JP6269716B2 - Receiver drive control method and receiver - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for driving and controlling a receiving unit that receives a satellite signal from a positioning satellite.

  A GPS (Global Positioning System) is widely known as a positioning system using positioning signals, and is used in a receiving device built in a mobile phone, a car navigation device, or the like. In GPS, using the time measured by the GPS receiver, the positions of a plurality of GPS satellites, pseudo distances from each GPS satellite to the receiving device, and the like are obtained, and finally the position is calculated.

  Among GPS receivers, there is known a GPS receiver that performs intermittent position calculation (intermittent positioning) that repeats a period during which position calculation is performed and a period during which position calculation is not performed in order to reduce power consumption ( For example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

JP 2001-42023 A JP 2009-175123 A

  The technologies disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 are based on the idea of realizing power saving by reducing the frequency of position calculation by focusing on the position calculation operation using the received signal of the satellite signal. It is. However, further power saving is required.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to propose a new technique for realizing further power saving of a receiver that receives a satellite signal.

  In a first mode for solving the above-described problems, a first drive control for intermittently driving a receiving unit that receives a satellite signal from a positioning satellite with a first intermittent drive pattern, and the first intermittent drive. Multi-stage drive control in which the receiver is intermittently driven with a multi-stage intermittent drive pattern in which the drive period in the pattern is a second intermittent drive pattern whose intermittent cycle is shorter than the first intermittent drive pattern. Is the method.

  As another form, in the receiving unit that receives the satellite signal from the positioning satellite, the first driving control that intermittently drives the receiving unit with the first intermittent driving pattern, and the first intermittent driving pattern The receiving unit is driven and controlled by switching between multi-stage driving control in which the receiving unit is intermittently driven with a multi-stage intermittent driving pattern whose driving period is a second intermittent driving pattern whose intermittent cycle is shorter than the first intermittent driving pattern. It is good also as comprising a receiving device provided with a control part to perform.

  According to the first embodiment and the like, the first drive control for intermittently driving the receiving unit that receives the satellite signal from the positioning satellite with the first intermittent drive pattern, and the drive period in the first intermittent drive pattern are set. The receiving unit is driven and controlled by multi-stage driving control in which the receiving unit is intermittently driven with a multi-stage intermittent driving pattern having a second intermittent driving pattern whose intermittent cycle is shorter than the first intermittent driving pattern. By performing the two types of drive control, the first drive control and the multistage drive control, it is possible to reduce the power consumption in the receiving unit and realize further power saving for the entire receiver.

  Further, as a second form, in the receiving part drive control method of the first form, a receiving part drive control method further comprising switching control for switching between the first drive control and the multistage drive control is configured. Also good.

  Furthermore, as a third form, in the receiver drive control method of the second form, the receiver further includes a second drive control for intermittently driving the receiver with the second intermittent drive pattern, It is good also as comprising the receiving part drive control method including switching any of 1st drive control, the said multistage drive control, and the said 2nd drive control.

  According to the second or third embodiment, various drive controls can be switched according to the purpose, and the power consumption can be more effectively reduced.

  As a fourth mode, in the receiver drive control method of the second or third mode, the switching control determines a switching destination according to a reception situation including at least the received signal strength of the satellite signal. It is good also as comprising the receiving part drive control method containing these.

  According to the fourth embodiment, by selecting the drive control switching destination according to the reception status including at least the received signal strength of the satellite signal, the appropriate drive control corresponding to the satellite signal reception status is selected. It becomes possible to drive and control the receiving unit.

  Further, as a fifth aspect, in the receiver drive control method of any one of the second to fourth aspects, the method further includes calculating a position based on a reception signal by the receiver, and the switching control includes It is good also as comprising the receiving part drive control method including determining the switching destination according to before and after position calculation.

