Abstract:
A prompting method utilized in a wireless device is disclosed. The prompting method includes obtaining a signal strength value corresponding to a wireless system; and outputting a prompting signal, the prompting signal having a prompting signal characteristic for reflecting the signal strength value.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a prompting method and a wireless device, and more particularly, to a prompting method and a wireless device capable of prompting users about variation of wireless signal strength. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     As the technology evolves, wireless devices such as smart phones, tablets, etc., become an important part of human life. People may utilize the wireless devices via a wireless cellular system (e.g., the 2G/3G/4G wireless communication system) or a wireless local area network system (e.g., Wi-Fi) to perform functions such as voice call, web browsing, passing instant messages on the social network, information inquiry, etc. Received signal quality is highly related to a location of the wireless device and an angle of an antenna of the wireless device. When the received signal quality is bad, the location of the wireless device may be moved or the angle of the antenna may be rotated to obtain better received signal quality. In general, the signal strength is shown in a monitor of the wireless device, a user has to stare at the monitor so as to grasp the variation condition of the signal strength. However, under the condition of the user staring the monitor, the rotated angle of the wireless device is limited. In addition, the user may neglect obstacles in a neighborhood of the wireless device when moving the wireless device, and cause dangers. Therefore, there is a need to improve the prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide a prompting method and a wireless device capable of prompting users about variation of wireless signal strength. 
     An embodiment of the present invention discloses a prompting method, utilized in a wireless device, the prompting method comprising obtaining a signal strength value corresponding to a wireless system; and outputting a prompting signal, the prompting signal having a prompting signal characteristic for reflecting the signal strength value. 
     An embodiment of the present invention further discloses a wireless device, comprising an output module; a wireless module, configured to receive a signal from a wireless system and measure a signal strength value of the wireless system; a processor, coupled to the output module and the wireless module; and a storage unit, for storing a program code, the program code instructing the processor to perform following steps: obtain the signal strength value corresponding to the wireless system; and control the output module to output a prompting signal, the prompting signal having a prompting signal characteristic for reflecting the signal strength value. 
     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a wireless device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a prompting process according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of a wireless device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a wireless device  10  according to an embodiment of the present invention. The wireless device  10  may be a wireless device capable of performing wireless transmission via antennas and a wireless system, such as a smart wearable device (e.g., smart watch), smart phone, table computer, etc. The wireless system is selected from a wireless body area network system, a wireless personal area network system, a wireless local area network system, a wireless metropolitan area network, a wireless cellular system, or a wireless positioning system. The wireless device  10  comprises a wireless module  100 , a processor  102 , a storage unit  104  and an output module  106 . the wireless module  100  is coupled to an antenna Ant of the wireless device  10 , for receiving wireless signals from the wireless system, measuring a signal strength value RSS corresponding to the wireless system, and sending the signal strength value RSS to the processor  102 . The processor  102  generates a prompting information Sg according to the signal strength value RSS and sends to the output module  106 , and the output module  106  generates a prompting signal SO according to prompting information Sg. Moreover, the prompting signal SO comprises a prompting signal characteristic CH, for reflecting the signal strength value RSS, such that an user may determine a variation condition of the signal strength value RSS according to the prompting signal characteristic CH of the prompting signal SO. For example, the prompting signal SO may be a sound signal snd, the prompting signal characteristic CH of the sound signal snd may be a tone tn of the sound signal snd, and the output module  106  may be a speaker module. In such a situation, the processor  102  may generate the sound signal snd with different tone tn to the speaker module according to the various signal strength value RSS, and thus, the speaker module may generate sounds with the different tone tn, such that the user may determine the variation condition of the signal strength value RSS according to the different tone tn of the prompting signal SO. 
     The method of the wireless device  10  generating the prompting signal SO according to the signal strength value RSS can be summarized into a prompting process  20 .  FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of the prompting process  20  according to an embodiment of the present invention. The prompting process  20  may be compiled as a program code  108  to be stored in the storage unit  104 . The program code  108  may instruct the processor  102  to execute the prompting process  20 . The prompting process  20  comprises the following steps: 
     Step  200 : Start. 
     Step  202 : Obtain the signal strength value RSS corresponding to the wireless system via the wireless module  100 . 
     Step  204 : Generate the prompting information Sg, and send the prompting information Sg to the output module  106 , so as to control the output module  106  to generate the prompting signal SO, wherein the prompting signal SO comprises the prompting signal characteristic CH for reflecting the signal strength value RSS. 
     Step  206 : End. 
     According to the prompting process  20 , after theuser receives the prompting signal SO, the user may determine the variation condition of the signal strength value RSS according to a variation condition of the prompting signal characteristic CH. Specifically, in Step  202 , after the wireless module  100  receives wireless signal from the wireless system via the antenna Ant, the wireless module  100  may calculate the signal strength value RSS corresponding to the wireless signal, and send the signal strength value RSS to the processor  102 . Thus, the processor  102  obtains the signal strength value RSS corresponding to the wireless system via the wireless module  100 . Moreover, the signal strength value RSS may be different system parameters corresponding to different wireless systems. For example, for the wireless local area network system (e.g., Wi-Fi) or the wireless cellular system (e.g., the 2G/3G/4G wireless communication system), the signal strength value RSS may be a received signal strength indicator (RSSI). For the wireless positioning system (e.g., global positioning system (GPS)), the signal strength value RSS may be a carrier to noise ratio (i.e., CNR or C/N) of the wireless positioning system. 
     In Step  204 , the processor  102  generates the prompting information Sg and sends the prompting information Sg to the output module  106 , so as to control the output module  106  to generate the prompting signal SO. In an embodiment, the processor  102  may divide a range of the signal strength value RSS into several divisions. The processor  102  may control the output module  106  to generate the prompting signal SO with a different prompting signal characteristic CH according to which division the signal strength value RSS lies in, i.e., the processor  102  generates the prompting information Sg comprising the prompting signal characteristic CH, and sends the prompting information Sg to the output module  106 , so as to control the output module  106  to generate the prompting signal SO with the different prompting signal characteristic CH. For example, when the prompting signal SO is the sound signal snd, the prompting signal characteristic CH is the tone tn of the sound signal snd, and the output module  106  is the speaker module, in such a situation, the processor  102  may control the speaker module to generate the sound signal snd with the different tones tn according to TABLE I and the signal strength value RSS corresponding to different wireless systems, wherein different tones (or musical notes) represent the sound signals snd have different audio frequencies, and an audio frequency of a C 5  tone (which a musical note thereof is Do) is twice of an audio frequency of a C 4  tone (which a musical note thereof is also Do). Alternatively, in another embodiment, the output module may be a displaying module comprising a red light emitting diode (LED), a green LED and a blue LED. Hence, the prompting signal SO may be a displaying signal dsp displaying different colors. In this case, the prompting signal characteristic CH of the displaying signal dsp is the color COL of the displaying signal dsp. In such a situation, the processor  102  may transform the signal strength value RSS corresponding to different wireless system into the displaying signal dsp with different colors COL according to TABLE II. 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE I 
               
