Power saving method for mobile communication terminal

• US 20070111764A1
• Filed: 01/03/2007
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Park, Won
• Granted Patent: US 7,912,517 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/574
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/027 by controlling a display operation or backlight unit
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0277 according to available power supply, e.g. switching off when a low battery condition is detected
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A power saving method for a mobile telephone is disclosed that can increase the useful life of a battery charge by temporarily turning off non-essential telephone functions not required for call transmission or reception. The method determines whether the remaining capacity of the telephone battery is smaller than a predetermined reference value. The power saving method includes the steps of setting an activation condition for non-essential telephone functions, detecting a state that satisfies the activation condition, measuring the remaining capacity of the telephone'"'"'s battery if the activation condition is satisfied, and controlling an activation operation of the non-essential telephone functions by comparing the measured remaining charged capacity with a reference value. The power saving method may include saving to and recalling from memory user preference settings when a user function is de-activated and re-activated, respectively.

Claims

1. A method for saving power in a mobile terminal, comprising:

measuring a remaining power capacity of a battery;

determining whether the remaining power capacity of the battery is smaller than a prescribed reference value; and

de-activating at least one non-essential telephone function when the remaining power capacity is smaller than the prescribed reference value, wherein deactivation of the at least one non-essential telephone function is not determined by a user and wherein when a power capacity of the battery is determined to be larger than the prescribed reference value, the mobile terminal is configured to allow operation of the at least one non-essential telephone function.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting an activation condition for the at least one non-essential telephone function.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the activation condition is set based on information received from a user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said information is received through a user menu provided by the mobile terminal.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said measuring is performed after the activation condition for the at least one non-essential telephone function occurs.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein said deactivation includes not performing the at least one non-essential telephone function when the activation condition occurs.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

storing the setting of the activation condition in a memory.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the mobile terminal allows operation of the at least one non-essential telephone function by recalling the setting of the activation condition stored in memory.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the power capacity of the battery becomes larger than the prescribed reference after a battery charging operation is performed.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-essential telephone function is one of a back-light, a vibration motor, an audio alert, or a display.

11. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a battery;

a detector to detect a remaining power capacity of the battery; and

a controller to de-activate at least one non-essential telephone function when the remaining power capacity of the battery is smaller than a prescribed reference value, wherein deactivation of the at least one non-essential telephone function is not determined by a user and wherein the controller is configured to allow operation of the at least one non-essential telephone function when a power capacity of the battery is determined to be larger than the prescribed reference value.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the controller sets an activation condition for the at least one non-essential telephone function.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the controller sets the activation condition based on information received from a user.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein said information is received through a user menu provided by the mobile terminal.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the controller determines whether the remaining power capacity of the battery is smaller than the prescribed reference value after the activation condition for the at least one non-essential telephone function occurs.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein said deactivation includes not performing the at least one non-essential telephone function when the activation condition occurs.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 12, further comprising:

a memory for storing the setting of the activation condition.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the controller allows operation of the at least one non-essential telephone function by recalling the setting of the activation condition stored in memory.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the power capacity of the battery becomes larger than the prescribed reference after a battery charging operation is performed.

20. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the non-essential telephone function is one of a back-light, a vibration motor, an audio alert, or a display.