WO2011012038A1

WO2011012038A1 - Method and equipment for utilizing residual battery power

Info

Publication number: WO2011012038A1
Application number: PCT/CN2010/074670
Authority: WO
Inventors: 黄旭
Original assignee: 中兴通讯股份有限公司
Priority date: 2009-07-27
Filing date: 2010-06-29
Publication date: 2011-02-03
Also published as: CN101621584B; CN101621584A

Abstract

A method and an equipment for utilizing residual battery power are provided in the present invention. The method is used in a mobile terminal which automatically turns off due to low battery power. The method includes the following steps: initiating the mobile terminal (S102), and lowering the power-off voltage of the mobile terminal below the normal power-off voltage (S104). The present invention enables a user to smoothly use partial functions of the mobile terminal for a short time, for example calling for a short time, receiving or sending one or two short messages, powering on and looking up in a contact list of the mobile terminal, and so on, when the mobile terminal is impossible to normally power on because the power is not enough, thus satisfying the user's need.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of mobile communications, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for using remaining battery power. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Currently, mobile communication terminals (mainly mobile phones) that are commonly used have become rich in functions due to the development of technology, and applications such as audio, video, various games, high-speed download, wireless Internet access, mobile TV, and the like can exist at the same time. In the terminal, this brings a beautiful body-risk to the user and also brings a big challenge to the battery. The battery's power and load capacity are limited. Some multi-function and multi-task concurrent executions may cause voltage fluctuations. This is not a problem when the battery is fully charged, but if the battery is small, for example, the rest is left. When the power is less than 7% of the total power, the voltage fluctuation caused by such concurrent applications may cause the mobile phone to be unstable, such as crash, restart, etc., which is intolerable from the user's point of view. Therefore, in order to make the mobile terminal work stably after being turned on, the current normal operating voltage of the current manufacturer's M battery is set to be higher than the battery voltage (for example, 3.4V) when the battery capacity is large and the remaining capacity is 7% or more. That is to say, when the battery capacity is still a few percent remaining, the communication terminal must alert the user that the power is not enough, and the power is automatically turned off. Under normal circumstances, the automatic shutdown cannot be started again. That is to say, a few percent of the electricity can be tapped. However, people often encounter such dilemmas: For example, when making a call, if there is something important, the phone will be powered off and automatically shut down. If you don't contact it in time, it may cause misunderstanding and other troubles. For example, when you need to make a short-time emergency call or send one or two urgent text messages in the wild, the phone will automatically shut down if there is no power. For example, after the phone is automatically turned off, you need to contact the other party immediately. There are other phones that can be called (such as a fixed phone nearby), and the other party's number is not remembered and stored only in the closed mobile phone address book, and can not be turned on. , wait wait wait. When people are faced with these difficulties, people may only need to make a phone call, send a text message, or boot to find the contact number. The fact is that only these functions do not need too much current and too much power. As can be seen from the previous discussion, it is possible to use this amount of power remaining within 7% of the battery. Therefore, there is a need for a solution that allows a user to provide a basic function to a user using the remaining amount of power while facing such a dilemma. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a reasonable mobile phone system working mode design, and the mobile phone using the design scheme can enable the user to use the mobile phone for a short time when the power is insufficient and cannot be normally turned on ( For example, in the field for help, alarm, call after the power is turned off, it is urgent to inform the other party of a small amount of information, find the address book in the mobile phone, etc., and successfully use some functions of the mobile phone for a short time, such as short-time call, one or two short messages, boot search The address book in the mobile phone, etc., to solve the user's urgent needs. According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for using a remaining battery power for a mobile terminal that is automatically shut down due to battery power is provided, including the following steps: starting a mobile terminal; and down-regulating a shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal to a normal shutdown Below the voltage. The step 4 of starting the mobile terminal includes the following steps: starting the mobile terminal in a predetermined manner. The method further includes the following steps: when the mobile terminal is started and after being started, only some devices including the main processor and some modules in the device of the mobile terminal are powered. The down-regulation of the shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal includes the following steps: when entering the working mode of searching for information stored in the mobile terminal, the shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal is lowered to the highest input voltage of the power management module of the mobile terminal or slightly higher The over-discharge voltage of the charge and discharge circuit of the positive temperature coefficient (PTC) of the mobile terminal battery; and the mode of lowering the shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal to be slightly higher