Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US20040192412?ie=ISO-8859-1
Timestamp: 2015-03-28 12:50:55
Document Index: 724608138

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 105', 'art 106', 'art 105', 'art 1022', 'art 1022', 'art 1023', 'art 1022', 'art 106', 'art 106', 'art 1026', 'art 106', 'art 1027', 'art 106', 'art 106', 'art 1026', 'art 1022', 'art 105', 'art 1023', 'art 1023', 'art 1022']

Patent US20040192412 - Cellular phone - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsAn object of the present invention is to reduce power consumption during a wait state to thereby extend battery life in a cellular phone having at least two processors, a processor for telephone functions that processes telephone functions, and a processor for application functions that processes application...http://www.google.com/patents/US20040192412?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US20040192412 - Cellular phoneAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS20040192412 A1Publication typeApplicationApplication numberUS 10/306,100Publication dateSep 30, 2004Filing dateNov 27, 2002Priority dateMar 14, 2002Also published asUS20060073854Publication number10306100, 306100, US 2004/0192412 A1, US 2004/192412 A1, US 20040192412 A1, US 20040192412A1, US 2004192412 A1, US 2004192412A1, US-A1-20040192412, US-A1-2004192412, US2004/0192412A1, US2004/192412A1, US20040192412 A1, US20040192412A1, US2004192412 A1, US2004192412A1InventorsTomoaki Ono, Shinya YamamotoOriginal AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManReferenced by (11), Classifications (13), Legal Events (1) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetCellular phone
US 20040192412 A1Abstract
An object of the present invention is to reduce power consumption during a wait state to thereby extend battery life in a cellular phone having at least two processors, a processor for telephone functions that processes telephone functions, and a processor for application functions that processes application functions. To achieve this object, a cellular phone of the present invention includes a display part, a processor for telephone functions that processes telephone functions, a processor for application functions that processes applications, and a switching circuit that switches the suppliers of a control signal to the display part, wherein the switching circuit performs switching so that a control signal from the processor for telephone functions is supplied to the display part during a wait state, and a control signal from the processor for application functions is supplied to the display part during application processing. Images(6) Claims(6)
1. A cellular phone including a display part, a processor for telephone functions that processes telephone functions, a processor for application functions that processes applications, and a switching circuit that switches the suppliers of a control signal to said display part, wherein: said switching circuit performs switching so that a control signal from said processor for telephone functions is supplied to said display part during await state, and a control signal from said processor for application functions is supplied to said display part during application processing; and said processor for application functions has application processing mode and standby mode, and controls said switching circuit so that, during said standby mode, the supplier of a control signal to said display part is said processor for telephone functions. 2. The cellular phone according to claim 1, wherein said display part includes a main display part and a secondary display part, and a control signal to said main display part is switched by said switching circuit. 3. A cellular phone including a display part, a processor for telephone functions that processes telephone functions, a processor for application functions that processes applications, and a switching circuit that switches the suppliers of a control signal to said display part, wherein: said switching circuit performs switching so that a control signal from said processor for telephone functions is supplied to said display part during a wait state, and a control signal from said processor for application functions is supplied to said display part during application processing; and said display part includes a main display part and a secondary display part, and said secondary display part is controlled by said processor for telephone functions. 4. The cellular phone according to claim 1, wherein the cellular phone has a fold-down structure with two enclosures engaged by a hinge, is provided with a detecting circuit for detecting that the cellular phone is folded down, and goes to a wait state when it is detected by the detecting circuit that the cellular phone is folded down. 5. The cellular phone according to claim 3, wherein the cellular phone has a fold-down structure with two enclosures engaged by a hinge, is provided with a detecting circuit for detecting that the cellular phone is folded down, and goes to a wait state when it is detected by the detecting circuit that the cellular phone is folded down. 6. A fold-down cellular phone with two enclosures engaged by a hinge, including a display part, a processor for telephone functions that processes telephone functions, a processor for application functions that processes applications, and a detecting circuit for detecting that it is folded down, wherein said processor for application functions has application processing mode and standby mode, and when it is detected by said detecting circuit that the cellular phone is folded down, said processor for application functions goes to said standby mode. Description
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [0024] A first embodiment of the present invention is described using FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a cellular phone according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the reference number 101 designates a processor for telephone functions; 102, a processor for application functions that performs processing on applications; 103, a main display unit for primarily making display related to applications such as moving pictures; 104, a secondary display unit for primarily making display related to telephone functions; 105, a wireless function part for performing wireless communications with a base station; and 106, an audio function part for pronouncing a call arrival sound and sound data of moving pictures. [0025] In this embodiment, in a wait state (that is, a wait state of an entire cellular phone) in which communications or application execution is not performed as the cellular phone, both the processor 101 for telephone functions and