               
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 RSSI (dBm) of 
                   
                   
               
               
                 C/N of 
                 RSSI (dBm) of 
                 Wireless 
                 Tone 
               
               
                 Wireless 
                 Wireless 
                 Local Area 
                 tn 
                 Audio 
               
               
                 Positioning 
                 Cellular 
                 Network 
                 (Musical 
                 Frequency 
               
               
                 System 
                 System 
                 System 
                 Note) 
                 (Hz) 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                 &gt;50 
                 &gt;−50 
                 &gt;−55 
                 C5 (Do) 
                 523.25 
               
               
                 49~44 
                 −51~−60 
                 −55~−60 
                 B4 (Si) 
                 493.88 
               
               
                 43~48 
                 −61~−70 
                 −61~−66 
                 A4 (La) 
                 440.00 
               
               
                 37~32 
                 −71~−80 
                 −67~−72 
                 G4 (Sol) 
                 392.00 
               
               
                 31~26 
                 −81~−90 
                 −73~−78 
                 F4 (Fa) 
                 349.23 
               
               
                 25~20 
                  −91~−100 
                 −79~−84 
                 E4 (Mi) 
                 329.63 
               
               
                 19~14 
                 −101~−110 
                 −85~−90 
                 D4 (Re) 
                 293.66 
               
               
                 &lt;14 
                 &lt;−110  
                 &lt;−90 
                 C4 (Do) 
                 261.63 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE II 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 C/N of 
                 RSSI (dBm) of 
                 RSSI (dBm) of 
                   
               
               
