JP2009027395A - Radio device, and communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent, as much as possible, communication failures due to the decrease in battery capacity caused by scanning operation, in a radio device. <P>SOLUTION: This radio device executes a scanning operation of confirming the existence of a call, while sequentially executing reception, in relation to respective reception channels; and when confirming that the call is present in any of the reception channel, the radio device moves to a reception state by that reception state (steps 22-24). The radio device comprises a detection means (step 25) that detects the remaining capacity of a battery supplying power to the radio device; intermittent means (steps 27, 28, 30, 31, 33 and 34) for making the scanning operation intermittent by arranging a predetermined reception stop period, without executing reception during a reception period of each reception channel in the scanning operation; and a determination means (step 25) determining the reception stop period in accordance with the remaining capacity of the battery detected by the detection means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention performs a scanning operation for confirming the presence or absence of a call while sequentially receiving each reception channel, and when it is confirmed that there is a call on any of the reception channels, the wireless device shifts to a reception state by the reception channel. And a communication method.

  Conventionally, a portable radio has a scan function for checking whether there is a call from another radio. The scan function is a function that performs a scan operation for searching for a call while sequentially receiving a plurality of channels. The radio always monitors the presence / absence of a call during a scan operation, and when detecting that there is a call in any channel, the radio ends the scan operation and outputs the received sound in that channel from the speaker.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a scanning function in such a conventional wireless device. When the execution of the scan function is started, as shown in the figure, the scan operation (steps 61 to 63) for checking the presence / absence of a call while sequentially receiving each of the reception channels 1 to 3 is repeated. When it is confirmed that there is a call in any channel, the scanning operation is terminated, and the process proceeds to an operation of outputting the reception sound in the channel having the call from the speaker.

  FIG. 3B is a timing chart showing the state of this scanning operation. As shown in the figure, the presence or absence of a call is confirmed while sequentially switching and receiving channels 1 to 3.

  In addition, as a technology related to this, for each channel, a channel scan is performed to check whether or not the received electric field strength is equal to or greater than a certain threshold, and to create a table storing the corresponding channels in the order of the received electric field strength. There is known a radio standby reception control technology that shifts to a standby operation on a channel if the radio can be used (see Patent Document 1). With this technology, when the channel is not stored in the table, the channel scan is repeated, and when the predetermined time has elapsed in this state, the sleep state is entered, and then the channel scan is performed again after the predetermined period elapses. Repeated intermittent channel scan operation is performed. At that time, by changing the length of the channel scan period and sleep period in the intermittent channel scan operation according to the elapsed time after entering the intermittent channel scan operation, the power can be consumed even when the radio is out of the communicable range. Consumption can be sufficiently suppressed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-190761

  However, according to the conventional example of FIG. 6 described above, it is necessary to operate the receiving circuit during the scanning operation. Therefore, when the scanning operation increases, the power consumption by the receiving circuit increases correspondingly, and the portable wireless device The decrease in the remaining capacity of the battery is accelerated. Accordingly, there is a problem that the battery capacity becomes insufficient in a relatively short period of time due to the scanning operation, and communication becomes impossible.

  An object of the present invention is to suppress, as much as possible, communication failure in a wireless device due to a decrease in battery capacity due to a scanning operation in a wireless device.

  In order to achieve the above object, the radio device according to the first aspect of the invention performs a scanning operation for checking the presence or absence of a call while sequentially receiving each reception channel, and confirms that there is a call on any of the reception channels. When the wireless device transitions to a reception state by the reception channel, a battery that supplies power to the wireless device, a detection unit that detects a remaining amount of the battery, and a reception period of each reception channel in the scan operation An intermittent unit that makes the scanning operation intermittent by providing a predetermined reception stop period in which reception is not performed, and a determination that determines the reception stop period according to the remaining battery level detected by the detection unit Means.

  Here, for example, a primary battery or a secondary battery corresponds to the battery. As the determining means, for example, there is one that determines the reception stop period so that the reception stop period becomes longer as the remaining amount of the battery decreases.

  In this configuration, a scan operation is performed to confirm the presence / absence of a call while sequentially receiving each reception channel, and when it is confirmed that there is a call on any of the reception channels, the reception state by the reception channel is set. However, since power for receiving is consumed during the scanning operation, the remaining battery level may become insufficient while the scanning operation is performed, and the wireless device may not be used.

  However, according to the present invention, the scan operation is made intermittent by providing a predetermined reception stop period during which no reception is performed during the reception period of each reception channel in the scan operation. Since the determination is made according to the remaining amount, the reception stop period is lengthened as the remaining amount of the battery decreases, and it is possible to prevent the communication from being disabled due to the decrease in the battery capacity as much as possible.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the intermittent means performs the intermittent operation of the scanning operation when the remaining amount detected by the detecting means is less than or equal to a predetermined value. It is characterized by that.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the wireless device according to the first or second aspect, the intermittent means confirms that the scan operation is intermittent and the call is made by the non-intermittent scan operation for a predetermined period of time. If not, it is performed.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the wireless device according to any one of the first to third aspects, the intermittent means performs the intermittent operation of the scanning operation, and the operation by the user during the non-intermittent scanning operation. It is performed when there is no predetermined period.

