KR100592226B1 - Method for controlling operation of stereo speaker in mobile communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for controlling the operation of a stereo speaker according to an electric field in a mobile communication terminal. The method of reading a received electric field strength from a predetermined area of a memory and comparing the received electric field strength with a predetermined criterion And controlling the stereo speaker to operate as a mono speaker, in which only one speaker is enabled when the received electric field strength is smaller than a preset reference. The present invention has the advantage of increasing the use time of the terminal by reducing the power consumption due to the use of stereo speakers.

Stereo speakers, mono speakers, electric field status, battery status

Description

METHOD FOR CONTROLLING OPERATION OF STEREO SPEAKER IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL}             

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating a control procedure for setting an operation mode of a stereo speaker in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for controlling an operation of a stereo speaker according to an electric field state in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for performing a weak field notification when playing a video in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for controlling an operation of a speaker device according to a battery state in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a method for controlling the operation of a stereo speaker device in a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly, to a method for operating a stereo speaker as a mono speaker according to the electric field and the battery state in the mobile communication terminal.

The mobile communication terminals are rapidly spreading due to the convenience of portability, and thus service providers (terminal manufacturers) are competitively developing terminals having more special functions to secure a large number of users. For example, a mobile communication terminal can be used for various purposes such as phone book, game, scheduler, short message, internet, e-mail, morning call, etc. It provides a function.

In addition, peripheral devices that are used by being attached or added to the terminal in hardware are also developing. For example, a detachable or built-in digital camera device, a receiving means capable of receiving digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), installed in a terminal to enable a call Ear microphone devices, etc. can be roughly classified.

Meanwhile, with the emergence of terminals capable of receiving and playing multimedia contents (eg, video and MP3 files), speakers are also developing from mono speakers to stereo speakers. The stereo speaker device may be configured by connecting two amplifiers (AMP) to an audio codec output terminal and connecting right and left speakers to the audio codec output terminals.

However, the most important part in developing a mobile communication terminal is minimizing power consumption because it is a portable device. When receiving multimedia content with the RF receiver of the terminal and simultaneously outputting a video on the screen and outputting an audio signal through a stereo speaker, a large amount of power is consumed. In the weak electric field with low propagation strength, the gain of the low noise amplifier (LNA) of the RF receiver is increased to increase the RF reception sensitivity, which consumes more power. In addition, the operation of the stereo speaker requires more power, which results in shortening the usage time of the terminal.

That is, when a large amount of power is required or power is insufficient at the same time, there is a need for a method of increasing the usage time of the terminal by reducing power consumption.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for operating a stereo speaker as a mono speaker according to the electric field and the battery state in a mobile communication terminal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for reducing power consumption when receiving and playing multimedia content in a mobile communication terminal.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method for converting an operation of a stereo speaker to a mono speaker when a large amount of power is required or insufficient power at the same time in a mobile communication terminal using a stereo speaker.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for performing a notification operation to a user when a large amount of power is required or insufficient power at the same time during video playback in a mobile communication terminal.                         

According to a first aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, a method for controlling the operation of a stereo speaker according to the received electric field strength in a mobile communication terminal, the process of measuring the received electric field strength and recording in a predetermined area of the memory And reading the received field strength from a predetermined area of the memory at a predetermined time period, comparing the received field strength with a preset criterion, and if the received field strength is less than a preset criterion, And controlling the speaker to operate as a mono speaker enabled with only one speaker.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a method for controlling the operation of a stereo speaker according to a battery state in a mobile communication terminal, comprising the steps of specifying the remaining amount of the battery in a predetermined region of the memory, and at a predetermined time period Reading the remaining battery level value from a predetermined region of the memory; comparing the remaining battery value with a preset criterion; and if the remaining battery value is less than a predetermined criterion, controlling the stereo speaker to control one speaker. It characterized in that it comprises a process of operating as a mono speaker is enabled only.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In describing the present invention, if it is determined that the detailed description of the related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described a method for reducing power consumption by operating a stereo speaker as a mono speaker according to the electric field and the battery state in the mobile communication terminal. In addition, it will be described how to reduce the power consumption due to the use of stereo speakers by encouraging users to use earphones (or ear microphones).

