JP5423362B2 - Information processing terminal and control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for controlling screen display by a battery-driven information processing apparatus.

  Portable information processing terminals driven by a battery, such as cellular phone devices, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), digital cameras, portable televisions, and notebook personal computers, are in widespread use.

  This type of information processing terminal includes a display such as a liquid crystal display, and displays text and images in accordance with processing by an application and user operation. Some information processing terminals have an interface with other devices such as a memory.

  In this type of information processing terminal, it is desired to make the time that can be driven by the battery (battery driving time) as long as possible. However, the screen display of the above-described display consumes a relatively large amount of power. In the case of an information processing terminal connected to another device, power is also consumed in connection with another device and data transmission / reception.

  On the other hand, techniques for reducing power consumption by controlling screen display have been proposed (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  The information processing terminal described in Patent Document 1 sets an appropriate luminance value for each application in advance, and when displaying a plurality of applications at the same time, the display area of each application is set to an appropriate luminance for each application. .

  In addition, the information processing terminal described in Patent Document 2 displays only a partial area of the screen and changes the area, thereby reducing power consumption and making the screen interesting.

  Patent Documents 3 to 6 disclose techniques for controlling various operations based on the remaining battery capacity. For example, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for calculating a recordable time based on the remaining battery level when executing the absence recording mode. Patent Document 4 discloses a technique for calculating a time during which an application can be executed from the remaining battery level and issuing a warning when the time is reduced. Patent Document 5 discloses a technique for starting a system in a power saving mode when an output voltage value of a power supply does not reach a predetermined level. Patent Document 6 discloses a technique for forcibly terminating an application and stopping power supply to a device when the remaining battery level decreases.

JP 2007-150831 A JP 2000-112435 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-331038 JP 2002-359673 A JP 2001-273055 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 07-141069

  By the way, some information processing terminals driven by a battery include a plurality of displays and display screens corresponding to application processing on the plurality of displays. If there are multiple displays, the power consumption by the screen display increases accordingly. Therefore, in an information processing terminal provided with a plurality of displays, more appropriate control based on the hardware configuration and application processing is required.

  However, the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 to 6 do not consider a hardware configuration in which there are a plurality of displays, and thus cannot perform screen display control suitable for such a configuration. .

  For this reason, for example, when an application is started with a low battery level, the user himself / herself performs a complicated operation such as finding an application that displays an unnecessary screen on another display and terminating it manually. It was.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for efficiently battery-operating an information processing apparatus including a plurality of displays.

In order to achieve the above object, an information processing terminal of the present invention provides:
Multiple displays,
A battery for supplying power to at least the plurality of displays;
In the power saving mode in which the remaining amount of the battery falls below the predicted usage when the requested first application is executed, the first application is a part of the plurality of displays as the power saving process. Control means for switching the application screen of the second application being executed, which is displayed on a second display different from the first display, to a power-saving display if the application screen is displayed on one display When,
have.

The method of the present invention is a method of controlling an information processing terminal having a plurality of displays and a battery that supplies power to at least the plurality of displays.
If the remaining amount of the battery falls below the predicted usage when the requested first application is executed, the mode shifts to the power saving mode.
In the power saving mode, as the power saving process, if the first application displays an application screen on a first display that is a part of the plurality of displays, the first display is different from the first display. The application screen of the second application being executed displayed on the second display is switched to the power saving display.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the information processing apparatus provided with the some display can be battery-driven efficiently according to the residual amount of a battery and an application.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus 10 by 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the power saving mode of the control part 14 in 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus by 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows a process when starting a specific application. It is a flowchart which shows the process in execution of a specific application. It is a flowchart which shows the process which determines a screen mode in power saving mode. It is a flowchart which shows 2 screen power saving process. It is a flowchart which shows 1 screen power saving process. It is a flowchart of an additional power saving process. It is a figure which shows the mode of the screen display in 1 screen mode. It is a figure which shows the mode of the screen display in 2 screen mode. It is a figure which shows the mode of a screen display when an application screen is made into a thumbnail. It is a figure which shows an example of the list | wrist with which the specific application was registered. It is a figure which shows the software structure of the information processing apparatus 10 by 2nd Embodiment.

  Embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
The information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is a mobile terminal that includes two displays. The information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment executes various applications and displays an application screen on the display accordingly.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus 10 includes displays 11 and 12, a battery 13, and a control unit 14.

  The displays 11 and 12 are displays such as a liquid crystal display that displays a text or image screen in response to an instruction from the control unit 14.

  The battery 13 is a storage battery that supplies charged power to each unit of the information processing apparatus 10. The displays 11 and 12 are driven by electric power from the battery 13.

  The control unit 14 executes the application and displays an application screen corresponding to the processing on the displays 11 and 12. The application executed by the control unit 14 includes an application screen that is displayed on both the displays 11 and 12 and an application screen that is displayed on only one of the displays.

  Further, the control unit 14 can simultaneously execute a plurality of applications. For example, the control unit 14 can start an application that is being executed as a start source, start a start destination application newly in cooperation with the start source application, and execute the two applications simultaneously. By displaying the application screen of the activation destination application and the application screen of the activation source application on the respective displays at the same time, the control unit 14 can make it easier for the user to use two applications related to each other.

  Further, when the activation of the application or the continuation of the application being executed is requested, the control unit 14 controls display processing of the application screen according to the remaining amount of the battery 13. Specifically, the control unit 14 shifts to the power saving mode when the remaining amount of the battery 13 is lower than the predicted usage amount of the battery when the requested application (hereinafter referred to as “first application”) is executed. .

  In the power saving mode, the control unit 14 performs a specific power saving process described below when the first application displays an application screen on one display (here, the display 11).

  When the first application displays an application screen only on the display 11, if another application (hereinafter referred to as “second application”) is also being executed, the display 12 usually has the second application. The application screen is displayed. Typically, it is conceivable that the second application becomes an activation source application and the first application becomes an activation destination application.

  In that case, the control part 14 switches the application screen by the 2nd application currently displayed on the display 12 to a power saving display. As an example, the power saving display is a display in which the application screen is converted into a thumbnail and areas other than the thumbnail are turned off.

  The predicted usage amount when the first application is executed may be calculated based on the predicted usage time of the first application and the predicted power consumption when the first application is operated, for example. The predicted usage time may be a statistic calculated statistically from the usage time when the first application was executed in the past, for example, an average value of usage time. The predicted power consumption may be a preset value, for example.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the control unit 14 in the power saving mode according to the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 2, the control unit 14 determines whether or not the predicted usage amount when the requested first application is executed is larger than the remaining amount of the battery 13 (step 101). If the predicted usage amount when the first application is executed is not larger than the remaining amount of the battery 13, the control unit 14 repeats the process of step 101.

  If the predicted usage amount when the first application is executed is larger than the remaining amount of the battery 13, the control unit 14 confirms the number of displays used by the first application (step 102). If the first application uses only one display 11, the control unit 14 switches the other display 12 to the power saving display (step 103), and continues to start or execute the first application. (Step 104).

  In the present embodiment, the processing when the first application uses two displays 11 is not particularly limited. However, as an example here, the control unit 14 forcibly terminates applications other than the first application (step 105), and continues to start or execute the first application (step 104).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the information processing apparatus including two displays can be battery-driven efficiently in accordance with the remaining battery level and application.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. Referring to FIG. 3, the information processing apparatus 10 according to the second embodiment has backlights 15 and 16 in addition to the displays 11 and 12, the battery 13, and the control unit 14, and further has a device 17 built in or connected externally. can do.

