JP2002101193A - Mobile phone - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To prevent waste of battery power due to a display screen and improve the performance of a mobile phone such as a talkable time. SOLUTION: When a detection unit 24 detects that a call is in progress, a control unit 23 controls a switching unit 22 to stop power supply from a power supply unit 21 to a display unit 3 for displaying information on a screen and use the information. During a call in which the user cannot see the display screen, power consumption at the display hand 3 is avoided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable telephone provided with a display means such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), and more particularly to a technique for preventing a waste of operation power of the portable telephone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A portable telephone has a structure as shown in FIG. 1, for example, and operation buttons 1 such as "1" to "0", "*" and "@", and each function operation such as on-hook and off-hook. It includes a button 2, a display unit 3 composed of a liquid crystal plate or the like, a receiving unit 4, a transmitting unit 5, and an antenna 6. As described above, in a general mobile phone, the display unit 3 is provided on the same surface as the surface on which the receiving unit 4 and the transmitting unit 5 are provided, and by arranging the functional units on the same surface in this manner, When the user inputs a telephone number with the operation button 1, the number (12478705636 as shown in the figure) is displayed on the display screen 3 for confirmation, or the current date and time ( As shown, ○ month x day 9: 5
0) and a pet character image (not shown).

[0003] Such a portable telephone includes an earphone set 10 and an earphone microphone set (not shown).
Is provided with a connector socket 7. In the earphone set 10, the jack 11 is inserted into the connector socket 7 for connection, and the user inserts the earphone plug 12 into the ear for use.
The user can listen to the talk of the other party without putting his / her ear on the receiver 4. The earphone microphone set has a microphone provided in the vicinity of the earphone plug of the earphone set, so that the user can receive a call using the earphone plug and transmit using the microphone.

[0004]

Here, in the portable telephone provided with the display screen 3 as described above, the user makes a telephone call in a normal mode without using the earphone set or the earphone microphone set. In this state, as shown in FIG. 2, when the user touches the earpiece 4, the display screen 3 faces the cheek and cannot be seen by the user.

However, in the conventional portable telephone, even when the display screen 3 cannot be seen, the current date and time are displayed on the display screen 3 or the backlight of the liquid crystal display screen 3 is turned on. I was For this reason, the battery power of the mobile phone is wasted for the display screen 3 that does not look at the battery power, and important performances such as a standby time and a talkable time of the mobile phone are reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and has as its object to prevent battery power from being wasted on a display screen and improve the performance of a portable telephone such as a talkable time. Further objects of the present invention will be apparent in the following description.

[0007]

A portable telephone according to the present invention has a display means for displaying and outputting information on a screen, a function means for detecting that a call is in progress, and a function means for detecting that a call is in progress. Function means for stopping power supply to the display means.

[0008] Therefore, during a call is detected by, for example, detecting the operation of an off-hook button for making or receiving a call, and during a call in which the user cannot see the display screen, the power supply to the display means is stopped and the battery is turned off. Waste of power can be avoided. When the present invention is applied to a mobile phone having a so-called hands-free call function using an earphone set or an earphone microphone set, the handset may be detected by detecting that the jack 11 has been inserted into the socket 7. It is preferable to detect that the user is in a free call and release the suspension of power supply to the display means during a hands-free call in which the user can view the display screen.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically described with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. Note that, here, an example is shown in which the present invention is applied to a mobile phone having a hands-free call function using an earphone set or an earphone microphone set. The power supply to the display means may be stopped, and the object of the present invention of preventing waste of battery power can be achieved without significantly affecting the use of the display means.

FIG. 3 shows a main configuration of the portable telephone according to the present embodiment, and the same parts shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. 3, reference numeral 1 (2) denotes an operation unit including a number operation button and a function operation button, 3 denotes a display unit including a liquid crystal display screen, 6 denotes an antenna, 20 denotes a radio unit for performing transmission / reception processing, and 21 denotes a power supply including a battery. And 22, a switching unit composed of a switch for switching on / off the operating power to the display unit 3, and 23, a control unit composed of a program module for integrally controlling each functional unit provided in the mobile phone. The control unit 23 is provided with a detection unit 24 to execute such control.