than the battery of the mobile terminal when entering the mode capable of communication Over-discharge voltage of the PTC charge and discharge circuit. Wherein, only supplying power to a part of the mobile terminal including the main processor according to the predetermined working mode comprises the following steps: when entering the working mode of searching for information stored in the mobile terminal, only the main processor and the memory, the display and the input The device (such as a keyboard) is powered. The method further includes the following steps: when the main processor is powered, only the modules that must be used in the main processor are powered. The method further includes the following steps: When entering a working mode in which communication is possible, the power control policy is modified to enable the mobile terminal to transmit at a power less than the maximum transmit power. The method further includes the following steps: When the mobile terminal supports automatic frequency control and automatic voltage control, the operating frequency and the operating voltage of the CPU are adjusted to support the minimum operating frequency and the minimum operating voltage required for the application in the current working mode. Wherein, the method further comprises the steps of: reducing the backlight brightness of the display screen of the mobile terminal. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a remaining battery power usage device that performs the above-described method of using a remaining battery power of a mobile terminal that is automatically turned off due to battery power, the device comprising: a startup module, configured to activate the mobile terminal And a voltage down regulation module for lowering the shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal to a normal shutdown voltage. The startup module starts the mobile terminal in a predetermined manner. The device further includes: a power supply control module, configured to supply power to only a part of the mobile terminal including the main processor when the mobile terminal is started and after being activated. Wherein, the power supply control module only supplies power to some modules in the device. The voltage down-modulation module is configured to: when entering an operation mode for searching for information stored in the mobile terminal, lowering a shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal to a maximum input voltage of the power management module of the mobile terminal or a PTC slightly higher than a battery of the mobile terminal The overdischarge voltage of the charge and discharge circuit; and when entering the operational mode in which communication is possible, the shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal is lowered to an overdischarge voltage slightly higher than the PTC charge and discharge circuit of the mobile terminal battery. Wherein, the power supply control module supplies power only to the main processor and the memory, the display, and the input device (such as a keyboard) when entering the working mode of searching for information stored in the mobile terminal. Wherein, when the power supply control module further supplies power to the main processor, only the modules (such as some GPIO ports) that the main processor must use in the current working mode are powered. The method further includes: a power control module, when used to enter a working mode capable of communicating, modifying the power control policy to enable the mobile terminal to transmit at a power less than a maximum transmit power. The method further includes: a frequency and voltage adjustment module, configured to adjust a working frequency and a working voltage of the CPU to a minimum work required to support an application in the current working mode when the mobile terminal supports automatic frequency control and automatic voltage control Frequency and minimum operating voltage. The method further includes: a brightness control module, configured to reduce backlight brightness of the display screen of the mobile terminal. The invention enables the user to smoothly use some functions of the mobile phone in a short time, such as short-time call, one or two short messages, and the booting hand, in the case that the mobile phone cannot be turned on normally due to insufficient power. The address book in the machine, etc., meets the needs of users. Other features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the <RTI BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are set to illustrate,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing a method of using a battery power of a mobile terminal that is automatically turned off due to a low battery power according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a view showing an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. Figure 3 is a block diagram of a device for using a battery of a mobile terminal that is automatically turned off due to low battery power; Figure 3 is a discharge graph of a battery used by the mobile terminal in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; A flow chart of a method of using the battery power of a mobile terminal that is automatically turned off due to a battery power hue in another embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a flow chart showing a method of using the battery power of a mobile terminal that is automatically turned off due to a low battery power according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the method in this embodiment includes the following steps: Step 4 gathers S 102, starts a mobile terminal; and Step 4 gathers S 104 to down-regulate the shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal. The step S102 includes the following steps: The mobile terminal is started in a predetermined manner. The method further includes the following steps: when the mobile terminal is started and after being started, only some devices including the main processor and some modules in the device of the mobile terminal are powered. Step S104 includes the following steps: when entering an operation mode for searching for information stored in