the processor 102 for application functions take standby mode to reduce power consumption. However, the processor 101 for telephone functions are periodically activated to check the condition of radio waves and other conditions even during the wait state, and performs communications with a base station through the wireless function part 105 to display the conditions on the secondary display unit 104. The above described state of standby mode for reducing power consumption refers to a function referred to as power save mode or sleep mode that controls processing within a processor to reduce power consumption. For example, the technique of stopping or limiting the operation of processing blocks not used, the technique of reducing an operation clock to slow down processing, and other techniques are used to reduce the power consumption of a processor. It goes without saying that techniques for reducing the power consumption of a processor are not limited to the above described techniques. During communication, only the processor 101 for telephone functions is activated to perform the same processing as described above. When an application is being executed, both the processor 101 for telephone functions and the processor 102 for application functions are activated to perform the control of display to the secondary display unit 104 and the main display unit 103, the control of sounds to the audio function part 106, and necessary control of blocks not shown. By this arrangement, during the wait state, the processor 101 for telephone functions is activated only occasionally, resulting in reduction in power consumption. [0026] Next, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, a switching means for control signals is described in detail. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a switching means for switching a display control signal to the main display unit 103. In FIG. 2, the reference number 1021 designates a switching means for switching a display control signal to the main display unit 103; 1022, a display control part for telephone that produces a display control signal within the processor 101 for telephone functions; and 1023, a display control part for application that produces a display control signal within the processor 202 for application functions. [0027] During the wait state, as described previously, both the processor 101 for telephone functions and the processor 102 for application functions take standby mode to reduce power consumption. However, the processor 101 for telephone functions is periodically activated to check the condition of radio waves and other conditions even during the wait state, performs communications with a base station to check conditions through the wireless function part 105, and displays information about required communication functions at least on the secondary display unit 104 under control of the display control part 1022 for telephone. [0028] The processor 102 for application functions has two modes, standby mode and application processing mode. During the standby mode, control signals from the display control part 1022 for telephone (the processor 101 for telephone functions) are outputted from the switching means 1021 to the main display unit 103 so that information on telephone functions such as the condition of radio waves can be displayed on the main display unit 103. During the application processing mode, the processor 102 for application functions outputs control signals from the display control part 1023 for application and they are outputted from the switching means 1021 to the main display unit 103 so that information on the application is displayed on the main display unit 103. [0029] As described above, the switching means 1021 switches the suppliers of a display control signal to the main display unit 103 between during the wait state and during application execution, and the switching control of the switching means 1021 is performed by the processor 102 for application functions. [0030] Herein, further details will be are given. To display information regarding telephone functions on the secondary display unit 104 (and the main display unit 103 as required) during the wait state requires processing power of about 1 MIPS (mega instructions per second). To display images and the like regarding an application on the main display unit 103 during application execution requires processing power of about 100 MIPS. Thus, processing power required for the display units greatly differ for display processing during execution of telephone functions and display processing during application execution. Processing power of about 1 MIPS can be achieved by the processor 101 for telephone functions, which has relatively low processing power. For this reason, in cases where application processing is required, the processor 102 for application functions is activated so that the main display unit 103 is made to perform display by control signals from the display control part for application, while, during the wait state, the main display unit 103 is controlled by control signals from the display control part 1022 for telephone within the processor 101 for telephone functions and the processor 102 for application functions is placed into standby mode. By this arrangement, power consumption can be reduced. [0031]FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a switching means for switching an audio control signal to the audio function part 106. In FIG. 3, the reference number 1025 designates a switching means for switching an audio control signal to the audio function part 106; 1026, a pronunciation control part for telephone that produces an audio control signal within the processor 101 for telephone functions; and 1027, a pronunciation control part for applications that produces an audio control signal within the processor 102 for application functions. [0032] When both the processors 101 and 102 are in standby mode (the wait state of the cellular phones), control signals from the pronunciation control part 1026 for telephone (the processor 101 for telephone functions) are outputted from the switching means 1025, whereby the audio function part 106 can produce sounds on telephone functions such a call arrival sound. During the application processing mode, control signals from the pronunciation control part 1027 for application (the processor 102 for application functions) are outputted from the switching means 1025, whereby the audio function part 106 can produce sounds on applications. [0033] As described above, the switching means 1025 switches the suppliers of an audio control signal to the main display unit 103 between during the wait state and during application execution, and the switching