                 Wireless 
                 Wireless 
                 Wireless Local 
               
               
                 Positioning 
                 Cellular 
                 Area Network 
               
               
                 System 
                 System 
                 System 
                 Color COL 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 &gt;50 
                 &gt;−50 
                 &gt;−55 
                 Red 
               
               
                 49~44 
                 −51~−60 
                 −55~−60 
                 Orange 
               
               
                 43~48 
                 −61~−70 
                 −61~−66 
                 Yellow 
               
               
                 37~32 
                 −71~−80 
                 −67~−72 
                 Green 
               
               
                 31~26 
                 −81~−90 
                 −73~−78 
                 Blue 
               
               
                 25~20 
                  −91~−100 
                 −79~−84 
                 Indigo 
               
               
                 19~14 
                 −101~−110 
                 −85~−90 
                 Violet 
               
               
                 &lt;14 
                 &lt;−110  
                 &lt;−90 
                 Black 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     In addition, to prevent the signal strength value RSS sent from the wireless module  100  to the processor  102  from having rapid variation due to surge current or other factors, affecting determination of signal strength by the user, the processor  102  may perform a moving average (MA) or other average operation on the signal strength value RSS received from the wireless module  10 , and then convert the averaged signal strength value RSS into the prompting signal SO with the prompting signal characteristic CH. 
     In another perspective, when the variation of the signal strength value RSS is not sufficient to cross the divisions either in TABLE I or TABLE II, due to small gain of the antenna Ant or other factors, to generate different prompting signal SO with different prompting signal characteristic CH, the processor  102  may automatically convert the signal strength value RSS into a sensitivity level Δ of the prompting signal SO, and generate the prompting signal SO with different prompting signal characteristic CH according to the signal strength value RSS and the sensitivity level Δ. For example, in an environment of the wireless cellular system, no matter how the user moves or rotates the wireless device  10 , the RSSI received by the processor  102  may always be within a region which is greater than −89.8 dBm and smaller than −81.3 dBm, and thus, according to TABLE I (or TABLE II), the wireless device  10  would output the prompting signal SO with the same prompting signal characteristic CH, no matter how the user moves or rotates the wireless device  10 . In this case, it is hard for the user to determine the variation condition of the signal strength value RSS according to the prompting signal SO. To bypass this problem, the processor  102  may automatically convert the signal strength value RSS into the sensitivity level Δ of the prompting signal SO, and generate the prompting signal SO with different prompting signal characteristic CH according to the signal strength value RSS and the sensitivity level Δ. 
     Specifically, in an embodiment, suppose that the signal strength value RSS received by the processor  102  at a specific time instant t 0  is an signal strength value RSS 0 , the processor  102  may divide a range of the signal strength value RSS into a plurality of intervals according to the signal strength value RSS 0  and the sensitivity level Δ, and generate the prompting signal SO with different prompting signal characteristic CH according to the signal strength values RSS received after the time instant t 0 . For example, the processor  102  may take the signal strength value RSS 0  as a center and the sensitivity level Δ as a width, and form an interval centering at the signal strength value RSS 0  with width of the sensitivity level Δ (i.e., the interval which the signal strength value RSS is greater than the signal strength value RSS 0 −0.5 Δ and smaller than RSS 0 +0.5 Δ). Further, the processor  102  may extend 4 intervals upward and 3 intervals downward (as TABLE III shows). Therefore, after the time instant t 0 , the processor  102  may map the received signal strength value RSS to the different prompting signal characteristic CH according to the 8 intervals in TABLE III, so as to control the output module  106  to generate the prompting signal SO with different prompting signal characteristics CH, i.e., the sound signal snd with different tones tn. Take RSSI being the signal strength value RSS as an example, when the signal strength value RSS received at the specific time instant t 0  is −85 dBm and the sensitivity level Δ is 1 dBm, if the signal strength value RSS received by the processor  102  after the time instant t 0  is −83 dBm, which lies in an interval between −83.5 dBm and −82.5 dBm, the processor  102  may control the output module  106  to generate the prompting signal SO with the tone tn as A4 (a musical note thereof is La). Therefore, the user may accurately grasp the subtle variation of the signal strength value RSS. 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
             
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                 TABLE III 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Audio 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Tone tn (Musical 
                 Frequency 
               
               
                   
                 the signal strength value RSS 
                 Note) 
                 (Hz) 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 &gt;RSS0 + 3.5Δ 
                 C5 (Do) 
                 523.25 
               
               
                   