the mobile terminal, lowering the shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal to the last of the power management module of the mobile terminal The input voltage; and when entering the operational mode in which communication is possible, the shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal is lowered to an overdischarge voltage slightly higher than the PTC charge and discharge circuit of the mobile terminal battery. Wherein, the method further comprises the steps of: powering on only the main processor and the memory, the display and the input device (such as a keyboard) when entering the working mode of searching for information stored in the mobile terminal. The method further includes the following steps: when the main processor is powered, only the modules (such as some GPIO ports) that must be used in supporting the current application in the main processor are powered. The method further includes the following steps: When entering a working mode in which communication is possible, the power control policy is modified to enable the mobile terminal to transmit at a power less than the maximum transmit power. The method further includes the following steps: When the mobile terminal supports automatic frequency control and automatic voltage control, the operating frequency and the operating voltage of the CPU are adjusted to support the minimum operating frequency and the minimum operating voltage required for the application in the current working mode. Wherein, the method further comprises the steps of: reducing the backlight brightness of the display screen of the mobile terminal. 2 is a block diagram of an apparatus for performing a method of using the battery power of a mobile terminal that is automatically turned off due to a low battery power according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, the apparatus 200 in this embodiment includes: a startup module 202 for starting a mobile terminal; and a voltage down regulation module 204 for lowering a shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal to a normal shutdown voltage. The startup module 202 starts the mobile terminal in a predetermined manner. The device further includes: a power supply control module 206, configured to supply power to only a part of the mobile terminal including a main processor and some modules in the device when the mobile terminal is started and after being activated. The power supply control module 206 only supplies power to some modules in the device. The voltage down-modulation module 204 is configured to: when entering an operation mode for searching for information stored in the mobile terminal, lowering a shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal to a final input voltage of the power management module of the mobile terminal; and entering a work capable of performing communication In the mode, the shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal is lowered to an overdischarge voltage slightly higher than the PTC charge and discharge circuit of the mobile terminal battery. The power supply control module 206 only supplies power to the main processor and the memory power supply, the display, and the keyboard in an operation mode for finding information stored in the mobile terminal. When the power supply control module 206 further supplies power to the main processor, only the modules that must be used in the main processor to support the current application are powered, and all other modules are powered down. The device further includes: a power control module 208, configured to modify the power control policy when the working mode of the communication is possible, so that the mobile terminal transmits at a power less than the maximum transmit power. The device further includes: a frequency and voltage adjustment module 210, configured to adjust a working frequency and an operating voltage of the CPU to a minimum required to support an application in the current working mode when the mobile terminal supports automatic frequency control and automatic voltage control Operating frequency and minimum operating voltage. The device further includes: a brightness control module 212, configured to reduce backlight brightness of the display screen of the mobile terminal. An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. In general, the phone can enter different working modes according to the user's choice. The mode of operation here is divided into a mode in which the battery voltage is normal and a low voltage special mode in which the battery voltage is lower than the normal voltage. Different modes of operation when the battery has a normal voltage charge are discussed in this embodiment. In this embodiment, an additional mode needs to be added to the current mobile phone, so that the mobile phone can work in this mode after the battery is powered off and automatically shut down. The working mode can be referred to as an ultra-low power working mode. This mode is generally not used by users and is only used in emergency situations. For whether or not to use this mode, the user can freely choose, for example, when the user presses the key combination to jump out of the mode selection menu at the time of power-on, the user selects himself according to the situation. In the ultra-low battery operation mode, the battery has less power remaining, such as less than 7%. According to the discharge curve of the battery, the output voltage of the battery will decrease rapidly with the release of current, that is, It takes a long time to use and the current that can be obtained is not large. Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of the discharge curve of the battery. In Figure 3, the measured data is 61mah (mAh) at the battery voltage of 3.319V. Therefore, in the case of such a weak power, it is necessary to perform a considerable degree of cutting on the function of the mobile phone in the normal working mode to minimize the power consumption, otherwise it will not work properly. The following are descriptions of forty applications that use the mobile phone to find the contents of the address book and those that use the mobile phone for short-term communication.