control of the switching means 1021 is performed by the processor 102 for application functions. [0034] Therefore, when telephone functions typified by a call arrival sound are activated, with the processor 102 for application functions kept in the standby mode, a call arrival sound can be issued from the audio function part 106 by a control signal from the pronunciation control part 1026 for telephone As a result, power consumption can be reduced. [0035] Although, in the above example, the switching means 1021 and 1025 are provided within the processor 102 for application functions, similar switching means may be externally provided. [0036] Although, in the above example, the switching means 1021 and 1025 perform switching according to a switching control signal outputted from the processor 102 for application functions, it goes without saying that they may perform switching according to a switching control signal from the processor 101 for telephone functions or they may perform switching according to a switching control signal from one of the processor 102 for application functions and the processor 101 for telephone functions, depending on a situation at that time. [0037] Although, in the above example, the processor 102 for application functions switches the switching means 1021 and 1025 to an output selection side of the processor 101 for telephone functions by a control signal during the standby mode, the switching may be made upon transition to the wait state. [0038] Next, a flow of processing for switching a display control signal to the main display unit 103 is described using FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing for switching the control sources of a display control signal to the main display unit 103. [0039] Power to the cellular phone is turned on (step S201). In step S202, power is supplied to required circuit blocks including the processor 101 for telephone functions and the processor 102 for application functions, required processing is started, and initialization such as position registration and condition checking is performed. In step S203, the controller of a display control signal to the main display unit 103 is changed to the display control part 1022 for telephone, and the processor 101 for telephone functions and the processor 102 for application functions are set in the standby mode to place the cellular phone into the wait state. [0040] For the duration of the wait state, in step S204, the processor 101 for telephone functions is activated every predetermined time to perform communications with the base station through the wireless function part 105 and display conditions on the secondary display unit and/or main display unit 103. In step S205, a telephone function such as call arrival or user input through an input means (not shown) is monitored, and if there is no call arrival or user input, control returns to step S204. [0041] If there is call arrival or user input in step S204, in step S206, whether application processing is required is judged by the processor 101 for telephone functions. If it is judged in step S206 that application processing is required, control goes to step S207, and otherwise control goes to step S211. [0042] In step S207, the processor 101 for telephone functions releases the standby mode of the processor 102 for application functions and changes the supplier of the display control signal to the main display unit 103 to the display control part 1023 for application (or the processor 102 for application functions that has shifted to the application processing mode changes the supplier of the display control signal to the main display unit 103 to the display control part 1023 for application). Thereby, the processor 102 for application functions, in step S208, performs application processing and makes a display corresponding to the application on the main display unit 103. In the next step S209, it is judged whether the application processing has terminated, and if not so, control returns to step S208 to continue the application processing. When it is judged in step S209 that the application processing has terminated, control returns to step S210, where the processor 102 for application functions changes the supplier of the display control signal to the main display unit 103 to the display control part 1022 for telephone, and the processor 101 for telephone functions and the processor 102 for application functions are shifted to the standby mode to place the cellular phone into the wait state. Then, control returns to step S204 to periodically check conditions, and call arrival or input is awaited in step S205. [0043] If it is judged in step S206 that application processing is not required, in step S211, a telephone function operation as typified by call arrival or an operation other than application processing, based on an input operation, and corresponding display processing are performed. If the processing terminates in step S212, control returns to step S204 to periodically check conditions, and call arrival or input is awaited in step S205. [0044] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention is described using FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a cellular phone according to a second embodiment of the present invention. It is understood that components shown in FIG. 5 that are identical to components shown in the first embodiment of FIG. 1 are identified by the same reference numbers and descriptions of them are omitted to avoid duplication. The internal structures of the processor 101 for telephone functions and the processor 102 for application functions are the same as those in FIGS. 2 and 3. [0045] This embodiment is an example of application to a fold-down cellular phone that consists of two enclosures engaged by a hinge. In FIG. 5, the reference number 107 designates an open/close detecting device for detecting whether the fold-down cellular phone is folded down. [0046] In this embodiment, when the open/close detecting device 107 detects that the fold-down cellular phone has been closed (folded down) by the user during execution of application processing, the processor 101 for telephone functions detects that the cellular phone has been closed, and notifies the processor 102 for application functions of the fact. In response to this notification, the processor 102 for application functions stops application processing in execution and shifts to the standby mode. The processor 101 for telephone functions is also put in the standby mode to place the cellular phone into the wait state. By this arrangement, the user has only to close the fold-down cellular phone to place the cellular phone into the wait state without having to perform operations