: representative terminal selection means, 53: list update means, 62: data Transmission means 64: List update means 67: Terminal determination means

Claims (12)

A mobile terminal that requires current location information, is composed of a plurality of mobile terminals that operate on a battery and can communicate wirelessly, and the plurality of mobile terminals function as one representative terminal and one or more other subordinate terminals A system,
The representative terminal is
A current position information acquisition unit for acquiring current position information by receiving a signal from a satellite;
A current position information transmitting unit that transmits the acquired current position information to each of the subordinate terminals;
A consumption information receiving unit for receiving consumption information indicating a battery consumption status of each of the dependent terminals from each of the dependent terminals;
A representative terminal selection unit that selects the next representative terminal from the plurality of portable terminals based on consumption information indicating its own battery consumption status and the received consumption information of each subordinate terminal;
A selection result transmission unit that transmits a selection result of the representative terminal selection unit to each subordinate terminal;
When it is determined from the selection result that the next representative terminal has not been selected, a setting change unit that performs a setting change to function as the subordinate terminal, and
Each subordinate terminal is
A consumption information transmitter for transmitting the consumption information to the representative terminal;
A setting change unit configured to change a setting for functioning as the representative terminal when it is determined from the selection result transmitted from the representative terminal that the next representative terminal is selected; Mobile terminal system.   The mobile terminal system according to claim 1, wherein the representative terminal selection unit selects a mobile terminal having the largest remaining battery capacity as the representative terminal among the plurality of mobile terminals.   The mobile terminal system according to claim 1, wherein the representative terminal selection unit selects the representative terminal when the battery remaining amount of the representative terminal reaches a set threshold.   The mobile terminal system according to claim 3, wherein the representative terminal selection unit changes the setting of the threshold value so as to decrease stepwise every time the representative terminal is selected.   The mobile terminal system according to claim 1, wherein the representative terminal selection unit selects the representative terminal when a predetermined period has elapsed from the previous selection of the representative terminal. Each subordinate terminal is
When wireless communication with the representative terminal is disconnected, among the one or more subordinate terminals, a disconnection consumption determination unit that determines whether or not its own battery level is the largest,
The mobile terminal system according to claim 1, further comprising: a setting change unit at disconnection for changing a setting for functioning as a representative terminal when it is determined that the battery remaining amount is the largest. . The representative terminal includes a consumption information list transmitting unit that periodically transmits to each subordinate terminal a consumption information list including the consumption information indicating its own battery consumption status and the received consumption information of each subordinate terminal. In addition,
The portable terminal system according to claim 6, wherein the disconnection consumption determination unit performs the determination based on the consumption information list transmitted from the representative terminal. Each portable terminal has a predetermined application activated,
The representative terminal is a terminal information receiving unit that receives the terminal information of the mobile terminal from a new mobile terminal that has started the predetermined application and can perform wireless communication.
The mobile terminal system according to claim 1, further comprising: a terminal addition unit that uses the mobile terminal as a component of the mobile terminal system based on the received terminal information.   A mobile terminal applied to the mobile terminal system according to claim 1.   The program for functioning a computer as each part in the portable terminal of Claim 9.   The computer-readable recording medium which recorded the program of Claim 10. It consists of a plurality of portable terminals that require current location information, operate on a battery and can communicate by wireless communication, and the plurality of portable terminals function as one representative terminal and one or more other dependent terminals. A control method for a mobile terminal system,
The representative terminal is
A current position information acquisition step of acquiring current position information by receiving a signal from a satellite;
A current position information transmission step of transmitting the acquired current position information to each subordinate terminal;
A consumption information receiving step of receiving consumption information indicating a battery consumption status of each of the dependent terminals from each of the dependent terminals;
A representative terminal selection step of selecting the next representative terminal from the plurality of portable terminals based on consumption information indicating its own battery consumption status and the received consumption information of each subordinate terminal;
A selection result transmission step of transmitting a selection result in the representative terminal selection step to each of the subordinate terminals;
When it is determined from the selection result that the next representative terminal is not selected, a setting change step for changing the setting to function as the subordinate terminal is performed.
Each subordinate terminal is
A consumption information transmission step of transmitting the consumption information to the representative terminal;
When it is determined from the selection result transmitted from the representative terminal that the next representative terminal has been selected, a setting change step for performing a setting change to function as the representative terminal is performed. To control a portable terminal system.

Images