  The backlights 15 and 16 are light sources that irradiate light to the displays 11 and 12, respectively, and the amount of light can be set in steps from the control unit 14. The device 17 is a built-in device built in the information processing apparatus 10 or a removable external device. For example, the device 17 is a storage medium, a camera, a television tuner, a microphone, a speaker, or the like. In the present embodiment, the battery 13 supplies power to the backlights 15 and 16 and the device 17 in addition to the displays 11 and 12.

  In the present embodiment, the control unit 14 performs the power saving process similar to that of the first embodiment only when the first application that is requested to start or continue is a specific application that is registered in advance. As the specific application, for example, an application that is preferably used preferentially even when the remaining amount of the battery 13 decreases is registered. A predetermined specific application may be registered as an initial state, or the user may register as desired.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a list in which specific applications are registered. The control unit 14 may determine whether or not the first application corresponds to the specific application by referring to this list. As shown in FIG. 13, predicted power consumption, predicted usage time, and priority are set for each specific application.

  In addition, the control unit 14 performs additional power saving if the predicted usage amount when the first application is executed does not fall below the remaining amount of the battery 13 even if the power saving process similar to that of the first embodiment is performed. Process. The additional power saving process is one or both of a process of gradually dimming the backlights 15 and 16 and a process of stopping the device 17 in operation.

  Details of display control of the application screen by the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described. This display control is realized by the processor constituting the control unit 14 executing various software including an intelligent manager that is middleware.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process when starting a specific application.

  Referring to FIG. 4, first, when the activation of the first application corresponding to the specific application is requested, the control unit 14 measures the remaining amount of the battery 13 (step 201).

  Subsequently, the control unit 14 calculates the predicted usage amount of the battery energy when the first application is executed by multiplying the predicted power consumption in the list of FIG. 13 by the predicted usage time. Then, the control unit 14 compares the predicted usage amount with the remaining amount of energy of the battery 13, and determines whether or not one application can be activated based on the comparison result (step 201). If the predicted usage is less than the remaining amount, it can be activated, and if the predicted usage is greater than the remaining amount, it is determined that the activation cannot be performed.

  If it is determined in step 202 that activation is possible, the control unit 14 activates the first application (step 203). On the other hand, if it is determined that activation is not possible, the control unit 14 shifts to the power saving mode (step 204).

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing during execution of a specific application. The process in FIG. 5 is performed while the first application started in step 202 in FIG. 4 is being executed.

  Referring to FIG. 5, the control unit 14 periodically measures the remaining amount of the battery 13 (step 301). Further, the control unit 14 calculates a predicted usage amount when the first application is executed by multiplying the predicted power consumption and the predicted usage time in the list of FIG. Then, the control unit 14 compares the predicted usage amount with the remaining amount of energy of the battery 13, and determines whether or not the execution of the first application can be continued based on the comparison result (step 302). If the predicted usage is less than the remaining amount, it can be continued, and if the predicted usage is larger than the remaining amount, it is determined that it cannot be continued.

  If it is determined in step 302 that continuation is possible, the control unit 14 continues the first application and returns to step 301. On the other hand, if it is determined that the operation cannot be continued, the control unit 14 shifts to the power saving mode (step 303).

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing for determining the screen mode in the power saving mode. Since the processing of the power saving mode at the time of starting and continuing the first application is similar, they will be described together.

  The screen mode is a type indicating whether application screens of different applications are displayed on the two displays 11 and 12 or an application screen of one application is displayed.

  A mode in which an application screen of one application is displayed on the two displays 11 and 12 as shown in FIG. 10 is called a single screen mode, and application screens of different applications are displayed on the displays 11 and 12 as shown in FIG. This mode will be referred to as a two-screen mode. For example, if the first application (application B) displays an application screen on both the two displays 11 and 12, the single screen mode is set. On the other hand, when the first application (application B) displays an application screen on only one display 11 and the second application (application A) is displayed on the display 12, a two-screen mode is set. For example, for each application, it may be determined in advance whether the screen display is the two-screen mode or the one-screen mode.