  A receiving method according to a fifth aspect of the present invention performs a scan operation for checking the presence or absence of a call while sequentially receiving each reception channel, and when it is confirmed that there is a call on any of the reception channels, reception by the reception channel is performed. A communication method in a wireless device that shifts to a state, wherein a detection step of detecting a remaining amount of a battery that supplies power to the wireless device and a predetermined time during which no reception is performed during a reception period of each reception channel in the scan operation An intermittent process for making the scanning operation intermittent by providing a reception stop period, and a determination process for determining the reception stop period according to the remaining battery level detected by the detection process It is characterized by.

  According to the present invention, since the scanning operation is intermittent and the reception stop period is determined according to the remaining battery level, it is possible to prevent communication from being disabled due to a decrease in battery capacity as much as possible.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a radio device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, this wireless device includes a microcomputer 11 that controls each unit, a battery 12 that supplies power to the wireless device, a receiving circuit 14 that receives radio waves via an antenna 13 and outputs an audio signal, Based on the audio signal from the receiving circuit 14, the speaker 15 that outputs audio, the speaker control circuit 16 that supplies the audio signal from the receiving circuit 14 to the speaker 15, and the operation key 17 for the user to input the operation to the microcomputer 11. And the microcomputer 11 includes a display unit 18 for displaying to the user.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process for performing a scan function in the wireless device of FIG. When the process is started, the microcomputer 11 first determines in step 21 whether or not the remaining amount of the battery 12 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. If it is determined that the value is equal to or greater than the threshold value, channels 1 to 3 are sequentially received in steps 22 to 24, and whether or not there is a call in each channel is confirmed. If it is determined that there is no call in any channel, the process returns to step 21. That is, while the remaining amount of the battery 12 is equal to or greater than the threshold value and no call is made, the normal scanning operation as shown in FIG.

  If it is determined in steps 22 to 24 that it has been confirmed that a call has been made on any channel, the scanning operation is stopped, the processing in FIG. 2 is terminated, and the received sound in that channel is output from the speaker. Move to operation.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step 21 that the remaining amount of the battery 12 is not equal to or greater than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step 25, and a time T for stopping the receiving circuit 14 is determined. The stop time T is determined as a value corresponding to the remaining amount of the battery 12. For example, the value of the stop time T is determined to be larger as the remaining amount of the battery 12 is smaller. Next, in step 26, channel 1 is received and whether or not there is a call is confirmed. If it is determined that there is no call, the operation of the receiving circuit 14 is stopped for a time T in step 27 and then the operation of the receiving circuit 14 is resumed in step 28.

  Thereafter, the same call confirmation and reception circuit 14 stop processing as in steps 26 to 28 described above are sequentially performed in steps 29 to 34 for channel 2 and channel 3, and then the process returns to step 25. That is, when the remaining amount of the battery 12 falls below a predetermined threshold, the intermittent scanning operation with the stop of the receiving circuit 14 in steps 25 to 34 is repeatedly performed while there is no call.

  FIG. 3A is a timing chart showing the state of this intermittent scanning operation. As shown in the figure, in this scan operation, a stop period T during which the operation of the reception circuit 14 is stopped is provided between the reception periods of the channels 1 to 3 for checking whether or not there is a call. That is, the scanning operation is performed intermittently.

  If it is confirmed in step 26, 29, or 32 that there is a call on any of channels 1 to 3 during this intermittent scan operation, the intermittent scan operation is stopped and The process is terminated, and the process proceeds to an operation of outputting the reception sound in the channel from the speaker.

  According to the present embodiment, when the remaining amount of the battery 12 falls below a predetermined value, the scanning operation is intermittently performed while the operation of the receiving circuit 24 is stopped for the time T determined according to the remaining amount. The power consumption of the battery 12 can be reduced as compared to before the remaining amount of the battery 12 falls below a predetermined value. At that time, by increasing the time T as the remaining amount decreases, the time until the wireless device becomes unusable can be considerably extended.

