Terminal device and control method and program therefor

• US 9,398,530 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2013
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Iwaki, Yoshihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, SIU M
• Application Number:
  US14/647,921
• Publication Number:
  US 20150312854A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,126 Days
• Field of Search: 455/574, 455/572, 455/573
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/32 Means for saving power
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3228 Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0202 Portable telephone sets, e.g. cordless phones, mobile phones or bar type handsets constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. of speakers or microphones H04M1/03
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/027 by controlling a display operation or backlight unit
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0274 by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/028 switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A terminal device provided with an acquisition section for acquiring information on a network, a display section for displaying the information, and a control section for controlling to stop or suppress operation of a hardware section excluding at least the acquisition section. The operation of the hardware section can be stopped or suppressed while information is being acquired from the network, whereby power consumption can be suppressed by the amount of the operation stop or the operation suppression, and the battery life can be extended. Accordingly, an appropriate and suitable transition to a power-saving state can be made in accordance with a usage situation regardless of power-saving transition time, whereby unnecessary power consumption can be suppressed.

Claims

1. A terminal device comprising:

a communication section configured to acquire information on a network;

a display section for displaying the information; and

a processing section for controlling to stop or suppress an operation of a hardware section excluding at least the communication section while the information is being acquired by the communication section,

wherein the processing section is further configured to;

judge whether the information acquired by the communication section is mixed information of text information and image information; and

when judged that the information is mixed information of text information and image information, controls to stop or suppress the operation of the hardware section excluding at least the communication section only while the text information is being acquired by the communication section.

2. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the processing section is further configured to:

calculate an acquisition predicted time for the information to be acquired by the communication section,

control to stop or suppress the operation of the hardware section excluding at least the communication section while the information is being acquired by the communication section, when the acquisition predicted time exceeds a predetermined reference time.

3. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the processing section is further configured to:

calculate an acquisition speed for the information to be acquired by the acquisition communication section, and

to control a time that elapses before the operation of the hardware section excluding the communication section is stopped or suppressed in accordance with the acquisition speed.

4. A control method for a terminal device comprising:

acquiring information on a network;

displaying the information;

processing to stop or suppress an operation of at least a hardware section not required for the acquiring information on the network while the information is being acquired;

judging whether the information is mixed information of text information and image information; and

when judged that the information is mixed information of text information and image information, controlling to stop or suppress the operation of the hardware section excluding at least the acquiring of information only while the text information is being acquired.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a program stored thereon that is executable by a computer of a terminal device to actualize functions comprising:

acquiring information on a network;

displaying the information; and

processing to stop or suppress operation of a hardware section excluding at least the acquiring information on the network while the information is being acquired by the acquisition section;

judging whether the information is mixed information of text information and image information; and

when judged that the information is mixed information of text information and image information, controlling to stop or suppress the operation of the hardware section excluding at least the acquiring of information only while the text information is being acquired.