JP4726696B2 - Mobile phone terminal and data writing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic device such as a mobile phone terminal that can be used in a nonstandard environment such as a cold region, and a method of writing data such as a computer program by the mobile phone terminal .

  Since the standard of a mobile phone which is an example of a mobile terminal device generally has a temperature characteristic of about −40 ° C. to 80 ° C., the temperature characteristic of a device used for the mobile phone is based on that. There is a need. For example, for a memory device whose memory device can only guarantee a temperature characteristic of 0 ° C. or higher when writing, it is necessary to forego its use, or even if it is used, it must be restricted as a non-rewritable memory. It was. Also, the temperature inside the device is read by A / D (analog / digital) conversion, and only when the current temperature is within the temperature characteristic range of the memory device (0 ° C or higher), the write operation to the memory device is performed. A method of starting is also considered.

  Furthermore, when the temperature of the HDD (Hard Disk Drive) installed in a notebook computer is low, the CPU heat is transferred to the HDD by increasing the utilization rate of the CPU (Central Processing Unit), and it reaches the specified temperature. An HDD failure prevention method has been proposed in which an HDD is started after the failure and failure due to low-temperature writing and reading (data read / write) is prevented (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-2005-4819

  By the way, the technology described in Patent Document 1 is related to the original processing because when the temperature of the HDD is low, the temperature of the HDD is increased by starting a predetermined program and increasing the usage rate of the CPU. An extra load without a load is applied to the CPU. As a result, the processing capacity of the CPU is delayed, and there is a problem that the CPU cannot sufficiently display its original processing capacity.

The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and a first object is to enable the operation of the device even in an environment outside the standard of the device mounted on the electronic device such as a mobile phone terminal. It is to be. A second object is to be able to maximize the performance of the control unit such as a CPU.

To solve the above problems, the mobile phone terminal of the present invention includes a communication unit which includes a temperature measuring unit for measuring the temperature in the terminal, and a device for performing the operation of Jo Tokoro, the reception function that operates separately from this device If, when the temperature within measured in the temperature measuring unit terminal is lower than the device specifications, instructs the mode switching to the communication unit, after the temperature of the terminal is increased to the device specifications, device And a control unit for operating . Here, the communication unit normally operates in the intermittent reception mode, and switches to the continuous reception mode in response to an instruction from the control unit .

According to the above configuration, the temperature inside the mobile phone terminal is increased by using the operation of the device mounted on the mobile phone terminal such as the RF unit, so that a special device such as a heater is not added. The temperature of the target device can be increased. Further, since the utilization rate of a control unit such as a CPU is not increased to raise the temperature of the mobile phone terminal , the performance of the control unit can be maximized.

Further, the data writing method of the present invention is a data writing method for writing data to a memory device mounted on a mobile phone terminal , based on temperature characteristic information recorded in the memory device. Determining whether or not there is a limitation on characteristics, and determining whether or not the temperature in the terminal is within the specifications of the memory device if the temperature characteristics of the memory device are limited; and If it is determined that the temperature in the terminal is not within the specifications of the memory device, the step of switching the communication unit mounted on the mobile phone terminal from the intermittent reception mode to the continuous reception mode; and the temperature in the terminal And writing data to the memory device after rising to within the specifications of the memory device. To.

According to the above configuration, the reception operation of the communication unit is set to the continuous reception mode, and the temperature inside the mobile phone terminal , that is, the temperature of the memory device is increased, so a special device such as a heater is added. Without increasing the temperature of the memory device. Moreover, since the utilization factor of a control unit such as a CPU is not increased in order to increase the temperature in the mobile phone terminal , the performance of the control unit can be maximized.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the said device can be operate | moved also in the use environment outside the specification of the device mounted in electronic devices, such as a mobile telephone terminal . Further, the performance of the control unit (for example, CPU) can be maximized.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a mobile terminal device according to an example of an embodiment of the present invention. The example shown in FIG. 1 is an application of a mobile terminal device (electronic device) to a mobile phone. Taking this mobile phone as an example, an example of executing data writing to the memory device by updating software assuming a memory device whose temperature characteristics are outside the standard of 0 ° C. to 80 ° C., for example, will be described. .