  Conventionally, when a stop period is provided when performing a channel scan for the purpose of selecting a channel with a good reception state, an intermittent scan is performed for every channel that stops operation every time all channels are scanned. . On the other hand, in this embodiment, although channel scanning is performed for the purpose of confirming the presence or absence of a call, since intermittent scanning for each channel in which a stop period T is provided between the reception periods of the channels 1 to 3 is used, Electric power can be further reduced. That is, if the interval of the reception stop period is the same for the intermittent scan for all channels and the intermittent scan for each channel, the former includes the time for frequency switching etc. in the scan period over all channels. Since this time can be taken in the stop period between the reception periods of each channel, the apparent scan time can be shortened. Therefore, although the number of reception channels allocated to the radio device is not large in practical use, according to the present embodiment, the power consumption can be reduced even a little.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing another example of a process for performing a scan function in the wireless device of FIG. This process is the same as the process of FIG. 2 except that the process of step 21 is replaced with the process of step 41 in the process of FIG. That is, in the example of FIG. 4, in step 41, it is determined whether or not it has been confirmed that there is a call for a predetermined time by a normal scanning operation in which steps 22 to 24 are repeated. If it is determined that the call has not been confirmed for a predetermined time, an intermittent scan operation (steps 25 to 34) with an interval of time T is performed as in the case of FIG. Other points are the same as in the case of FIG.

  According to this, when there is no calling for a predetermined time, the scanning operation is intermittently performed while the operation of the receiving circuit 14 is stopped only for the time T determined according to the remaining amount of the battery 12, so that The power consumption of the battery 12 can be reduced as compared with the normal scanning operation. At that time, by increasing the time T as the remaining amount decreases, the time until the wireless device becomes unusable can be considerably extended.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing still another example of processing for performing the scan function in the wireless device of FIG. This process is obtained by replacing the process of step 21 with the process of step 51 in the process of FIG. 2, and the other processes are the same as those in FIG. That is, in the example of FIG. 5, when a normal scanning operation that repeats the processing of Steps 22 to 24 is performed without confirming that there is a call, in Step 51, the predetermined time is kept without operating the operation key 17. Determine if it has passed. If it is determined that the operation key 17 has not been operated for a predetermined time, an intermittent scanning operation (steps 25 to 34) with an interval of time T is performed in the same manner as in the case of FIG. . Other points are the same as in the case of FIG.

  According to this, when the operation key 17 is not operated for a predetermined time during the normal scan operation, the scan is intermittently performed while the operation of the reception circuit 14 is stopped for a time T determined according to the remaining amount of the battery 12. Since the operation is performed, the power consumption of the battery 12 can be reduced as compared with the normal scan operation up to that time. At that time, by increasing the time T as the remaining amount decreases, the time until the wireless device becomes unusable can be considerably extended.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented with appropriate modifications. For example, in the above description, when the scan operation is intermittently performed (steps 25 to 34), when the remaining battery level is equal to or lower than a predetermined value (FIG. 2), the presence of a call is not confirmed for a predetermined period. (FIG. 4) or three cases in which the user operation has not been performed for a predetermined period (FIG. 5) are separately illustrated. Instead, the scan operation is intermittently considered in consideration of these three cases at the same time. You may make it perform. For example, the scan operation may be intermittentd when any one of these three cases is reached.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the radio | wireless machine which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process which implements the scanning function in the radio | wireless machine of FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing an intermittent scan operation and a normal scan operation in the processing of FIG. 2. 6 is a flowchart illustrating another example of processing for performing a scan function in the wireless device of FIG. 1. 7 is a flowchart illustrating still another example of processing for performing a scanning function in the wireless device of FIG. 1. It is a flowchart which shows the scanning function in the conventional radio | wireless machine.

Explanation of symbols

  11: microcomputer, 12: battery, 13: antenna, 14: receiving circuit, 15: speaker, 16: speaker control circuit, 17: operation key, 18: display unit.

Claims (5)

In the radio that performs the scanning operation to check the presence or absence of a call while sequentially receiving for each reception channel, and confirms that there is a call in any of the reception channels,
A battery for supplying power to the radio;
Detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of the battery;
Intermittent means for making the scan operation intermittent by providing a predetermined reception stop period during which no reception is performed during the reception period of each reception channel in the scan operation;
And a determining unit that determines the reception stop period in accordance with a remaining battery level detected by the detecting unit.   The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the intermittent means performs the intermittent operation of the scanning operation when the remaining amount detected by the detection means is a predetermined value or less.   The said intermittent means performs the intermittent operation of the scanning operation when the presence of the call is not confirmed for a predetermined period by the non-intermittent scanning operation. 2. The radio set according to 2.   4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the intermittent means performs the intermittent operation of the scan operation when there is no operation by the user for a predetermined period during the non-intermittent scan operation. The radio according to item 1. Performs a scan operation to check the presence or absence of a call while sequentially receiving for each reception channel, and when it is confirmed that there is a call on any of the reception channels, it is a communication method in a radio that shifts to a reception state by that reception channel. There,
A detection step of detecting a remaining amount of a battery that supplies power to the wireless device;
An intermittent step of making the scan operation intermittent by providing a predetermined reception stop period during which no reception is performed during the reception period of each reception channel in the scan operation;
A determination step of determining the reception stop period according to the remaining battery level detected by the detection step.

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