Measurement data collection method and portable information device

• US 20070192055A1
• Filed: 01/18/2007
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Vodafone KK (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nishide, Yasuhiro, Yamazaki, Jun, Kusuda, Hirohisa, Tsujino, Daisuke
• Granted Patent: US 7,469,197 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/150
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/00 Surveying instruments or accessories not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/00 Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units interface circuits for specific input/output devices G06F3/00 ; multiprogram control therefor G06F9/46; multiprocessor systems G06F15/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports

Abstract

A data collection unit (37) collects measurement data which satisfies a data collection condition designated by an application (33) and stores the measurement data in a temporary storage area (24). The data report unit (38) reports, to the application (33), measurement data which is stored in the temporary storage area (24) and satisfies a data report condition designated by the application (33). As a result, the load on the application 33 using a measurement result by a sensor in measurement data acquisition is reduced.

Claims

1. A measurement data collection method for collecting measurement data corresponding to a measurement result from a sensor and notifying an application operating in a portable information device of the measurement data, the sensor being arranged in the portable information device and measuring attitude angles about three axial directions of the portable information device, which are perpendicular to each other, and accelerations in at least two of the three axial directions;

said method comprising;

the condition designation step of causing the application to designate a data collection condition as a condition of measurement data to be collected;

the data collection step of collecting measurement data which satisfies the data collection condition and storing the measurement data in temporary storage means; and

the data report step of reporting, to the application, measurement data which is stored in the temporary storage means and satisfies a data report condition designated by the application as condition of measurement data to be reported to the application.

2. A measurement data collection method according to claim 1, further comprising the data request step of causing the application to issue a data request with the designated data report condition,

wherein the data report step is executed in response to the data request.

3. A measurement data collection method according to claim 2, wherein the data collection condition is a collection period.

4. A measurement data collection method according to claim 3, wherein the data which satisfies the data report condition is measurement data which is stored latest in the temporary storage means before the data request.

5. A measurement data collection method according to claim 3, wherein the measurement data which satisfies the data report condition is measurement data equal in number to the number of report data designated by the application in a reverse chronological order from a point of time of the data request.

6. A measurement data collection method according to claim 5, further comprising the number-of-reportable-data notification step of notifying the application of the number of reportable data when a notification request of the number of reportable data including measurement data which are stored in the temporary storage means and exist in the temporary storage means is received from the application between a preceding point of time of the data request and a current point of time.

7. A measurement data collection method according to claim 3, wherein the measurement data which satisfies the data report condition includes, of reportable data which are measurement data stored in the temporary storage means later than measurement data reported in response to a preceding data request and existing in the temporary storage means, measurement data equal in number to the number of reportable data designated by the application in a chronological order from the oldest data.

8. A measurement data collection method according to claim 7, further comprising the number-of-reportable-data notification step of notifying the application of the number of reportable data when a notification request of the number of reportable data is received from the application.

9. A measurement data collection method according to claim 1, wherein in the condition designation step, the data report condition is further designated.

10. A measurement data collection method according to claim 9, wherein

the measurement data which satisfies the data collection condition is measurement data which is notified from the sensor for the first time after designation of the data collection condition and the data report condition,

the measurement data which satisfies the data report condition is measurement data which satisfies the data collection condition, and

the data report step is executed immediately after the measurement data which satisfies the data collection condition is newly stored in the temporary storage means.

11. A measurement data collection method according to claim 9, wherein

the data collection condition includes threshold information indicating a data value range which is a range of a value of measurement data to be collected and one of a collection time and the number of collection data after designation of the data collection condition,

the measurement data which satisfies the data report condition is measurement data which satisfies the data collection condition, and

in the data report step, every time the measurement data which satisfies the data collection condition is newly stored in the temporary storage means, the stored measurement data is immediately reported to the application.

12. A measurement data collection method according to claim 9, further comprising the data request step of causing the application to issue a data request,

wherein the data report step is executed in response to the data request.

13. A measurement data collection method according to claim 12, wherein

the data collection condition includes a collection period, and

the measurement data which satisfies the data report condition is one of measurement data collected within a limit time in a reverse chronological order from a point of time of the data request and measurement data within the maximum number of report data in the reverse chronological order from the point of time of the data request.

14. A measurement data collection method according to claim 12, further comprising the number-of-reportable-data notification step of notifying the application of the number of reportable data when a notification request of the number of reportable data including measurement data which are stored in the temporary storage means and exist in the temporary storage means is received from the application between a preceding point of time of the data request and a current point of time.