  1 includes an RF unit (communication unit) 2 comprising an antenna 1, a duplexer 3, a receiving unit 4 and a transmitting unit 5, a control unit 6, a flash memory (memory device) 7, a RAM (Random). (Access Memory) 8, temperature measurement unit 9, power supply unit 10, clock generation unit 11, display unit 12, operation unit 13, and camera unit 14. In addition, devices such as a speaker and a microphone (not shown) are provided. These are preferably mounted on the same substrate.

  A duplexer 3 provided in the RF unit (communication unit) 2 performs demultiplexing, high-frequency processing, and the like of reception signals and transmission signals exchanged between the antenna 1 and the control unit 6. This duplexer 3 sends a reception signal of a radio frequency received from a base station of the mobile phone network via the antenna 1 to the reception unit 4. The receiving unit 4 demodulates the radio frequency reception signal, and then outputs the received data to the control unit 6 as reception data. The receiving unit 4 receives an instruction from the control unit 6 according to a communication state such as standby or a call or in connection with the software update process, and switches between an intermittent reception operation and a continuous reception operation based on the instruction. On the other hand, the transmission unit 5 modulates the transmission data output from the control unit 6 into a radio frequency transmission signal and outputs it to the duplexer 3. The duplexer 3 transmits a radio frequency transmission signal transmitted from the transmission unit 5 from the antenna 1 to the base station.

  The control unit 6 has a calculation processing function such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a function such as a modem. The control unit 6 includes an RF unit 2, a flash memory 7, a RAM 8, a temperature measurement unit 9, a power supply unit 10, a clock generation unit 11, a display unit 12, an operation unit 13, and a camera unit 14 via a transmission line such as a bus. Other devices such as a speaker and a microphone (not shown) are connected to exchange control signals and data.

  The flash memory 7 is an example of a nonvolatile memory device. The flash memory 7 stores various data such as a computer program related to software update processing, which will be described later, and temperature characteristic information (or operation guarantee information, operation threshold information) of the memory device 7. The control unit 6 develops a computer program stored in the flash memory 7 on a RAM 8 that is used as a work area, and executes predetermined control and processing.

  The temperature measurement unit 9 is a means for measuring the temperature in the portable terminal device, converts the measured analog signal temperature information into a digital signal, and supplies the digital signal to the control unit 6. The controller 6 acquires the temperature value in the portable terminal device by reading the A / D converted information.

  The power supply unit 10 includes a secondary battery such as a battery. The clock generator 11 is a means for generating a clock (operating frequency) for synchronizing processing between circuits inside the mobile terminal device.

  The display unit 12 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display panel. The display unit 12 displays a message for a user related to software update processing described later on the screen.

  The operation unit 13 includes a push button, a jog dial, and a GUI screen displayed on the display unit 12 provided in the mobile terminal device. An operation signal from a user input by operating the operation unit 13 is input to the control unit 6 via an interface (not shown). The control unit 6 performs predetermined processing based on the input operation signal. The camera unit 14 is an imaging unit and operates according to a control signal from the control unit 6.

  Next, an example of data writing processing performed by the mobile terminal device shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a software (computer program) update process as an example. In this example, a case where the update target software is acquired from a server on the network will be described. Access to the server is performed using a cellular phone network in this example, but other wireless LAN (Local Area Network) may be used.

  The temperature characteristics of the memory device are provided to those who use it by the memory manufacturer. Therefore, as a premise for performing the processing of FIG. 2, first, temperature characteristic information of the flash memory is written into the flash memory 7 of the portable terminal device. That is, the work is performed before the mobile phone terminal is shipped. Usually, since the writing operation is performed in a factory (indoor), even if the operation guarantee temperature of the flash memory 7 is 0 ° C. or lower, the indoor temperature is usually 0 ° C. or higher. Does not occur.

  In order to perform software update processing (writing to the flash memory / memory), it is necessary to acquire an update file. Therefore, it is determined whether there is an update file on the server (step S1). First, a mobile terminal device is operated to access a server such as a data center via a base station of a mobile phone network. When there is an update file on the server, the update file (update difference data) is downloaded from the server to the mobile terminal device. Such a software supply technique is generally called an OTA (Over-The-Air) method. Thereafter, the OS (Operating System) of the mobile terminal device is reset once, and the control unit 6 confirms whether an update file exists in a boot (BOOT) process. If an update file exists, the update processing engine is expanded on the RAM. Then, the control of the control unit 6 is transferred to the RAM, and the update processing engine is started on the RAM.