  The control unit 14 determines the screen mode (step 401), executes the two-screen power saving process if it is the two-screen mode (step 402), and executes the one-screen power saving process if it is the one-screen mode (step 403). ).

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the two-screen power saving process.

  Referring to FIG. 7, in the two-screen mode, the control unit 14 first determines whether or not the second application that is the activation source of the first application is a specific application (step 501). If the second application is a specific application, the control unit 14 determines which of the second application, which is the activation source, and the first application, which is the activation destination, has the higher priority (step 502).

  When the second application is not a specific application in the determination of step 501 or when the first application (startup destination) has higher priority than the second application (startup source) in the determination of step 502 The control unit 14 converts the application screen of the second application into a thumbnail (step 503). Further, the control unit 14 turns off the area other than the thumbnail of the display on which the second application is displayed (step 504). FIG. 12 shows a state in which the application screen of application A is thumbnailed and the other areas are turned off.

  Then, the control unit 14 determines whether or not the first application can be started or continued again (step 505), and if possible, starts or continues the first application (step 506).

  If the priority of the second application is higher than that of the first application in the determination in step 502, or if the first application cannot be started or continued in the determination in step 505, the control unit 14 performs additional power saving. Processing is executed (step 507).

  Note that the application screen of the second application that has been converted into a thumbnail like the application A in FIG. 12 in the process of step 503 is immediately returned to the state shown in FIG. Shall return.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a one-screen power saving process.

  Referring to FIG. 8, in the one-screen mode, the control unit 14 first determines whether or not the second application that is the activation source is a specific application (step 601). If the second application is a specific application, the control unit 14 determines which of the second application, which is the activation source, and the first application, which is the activation destination, has higher priority (step 602).

  If the second application is not a specific application in the determination in step 601, or if the first application (startup destination) has higher priority than the second application (startup source) in the determination in step 602 The control unit 14 forcibly ends the second application (step 603).

  Subsequently, the control unit 14 determines whether or not the first application can be started or continued again (step 604), and if possible, starts or continues the first application (step 605).

  If the second application has higher priority than the first application in the determination in step 602, or if the first application cannot be activated or continued in the determination in step 604, the control unit 14 performs the additional power saving process. Execute (step 606).

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the additional power saving process.

  In the additional power saving process, the control unit 14 first decreases the light amounts of the backlights 15 and 16 by one step (step 701), and determines whether the first application can be started or continued again (step 702). ) If possible, start or continue the first application (step 703).

  If it is determined in step 702 that the first application cannot be started or continued, the control unit 14 determines whether or not the light intensity of the backlights 15 and 16 is in the darkest stage (step 704). If the light intensity is not at the darkest stage, the control unit 14 returns to step 701 and further reduces the light intensity of the backlights 15 and 16 by one stage.

  If it is determined in step 704 that the light intensity is the darkest, the control unit 14 determines whether there is an active device (step 705). If there is an operating device, the control unit 14 determines whether or not it is a device necessary for executing the first application (step 706). If the operating device is not necessary, the control unit 14 forcibly terminates the device (step 707).

  Subsequently, the control unit 14 determines whether or not the first application can be started or continued again (step 708), and if possible, starts or continues the first application (step 709).

  If there is no active device in step 705, if a device is necessary in step 706, or if it is not possible to start or continue the first application in step 708, the control unit 14 The user is notified that the first application cannot be started or continued, and the process is terminated (step 710).

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a software configuration of the information processing apparatus 10 according to the second embodiment. Software is roughly divided into an application layer, a middleware layer, and a driver layer. Various application software such as media players and web software belong to the application layer.

  The driver layer includes a battery engine and a power driver in addition to various device drivers. The battery engine is software for managing the state of the battery 13, and the remaining amount of the battery 13 is measured here. The power driver manages power supply to each device by each device driver. The power consumption in each device is measured by a power driver.

  The middleware layer includes an intelligent manager and a power manager.