The portable telephone operates by power supply from a power supply unit 21 to perform wireless communication processing by a wireless unit 20 in response to an input from an operation unit 1 (2), and to display an input telephone number, current date and time, and the like. Processing similar to that of a normal mobile phone, such as display output on the screen 3, is performed. In addition to this function, this mobile phone controls the supply of operating power to the display unit 3 by the procedure shown in FIG. It should be noted that such power supply control is not performed on the function units other than the display unit 3 and a predetermined function is executed.

First, when the main power switch (not shown) of the portable telephone is turned on and operated, a call waiting state is set (step S1). When a call receiving process or a calling process is performed and a call is in progress (step S2), a message is displayed. The power supply to the unit 3 is controlled. Here, the detection unit 24 detects whether or not a call is in progress. For example, the operation of an off-hook button for performing an incoming call or outgoing call is detected to detect that a call is in progress. Various methods can be adopted as long as the state of line connection can be detected, such as detecting that a button operation has been performed and detecting that a telephone call is being made.

When a call is detected in this manner, the detecting unit 24 detects whether the jack 11 of the earphone set or the earphone microphone set is inserted into the connector socket 7 and detects whether the telephone is in a hands-free call state. (Step S3). As a result, in the hands-free call state, the control unit 23 performs the normal communication control processing without controlling the power supply to the display unit 3, and the line is cut off by pressing the on-hook button or the like and the call ends (step S4). ), And returns to the standby state (step S1).

On the other hand, when the telephone is not in the hands-free call state, the control section 23 measures a predetermined time (for example, 3 seconds as a time required for operating the button and putting the earpiece to the ear) by the internal timer (step). S5) When the time is measured, the control unit 23 controls the switching unit 22 to cut off the power supply from the power supply unit 21 to the display unit 3 (Step S6). Therefore, in a state where the user does not look at the display screen 3 during a call, power supply to the display unit 3 is stopped to turn off unnecessary information display and backlight illumination, thereby wasting battery power of the power supply unit 21. Can be prevented.

Then, when the power supply to the display unit 3 is stopped, if any button other than the button for ending the call, such as the on-hook button, is operated (step S).
7) The detection unit 24 detects this, and the control unit 23 controls the switching unit 22 to restart the power supply from the power supply unit 21 to the display unit 3 (step S8), and display information on the display screen 3. Then, the user turns on the backlight and presents necessary information to the user (step S9). Therefore, information accompanying the user's button operation or necessary for the button operation is displayed on the display screen, so that operation convenience can be realized. After that, when the line is cut off by pressing the on-hook button or the like and the call is terminated (step S10), the state returns to the standby state (step S1). If the on-hook button is not pressed for a predetermined time (for example, 5 seconds) after the information display (step S9) (step S1).
0), the power supply to the display unit 3 is stopped by performing the processing after step S5 (step S5).

On the other hand, when there is no button operation as described above (step S7), when the on-hook button is pressed or the like, the line is cut off and the call ends (step S1).
1) The control unit 23 controls the switching unit 22 to restart the power supply from the power supply unit 21 to the display unit 3 (Step S12),
The user turns on the information display and the backlight illumination on the display screen 3 to present necessary information to the user (step S13),
It returns to the standby state (step S1).

In the above-described example, the power supply control to the display unit 3 is not performed in the hands-free call state. However, even in the hands-free call state, the user can make a selection setting from the operation unit 1 (2). Such power supply control may be performed, or the user may be able to selectively set whether to perform power supply control to the display unit 3 regardless of the hands-free call state. Further, in the above example, the power supply to the display unit is restarted when a button operation is performed during a call, but the power supply may be stopped until the call ends.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention,
During a call that does not require the operation of the display unit, the power supply to the display unit is stopped, so that the battery power, which is the operating power supply of the mobile phone, can be prevented from being wasted, and the standby time and talk time can be extended. The performance of the mobile phone can be improved by extending the period.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external configuration of a mobile phone.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a problem in a conventional mobile phone.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of a mobile phone according to an example of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of power supply control.

[Explanation of symbols]

3: display unit, 21: power supply unit, 22: switching unit, 23:
Control unit, 24: detection unit,

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A mobile phone having display means for displaying and outputting information on a screen, a function means for detecting that a call is in progress, and stopping power supply to the display means in response to detecting that the call is in progress. A mobile phone, comprising: