Power saving method for mobile communication terminal

• US 7,242,971 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2002
• Issued: 07/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Park, Won Hyung
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Pablo N.
• Application Number:
  US10/117,058
• Publication Number:
  US 20020177475A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,919 Days
• Field of Search: 455/423, 455/13.4, 455/550.1, 455/574, 455/572, 455/579.1, 455/579.3, 455/90.3, 455/343.1, 455/343.2, 455/343.3, 455/343.4, 455/343.5, 455/343.6, 455/556.1, 455/127.1, 455/127.5, 455/550, 455/343, 455/556, 455/127, 455/211, 455/566, 455/414.1, 455/561, 455/524, 379/433.06, 379/433.07, 379/368, 345211-214, 345/102
• 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 power saving method for a mobile terminal, comprising:

determining a setting of an activation condition for at least one user function;

measuring a remaining power capacity of a battery if the activation condition occurs; and

controlling the at least one user function based on the remaining power capacity of the battery,

wherein controlling the at least one user function comprises;

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

storing the setting of the activation condition in a memory if the remaining power capacity of the battery is smaller than the prescribed reference value; and

deactivating the at least one user function from the enabled activation condition irrespective of the setting of the activation condition for the at least one user function.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the activation condition is determined by inputs from a user menu.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one user function comprise non-essential telephone functions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one user function comprises at least one of a back-light, a vibration motor, an audio alert, and a display.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the activation condition is that a back-light is activated when a flip is opened on a flip-type mobile telephone.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the activation condition is that a vibration motor is activated when an incoming telephone call is detected.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the activation condition is that a back-light is activated when a key button is pressed.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the activation condition is that a back-light is activated when an incoming telephone call is detected.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the at least one user function further comprises activating user functions in accordance with the enabled activation condition if the remaining power capacity of a battery is larger than the prescribed reference value.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the at least one user function further comprises:

recalling the setting of the activation condition stored in the memory if the remaining power capacity of the battery is increased above the prescribed reference value;

setting the activation condition in accordance with the recalled setting; and

activating user functions in accordance with the activation condition.

11. he method of claim 1, wherein the setting of the activation condition is changed from an enabled condition to a disabled condition if the remaining power capacity of a battery is lower than a prescribed value.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the setting of the activation condition for the user function is one of enabled and disabled.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the setting is enabled when the user function is activated and disabled when the user function is deactivated.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the activation condition setting is selected from a user menu.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the user function comprises at least one of a back-light, a motor, an audio alert and a display.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the user function comprises non-essential telephone functions.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing said user function in accordance with the set activation condition if the remaining power capacity of the battery is larger than the prescribed reference value.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recalling the activation setting condition setting from the memory if the remaining power capacity of the battery is increased above the prescribed reference value;

setting the recalled activation condition setting; and

performing the user functions in accordance with the activation condition setting.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one user function comprises a vibration motor, and a force of the vibration motor is reduced but not completely deactivated when the remaining power capacity of the battery is smaller than the prescribed reference value.

20. A power saving method for a mobile communication terminal, comprising:

determining an activation condition setting for a user function;

detecting whether the activation condition is satisfied;

measuring a remaining power capacity of a battery if the activation condition is satisfied;

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

storing in a memory said activation condition setting if the remaining power capacity of the battery is smaller than the prescribed reference value, and de-activating the corresponding user function regardless of the activation condition setting for the user function.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the user function comprises a vibration motor, and a force of the vibration motor is reduced but not completely deactivated when the remaining power capacity of the battery is smaller than the prescribed reference value.

22. A mobile communication terminal, comprising:

means for controlling a plurality of user functions;

means for detecting a remaining power capacity of a battery;

means for automatically deactivating at least one of the plurality of user functions in accordance with the remaining power capacity of the battery; and

means for automatically reactivating the at least one deactivated user function,

wherein the means for automatically deactivating at least one of the plurality of user functions comprises;

means for determining whether the remaining power capacity of the battery is less than a prescribed reference value;

means for storing an activation condition of the at least one of the plurality of user functions if the remaining power capacity of the battery is less than a prescribed reference value; and

means for switching-off the at least one of the plurality of user functions if the remaining power capacity of the battery is less than the prescribed reference value without consideration of an activation condition input by a user.

23. The terminal of claim 22, wherein the means for controlling a plurality of user functions comprises:

means for setting an activation condition for at least one of the plurality of user functions;

means for activating the at least one of the user functions in accordance with said activation condition.

24. The terminal of claim 22, wherein the means for detecting the remaining power capacity of the battery comprises means for measuring a voltage of the battery.

25. The terminal of claim 22, wherein the means for reactivating the at least one deactivated user function comprises:

means for recalling an activation condition of the user function from a memory if the remaining power capacity of the battery is greater than a prescribed reference value; and

means for re-setting the recalled activation condition of the at least one deactivated user function to reactivate the at least one deactivated user function.

26. The terminal of claim 22, wherein the at least one user function comprises a vibration motor, and a force of the vibration motor is reduced but not completely deactivated when the remaining power capacity of the battery is smaller than the prescribed reference value.

27. An improved mobile communication terminal, wherein the improvement comprises:

configuring a mobile station modem to determine whether a remaining power capacity of a battery is below a prescribed reference value;

configuring the mobile station modem to store a current setting of a prescribed active user function in a memory if the remaining power capacity of the battery is below the prescribed reference value; and

configuring the mobile station modem to automatically deactivate the prescribed active user function if the remaining power capacity of the battery is below the prescribed reference value irrespective of the prescribed active user function.

28. The improvement of claim 27, further comprising:

configuring the mobile station modem to determine whether the remaining power capacity of the battery is greater than the prescribed reference value;

recalling the user setting from the memory if the remaining power capacity of the battery is greater than the prescribed reference value; and

activating the associated user preference in accordance with the user setting stored in the memory if the remaining power capacity of the battery is greater than the prescribed reference value.

29. The improvement of claim 27, wherein the prescribed user function comprises a vibration motor, and a force of the vibration motor is reduced but not completely deactivated when the remaining power capacity of the battery is smaller than the prescribed reference value.

30. A mobile communication terminal, comprising:

a mobile station modem configured to control at least one prescribed user function; and

a battery coupled to the mobile station modem to provide power to the mobile communication terminal;

wherein the mobile station modem is configured to detect a power reserve condition of the battery and deactivate the at least one prescribed user function if the power reserve condition of the battery falls below a prescribed threshold without referring to any user preferences for deactivating particular functions.

31. The mobile communication terminal of claim 30, wherein the mobile station modem is further configured to reactivate the deactivated at least one prescribed user function if the power reserve condition of the battery rises above a prescribed threshold.

32. The mobile communication terminal of claim 31, further comprising a memory coupled to the mobile station modem and configured to store a setting of the at least one prescribed user function prior to deactivating the at least one prescribed user function.

33. The mobile communication terminal of claim 31, wherein the mobile station modem further comprises a re-activator configured to reactivate the deactivated at least one prescribed user function in accordance with the detected power reserve condition of the battery.

34. The mobile communication terminal of claim 30, wherein the mobile station modem comprises a detector configured to detect the power reserve condition of the battery, and a de-activator configured to deactivate the at least one prescribed user function in accordance with the detected power reserve condition of the battery.

35. The mobile communication terminal of claim 30, wherein the at least one prescribed user function comprises a vibration motor, and a force of the vibration motor is reduced but not completely deactivated when the power reserve condition of the battery is smaller than the prescribed threshold.