  The power manager controls the activation and continuation of an application that uses each device in accordance with an instruction from the intelligent manager. The power manager obtains information on power consumption in each device from the power driver and provides it to the intelligent manager.

  The intelligent manager acquires the remaining amount of the battery 13 from the battery engine, acquires the power consumption in each device from the power manager, and requests the requested application based on the total power consumption of each device and the remaining amount of the battery 13 Whether or not can be started or continued is determined. Further, the intelligent manager instructs the power manager to control the application based on the determination result.

  In the second embodiment, an example is shown in which the predicted use time of the specific application registered in the list of FIG. 13 is a fixed value, but the present invention is not limited to this. As another example, the control unit 14 may calculate the predicted usage time from the past usage time and update the value on the list. For example, an average value of usage times in a past fixed period or a fixed number of times may be used as the predicted usage time. Alternatively, a value obtained by adding a predetermined margin to the average value may be used as the predicted usage time.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited only to these embodiment, In the range of the technical idea of this invention, these embodiment is combined and used. , Some may be changed.

11 Display 12 Display 13 Battery 14 Control Unit 15 Backlight 17 Device

Claims (14)

Multiple displays,
A battery for supplying power to at least the plurality of displays;
In the power saving mode in which the remaining amount of the battery falls below the predicted usage when the requested first application is executed, the first application is a part of the plurality of displays as the power saving process. Control means for switching the application screen of the second application being executed, which is displayed on a second display different from the first display, to a power-saving display if the application screen is displayed on one display When,
An information processing terminal having The control means registers a specific application in advance, and performs the power saving process only when the first application is the specific application.
The information processing terminal according to claim 1. The control means displays the application screen of the first application on the first display if the remaining amount is less than the predicted usage when the first application is activated, and the first display Switching the application screen of the second application displayed on the display of 2 to the power saving display;
The information processing terminal according to claim 1 or 2. When the remaining amount falls below the predicted usage amount during execution of the first application, the control means displays the application screen of the second application displayed on the second display in the power saving display. Switch to
The information processing terminal according to claim 1. The predicted usage amount is determined based on a predicted usage time predetermined for the first application and a predicted power consumption when the first application is operated.
The information processing terminal according to claim 1. The predicted usage time of the first application is determined based on a statistic statistically calculated from the usage time when the first application was executed in the past.
The information processing terminal according to claim 5. The statistic is an average value of usage time when the first application was executed in the past.
The information processing terminal according to claim 6. The power saving display is a display of the application screen as a thumbnail.
The information processing terminal according to claim 1. When the first application is started, the control means switches the application screen of the second application displayed on the second display to a power saving display, and the remaining amount is equal to the predicted usage amount. If it is lower, perform additional power saving processing.
The information processing terminal according to claim 1. The control means continuously obtains the remaining amount, calculates the predicted usage amount, and compares the remaining amount with the predicted usage amount while executing the first application in the power saving mode. When the remaining amount falls below the predicted usage, the additional power saving process is executed.
The information processing terminal according to claim 9. The control means terminates the second application if the first application displays an application screen on all of the plurality of displays as the power saving process in the power saving mode.
The information processing terminal according to claim 1. When the remaining amount is less than the predicted usage amount even when the second application is terminated, the control means performs an additional power saving process.
The information processing terminal according to claim 11. The additional power saving process is one or both of dimming the backlight of at least some of the plurality of displays and stopping the operating device.
The information processing terminal according to any one of claims 9, 10, and 12. A method for controlling an information processing terminal having a plurality of displays and a battery that supplies power to at least the plurality of displays,
If the remaining amount of the battery falls below the predicted usage when the requested first application is executed, the mode shifts to the power saving mode.
In the power saving mode, as the power saving process, if the first application displays an application screen on a first display that is a part of the plurality of displays, the first display is different from the first display. Switch the application screen of the running second application displayed on the display of 2 to the power saving display,
Control method of information processing terminal.

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