1) Apps that use only mobile phones to find contacts content First, the minimum operating voltage is reduced to near the chip limit for the device type used by the terminal.

(Taking a company's platform as an example, its Portable Media (PM) power management chip can accept a minimum input of 3.0V, and the shutdown voltage set under the normal working conditions of the terminal of this chip is 3.3V. ~3.4V, then the shutdown voltage can be lowered to 3.0V). At the same time, in addition to the main processor and memory, display and keyboard retention work on the hardware, other common purpose input and output (such as RF front end, multimedia module, various peripheral interfaces, and even the main processor chip) Output, referred to as GPIO) ports, etc., can be completely powered, and can also support processors with Automatic Frequency Control (AFC) and Automatic Voltage Control (AVC) technology. Adjust the operating frequency and operating voltage of the Central Processing Unit (CPU) to the lowest condition that can support the current application to further reduce the current consumption. For a display with a large power consumption, the backlight intensity can be appropriately reduced, and the current of several tens of milliamps can be further reduced. On the mobile terminal that has done the above processing, the inventor has experimented that when the battery voltage of the capacity is 830Mah (mAh) is 3. IV, the operation of normally inquiring the address book consumes only 50~100mA, and At this time, the battery is about 15mah from the 3.0V of the shutdown voltage, and it works dynamically with a current of 100m, which can support more than 9 minutes. This is a rough estimate, and the actual test results are as long as 3 minutes or more. It is fully capable of finding the function of the address book.

2) Applications that use mobile phones for short-term communication. Such applications must support communication functions, allowing users to speak important words or send one or two important short messages in a short time. If communication is required, the RF module needs to be operated based on the mode in the previous 1). This will result in an increase in current consumption. In particular, when the machine is turned on, the mobile phone first transmits with maximum power (for example, GSM network, which will reach 33dbm, that is, 2 watts), which will cause a large instantaneous current and pull the voltage to a low level. In order to cope with this situation, some measures need to be taken, for example, 4 tampering power control strategy, not transmitting at maximum power. At the same time, the minimum shutdown voltage at this time is further lowered (for example, the overdischarge voltage of the PTC charging and discharging circuit of the general mobile phone battery is set between 2 and 3V. Taking 2.5V as an example, the shutdown voltage can be adjusted to the specific situation to 2.6 2.8V), to cope with the shutdown caused by the fluctuation of the instantaneous voltage. After taking the above measures, use the mobile phone to talk, when the battery voltage of 830 Mah (mAh) is 3.21V, dial the GSM phone, the call will automatically shut down after 13 seconds, within 13 seconds, the user is enough Complete communication of short, important information such as help, confession, notification, appointment time and place. At this point, the battery voltage drops to 2.8V, and then the voltage is in a slow recovery after a short overdischarge, waiting The power will be restored for a while. For different batteries, there are different discharge curves, and the specific data is slightly different. The ultra-low voltage working mode in this embodiment does not encourage users to use it frequently. After all, the circuit works close to the critical point, and the long-term operation will also cause the battery to be over-discharged and the capacity is gradually reduced. The manufacturer should be at the user. The pros and cons of using emergency mode are clearly stated in the manual. It is recommended that the manufacturer set the combination key to turn on, so that the emergency mode is transparent to the user under normal conditions, and does not affect its normal use at all. Manufacturers need to clearly inform the use of this ultra-low voltage mode in the manual, so that users can make a difference in an emergency, and solve their urgent needs. Another embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. This embodiment uses Qualcomm's wideband code division multiple access (Wideband)

Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) / Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Multimode mobile phone platform MSM6280 is taken as an example. i Set the phone to be in the state of the battery. Referring to FIG. 4, the method of this embodiment includes the following steps: Step S402: Set the combination key to boot. In the embodiment, the A key + B key + C key is set to be turned on, and this is to prevent the user from accidentally operating and frequently enter the low battery mode. In step S404, it is determined whether the communication function needs to be started when the mobile terminal is used, and if yes, step S406 is performed, otherwise step S412 is performed. Step S406: Perform hardware initialization when the communication function needs to be started, enable the mobile terminal to start entering the main task, and lower the shutdown voltage, for example, set the shutdown voltage to 2.6V. Step S408, initializing the hardware module, preserving the power supply of the memory, the liquid crystal display (LCD) port, the keyboard interface, and the radio frequency module, and stopping the supply of power such as the T card expansion port, the audio power amplifier codec, etc. (but retaining the receiver ( Receiver) module). In step S410, the network search service is started, and the maximum transmit power in the network search strategy is appropriately reduced, for example, from 33 dB to 20 dB, and then the user operations such as initialization of the business card holder and standby are started. Step 4 gathers S412, performs hardware initialization, causes the mobile terminal to start to enter the main task, and reduces the shutdown. Voltage, for example, sets the shutdown voltage to 3.0V. In step S414, the hardware module is initialized, and the power supply of the memory, the LCD port, and the keyboard interface is reserved, and the power supply such as the T card expansion port, the audio power amplifier codec, and the RF module is stopped. Step S416, the memory read/write task is started, and after the card holder is successfully initialized, the idle process is directly entered, and the brightness of the display is lowered by one or two levels, and standby is waited for the user input. Two possible requirements are listed in the embodiment, namely no communication and no communication, but there may be other needs. In the above two application modes, the hardware can also completely power down some communication ports, such as unused GPIO ports, even partial memory, etc., and the brightness of the Twice backlight further reduces current consumption. In this embodiment, the operating frequency and operating voltage of the CPU can be adjusted according to the magnitude of the calculation amount. For example, if the CPU supports AVC and AFC, AVC and AFC technologies can be used simultaneously to control the power consumption of the CPU. The invention enables the user to smoothly use some functions of the mobile phone in a short time, such as short-time call, one or two short messages, booting up to find the address book in the mobile phone, etc., in the case that the mobile phone cannot be turned on normally due to insufficient power. User needs. The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes can be made to the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the scope of the present invention are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