  The controller 6 reads the temperature characteristic information of the flash memory 7 stored in the flash memory (memory device) 7 (step S2). Then, it is determined from this temperature characteristic information whether or not the temperature characteristic of the flash memory 7 is limited (step S3).

  If there is no restriction on the temperature characteristics in the determination process of step S3, the software update process is executed as it is, and the software on the flash memory 7 is updated (step S9). On the other hand, when the temperature characteristic is limited in the determination process of step S3, the control unit 6 performs A / D (analog / digital) converted value (temperature information) on the temperature inside the device measured by the temperature measurement unit 9. ) Is read (step S4).

  Subsequently, the control unit 6 determines whether or not the read temperature in the own device is within the standard (or operation guarantee) of the flash memory 7 (step S5). For example, when the temperature information is 0 ° C. or lower and the operation guarantee of the flash memory 7 is 0 ° C. or higher, the environment where the mobile terminal device is currently located is outside the standard range of the flash memory 7. I can judge.

  If the temperature in the device itself is within the specification of the flash memory 7, the process proceeds to software update processing as it is, and the software on the flash memory 7 is updated (step S9).

  When the temperature in the device itself is lower than the operation guarantee temperature of the flash memory 7, the control unit 6 switches the reception mode of the reception unit 4 of the RF unit 2 from the intermittent reception mode to the continuous reception mode (step S6).

  Here, the receiving operation by the receiving unit 4 of the RF unit 2 will be described. FIG. 3 shows the reception operation of the reception unit 4, where A is the intermittent reception mode and B is the reception operation in the continuous reception mode. For example, CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), which is one of wireless communication systems such as mobile phones, performs intermittent slot waits as shown in FIG. In this example, the intermittent period is 5.12 sec. On the other hand, CDMA continuously turns on the receiving unit 4 of the RF unit 2 for pilot channel capture during initial synchronization.

  During the continuous reception operation, the current consumption of the RF unit 2 increases, and as a result, a temperature rise in the mobile terminal device is observed. FIG. 4 shows a graph obtained by actually obtaining the temperature of the mobile terminal device during the continuous reception operation from the temperature measuring unit 9 and plotting it. In FIG. 4, the temperature after the lapse of 2 minutes (30 ° C.), 5 minutes (35 ° C.), and 10 minutes (37 ° C.) from the state where the temperature of the mobile terminal device is 20 ° C. is plotted. From FIG. 4, it can be expected that the temperature in the portable terminal device rises by about 10 ° C. by continuous reception for about 2 minutes. Even in a low temperature environment of −20 ° C. to −30 ° C., it becomes a temperature environment of 0 ° C. or higher just by waiting for about 10 minutes or slightly longer.

  Then, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the reception mode of the mobile terminal device was set to the continuous reception mode (step S7). If the predetermined time has not yet elapsed, the process returns to the process of step S 4, temperature information is acquired again from the temperature measuring unit 9, and is compared with the temperature characteristics of the flash memory 7. On the other hand, when a predetermined time has elapsed, a message prompting the user to take an action is displayed on a GUI (Graphical User Interface) screen of the display unit 12.

  Since the temperature rise effect due to continuous reception is steep for the first two minutes, a predetermined message may be displayed on the GUI screen after two minutes, for example, to prompt the user to take action (step S8). That is, the time required for software update is usually about 1 to 5 minutes, but taking into account the temperature rise waiting time due to the continuous reception, a time of about 15 minutes at the longest is required for the software update process. For this reason, after 2 minutes have elapsed, the user can be encouraged to move by displaying a message such as “Software is being updated. Software update time can be shortened by moving to a warm place” on the GUI screen. . Because of the characteristics of the mobile terminal device, it is easy to carry, so it is easy for the user to move to an environment such as a room with the mobile terminal device.

  After the message is displayed in step S8, the process returns to the process of step 4 to acquire temperature information from the temperature measurement unit 9 again, compare with the temperature characteristics of the flash memory 7, and repeat a series of processes.

  According to the embodiment described above, since the temperature inside the portable terminal device is increased using the normal operation of continuous reception at the time of initial synchronization in the wireless communication system, a special device such as a heater is added. The temperature of the memory device (flash memory 7) can be raised without performing the above.

  Further, since the temperature of the portable terminal device is increased without increasing the utilization rate of the control unit (eg, CPU) 6, the performance of the control unit 6 can be maximized.