for terminating an application, leading to an increase in usability. [0047] Instead of stopping the application processing in execution, the termination of the application processing may be awaited before transition to the standby mode. As a condition for transition to the standby mode, whether to stop or terminate the application processing may be selected by the user. [0048] Or, when it is detected that the fold-down cellular phone has been folded down, the following may also be performed. It is judged whether an application in execution involves a display to the main display unit 103 or makes no display to the main display unit 103 (or does not necessarily require a display to the main display unit 103), and if the application in execution involves a display to the main display unit 103, the application processing is stopped and the processor 102 for application functions and the processor 101 for telephone functions are put in the standby mode to place the cellular phone into the wait state. [0049] Although, in the above example, the output of the open/close detecting device 107 is sent to the processor 101 for telephone functions, it may be sent to the processor 102 for application functions. [0050]FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing for placing the processor 102 for application functions into the standby mode when the cellular phone has been folded down. [0051] When the fold-down cellular phone is closed (step S301) in step S302, the fact is detected by the open/close detecting device 107 (step S302). In step S303, when application processing is currently being executed by the processor 102 for application functions is judged by the processor 101 for telephone functions or the processor 102 for application functions. If application processing is in execution, it is stopped in step S304, and then control proceeds to step S305. If application processing is not in execution, control immediately proceeds to step 306. [0052] In step S305, the processor 102 for application functions shifts to the standby mode and control proceeds to step S306. It is judged in step S306 whether the processor 101 for telephone functions are in communication, and if so, the communication is continued until it terminates. On the other hand, if it is judged in step S306 that communication is not in progress, or it is judged in step S307 that communication terminates, control proceeds to step S308. In step S308, the processor 101 for telephone functions shifts to the standby mode to go into the wait state, and waits for a next telephone function as typified by call arrival or user input through an input means (not shown). [0053] Although, in the above example, application execution status is judged in the step S303 and communication execution status is judged in the step S306, the judgment processing may be bypassed to go to the step S304 or S307. When communication is in progress, although it is awaited in step S307 that the communication terminates, the communication may be stopped to go to the step S308. [0054] Although the switching of a display control signal and the switching of an audio control signal are separately described in the above embodiments, it goes without saying that the present invention may apply to both the switchings. [0055] Although the application of the present invention to ordinary cellular phones is described in the above embodiments, it goes without saying that the present invention can apply to PDA and other portable communication terminals having cellular phone functions (an antenna, circuits, a transmitter, a receiver, a display, and the like for cellular phone communications) if they have a processor for telephone functions and a processor for application functions. The cellular phones referred to in the present invention include portable communication terminals having these cellular phone functions. [0056] As has been described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a cellular phone having at least two processors, a processor for telephone functions that processes telephone functions, and a processor for application functions that processes application functions, wherein a switching means for switching a control signal to a display part is provided so that a control signal from the processor for telephone functions is supplied to the display part by the switching means during a wait state and at the same time the processor for application functions is placed into standby mode, thereby reducing power consumption during the wait state and extending battery life. Referenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS7058427 *Dec 3, 2002Jun 6, 2006Tlc Communication Technology Holdings LimitedOptimizing the consumption of a multimedia companion chip in a mobile radio communications terminalUS7653419 *Oct 23, 2003Jan 26, 2010Nec CorporationMobile phone with power saving functionUS8006269 *Mar 7, 2005Aug 23, 2011Sharp Kabushiki KaishaBroadcasting receiving apparatus, method for controlling broadcasting receiving apparatus, broadcasting receiving apparatus controlling program, and computer-readable recording mediumUS8285345 *Aug 28, 2009Oct 9, 2012Lenovo (Beijing) LimitedMobile terminal and method for switching states thereofUS8688104Mar 22, 2012Apr 1, 2014Intel CorporationRemote management over a wireless wide-area network using short message serviceUS20100056209 *Aug 28, 2009Mar 4, 2010Lenovo (Beijing) LimitedMobile terminal and method for switching states thereofEP1670146A2 *Dec 7, 2005Jun 14, 2006LG Electronics Inc.Power saving type mobile terminal for reducing power consumptionEP1883004A2 *Jul 10, 2007Jan 30, 2008Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.Apparatus and method for controlling operation of portable terminal having multimedia functionEP2149836A2 *Dec 5, 2002Feb 3, 2010IPG Electronics 504 LimitedOptimization of power consumption in an auxiliary multimedia processor in a mobile radiocommunication deviceEP2762881A1 *Jan 31, 2013Aug 6, 2014Sensirion Holding AGPortable sensor device with a gas sensor and low-power modeWO2012067774A1 *Oct 25, 2011May 24, 2012Thomson LicensingBluetooth sharing for multiple processors* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification455/574, 455/550.1, 455/566International ClassificationH04W52/02, H04B1/16, H04M1/73, H04B7/26, H04M1/00Cooperative ClassificationH04W52/0261, Y02B60/50, H04M2250/16, H04W52/027European ClassificationH04W52/02T8Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionMar 17, 2003ASAssignmentOwner name: HITACHI, LTD., JAPANFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:ONO, TOMOAKI;YAMAMOTO, SHINYA;REEL/FRAME:013892/0211Effective date: 20021129RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services