KR100438563B1 - Power saving method for mobile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable terminal, and more particularly, to a power saving method of a portable terminal that is adapted to efficiently use a power supply by terminating only a communication function when a communication function is not required. Conventionally, since a mobile terminal always communicates with a base station and consumes most of its power, even when using a function that does not require communication, the power used for communication continues to be consumed. Since it is set to have a problem that a lot of power must exist to be able to make calls even for the use of non-communication function. The present invention in view of the above problems comprises the steps of using the mobile terminal in a basic state capable of wireless communication according to the user's selection; Re-calculating and displaying power of a power source that can be used for non-communication after terminating only the wireless communication function of the portable terminal according to a user's selection; After recovering the wireless communication function of the mobile device according to the user's choice, recalculating and displaying the power of the power available for wireless communication, thereby reducing power consumption and using the communication function when using the mobile device for non-communication only. In addition, the non-communication function can be used even with insufficient power to effectively use the power supply, and the user can be easily displayed by displaying a different power remaining amount according to the communication or non-communication function.

Description

How to save your mobile device {POWER SAVING METHOD FOR MOBILE TERMINAL}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable terminal, and more particularly, to a power saving method of a portable terminal that is adapted to efficiently use a power supply by terminating only a communication function when a communication function is not required.

With the development of communication methods and the development of mobile terminals, portable terminals no longer perform the functions of mobile phones, but also portable entertainment which can use additional functions such as internet communication, games, multimedia playback and storage, and the use of applications. It is getting as a system.

Increasing internal processing speed and capacity, and increasing the size of the internal memory and the color display unit, the portable terminal is more time to use additional functions than simply used as a device for wireless communication This is increasing.

Portable terminals have a problem that always accompanies the advantage of being portable, which is a limitation of power. As smaller and lighter batteries are used, the capacity of the batteries is limited due to improved portability.

Since the portable terminal always communicates with the base station and transmits and receives predetermined information with the base stations, when the communication power between the portable terminal and the base station is weak, communication power is increased, and thus battery consumption is severe. In order to prevent this, when the communication power between the mobile terminal and the base station is below a predetermined level, the search for the signal of the base station may be stopped to achieve power saving. In the case of the user not using the display unit to reduce power consumption, the display unit It may be turned off.

However, efforts to conserve battery of such a mobile terminal have a considerable limitation because they consider the mobile terminal only as a means for mobile communication. The lowest possible amount of battery is set to full battery drain, and power is automatically turned off. Therefore, if you want to use only other functions such as a phone book search or a game that does not require a communication function at this time, even if the power is enough to use the communication function is turned off immediately after turning on the power.

In addition, even though many functions of the mobile terminal are intended to be used only with the exception of communication, a considerable portion of power is constantly consumed for communication with the base station. Therefore, despite the numerous functions, mobile terminals having multimedia playback and recording functions are bound to the existing framework of communication, and the use time of the mobile terminals is defined as the time when the communication function is available, and efforts are being made to reduce them.

As a result, the conventional portable terminal continues to communicate with the base station when the device is powered on and in a communication enabled state, and all functions are terminated when the portable terminal is terminated.

As described above, since the mobile terminal always consumes most of the power used while communicating with the base station, even when using a function that does not require communication, the power used for communication is continuously consumed and the battery usage time is reduced. Was set based on the lowest possible value, there was a problem that a lot of power must exist to use the non-communication function.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a power saving method for a portable terminal which reduces power consumption when using a non-communication function by adding a function to terminate only a wireless communication function.

1 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart of another embodiment of the present invention.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of saving power of a mobile terminal, the method including: using the mobile terminal in a basic state capable of wireless communication according to a user's selection; Re-calculating and displaying power of a power source that can be used for non-communication after terminating only the wireless communication function of the portable terminal according to a user's selection; Restoring the wireless communication function of the portable terminal according to a user's selection, and recalculating and displaying power of a power source that can be used for wireless communication.

The method may further include automatically terminating and returning the wireless communication function according to a user setting and a power state of the portable terminal.

The method may further include automatically terminating the communication function if only the remaining power level is such that the communication function cannot be used when the portable terminal is turned on.

The present invention breaks away from the stereotype that a mobile terminal having multimedia playback / storage and various application programs is simply a device for voice call or data communication, and allows the mobile terminal to use various multimedia playback / storage and various applications. We start by recognizing that communication function is added to.

In the conventional stereotype, a mobile terminal having additional functions based on a mobile phone must communicate with a base station, and a call can be made by an incoming call, but the mobile terminal has a purpose of existence. Therefore, even in the method of measuring and displaying the battery condition of the mobile phone, most of the battery power is consumed for the continuous communication with the base station, and the battery remaining amount is calculated based on the minimum power remaining required for basic call connection. Accordingly, the use of the mobile terminal is automatically terminated when the battery has less than the standard.

However, as the functions of the mobile terminal are greatly enhanced, the mobile terminal may not necessarily maintain the communication function in a situation in which it is possible to embed and watch a video, to embed and play music files, and to perform a digital camera function. have. In particular, selectively terminating power-hungry communication functions can significantly increase the time spent using multimedia and embedded applications.

1 is a flowchart of one embodiment of the present invention configured through the above-described background.

In FIG. 1, when a user wants to select a non-communication function, the user refuses communication to use the power only for the non-communication function.