1 is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, the mobile communication terminal includes a cellular phone, a personal communication system (PCS), a personal data assistant (PDA), an international mobile communication-2000 (IMT2000) terminal, and the like. The following description will be described with the general configuration of the above examples. In addition, hereinafter, a terminal capable of receiving Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) will be described as an example, but the present invention can be applied to all terminals using stereo speakers as well as a DMB receiving terminal.

Referring to FIG. 1, a processor 100 controls the overall operation of the mobile terminal. For example, the processor 100 operates as an application processor for encoding and decoding multimedia content to be transmitted and received, and in addition to the usual functions, power according to the electric field and battery state according to the present invention. If the consumption needs to be reduced, the stereo speaker can be operated as a mono speaker or a notification action is recommended to the user to use earphones. Therefore, in the following description, description of the processing and control of the conventional processor 100 is omitted.

The memory 107 is largely composed of a flash memory, a RAM, and an EEPROM. Basic real time processing Operating System (OS) and call processing software are stored in the flash memory, and the variables and states of these programs are stored in the RAM. The Ipyrom is a memory that can be electrically erased or restored, and stores NAM (Number Assignment Module) parameters and other data for storage (eg, phone number and name, SMS message) and is also called non-volatile memory. do. Although the memory 107 is illustrated in a separate configuration in the drawing, in general, the flash memory and the RAM may be allocated to a memory area of the processor (or CPU), and the YPIROM may be configured to be accessed by serial communication. In this case, the processor 100 and the modem units 104 and 106 access the Ypyrom via a bus.

The display unit 108 displays status information generated during the operation of the mobile communication terminal, a limited number of characters, a large amount of video and still images, and the like. The display unit 108 may use a color liquid crystal display (LCD). The key pad 109 includes 0 to 9 numeric buttons, a menu button, a cancel button, a confirm button, a call button TALK, an end button END, an internet access button, A plurality of function buttons such as navigation (or direction) buttons (▲ / ▼ / ◀ / ▶) are provided, and button input data corresponding to a button pressed by a user is provided to the processor 100.

An audio codec (Coder-Decoder) 110 connected to the processor 100, a stereo speaker device 116 and a microphone device 111 connected to the codec 110 are blocks for processing an audio signal. . The codec 110 converts PCM (pulse code modulation) data provided from the processor 100 into an analog audio signal and transmits the same through the stereo speaker device 116 and is received through the microphone device 111. The audio signal is converted into PCM data and provided to the processor 100. The stereo speaker 116 is configured by connecting two amplification units 112 and 113 to the output terminal of the codec 110 and connecting the left speaker 114 and the right speaker 115 to each of them. According to the present invention, the stereo speaker device 116 operates as a mono speaker in which only one speaker is enabled when the amount of weak electric field or battery is low.

The duplexer 101 performs a transmission and reception separation function. That is, the duplexer 101 transmits a signal received through the antenna to the RF receiver 102 and transmits a signal received from the RF transmitter 103 to the antenna. A radio frequency unit (RF) receiver 102 lowers the radio frequency signal received from the duplexer 101 and outputs the radio frequency unit signal to the CDMA modem unit 104. The RF transmitter 103 increases the baseband signal from the CDMA modem unit 104 and outputs the frequency to the duplexer 101. The CDMA modem unit 104 is a block for processing protocols defined in mobile communication standards (eg, IS-95, 1XEVDO, etc.). For example, in case of transmission, channel coding and spreading of data to be transmitted are performed, and in case of reception, despreading and channel decoding of a received signal are performed. . The CDMA modem unit 104 may use, for example, MSM (Mobile Station Modem) of Qualcomm.

The DMB RF receiver 105 receives a signal of a frequency band through which digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) is transmitted, and lowers the received radio frequency signal to output to the DMB modem unit 106. The DMB modem unit 106 processes the signal received from the DMB RF receiver 105 according to a predetermined standard to process multimedia data (eg, MPEG4, H.261, H.264, RLE data) by the processor 100. ) As such, the multimedia content is received through the DMB receivers 105 and 106. In addition, the multimedia content may be received through the CDMA communication unit (101, 102, 104).

