Intuitive energy management of a short-range communication transceiver associated with a mobile terminal

• US 20050282588A1
• Filed: 06/22/2004
• Published: 12/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Jalkanen, Janne, Linjama, Jukka
• Granted Patent: US 7,499,985 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10207 parameter settings related to power consumption of the interrogator
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10386 the interrogation device being of the portable or hand-handheld type, e.g. incorporated in ubiquitous hand-held devices such as PDA or mobile phone, or in the form of a portable dedicated RFID reader
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10405 the interrogation device including an arrangement for sensing environmental parameters, such as a temperature or acceleration sensor, e.g. used as an on/off trigger or as a warning means
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1615 Switching on; Switching off, e.g. remotely battery saving circuits associated with selective call operation H04W52/00; details of power consumption reduction in a PLL, H03L7/0802, H03L7/14, H03L2207/08, H03L2207/18; muting amplifiers by gain control see H03G3/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/027 by controlling a display operation or backlight unit
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The method, terminal and computer program product of the present invention are capable of adjusting the power consumption of short-range communication transceivers, such as RFID, IR transceivers or the like. Energy management of the transceiver is achieved by limiting activation of the transceiver to periods of user-interface illumination. The transceiver, therefore, uses less power because it is only activated by an intentional gesture by the user, i.e., a gesture that will initiate the illumination of a user-interface. In addition, the user of terminal is aware, via observation of the illumination, that the terminal is in an active transceiver reading state and, thus, the invention provides for a safe environment in which inadvertent reading of tags or data communication is lessened.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

a user-interface having illumination capability;

a short-range communication transceiver; and

a processor in communication with the user-interface and the transceiver that controls illumination of the user-interface and provides a transceiver-controlling input to the transceiver upon illumination of the user-interface.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the user-interface is further defined as a display.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the user-interface is further defined as a keyboard.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor that provides a transceiver-controlling input to the transceiver upon illumination of the user-interface further defines the transceiver-controlling input as an activating input.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor that provides a transceiver-controlling input to the transceiver upon illumination of the user-interface further defines the transceiver-controlling input as a cycle activating input.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor further provides a transceiver-controlling input to the transceiver upon de-illumination of the user-interface.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, herein the processor that provides a transceiver-controlling input to the transceiver upon de-illumination of the user-interface further defines the transceiver-controlling input as a de-activating input.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a sensor in communication with the processor that detects motion of the terminal such that the processor will control illumination of the user-interface upon sensing of a minimum motion threshold.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprises a sensor in communication with the processor that detects motion of the terminal such that the processor will control activation of the transceiver upon sensing of a minimum motion threshold.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a dedicated key in communication with the processor that, upon activation, controls illumination of the user-interface.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a dedicated key in communication with the processor that, upon activation, controls activation of the transceiver.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a keyboard having a plurality of keypads, wherein activation of any one of the plurality of keypads provides illumination to the user-interface.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a voice recognition module in communication with the processor that provides for voice activation of the illumination of the user-interface.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a voice recognition module in communication with the processor that provides for voice activation of the transceiver.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the short-range communication transceiver is further defined as chosen from the group of short-range communication transceivers consisting of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transceiver, Ultra Wide Band (UWB) transceiver, Bluetooth transceiver and an Infrared (IR) transceiver.

16. A method for controlling activation of a short-range communication transceiver associated with a mobile terminal, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an illuminating input to the mobile terminal;

illuminating a user-interface of the mobile terminal; and

activating the transceiver associated with the mobile terminal based upon illumination of the user-interface.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of providing an illuminating input to the mobile terminal further comprises activating any one of a plurality of keys on a mobile terminal keyboard.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of providing an illuminating input to the mobile terminal further comprises activating a dedicated illuminating key on the mobile terminal.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of providing an illuminating input to the mobile terminal further comprises providing a motion to the terminal to activate a motion sensor in the mobile terminal.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of illuminating a user-interface of the mobile terminal further comprises illuminating a display of the mobile terminal.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of illuminating a user-interface of the mobile terminal further comprises illuminating a keyboard of the mobile terminal.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of de-activating the transceiver associated with the mobile terminal after a predetermined period of time.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of de-activating the transceiver associated with the mobile terminal upon de-illumination of the user-interface.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of activating the transceiver associated with the mobile terminal based upon illumination of the user-interface further comprises activating a transceiver cycle.

25. A computer program product for activating a short-range communication transceiver associated with a mobile terminal, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code routines stored therein, the computer-readable program code routines comprising:

a first executable routine capable of detecting an illuminating input to the mobile terminal;

a second executable routine capable of illuminating a user-interface in response to the detection of the illuminating input; and

a third executable routine capable of activating the transceiver based upon illumination of the user-interface.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the first executable routine capable of detecting an illuminating input to the mobile terminal further defines the illuminating input as activation of any one of a plurality of keys on a keyboard of the mobile terminal.

27. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the first executable routine capable of detecting an illuminating input to the mobile terminal further defines the illuminating input as activation of a dedicated illuminating key on the mobile terminal.

28. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the first executable routine capable of detecting an illuminating input to the mobile terminal further defines the illuminating input as a motion to the terminal to activate a motion sensor in the mobile terminal.

29. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the second executable routine capable of illuminating a user-interface in response to the detection of the illuminating input further defines the user-interface as a display of the mobile terminal.

30. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the second executable routine capable of illuminating a user-interface in response to the detection of the illuminating input further defines the user-interface as a keyboard of the mobile terminal.

31. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the third executable routine capable of activating the transceiver based upon illumination of the user-interface further provides the capability to de-activate the transceiver associated with the mobile terminal after a predetermined period of time.

32. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the third executable routine capable of activating the transceiver based upon illumination of the user-interface further provides the capability to de-activate the transceiver associated with the mobile terminal upon de-illumination of the user-interface.

33. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the third executable routine capable of activating the transceiver based upon illumination of the user-interface further defines activating the transceiver as activating a transceiver cycle.