  Before the position calculation, it is necessary to decode the satellite orbit data from the received signal, and there is a demand to operate the receiving unit as much as possible. However, since the position can be calculated for a while after the position is calculated without decoding the satellite orbit data, the operation of the receiving unit may be suppressed. Therefore, as in the fifth embodiment, it is possible to perform drive control of the receiving unit more flexibly by determining the drive control switching destination before and after position calculation.

  Further, as a sixth aspect, there is provided a receiver drive control method further comprising controlling a duty ratio of the second intermittent drive pattern in the receiver drive control method of any one of the first to fifth aspects. It may be configured.

  According to the sixth embodiment, by controlling the duty ratio of the second intermittent drive pattern, it is possible to intermittently drive the receiving unit while changing the intermittent period.

  As a seventh aspect, in the receiver drive control method according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the first intermittent drive pattern has a drive period of 20 milliseconds or longer, and the second intermittent The drive pattern may constitute a receiver drive control method in which the drive period is 1 millisecond or more and less than 20 milliseconds.

Explanatory drawing of a 1st power saving mode. Explanatory drawing of 2nd power saving mode. Explanatory drawing of 3rd power saving mode. The figure which shows the table structural example of an operation mode switching control table. Explanatory drawing of a 1st duty ratio. The block diagram which shows an example of a function structure of a portable telephone. The figure which shows an example of the circuit structure of a baseband process circuit part. The flowchart which shows the flow of a baseband process. The flowchart which shows the flow of an operation mode switching control process. Explanatory drawing of the setting method of a 1st duty ratio. Explanatory drawing of the setting method of a 2nd duty ratio. Explanatory drawing of the setting method of a 1st and 2nd duty ratio.

  Hereinafter, an example of a preferred embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described. The present embodiment is an embodiment to which a GPS (Global Positioning System) which is a kind of satellite positioning system is applied. However, it is needless to say that embodiments to which the present invention is applicable are not limited to the embodiments described below.

1. Principle In this embodiment, a GPS receiver that receives a GPS satellite signal transmitted from a GPS satellite that is a type of positioning satellite and calculates a position is assumed. The GPS receiver includes an RF receiving circuit unit that is a receiving unit that receives a GPS satellite signal, and a baseband processing circuit unit that calculates a position by performing signal processing on the GPS satellite signal received by the RF receiving circuit unit. Configured.

  In the present embodiment, the RF receiving circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit are driven and controlled in any one of four types of operation modes. The four types of operation modes are a normal mode and three types of power saving modes (first power saving mode to third power saving mode).

  The normal mode is a mode in which the RF receiving circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit are always driven. In this normal mode, since the RF receiving circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit are fully operated, the power consumption is maximized in all the operation modes.

  The power saving mode is a mode in which power consumption is reduced by intermittently driving the RF receiving circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit. The power saving mode is divided into three types of power saving modes according to a pattern (hereinafter, referred to as “intermittent driving pattern”) in which the RF receiving circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit are intermittently driven.

  The operation state of the baseband processing circuit unit includes an UP state and a SLEEP state. The baseband processing circuit unit sets each unit period as one of the UP state and the SLEEP state, with each unit period as one unit period defined by a time interval (20 milliseconds) determined according to the bit rate of the navigation message. It is controlled to be in the operating state.

In the UP state, processing for capturing a GPS satellite signal received by the RF reception circuit unit, position calculation processing, and operation mode switching control are performed.
In the SLEEP state, the process related to the operation mode switching control is executed without performing the capturing process and the position calculating process. In the SLEEP state, the operation clock may be reduced as compared with the UP state.
Hereinafter, the unit period in the UP state is referred to as “UP period”, and the unit period in the SLEEP state is referred to as “SLEEP period”.

The operation state of the RF receiving circuit unit includes an ON state and an OFF state. The ON state is a state where power is supplied from the power source to the RF receiving circuit unit. In other words, in this state, the RF receiving circuit unit amplifies the RF signal received by the GPS antenna, down-converts it to an intermediate frequency signal, cuts unnecessary frequency band components, or receives analog signals. Circuit operations such as converting a signal into a digital signal are performed.
The OFF state is a state in which power is not supplied from the power supply circuit unit to the RF receiving circuit unit. That is, in this state, the RF receiving circuit unit does not perform the above circuit operation.
Hereinafter, the ON state period is referred to as an “ON period”, and the OFF state period is referred to as an “OFF period”.

1-1. About Each Power Saving Mode (1) First Power Saving Mode FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the first power saving mode. An example of a change in the operating state of the baseband processing circuit unit (BB (Base Band)) is shown in the upper stage, and an example of a change in the operating state of the RF receiving circuit unit is shown in the middle stage. Further, the lower graph shows a graph schematically showing the time change of the power consumption of the GPS receiver as a whole in the case of the upper and middle operation states. The same applies to FIGS. 2 and 3.

  In the lower graph, power A represents the minimum power that is the sum of the power consumed by the circuit resistance of the entire GPS receiver and the power required for the baseband processing circuit unit to operate in the SLEEP state. The electric power B represents the maximum power consumption of the baseband processing circuit unit. The electric power C represents the maximum power consumption of the entire GPS receiver.

  In the first power saving mode, the baseband processing circuit unit is controlled to repeat the UP period and the SLEEP period at a predetermined cycle. The RF receiving circuit unit is controlled to be intermittently driven in synchronization with the baseband processing circuit unit. That is, while the baseband processing circuit unit is in the UP period, the RF receiving circuit unit is in the ON period and in the ON period, and while the baseband processing circuit unit is in the SLEEP period, the RF receiving circuit unit is in the OFF state and in the OFF period. It becomes.

  The duty ratio related to intermittent driving of the baseband processing circuit unit is set according to how many unit periods are set as UP periods and how many unit periods are set as SLEEP periods. On the other hand, since the RF receiving circuit unit is intermittently driven in synchronization with the baseband processing circuit unit, the duty ratio (ratio between the ON period and the OFF period) related to the intermittent driving of the RF receiving circuit unit is the baseband processing circuit unit. This is the same as the duty ratio for intermittent driving. Hereinafter, the duty ratio in the first power saving mode will be described as the first duty ratio. The intermittent drive pattern in the first power saving mode is referred to as a first intermittent drive pattern, and the drive control in the first power saving mode is referred to as first drive control.

  The first duty ratio will be described more specifically. The first duty ratio is defined by the ratio between the length of the UP period (or ON period) and the length of the SLEEP period (or OFF period) in the position calculation operation cycle. The operation cycle of position calculation is “1000 milliseconds (= 1 second)” in the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, the first duty ratio is assumed to be a fixed ratio (for example, 0.6: 0.4). Therefore, focusing on the RF receiver circuit unit, in the first drive control, as shown in FIG. 5, 600 milliseconds out of 1000 milliseconds are set as the ON period, and the remaining 400 milliseconds are set as the OFF period. Pattern (first intermittent drive pattern).

  Note that the navigation message cannot be decoded in the first power saving mode. This is because, in order to decode the navigation message, 1500 bits (= 30 seconds) of data for one frame without omission are required. One bit corresponds to 20 milliseconds and corresponds to a unit period. Since the RF receiving circuit unit is turned on / off every unit period, data is lost.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the power consumption in the first power saving mode will be described. In the first power saving mode, if the baseband processing circuit unit is in the UP state, the RF receiving circuit unit is in the ON state, and if in the SLEEP state, it is in the OFF state. Therefore, the power consumption of the GPS receiver is the maximum power consumption C during the UP period (ON period) and the minimum power A during the SLEEP period (OFF period).

(2) Second Power Saving Mode FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the second power saving mode. In the second power saving mode, the baseband processing circuit unit is always in the UP state. On the other hand, the RF receiving circuit unit is intermittently driven so as to switch ON / OFF every 1 millisecond. The time of “1 millisecond” is a time corresponding to the carrier time (reception time) of the code length of the C / A (Coarse / Acquisition) code that is a spreading code of the GPS satellite signal. The C / A code is a pseudo random noise code having a repetition period of 1 millisecond with a code length of 1023 chips as one PN frame, and is a code unique to each GPS satellite.

  In the second power saving mode, the intermittent period of the RF receiving circuit unit is 2 milliseconds. Therefore, in the second power saving mode, the intermittent period of the RF receiving circuit unit is shorter than in the first power saving mode. Therefore, in the second power saving mode, the RF receiving circuit unit is intermittently driven with a driving pattern whose intermittent cycle is shorter than that of the first intermittent driving pattern. The intermittent drive pattern in the second power saving mode is referred to as a second intermittent drive pattern, and the intermittent drive control in the second intermittent drive pattern is referred to as second drive control.

  In the second drive control, the RF receiving circuit unit is controlled to repeat the ON state and the OFF state every 1 millisecond, and therefore the ratio (duty ratio) between the ON period and the OFF period is “0.5”. : 0.5 ". The duty ratio of the second intermittent drive pattern is referred to as a second duty ratio.

  Note that the second intermittent drive pattern is configured such that one unit period includes 10 intermittent periods of the RF receiving circuit unit, but the intermittent period may be longer. However, it is preferable that one unit period is configured to include at least two intermittent periods.

  In the second power saving mode, the baseband processing circuit unit is always in the UP state (that is, always in the UP period), while the RF receiving circuit unit is intermittently driven to switch between the ON state and the OFF state every 1 millisecond. Is done. Therefore, the power consumption is such that the maximum power consumption B of the baseband processing circuit unit and the maximum power consumption C of the GPS receiver are repeated every 1 millisecond. Therefore, in the second power saving mode, the power consumption of the RF receiving circuit unit is approximately half that in the normal mode.

  Note that the navigation message can be decoded in the second power saving mode, unlike the first power saving mode. Although the 1500 bits (= 30 seconds) for one frame of the navigation message are not continuously received, the RF receiving circuit unit is half of the 20-millisecond period (= unit period) that is a 1-bit reception time. This is because 10 ms is in the ON state and data of the bit is received, so that no data is lost. However, there is a possibility that a data error (bit error) occurs due to a problem of reception sensitivity.

(3) Third Power Saving Mode FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the third power saving mode. The third power saving mode is a power saving mode in which the first power saving mode and the second power saving mode are combined. Specifically, while the baseband processing circuit unit is in the SLEEP period, the RF receiving circuit unit is also in the OFF period. On the other hand, while the baseband processing circuit unit is in the UP period, the RF receiving circuit unit is intermittently driven so as to switch between the ON period and the OFF period every 1 millisecond.

  This is to intermittently drive the RF receiving circuit unit with an intermittent drive pattern in which the drive period (ON period) in the first intermittent drive pattern is a second intermittent drive pattern whose intermittent cycle is shorter than the first intermittent drive pattern. It corresponds to that. The intermittent drive pattern in the third power saving mode is referred to as a multistage intermittent drive pattern, and the intermittent drive control using the multistage intermittent drive pattern is referred to as multistage drive control.

  In the third power saving mode, since the RF receiving circuit unit is in the OFF state during the SLEEP period in which the baseband processing circuit unit is in the SLEEP state, the power consumption of the entire GPS receiver is the lowest power A. On the other hand, in the UP period in which the baseband processing circuit unit is in the UP state, the RF receiving circuit unit is switched intermittently between the ON state and the OFF state. Accordingly, the power consumption during this period is such that the maximum power consumption B of the baseband processing circuit unit and the maximum power consumption C of the GPS receiver are repeated every 1 millisecond. In the third power saving mode, power consumption is reduced most among all the operation modes.

  In the third power saving mode, the navigation message cannot be decoded as in the first power saving mode.

1-2. Operation Mode Setting Method FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an operation mode setting method in the present embodiment. FIG. 4 shows an example of an operation mode switching control table for performing operation mode switching control. In this operation mode switching control table, presence / absence of ephemeris, FIX state, received signal strength, and operation mode are defined in association with each other.