15. A measurement data collection method according to claim 12, further comprising the data collection completion report step of reporting data collection completion to the application when storage of the measurement data which satisfies the data collection condition in the temporary storage means is finished,

wherein the application which has received the report of the data collection completion issues the data request in the data request step.

16. A measurement data collection method according to claim 15, wherein

the data collection condition includes a collection period, and one of a collection time and the number of collection data, and

the measurement data which satisfies the data report condition is measurement data which satisfies the data collection condition.

17. A measurement data collection method according to claim 15, wherein

the data collection condition includes a collection period, start threshold information indicating a range of a value of measurement data as a condition for a start of data collection, and one of a collection time and the number of collection data after designation of the data collection condition, and

the measurement data which satisfies the data report condition is measurement data which satisfies the data collection condition.

18. A measurement data collection method according to claim 15, wherein

the data collection condition includes a collection period and end threshold information indicating a range of a value of measurement data as a condition for an end of data collection, and

the measurement data which satisfies the data report condition is one of measurement data collected within a limit time in a reverse chronological order from a point of the end of data collection and measurement data within the maximum number of data in the reverse chronological order from the point of time of the end of data collection.

19. A measurement data collection method according to claim 1, wherein when a plurality of data collection conditions are designated, and data collection must be executed at a plurality of different collection periods, in the data collection step, the measurement data is stored in the temporary storage means at a time interval corresponding to a value of a greatest common divisor related to values of the plurality of data collection periods.

20. A measurement data collection method according to claim 1, wherein when the application is abnormally terminated during execution of the data collection step, a basic processing part to manage the application issues an instruction to stop execution of the data collection step.

21. A measurement data collection method according to claim 1, further comprising

the sensor operation start instruction event detection step of detecting occurrence of a sensor operation start instruction event to instruct a start of an operation of the sensor, and

the sensor operation start step of starting the operation of the sensor.

22. A measurement data collection method according to claim 21, wherein the sensor operation start instruction event includes at least one event selected from the group consisting of an operation start request of the sensor from the application, activation of the application, a key operation to instruct to start the operation start of the sensor, voice input to instruct to start the operation start of the sensor, arrival of time at which the sensor should start the operation, and detection of a state to make the sensor operate depending on the shape of the device in which the sensor is implemented.

23. A measurement data collection method according to claim 21, wherein

the portable information device is a mobile communication terminal device, and

the sensor operation start instruction event includes a call reception event.

24. A measurement data collection method according to claim 1, further comprising

the sensor operation stop instruction event detection step of detecting occurrence of a sensor operation stop instruction event to instruct a stop of an operation of the sensor, and

the sensor operation stop step of stopping the operation of the sensor.

25. A measurement data collection method according to claim 24, wherein the sensor operation stop instruction event includes at least one event selected from the group consisting of an operation stop request of the sensor from the application, stop of the application, a key operation to instruct to stop the operation stop of the sensor, voice input to instruct to stop the operation of the sensor, arrival of time at which the sensor should stop the operation, and detection of a state to make the sensor stop the operation depending the shape of the device in which the sensor is implemented.

26. A measurement data collection method according to claim 24, wherein

the portable information device is a mobile communication terminal device, and

the sensor operation stop instruction event includes a call reception event.

27. A portable information device comprising:

a sensor which measures attitude angles about three axial directions perpendicular to each other and accelerations in at least two of the three axial directions;

temporary storage means for temporarily storing measurement data;

data collection means for collecting measurement data which satisfies a data collection condition designated by an application as a condition of data to be collected in the measurement data from said sensor and storing the measurement data in said temporary storage means; and

data report means for notifying the application of the measurement data which is stored in said temporary storage means and satisfies a data report condition designated by the application.

28. A portable information device according to claim 27, wherein said data report means notifies the application of the data which is stored in said temporary storage means and satisfies the data report condition in response to a data request issued by the application.

29. A portable information device according to claim 27, further comprising sensor operation start means for starting an operation of said sensor when occurrence of a sensor operation start event to instruct a start of the operation of said sensor is detected.

30. A portable information device according to claim 27, further comprising sensor operation stop means for stopping an operation of said sensor when occurrence of a sensor operation stop event to instruct a stop of the operation of said sensor is detected.

31. A portable information device according to claim 27, further comprising a radio communication part to communicate with a base station of a mobile communication network.