KR100604524B1 - Mobile communication terminal capable of booting selectively and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly to a mobile communication terminal technology that supports emergency calls when the battery is low.

The mobile communication terminal according to the present invention includes a first firmware for performing a normal boot process and a second firmware for performing an emergency boot process. When the mobile communication terminal is powered on, the mobile terminal recognizes a key combination according to a user's key operation to determine whether to boot with the first firmware or the second firmware. If the mobile terminal is powered off due to the battery voltage being lower than the cutoff voltage, the user presses the power key and the designated key to cause the terminal to boot to the second firmware. The mobile communication terminal is then powered on to recognize the key combination, thereby booting with the second firmware. When booting with the second firmware, the mobile communication terminal does not power off even if the battery voltage is lower than the cutoff voltage.

Mobile terminal, cutoff voltage, firmware.

Description

Mobile communication terminal capable of selectively booting and a method thereof

1 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration required for selective booting of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating boot execution structures according to examples of a NAND memory and an SDRAM included in the memory illustrated in FIG. 1;

3 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration required for booting a mobile communication terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a circuit diagram illustrating an example of a battery voltage detector illustrated in FIG. 3.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a selective booting method of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a selective booting method of a mobile communication terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: memory 200: boot selection

300: power on holding unit 400: battery voltage detection unit

500: A / D conversion unit 600: emergency boot selection unit

The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly to a mobile communication terminal technology that supports emergency calls when the battery is low.

The mobile terminal performs a power-off process when the remaining battery level is insufficient during the normal operation of the power-on state. This is to prevent a hardware malfunction of the mobile communication terminal, etc. In general, all mobile communication terminals are configured to be powered off when the battery voltage is lower than a specific voltage of a cutoff voltage. In this case, the user may power on the terminal by pressing the power on key. However, the mobile communication terminal detects that the battery voltage is less than the cutoff voltage and performs the power off process again.

In this case, there is a problem in that an emergency situation occurs so that the user cannot make an emergency call (112, 113, 119) or a personally important phone call.

An object of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication terminal capable of making a call even when the battery voltage is automatically cut off due to a battery voltage lower than a cutoff voltage.

A mobile terminal according to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object includes a first firmware for performing a normal boot process, and a second firmware for performing an emergency boot process. When the mobile communication terminal is powered on, the mobile terminal recognizes a key combination according to a user's key operation to determine whether to boot with the first firmware or the second firmware. If the mobile terminal is powered off due to the battery voltage being lower than the cutoff voltage, the user presses the power key and the designated key to cause the terminal to boot to the second firmware. The mobile communication terminal is then powered on to recognize the key combination, thereby booting with the second firmware. When booting with the second firmware, the mobile communication terminal does not power off even if the battery voltage is lower than the cutoff voltage.

According to this aspect of the present invention, the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention provides an effect of allowing a user to make a phone call even when the battery voltage is lower than the cutoff voltage.

The foregoing and further aspects of the present invention will become more apparent through the preferred embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail to enable those skilled in the art to easily understand and reproduce the present invention.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration required for selective booting of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. The NAND booting method is applied to the mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. In particular, a mobile communication terminal using a mobile station modem (MSM) 6100, an MSM 6500 chip, or the like, has been frequently used a NAND flash memory.

First of all, NAND booting is a method to make a mobile terminal adopting NAND flash memory bootable. The boot loader of flash memory copies the firmware to SDRAM to execute booting of the terminal. To deal with.

For reference, flash memory is largely divided into a NOR type in which cells are arranged in parallel between a bit line and a ground line, and a NAND type in series. NOR flash memory has the advantages of simple peripheral circuitry and short read access time. However, since the contact electrodes of bit lines are required for each cell, the cell area is larger than that of NAND flash memory. NAND flash memory has to select the block before the read operation and each cell is connected in series so that the operation resistance is large, so the read speed is relatively slow compared to NOR flash memory, but NOR flash memory Compared to this, the price is relatively low and the recording speed is much faster.

According to an embodiment, the memory 100 of the mobile communication terminal to which the NAND booting scheme is applied includes a NAND flash memory and an SDRAM for booting. 2A and 2B are structural diagrams of a memory 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the NAND flash memory stores an operating system and essential applications that perform essential functions of a mobile communication terminal, and includes a code area in which user access is restricted, and a short message / picture / ringtone / game. EFS (Embedded File System) area is operated by.

