JPH03238933A - Portable radio electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To avoid useless polling processing by informing battery voltage information to an external device in a radio wave based on a detected battery voltage. CONSTITUTION:The state of a voltage of a battery 1 is always monitored by a battery voltage detection section 2 being a detection means. When, e.g. a comparison processing detects it that the battery voltage is lower than a prescribed value, an informing means (comprising of a control section 3, a radio module section 4, and an antenna 5 or the like) informs battery voltage information in a radio wave to an external device (host computer or the like) based on the detected battery voltage. Thus, the external device automatically monitors remotely the battery voltage of the portable radio electronic equipment and useless polling by the external device to a portable radio electronic equipment causing battery run down is avoided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to battery-powered electronic equipment, and particularly to portable wireless electronic equipment that performs wireless data communication.

[Prior art 1] Conventionally, as this type of portable wireless electronic device, a handheld terminal has been developed that is equipped with a miniaturized battery-powered wireless data communication function that integrates a wireless module and a data control unit that processes data. There is.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the past, even if the battery voltage decreased, it was not possible to notify the host computer, which caused the following problems.

(1) Even when a portable wireless electronic device has run out of battery and is no longer operational, the host computer continues to poll the portable electronic device, thinking that the device is still operating, resulting in wasted polling time.

(2) If a portable wireless electronic device or the like that has a sensor function and performs automatic measurements is operated unattended, the host computer will not be able to tell even if the device stops operating due to a dead battery.

(3) Since the operation stops when the battery runs out, data may be missed.

This invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, and the battery-powered device monitors the battery voltage status in other electronic devices and wirelessly reports the voltage drop occurrence state to an external device serving as a host device. , the external device can reliably recognize the operating status of each terminal, and the necessary terminal data can be read to the external device at a time when it can be operated normally. An object of the present invention is to obtain a portable wireless electronic device that can avoid wasteful polling processing for the wireless electronic device.

[Means to solve the problem]

A portable wireless electronic device according to the present invention is provided with a detection means for detecting battery voltage, and a notification means for wirelessly reporting battery voltage information to an external device based on the battery voltage detected by the detection means. It is.

[Operation 1] In this invention, the state of the battery voltage is monitored by the detection means, and when it is detected that the battery voltage has decreased below a certain value, the notification means notifies the external device based on the detected battery voltage. By wirelessly broadcasting battery voltage information, external devices can remotely and automatically monitor the battery voltage of portable wireless electronic devices, and external devices can avoid wasteful polling of portable wireless electronic devices whose batteries have run out, and receive necessary terminal data. It is possible to download data from portable wireless electronic devices at a time when the device can be operated normally.

[Embodiment 1] Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a portable wireless electronic device showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which numeral 1 indicates a battery as a power source, and a portable heat source! a1! Supply a specified amount of power to each part of the slave device.

2 is a battery voltage detection unit that detects the voltage of battery 1 and compares the output battery voltage value with a preset value to recognize the current battery voltage state and continue normal data processing. If it is recognized that the battery voltage has decreased to the extent that it is not possible, the control unit 3 is notified of the presence or absence of the effect. In addition,
The control unit 3 includes a ROM, RAM, etc. (not shown), and the RO
Data processing is executed according to the control program stored in M, and voltage information of the battery 1 is notified to the host computer 6 in accordance with a flowchart described later.

4 is a wireless module unit that wirelessly transmits necessary information to the host and receives information transmitted from the host. 5 is an antenna that transmits and receives radio waves. 6 is a host computer.

In the portable radio electronic device configured in this way, the voltage state of the battery 1 is constantly monitored by the battery voltage detection unit 2 serving as a detection means, and a comparison process is performed to detect when the battery voltage has decreased below a certain value. When the battery voltage is detected, the notification means (in this embodiment, it consists of a control unit 3, a wireless module unit 4, an antenna 5, etc.) wirelessly sends battery voltage information to an external device (host computer, etc.) based on the detected battery voltage. The time when the external device can automatically monitor the battery voltage of the portable wireless electronic device remotely, avoid wasteful polling of the portable wireless electronic device whose battery has run out, and drive the necessary terminal data normally. This makes it possible to download data from portable wireless electronic devices.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 2, the battery voltage drop notification processing operation of the portable wireless electronic device shown in FIG. 1 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a battery voltage drop notification processing procedure related to the portable wireless electronic device shown in FIG. Note that (1) to (6) indicate each step.

When the power switch of the main body (not shown) is turned on (1),
The battery voltage detection unit 2 should constantly detect the battery voltage of the battery 1. 2) The battery voltage detection unit 2 should determine whether the voltage has dropped below a certain constant level. 3) If No, the process is continued; if YES, the control unit 3 outputs data that notifies the host computer 6 that the battery voltage has dropped to the wireless module section 4 (4) Next, the wireless module section 4 modulates the data sent from the control section 3 into a signal for wireless communication. Shiku 5), Antenna 5
The data indicating the presence or absence of the voltage drop is emitted from the antenna 5 into the air as radio waves (6), and the process is completed.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the processing in the host computer 6 shown in FIG. In addition, (1
1 to (3) indicate each step.

It is determined whether a signal indicating that a voltage drop has occurred on the terminal device via the antenna 5 from the terminal is large enough to indicate that normal operation is not possible. 1) If N○, perform other processing, If YES, the polling process for the terminal device is stopped 2), a warning is displayed on the display unit (not shown) that battery replacement has occurred 3), and the process is terminated.

In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which the process is executed assuming a portable wireless handy terminal as the portable wireless electronic device, but the present invention can be applied to a telemeter device that performs automatic measurement without an operator.

Further, the power source may be one that functions as a driving power source like the battery 1 as shown in the above embodiment,
It is also possible to incorporate the above processing into a lithium battery circuit employed for memory backup.

[Effect of the Invention 1 As explained above, the present invention includes a detection means for detecting battery voltage, and a notification means for wirelessly reporting battery voltage information to external equipment based on the battery voltage detected by the detection means. This allows external equipment to reliably recognize the operating status of each terminal. Therefore, necessary terminal data can be read from the portable wireless electronic device to the external device at a time when it can be operated normally, and unnecessary polling processing from the external device to the portable wireless electronic device whose battery has run out can be avoided. . Further, it has many effects such as ensuring that battery replacement instructions are executed and enabling continuous operation of the portable wireless electronic device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a portable wireless electronic device showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows an example of a battery voltage drop notification processing procedure for the portable wireless electronic device shown in FIG. Flowchart to be Explained FIG. 3 is a flowchart to explain the processing in the host computer shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a battery, 2 is a battery voltage detection section, 4 is a wireless module section, 5 is an antenna, and 6 is a host computer. Figure 1 1: Battery 222-

Claims (1)

[Claims] A portable wireless electronic device that performs wireless data communication with an external device using power supplied from a battery includes a detection means for detecting battery voltage, and a method for transmitting data to the external device based on the battery voltage detected by the detection means. What is claimed is: 1. A portable wireless electronic device, comprising: reporting means for wirelessly reporting battery voltage information.