                 RSS0 + 2.5Δ~RSS0 + 3.5Δ 
                 B4 (Si) 
                 493.88 
               
               
                   
                 RSS0 + 1.5Δ~RSS0 + 2.5Δ 
                 A4 (La) 
                 440.00 
               
               
                   
                 RSS0 + 0.5Δ~RSS0 + 1.5Δ 
                 G4 (Sol) 
                 392.00 
               
               
                   
                 RSS0 − 0.5Δ~RSS0 + 0.5Δ 
                 F4 (Fa) 
                 349.23 
               
               
                   
                 RSS0 − 1.5Δ~RSS0 − 0.5Δ 
                 E4 (Mi) 
                 329.63 
               
               
                   
                 RSS0 − 2.5Δ~RSS0 − 1.5Δ 
                 D4 (Re) 
                 293.66 
               
               
                   
                 &lt;RSS0 − 2.5Δ 
                 C4 (Do) 
                 261.63 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     In another perspective, the processor  102  may generate the sensitivity level Δ according to a time variation condition of the signal strength value RSS. For example, the time variation condition may be an amount of change of the signal strength value RSS within a certain period of time. In an embodiment, if the amount of change of the signal strength value RSS within a period of time T is smaller than a certain value, the processor  102  may generate the sensitivity level Δ as 1 dBm. Moreover, the amount of change of the signal strength value RSS may be selected from statistics, such as full range, standard deviation, etc., of the signal strength value RSS received by the processor  102  within the certain period of time, and not limited herein. 
     Furthermore,  FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of a wireless device  30  according to an embodiment of the present invention. The wireless device  30  is similar to the wireless device  10 , and thus, same symbols employ the same notations. Different from the wireless device  10 , the wireless device  30  comprises a sensor  300 . The sensor  300  may be a gravity sensor (G Sensor), for sensing a dynamic condition, such as shifting, rotation, etc., of the wireless device  30 . The sensor  300  may further send the dynamic condition of the wireless device  30  to the processor  102 , and the processor  102  may generate the sensitivity level Δ according to the time variation condition and the dynamic condition of the wireless device  30 . For example, if the sensor  300  senses a shift of the wireless device  30  within the time period T is greater than a specific shifting value, and the amount of change of the signal strength value RSS is smaller than a specific value, which represents the wireless device  30  is moved by the user but no significant change of the prompting signal characteristic CH of the prompting signal SO is caused, the processor  102  may generate the sensitivity level Δ with smaller value (i.e., 0.5 dBm), to generate the prompting signal SO with a different prompting signal characteristic CH. Therefore, the user may accurately grasp the subtle variation of the signal strength value RSS. 
     According to the prompting process  20 , the wireless device of the present invention may generate the prompting signal according to the signal strength value, wherein the prompting signal has the prompting signal characteristic for reflecting the variation condition of the signal strength value. The user does not have to stare at the monitor of the wireless device, but grasp the variation condition of the signal strength value when shifting or rotating the wireless device, to obtain better received signal quality. Notably, the embodiments stated in the above are utilized for illustrating concepts of the present invention. Those skilled in the art may make modifications and alternations accordingly, and not limited herein. For example, in the embodiment stated in the above, the processor  102  divides the range of the signal strength value RSS into several divisions, which is not limited thereto. The processor  102  may map the signal strength value RSS to the sound signal snd with a specific audio frequency, wherein the mapping relationship is:
 
Audio Frequency= F (RSS)  (eqn. 1);
 
wherein F( ) represent a continuous monotonic function, which may be a monotonic increasing function or a monotonic decreasing function, and not limited herein. In addition, the prompting signal characteristic CH of the prompting signal SO is not limited to be a tone (or an audio frequency) of the sound signal or a color of the displaying signal. The prompting signal characteristic CH of the prompting signal SO may also be a volume of the sound signal or a brightness of the displaying signal. In addition, the sensitivity level Δ is not limited to be automatically generated by the processor  102 , the sensitivity level Δ may be manually input by the user, so as to grasp the subtle variation of the signal strength value RSS.
 
     In summary, the wireless device of the present invention may generate the prompting signal according to the signal strength value, wherein the prompting signal has the prompting signal characteristic for reflecting the variation condition of the signal strength value. The user does not have to stare at the monitor of the wireless device, but grasp the variation condition of the signal strength value when shifting or rotating the wireless device, to obtain better received signal quality. 
     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.