In the terminal having the above configuration, the RF receiver 102 or the DMB RF receiver 105 measures the received signal strength (received radio wave strength, received electric field strength) and provides the received signal strength to the corresponding modem unit 104 or 106. The modem unit 104 or 105 then records the received signal strength in a predetermined area of the memory for use in power control and the like. Thereafter, the processor 100 reads the received signal strength from the memory and compares the received signal strength with a predetermined criterion. When the processor 100 is less than the predetermined criterion, the processor 100 controls the stereo speaker 116 to operate as a mono speaker.

For example, two GPIOs (general purpose I / O) of the processor 100 are connected to shutdown pins of the amplifiers 112 and 113, respectively, and a control signal is output to the shutdown pins. This allows you to operate a mono speaker with only one speaker enabled. As another example, when there is no shutdown pin, a switching transistor (for example, a FET) is connected to the power of the amplifiers 112 and 113, and the switching transistor is controlled by GPIO so that only one speaker (amplifier) is supplied with power. Can control

2 illustrates a control procedure for setting an operation mode of a stereo speaker in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the processor 100 first checks whether a menu button is input by a user's operation in operation 201. If the menu button is not input, the processor 100 proceeds to step 221 to perform a corresponding mode. When the menu button is input, the processor 100 displays menu items on a display window in step 203. For example, "1: Music Box 2: Game 3: Phonebook 4: Electronic diary 5: Internet / Message 6: Bell / Vibration / Size 7: Mobile phone management" is displayed.

In the state of displaying the menu items, the processor 100 proceeds to step 205 and checks whether item 7 (mobile phone management) is selected by the user's key operation. If the mobile phone management is not selected, the processor 100 proceeds to step 223 to perform a corresponding process according to the selected item. If the mobile phone management is selected, the processor 100 displays sub-menu items corresponding to the mobile phone management in a display window in step 207. For example, "1: Password change 2: Auto dial 3: Restriction 4: Screen light selection 5: Screen brightness selection 6: Subscriber number selection 7: Stereo speaker management."

In the state where the lower menu items corresponding to the mobile phone management are displayed, the processor 100 proceeds to step 209 and checks whether item 7 (stereo speaker management) is selected by the user's key operation. If item 7 (stereo speaker management) is not selected, the processor 100 proceeds to step 223 to perform a corresponding process according to the selected item. If the item 7 (stereo speaker management) is selected, the processor 100 proceeds to step 211 and displays the operation mode setting items of the speaker on the display window. For example, display "1: Always use mono speaker 2: Use mono speaker in weak field 3: Perform weak field notification when playing video 4: Use mono speaker when battery level is low". At this time, the selection mark is located in the first item.

In the state of displaying the operation mode setting items of the speaker, the processor 100 proceeds to step 213 and checks whether a direction button is input by a user operation. If the direction button is not input, the processor 100 proceeds to step 217 and checks whether a confirmation button is input. If the direction button is input, the processor 100 proceeds to step 215 and moves the selection display in response to the operation of the direction button. In operation 217, the processor 100 determines whether the confirmation button is input. If the confirmation button is not input, the processor 100 returns to step 213 to perform the following steps again. If the confirmation button is input, the processor 100 proceeds to step 219 after setting the operation mode of the speaker according to the selection item and ending. The operation mode of each speaker will be described in detail later with reference to the drawings.

3 illustrates a procedure for controlling the operation of a stereo speaker according to an electric field state in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. In particular, FIG. 3 illustrates an algorithm performed when the operation mode of the speaker in FIG. 2 described above is set according to item 2 (using a mono speaker in the weak electric field).

Referring to FIG. 3, first, the processor 100 drives a timer having a predetermined time period in step 301. In operation 303, the processor 100 checks whether the timer expires. When the timer expires, the processor 100 proceeds to step 305 and reads the received electric field strength (eg, RSSI, Ec / Io, etc.) recorded in a predetermined area of the memory. The received electric field strength is measured by the RF receiver 102 or the DMB RF receiver 105.