  Further, by displaying a message on the display unit and encouraging the user to take an action (operation) to move the environment, it can be expected that the environment of the mobile terminal device can be made an environment where the temperature rise can be obtained more quickly. At this time, it is highly likely that the environment of the mobile terminal device is 0 ° C. or less when it is outdoors, and in that state, the user is likely to carry the mobile terminal device in a bag or the like. . For this reason, it is effective not only to display the GUI but also to vibrate a vibrator or the like to notify the user.

  Also, the compatibility between the standard of the memory device (flash memory 7) and the temperature of the portable terminal device is judged, and if it does not match, the temperature of the portable terminal device is raised to meet the standard as a portable terminal device. It is matched. That is, by storing the memory device temperature characteristic information in the memory device 7 in advance, even a memory device that does not match the usage environment can be adapted for use in the portable terminal device. For example, a case where a user who purchased a portable terminal device in Japan can take the portable terminal device and take it home in a cold country outside the standard of the memory device.

  Further, according to the mobile terminal device according to the present embodiment, it is possible to deal with the characteristics of individual memory devices. Depending on the memory device, there may be several states such as those that guarantee 0 ° C or higher and those that guarantee -10 ° C or higher, but the temperature information is read and compared. Therefore, it is possible to cope with various temperature characteristics of memory devices. For example, since the applications of memory devices are expanding, it is possible to deal with the case where production is not in time and only a non-standard product is provided from the manufacturer.

  In the above embodiment, the continuous reception operation is performed by the RF unit 2 in order to raise the temperature of the mobile terminal device. However, in addition to the continuous reception, a camera system device having a dedicated chip and a large load is turned on. As a result, an increase in temperature due to an increase in current consumption can be expected. Alternatively, it is conceivable that all the circuits in the mobile terminal device are turned on to rapidly increase the temperature in the mobile terminal device.

  In the above embodiment, a memory device is described as an example of a device that takes temperature characteristics into account. However, the present invention can be applied to various devices such as a device related to a television function. For example, when displaying an image on a liquid crystal display panel, the display performance of the liquid crystal display panel changes depending on the temperature. Therefore, by performing the temperature increase according to this example, display with stable image quality becomes possible.

  In the above embodiment, the flash memory (semiconductor memory) is described as an example of the memory device. However, the present invention is applicable to various storage devices and storage media such as an HDD (hard disk) and a phase change recording medium. it can.

It is a figure which shows the block configuration of the portable terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the software update process which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of reception operation | movement of the radio | wireless communication which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the temperature rise by the continuous reception mode of the radio | wireless communication which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Antenna, 2 ... RF part, 3 ... Duplexer, 4 ... Reception part, 5 ... Transmission part, 6 ... Control part, 7 ... Flash memory (memory device), 8 ... RAM, 9 ... Temperature measurement part, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Power supply part, 11 ... Clock generation part, 12 ... Display part, 13 ... Operation part, 14 ... Camera part

Claims (3)

A temperature measurement unit for measuring the temperature in the terminal ;
And a device that performs Jo Tokoro operation,
A communication unit including a reception function that operates separately from the device;
If the temperature in the terminal measured by the temperature measuring section is lower than the previous Kide vice standards, instructs the mode switching to the communication unit, raised to the said temperature in the terminal before Kide vice standards after having a control unit for operating the front Kide vice, a,
The communication unit normally operates in the intermittent reception mode, and switches to the continuous reception mode in response to an instruction from the control unit.
A mobile phone terminal, wherein a call. In addition, the display unit
If the temperature in the measured device by the temperature measuring section is lower than the previous Kide vice standards, the control unit, according to claim 1, characterized in that to display an alarm for prompting the change of the use environment on the display unit The mobile phone terminal described in 1. In a data writing method for writing data to a memory device mounted on a mobile phone terminal ,
Determining whether there is a limit to the temperature characteristic of the memory device based on the temperature characteristic information recorded in the memory device;
Determining whether the temperature in the terminal is within the specifications of the memory device if the temperature characteristics of the memory device are limited; and
When it is determined that the temperature in the terminal is not within the specifications of the memory device, the step of switching the communication unit mounted on the mobile phone terminal from the intermittent reception mode to the continuous reception mode;
Writing data to the memory device after the temperature in the terminal rises to within the specifications of the memory device.

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