After the user selects the non-communication function, determining whether power saving is necessary and leaving it unnecessarily; Terminating only a communication function and recalculating and displaying power according to a non-communication function if power saving is necessary in the step; Using a non-communication function; Determining whether to restore the communication function and maintaining a non-communication state if not necessary; In this step, if the communication function needs to be restored, the communication function may be restored and the power may be recalculated according to the communication function.

This will be described in more detail as follows.

First, since the communication function of the portable terminal always runs in the background state and constantly communicates with the base station, the communication function continues to operate as in the normal standby state while using the non-communication function. Thus, the user can determine whether to use the communication function while using the non-communication function.

If the mobile terminal is used as a non-communication device by rejecting communication, power consumption is reduced, and thus the use time of the non-communication function is greatly extended. Therefore, the user can use the power saving function by determining whether the power saving is necessary and selecting the communication rejection, and the rejection of the communication function can be implemented in various ways.

In order to reject the communication, selecting a communication rejection menu may be implemented, and a shortcut key for rejecting the communication may be used. In addition, a menu for rejecting communication may appear during the method of pressing the end button.

In other words, the wireless terminal having the function of blocking the communication function required for the communication and call tracking the base station through the user interface may be performed in various ways in addition to the menu selection method or shortcut method. Therefore, it should be noted that the present invention can encompass all of these specific communication rejection selection methods.

When the communication rejection mode is selected through the above method, the battery remaining amount displayed on the portable terminal should be appropriately changed. This is because, when the communication function is used, the battery level is calculated based on the available battery level, but when the communication function is not used, the battery level must be recalculated based on the battery level required for driving the mobile terminal. This function allows the user to show how much more the portable terminal can be used if the user terminates the communication function. Therefore, as the communication rejection mode is set and released, the battery remaining amount may be recalculated and displayed as icons and values.

When the communication rejection mode is set, the corresponding menu may be disabled or the input of the shortcut key and the function key may be ignored to prevent the communication function from being used, and the message and sound may be provided accordingly.

As described above, since all the power used for the communication function can be used for the non-communication function of the portable terminal, the use time is extended. However, sometimes a communication function needs to be used, so a function for recovering it from the communication function rejected state should also be provided.

The user interface for restoring the communication function may have a proper operation of a menu, a shortcut key, and an end key, and these specific details are encompassed by the present invention.

When the communication function is restored, the battery is recalculated and displayed according to the communication function, and if the battery function is not available to restore the communication function, the battery may not be restored.

2 illustrates an embodiment of a user interface for setting a communication rejection according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a determination is made as to whether a communication function is terminated or an entire power supply of a general portable terminal is terminated by pressing an end button.

First, press the exit button to display the exit menu. The termination menu may display an entire power termination, a communication function termination menu, and a communication function recovery menu. If the button is pressed for a long time, the menu may be displayed.

If the end of the communication function is selected in the end menu, the power is recalculated and displayed after the end of the communication function. If the power off is selected, the power of the portable terminal is cut off. If only the communication function is terminated, select the communication function recovery menu to restore the communication function and recalculate and display the power.

As shown in FIG. 2, the communication rejection setting may be changed using the end button, the function may be put in a general menu instead of the end button, and the menus may be output by applying a long key to a predetermined numeric key.

Therefore, the portable terminal to which the present invention is applied can increase the utilization of power by allowing the user to arbitrarily set whether to use the communication function of the portable terminal. In addition, it is possible to automatically output the menu when the battery is insufficient to use the communication function, it can be automatically terminated if there is no user input.

As described above, when the mobile terminal which is automatically terminated due to the insufficient battery capacity is turned on again, the communication rejection mode may be automatically set according to the battery level, so that the user can use the non-communication function of the mobile terminal. By using this, it is possible to check internal information even when the power supply of the portable terminal is insufficient. For example, even when the portable terminal is turned off due to a lack of power of the portable terminal, it can be used for a while to check the non-communication function of the portable terminal, so that a built-in phone book or a memo can be checked.

Accordingly, the present invention provides both a method of using a mobile terminal as a multimedia playback / storage device, a method of saving power of the mobile terminal, and a method of confirming internal information even upon automatic termination due to power consumption of the mobile terminal. It can be applied to combinations and modifications thereof.

As described above, the present invention allows the wireless communication function of the mobile terminal to be selectively used, thereby reducing power consumption when the mobile terminal is used for non-communication only, so that the non-communication function can be used even with insufficient power for the communication function. Of course, it is possible to effectively use the power supply, and to increase the convenience of the user by displaying the remaining power remaining according to the communication or non-communication function.

Claims (5)

In a method for saving power of a mobile terminal, Using the mobile terminal in a basic state capable of wireless communication according to a user's selection; Re-calculating and displaying power of a power source that can be used for non-communication after terminating only the wireless communication function of the portable terminal according to a user's selection; And re-calculating and displaying power of a power source that can be used for wireless communication after restoring the wireless communication function of the mobile terminal according to a user's selection. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically terminating and returning a wireless communication function according to a user's setting and a power state of the portable terminal. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of automatically terminating the communication function if the remaining power level is such that the communication function cannot be used when the portable terminal is turned on. The method of claim 1, further comprising switching a selection of a communication function by using a shortcut key. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a menu for selecting the termination of the communication function and the termination of the entire power supply and the restoration of the communication function when the power is turned off so that the user can select a target to be terminated or restored by selecting. How to save mobile handset.