After reading the received electric field strength, the processor 100 compares the read received electric field strength with a preset reference TH in step 307. If the received electric field strength is smaller than the preset reference, the processor 100 proceeds to step 309 and checks the operation of the speaker device 116. In operation 311, the processor 100 determines whether the speaker device 116 operates as a mono speaker. If the speaker device 116 operates as a mono speaker, the processor 100 returns to step 301 to perform the following steps again. If the speaker device 116 operates as a stereo speaker, the processor 100 proceeds to step 313 to control the speaker device 116 to switch to a mono speaker, and then returns to step 301. Rerun On the other hand, when switching to the mono speaker may be notified to the user. For example, a message requesting the use of the earphone can be displayed on the display window.

On the other hand, if the received electric field strength is greater than or equal to the predetermined reference, the processor 100 proceeds to step 315 to check the operation of the speaker device 116. In operation 317, the processor 100 determines whether the speaker device 116 operates as a stereo speaker. If the speaker device 116 is operating as a stereo speaker, the processor 100 returns to step 301 to perform the following steps again. If the speaker device 116 operates as a mono speaker, the processor 100 proceeds to step 319 to control the speaker device 116 to switch to a stereo speaker, and then returns to step 301 to perform the following steps. Rerun

4 illustrates a procedure for performing a weak field notification during video playback in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. In particular, FIG. 4 illustrates an algorithm performed when the operation mode of the speaker in FIG. 2 described above is set according to item 3 (performing weak field notification during video playback).

Referring to FIG. 4, the processor 100 first checks whether multimedia content is received in step 401. If the multimedia content is not received, the processor 100 proceeds to step 415 to perform a corresponding mode (eg, a standby mode). If the multimedia content is received, the processor 100 proceeds to step 403 to play the multimedia content. In this case, the video is output to the display unit 108, and the audio signal is output to the speaker device 116.

In the state of playing the multimedia content, the processor 100 proceeds to step 405 to drive a timer having a predetermined time period. In operation 407, the processor 100 checks whether the timer expires. When the timer expires, the processor 100 proceeds to step 409 and reads the received electric field strength (eg, RSSI, Ec / Io, etc.) recorded in a predetermined area of the memory. The received electric field strength is measured by the RF receiver 102 or the DMB RF receiver 105.

After reading the received electric field strength, the processor 100 compares the read received electric field strength with a preset reference TH in step 411. If the received electric field strength is greater than or equal to the preset criterion, the processor 100 returns to step 405 to perform the following steps again. If the received electric field strength is smaller than the preset reference, the processor 100 proceeds to step 413 and displays a message requesting the use of an earphone (ear microphone) on the display window. This message can be displayed overlapping the currently displayed video. In this case, the speaker device 116 may be controlled to operate as a mono speaker according to a user setting.

Although the above-described embodiment is described as performing a notification operation according to the received electric field strength, the notification operation may be performed according to the remaining battery power. During playback of multimedia content, the battery level can be checked, and if the battery level is lower than the preset standard, a message requesting the use of the earphone can be displayed.

5 illustrates a procedure for controlling the operation of a speaker device according to a battery state in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. In particular, FIG. 5 illustrates an algorithm performed when the operation mode of the speaker in FIG. 2 described above is set according to item 4 (using a mono speaker when the battery level is low).

Referring to FIG. 5, first, the processor 100 drives a timer having a preset time period in step 501. In operation 503, the processor 100 checks whether the timer expires. When the timer expires, the processor 100 proceeds to step 505 to read the remaining battery value recorded in the predetermined area of the memory.

After reading the remaining battery level value, the processor 100 compares the read remaining battery value with a preset reference TH in step 507. If the battery remaining value is less than the preset reference, the processor 100 proceeds to step 509 and checks the operation of the speaker device 116. In operation 511, the processor 100 determines whether the speaker device 116 operates as a mono speaker. If the speaker device 116 is operating as a mono speaker, the processor 100 returns to step 501 to perform the following steps again. If the speaker device 116 operates as a stereo speaker, the processor 100 proceeds to step 513 to control the speaker device 116 to switch to a mono speaker, and returns to step 501 to repeat the following steps. Do it. On the other hand, when switching to the mono speaker may be notified to the user. For example, a message requesting the use of the earphone can be displayed on the display window.