The presence / absence of ephemeris defines whether or not ephemeris is a kind of satellite orbit data.
The FIX state is defined as before or after the position calculation by the baseband processing circuit unit.
The received signal strength is the strength of the received signal by the RF receiving circuit unit and defines a threshold condition for the received signal strength. The received signal strength is an example of a reception status of GPS satellite signals.

(A) When no ephemeris is held (A-1) Before FIX Ephemeris is not held and before FIX, the operation mode is “normal mode” and “second power saving mode”. Switch with. Specifically, when the received signal strength satisfies the condition of “P ≦ θ10”, the operation mode is set to “normal mode”, and when the condition of “θ10 <P” is satisfied, the operation mode is set to “second”. Power saving mode ”. However, “θ10” is an example of a threshold for the received signal strength.

  An ephemeris is required to perform position calculation. However, if the ephemeris is not held, it is necessary to decode the received signal to acquire the ephemeris. This is a so-called cold start or warm start situation. The smaller the received signal strength, the higher the possibility that a decoding error will occur when the received signal is decoded. Therefore, when the received signal strength is equal to or lower than the predetermined threshold, the ephemeris can be reliably acquired by operating in the normal mode.

  On the other hand, when the received signal strength is high, the possibility that a decoding error will occur decreases. Therefore, when the received signal strength exceeds a predetermined threshold, the reduction of power consumption is given priority and the operation mode is set to the second power saving mode.

(A-2) After FIX Ephemeris is not held, and in the state after FIX, the operation modes are “normal mode”, “first power saving mode”, and “third power saving mode”. Switch. Specifically, when the received signal strength satisfies the condition of “P ≦ θ20”, the operation mode is set to “normal mode”. When the received signal strength satisfies the condition “θ20 <P <θ30”, the operation mode is set to “first power saving mode”, and when the received signal strength satisfies the condition “θ30 ≦ P”. The operation mode is the “third power saving mode”. However, “θ20” and “θ30” are examples of threshold values for the received signal strength.

  As described above, the navigation message cannot be decoded in the first and third power saving modes. However, after FIX (after position calculation), since the navigation message has been decoded before FIX (before position calculation), it is not necessary to decode the navigation message. Therefore, it is only necessary to perform processing for tracking GPS satellites that have been successfully captured.

  Therefore, in a situation where it is determined that the received signal strength is relatively high, the first power saving mode and the third power saving mode are switched to realize power saving. This corresponds to switching control for switching between the first drive control and the multistage drive control. However, in a situation where the received signal strength is low, the tracking lock of a GPS satellite that has been successfully captured may be released, so the GPS satellite is tracked in the normal mode without using the power saving mode.

(B) When Ephemeris is Held (B-1) Before FIX Ephemeris is held and before FIX, the operation mode is uniformly set to the normal mode regardless of the received signal strength. This is intended to shorten the so-called initial fixing time (TTFF (Time To First Fix)).

  If the ephemeris is possessed, the position calculation can be started without waiting for the ephemeris to be decoded. This is a so-called hot start situation. In this situation, since the position calculation processing operation can be started immediately, the position calculation can be completed in a short time of less than about 1 second when the GPS receiver is operated at the maximum performance. Therefore, the position calculation is performed with the operation mode as the normal mode.

(B-2) After FIX Ephemeris is held, and in the state after FIX, the operation mode is switched between the normal mode, the first power saving mode, and the third power saving mode. The idea in this case is the same as in the case after (A-2) FIX.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the RF reception circuit unit that is a GPS satellite signal reception unit in particular, while switching the operation mode (drive control) according to a plurality of switching criteria such as presence / absence of ephemeris, before and after position calculation, and reception signal strength. One of the features is that the motor is intermittently driven. This is equivalent to switching the drive control switching control to any one of the first drive control, the multistage drive control, and the second drive control.