Basically, when a mobile communication terminal supporting NAND booting is powered on, booting is started by a boot loader recorded in a code area of a NAND flash memory. The boot loader refers to a boot information block (BIB) having basic information about the firmware code length and the like, and copies the firmware having an operating system and essential applications to the illustrated SDRAM. Accordingly, the mobile communication terminal normally performs a booting process.

However, when the mobile terminal supporting NAND booting according to the present invention is powered on, the boot loader copies the corresponding firmware of the first firmware or the second firmware to the SDRAM according to a user's key press state. To this end, the NAND type flash memory stores the first firmware and the second firmware in different locations in the code area. The first firmware is basically firmware for supporting normal booting of the mobile communication terminal, and the second firmware is firmware for supporting emergency booting of the mobile communication terminal. The boot information block (BIB) has information about each firmware.

The reason why the mobile terminal has the first firmware and the second firmware instead of one firmware is that the user can use a specific function of the terminal, preferably a telephone call, even if the battery voltage is lower than the cutoff voltage. To make it work. To achieve this purpose, the mobile communication terminal is automatically powered off when the battery voltage is lower than the cutoff voltage when booted by the first firmware. However, when booted by the second firmware, the battery voltage is booted by the second firmware. The power-on state is maintained even when the cutoff voltage is lower than the cutoff voltage.

Meanwhile, whether the boot loader copies the first firmware to the SDRAM or the second firmware to the SDRAM is selected by a user's key operation. The boot selector 200 recognizes a key combination according to the user's key operation. Allow the boot loader to select either the first firmware or the second firmware.

According to an example, when the user presses only the power key, the boot selector 200 activates the power key when the terminal is powered on, for example, a general purpose input output (GPIO) of a mobile station modem (MSM) chip. Recognizing activation of), causes the boot loader to copy the first firmware to the SDRAM as shown in FIG. 2B. The boot loader copies the first firmware to the SDRAM with reference to the boot information block (BIB), and the mobile terminal having booted by the first firmware copied to the SDRAM has a blocking voltage in which a battery voltage is recorded in the memory 100. Continuously compare and judge whether or not it is below the cutoff voltage.

If the battery voltage falls below the cutoff voltage, the mobile communication terminal is automatically powered off. In this case, even when the mobile communication terminal is powered on again by the user's power key operation and booted by the first firmware, the mobile communication terminal is automatically powered off again because the battery voltage is lower than the cutoff voltage.

When the terminal is powered off because the battery voltage is below the cutoff voltage, the user selects a boot when the user presses the power key and at least one key specified (e.g., the power key and the number 0 key) together. The unit 200, upon recognizing activation of the power key and the number 0 key (two corresponding GPIOs of the MSM chip), causes the boot loader to copy the second firmware into the SDRAM as shown in FIG. 2A. The boot loader copies the second firmware into the SDRAM with reference to the boot information block (BIB), and the mobile communication terminal booted by the second firmware copied into the SDRAM may have a battery voltage lower than or equal to a cutoff voltage. It will stay powered on.

The mobile communication terminal further includes a power-on holding unit 300 to maintain the power-on state even when the battery voltage of which the booting is executed by the second firmware becomes lower than the cutoff voltage. That is, when the battery voltage detected in the power-on state of the terminal is lower than the cutoff voltage, the power-on maintaining unit 300 checks whether the firmware currently copied and executed in the SDRAM is the first firmware or the second firmware. In this case, the second firmware maintains the power-on state of the terminal.

When the firmware copied and executed in the SDRAM is the second firmware, the power-on maintaining unit 300 does not actually power off the terminal regardless of whether the battery voltage is above or below the cutoff voltage. In the end, it does not play any role. In this case, the power-on holding unit 300 does not even need to receive the detection voltage of the battery as shown in the drawing and described above.

The second firmware is intended for emergency booting so that the purpose is to be used when the battery voltage is below the cutoff voltage, and is preferably made in two aspects as follows. The first is binary generation in terms of reducing binary size. Because the binary stored in the NAND memory reduces the EFS area of the NAND memory, which is the phone storage location, and as a result, the storage capacity is reduced. Therefore, in this case, the size of the binary should be minimized by eliminating UI (User Interface) image, ring tone, and tasks (TASK) except CALL related tasks (TASK).

The second is binary generation in terms of reducing the current consumption associated with battery voltage. All terminals are powered off when the voltage falls below a specific voltage, called a cutoff voltage, to prevent malfunction of the hardware at low voltage. In this case, it is generally higher than the minimum hardware required (minimum voltage), according to the cutoff voltage minus the minimum voltage according to the present invention in the case of emergency battery low voltage in accordance with the present invention can make a phone call. Therefore, GPIO control of MSM chip is needed to minimize power consumption in peripheral devices not related to CALL.