Claim

A method for using a remaining battery power for a mobile terminal that is automatically powered off due to battery power, characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

Activating the mobile terminal; and

The shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal is lowered to below a normal shutdown voltage.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of activating the mobile terminal comprises the following steps:

The mobile terminal is activated in a predetermined manner.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

When the mobile terminal is activated and started, only a part of the mobile terminal including the main processor is powered according to the predetermined working mode.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the down regulating the off voltage of the mobile terminal comprises the following steps:

When entering an operation mode for searching for information stored in the mobile terminal, lowering a shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal to a maximum input voltage of the power management module of the mobile terminal or slightly higher than a positive battery of the mobile terminal Over-discharge voltage of the temperature coefficient charging and discharging circuit;

Upon entering the operational mode in which communication is possible, the shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal is lowered to an overdischarge voltage that is slightly higher than the positive temperature coefficient charge and discharge circuit of the mobile terminal battery.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein powering only a part of the mobile terminal including the main processor according to the predetermined working mode comprises the following steps:: searching for the storage in the mobile terminal When the information is in the operating mode, only the main processor and memory, display and input devices are powered.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein, when powering the main processor, only modules in the main processor that must be used in the predetermined operating mode are powered.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

When entering a working mode in which communication is possible, the power control policy is modified to enable the mobile terminal to The power is less than the maximum power for transmission.

8. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the steps of: adjusting the operating frequency and operating voltage of the CPU of the central processing unit to support current when the mobile terminal supports automatic frequency control and automatic voltage control The minimum operating frequency and minimum operating voltage required for the application in the operating mode.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: reducing backlight brightness of a display screen of the mobile terminal.

10. A device for using a remaining battery power, comprising:

a startup module, configured to start the mobile terminal; and a voltage down regulation module, configured to down regulate a shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal to a normal shutdown voltage.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the activation module activates the mobile terminal in a predetermined manner.

The device according to claim 10, further comprising: a power supply control module, configured to be only a part of the mobile terminal including a main processor when the mobile terminal is started and after being activated The device is powered.

13. Apparatus according to claim 12 wherein said power supply control module supplies power only to a portion of the modules within said device.

The device according to claim 10, wherein the voltage down-modulation module is configured to: when entering a mode for searching for information stored in the mobile terminal, lowering a shutdown voltage of the mobile terminal to the The maximum input voltage of the power management module of the mobile terminal is slightly higher than the over-discharge voltage of the positive temperature coefficient charging and discharging circuit of the battery of the mobile terminal; and when the working mode capable of communication is entered, the mobile terminal is turned off. The voltage is lowered to an overdischarge voltage that is slightly higher than the positive temperature coefficient charge and discharge circuit of the mobile terminal battery.

The device according to claim 12, further comprising: a power control module, configured to modify a power control policy to enable the mobile terminal to use power less than a maximum transmit power when entering an operational mode capable of communicating Launch.

16. The device of claim 12, further comprising: frequency and voltage modulation The whole module is configured to adjust the operating frequency and the working voltage of the CPU to the minimum operating frequency and the minimum operating voltage required for the application in the current working mode when the mobile terminal supports automatic frequency control and automatic voltage control. The device according to claim 10, further comprising: a brightness control module, configured to reduce backlight brightness of a display screen of the mobile terminal.