On the other hand, if the remaining battery value is greater than or equal to the preset reference, the processor 100 checks the operation of the speaker device 116 in step 515. In operation 517, the processor 100 determines whether the speaker device 116 operates as a stereo speaker. If the speaker device 116 is operating as a stereo speaker, the processor 100 returns to step 501 to perform the following steps again. If the speaker device 116 operates as a mono speaker, the processor 100 proceeds to step 519 to control the speaker device 116 to switch to a stereo speaker, and then returns to step 501 to perform the following steps. Rerun

Meanwhile, although the algorithms of FIGS. 3 to 5 are described as controlling the operation of the speaker device by checking an electric field or a battery state at a predetermined cycle, the operation of the speaker device can be controlled by checking an electric field and a battery state in real time. There is also. In addition, although the above-described embodiments are described as controlling the speaker device 116 in the processor 100, the speaker device 116 may be controlled in the CDMA modem 104.

Meanwhile, in the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described. However, various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by those equivalent to the scope of the claims.

As described above, the present invention can reduce the power consumption due to the use of the stereo speaker by operating the stereo speaker as a mono speaker or recommend the user to use the earphone (or ear microphone) according to the electric field and the battery condition. Typically, 300mW of power is consumed per speaker, which reduces the power consumption, thereby increasing the usage time of the terminal.

Claims (8)

In the method for controlling the operation of the stereo speaker according to the received electric field strength in the mobile communication terminal, Measuring the received electric field strength and recording it in a predetermined area of the memory; Reading received field strength from a predetermined area of the memory at a predetermined time period; Comparing the received electric field strength with a preset criterion; And controlling the stereo speaker to operate as a mono speaker where only one speaker is enabled when the received electric field strength is smaller than a predetermined reference. The method of claim 1, If the received electric field strength is smaller than a preset criterion, further comprising displaying a message requesting the use of an ear microphone on a display window; In the method for controlling the operation of the stereo speaker according to the battery state in the mobile communication terminal, Measuring the remaining battery capacity and recording it in a predetermined area of the memory; Reading a battery remaining value from a predetermined region of the memory at a predetermined time period; Comparing the battery remaining value with a preset reference; And controlling the stereo speaker to operate as a mono speaker where only one speaker is enabled when the battery level value is smaller than a preset reference value. The method of claim 3, And displaying a message requesting the use of an ear microphone on a display window when the remaining battery level value is smaller than a preset criterion. In the method for controlling the operation of the stereo speaker according to the received electric field strength while playing the multimedia content in the mobile communication terminal, Measuring the received field strength and recording it in memory; Reading the received electric field strength from the memory at a predetermined cycle in the state of playing the multimedia contents; Comparing the received electric field strength with a preset criterion; And controlling the stereo speaker to operate as a mono speaker operating only one speaker when the received electric field strength is smaller than a preset criterion. A method for requesting the use of an ear microphone while playing multimedia content in a mobile communication terminal using stereo speakers, Measuring the received field strength and recording it in memory; Reading the received electric field strength from the memory at a predetermined cycle in the state of playing the multimedia contents; Comparing the received electric field strength with a preset criterion; And displaying a message requesting the use of the ear microphone on a display window when the received electric field strength is smaller than a preset criterion. A method for controlling the operation of a stereo speaker according to a battery state while playing multimedia content in a mobile communication terminal, Measuring the battery level and writing it to memory; Reading a battery remaining value from the memory at predetermined intervals while playing the multimedia content; Comparing the battery remaining value with a preset reference; And controlling the stereo speaker to operate as a mono speaker where only one speaker is enabled when the battery level value is smaller than a preset reference value. A method for requesting the use of an ear microphone while playing multimedia content in a mobile communication terminal using stereo speakers, Measuring the battery level and writing it to memory; Reading a battery remaining value from the memory at predetermined intervals while playing the multimedia content; Comparing the battery remaining value with a preset reference; And displaying a message requesting the use of the ear microphone on a display window when the remaining battery level value is smaller than a preset criterion.

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