According to this aspect of the present invention, the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention provides an effect of allowing a user to make a phone call even when the battery voltage is lower than the cutoff voltage. In addition, the second firmware that provides this effect is a minimal task (TASK) for the call and a binary made in software, thereby minimizing the intrusion of the EFS area. In addition, the second firmware has a software structure that minimizes current consumption within a range that does not interfere with a call, thereby minimizing battery power consumption.

3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a configuration required for booting a mobile communication terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, another aspect of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 3, but redundant descriptions related to FIGS. 1 and 2A and 2B will be omitted.

First, it is assumed that the mobile communication terminal is booted and executed by the first firmware. The battery voltage detector 400 detects a voltage applied from a battery mounted on a mobile communication terminal. According to an embodiment, the battery voltage detector 400 divides a voltage applied from a battery through a predetermined resistance ratio, and outputs the divided detection voltage.

A circuit diagram according to an example of such a battery voltage detector 400 is shown in FIG. 4. As shown, the battery voltage detector 400 according to an embodiment divides the voltage applied from the battery to a voltage of a predetermined level according to the R1 and R2 resistance ratios and applies the voltage to the A / D converter. The detection voltage Vsen applied to the A / D converter 500, that is, the voltage applied to the second resistor R2 is expressed by Equation 1 below. The A / D converter 500 converts the voltage Vsen detected by the battery voltage detector 400 into digital data.

Vsen = (R2 / R1 + R2) * Vbat

The emergency boot selector 600 compares the battery voltage converted into the digital data by the A / D converter 500 with a cutoff voltage previously stored in the memory 100 to determine a cutoff voltage. It judges whether it is below. If the battery voltage is less than or equal to the cutoff voltage, the emergency boot selector 600 causes a reboot. In this case, the emergency boot selection unit 600 sets the boot loader to copy the second firmware to the SDRAM upon rebooting.

According to a preferred embodiment, when the battery voltage is less than the cutoff voltage (cutoff voltage), the emergency boot selection unit 600 checks the reboot status setting state to reboot. The reboot setting is preferably provided on the menu to be operated by the user, and the user can set whether to reboot in advance by key operation.

According to another preferred example, when the battery voltage is below the cutoff voltage, the emergency boot selector 600 notifies the user of this situation through a ring tone and / or a display. In addition, the emergency boot selection unit 600 requests a response from the user whether he / she is willing to reboot the second firmware and maintain the power-on state of the terminal. If the user notifies that the user does not want to do so through the key operation or takes no action for a predetermined time, the mobile communication terminal automatically performs the power-off process.

If the user replied that the user intends to maintain the power-on state of the terminal through key manipulation, the emergency boot selection unit 600 causes the reboot to be performed as described above, but allows the boot loader to copy the second firmware to the SDRAM. Allow booting.

The emergency boot selection unit 600 may set the boot loader to copy the second firmware to the SDRAM by recording the second firmware boot information at a specific address of the SDRAM during the reboot process. Here, the second firmware boot information recorded at a specific address of the SDRAM may be represented by binary data. When the mobile communication terminal is temporarily turned off and then powered on again for rebooting, the emergency boot selection unit 600 checks whether the second firmware booting information is recorded at a specific address of the SDRAM.

If the second firmware boot information is recorded at a specific address of the SDRAM, the emergency boot selector 600 causes the boot loader to copy the second firmware to the SDRAM. When the terminal is powered off, the SDRAM erases all stored values at power-on, but keeps the values for a few seconds. Therefore, in case of reset, the SDRAM maintains the second firmware boot information recorded at a specific address. .

The boot loader copies the second firmware into the SDRAM with reference to the boot information block (BIB), and the mobile communication terminal booted by the second firmware copied into the SDRAM may have a battery voltage lower than or equal to a cutoff voltage. It will stay powered on.

Preferably, the mobile communication terminal is configured to maintain the power-on state even when the mobile communication terminal booted by the second firmware becomes lower than the cutoff voltage. More). This is the same as described above and will be omitted.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a selective booting method of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. When the power is turned on by pressing the power key of the user (step S501), the boot selector 200 recognizes the key state by checking the activation state of the key (step S503). If only the power key is activated, the boot selector 200 recognizes the normal boot processing command and causes the boot loader to copy the first firmware to the SDRAM as shown in FIG. 2B. Booting is performed by execution of the first firmware copied to the SDRAM by the boot loader, and the mobile communication terminal keeps booting with the first firmware (step S507). If the battery voltage is less than the cutoff voltage in the step S507 state, the mobile communication terminal automatically performs a power off process (step S511).

If the key state recognized in step S503 is, for example, the activation state of the power key and the number 0 key, the boot selector 200 recognizes the emergency boot processing command and causes the boot loader to generate the second firmware as shown in FIG. 2A. To be copied to SDRAM. Booting is performed by execution of the second firmware copied to the SDRAM by the boot loader, and the mobile communication terminal keeps booting with the second firmware (step S521). When the mobile communication terminal is booted with the second firmware, the power-on maintaining unit 300 maintains the terminal in the power-on state even if the battery voltage is less than or equal to the cutoff voltage (step S523).

6 is a flowchart illustrating a selective booting method of a mobile communication terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention. When the battery voltage becomes lower than the cutoff voltage (step S603) in the power-on state in which the mobile terminal is booted with the first firmware (step S601) (step S603), the emergency boot selection unit 600 notifies the user of this to the second firmware. Inquire about whether to reboot. If the user responds to reboot with the second firmware through key manipulation (step S605), the emergency boot selection unit 600 performs a reset process and processes the boot loader to reboot with the second firmware as described above (step S605). S607). When the mobile communication terminal is booted with the second firmware, the power-on maintaining unit 300 maintains the terminal in the power-on state even if the battery voltage is lower than the cutoff voltage (step S609).

If the user responds not to reboot with the second firmware through a key operation or does not respond for a predetermined time, the mobile communication terminal performs a power off process (step S611). In the above-described part, step S607 may proceed immediately after step S603.

According to this aspect of the present invention, the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention provides an effect of allowing a user to make a phone call even when the battery voltage is lower than the cutoff voltage. In addition, the second firmware that provides this effect is a minimal task (TASK) for the call and a binary made in software, thereby minimizing the intrusion of the EFS area. In addition, the second firmware has a software structure that minimizes current consumption within a range that does not interfere with a call, thereby minimizing battery power consumption.

On the other hand, the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, which are merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention should be defined only by the appended claims.

Claims (10)

a) booting normally using the first firmware stored in the flash memory code area; b) detecting a battery voltage at a normal booting or completion of booting by step a); c) rebooting when the battery voltage detected by step b) is less than or equal to a cutoff voltage, using a second firmware for emergency booting stored in the flash memory code region; Selective booting method of a mobile communication terminal comprising a. The process of claim 1, wherein step c) is: c1) if the battery voltage detected by the step b) is less than the cutoff voltage, notifying the outside and determining whether there is a boot mode switch command; c2) if the booting mode change command is determined as a result of the step c1), further comprising rebooting using the second firmware for emergency booting stored in the flash memory code area. Boot way. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method is: d) if the reboot is performed to the second firmware by step c), maintaining the power on the terminal even if the battery voltage is less than the cutoff voltage; Selective booting method of a mobile communication terminal further comprising. The method of claim 3, wherein the binary size of the second firmware is smaller than the binary size of the first firmware. The method of claim 3, wherein the power consumption of the terminal which is emergency booted by the second firmware is smaller than the power consumption of the terminal that is normally booted by the first firmware. A flash memory including a boot loader, first firmware for normal booting stored in a code area, and second firmware for emergency booting stored in a code area different from the first firmware; A RAM having an area in which the first firmware or the second firmware is copied and executed by the boot loader; A battery voltage detector detecting a battery voltage; When the first firmware is copied to the RAM by the boot loader and executed, the reboot is performed when the voltage detected by the battery voltage detector is lower than the cutoff voltage in a normal booting state. An emergency boot selection unit configured to cause the boot loader to copy the second firmware to the RAM so that an emergency boot is performed; Selective bootable mobile communication terminal comprising a. 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the emergency boot selector is: When the battery voltage detected by the battery voltage detection unit is less than the cutoff voltage (cutoff voltage) to notify the outside and reboot according to the boot mode switch key command, the boot loader copying the second firmware to the RAM Selective bootable mobile communication terminal, characterized in that to make an emergency boot. The power supply of claim 6 or 7, wherein the booting is performed by copying and executing the second firmware to the RAM. The power for maintaining the terminal power-on state even if the battery voltage detected by the battery voltage detector is less than the cutoff voltage. Warm holding part; Selective bootable mobile communication terminal further comprising a. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the binary size of the second firmware is smaller than the binary size of the first firmware. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the power consumption of the terminal booted by the second firmware is smaller than the power consumption of the terminal booted by the first firmware.

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