  For example, in the present embodiment, the operation mode switching destination is determined according to the FIX state. This corresponds to determining the switching destination of the drive control according to before and after the position calculation. In this embodiment, the switching destination is determined according to the received signal strength of the GPS satellite signal. This corresponds to determining the switching destination of the drive control according to the reception situation including at least the received signal strength of the GPS satellite signal.

2. Embodiment Next, an embodiment of a receiving apparatus that receives GPS satellite signals will be described. In the present embodiment, an embodiment of a mobile phone will be described as an electronic apparatus including a receiving device.

2-1. Configuration of Mobile Phone FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the mobile phone 1 in the present embodiment. The mobile phone 1 includes a GPS antenna 5, a GPS receiving unit 10, a power supply circuit unit 25, a host processing unit 30, an operation unit 40, a display unit 50, a sound output unit 55, and a mobile phone antenna 60. A mobile phone wireless communication circuit unit 70, a storage unit 80, and a clock unit 90.

  The GPS antenna 5 is an antenna that receives an RF (Radio Frequency) signal including a GPS satellite signal transmitted from a GPS satellite, and outputs a received signal to the GPS receiver 10. The GPS satellite signal is a 1.57542 [GHz] communication signal modulated by a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) method known as a spread spectrum method by a C / A code which is a kind of spreading code.

  The GPS receiving unit 10 is a circuit or device that calculates the position of the mobile phone 1 based on a signal output from the GPS antenna 5, and is a functional block corresponding to a so-called GPS receiver. In the present embodiment, the GPS receiving unit 10 corresponds to a receiving device.

  The GPS receiving unit 10 includes an RF receiving circuit unit 11, a memory unit 13, and a baseband processing circuit unit 20. The RF receiving circuit unit 11, the memory unit 13, and the baseband processing circuit unit 20 can be manufactured as separate LSIs (Large Scale Integration), or can be manufactured as one chip.

  The RF receiving circuit unit 11 is an RF signal receiving circuit and corresponds to a receiving unit that receives a GPS satellite signal carrying a navigation message. As a circuit configuration of the RF receiving circuit unit 11, for example, a receiving circuit that converts an RF signal output from the GPS antenna 5 into a digital signal by an A / D converter and processes the digital signal may be configured. Alternatively, the RF signal output from the GPS antenna 5 may be processed as an analog signal and finally A / D converted to output a digital signal to the memory unit 13.

  In the latter case, for example, the RF receiving circuit unit 11 can be configured as follows. That is, an oscillation signal for RF signal multiplication is generated by dividing or multiplying a predetermined oscillation signal. Then, by multiplying the generated oscillation signal by the RF signal output from the GPS antenna 5, the RF signal is down-converted to an intermediate frequency signal (hereinafter referred to as “IF (Intermediate Frequency) signal”). Then, after the IF signal is amplified or the like, it is converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter and output to the memory unit 13.

  The memory unit 13 is a storage unit that stores data of the reception signal down-converted by the RF reception circuit unit. When the RF receiver circuit unit 11 is driven and controlled in the normal mode, data of reception signals continuously output from the RF receiver circuit unit 11 are written in an accumulative manner. When the RF receiving circuit unit 11 is controlled to be intermittently driven, reception signal data intermittently output from the RF receiving circuit unit 11 is written in an accumulative manner. The memory unit 13 can be configured as, for example, a ring buffer having a memory capacity capable of storing received signal data for three or more unit periods. Of course, the storage capacity may be larger.

  The baseband processing circuit unit 20 uses the received signal data stored in the memory unit 13 to perform processing operations related to capturing / tracking of the GPS satellite signal such as carrier removal and correlation calculation, thereby obtaining the GPS satellite signal. Capture and track. Then, using the time data and satellite orbit data extracted from the GPS satellite signal, the position of the mobile phone 1 and the clock error are calculated.

  The power supply circuit unit 25 includes a power supply circuit that supplies power to the GPS receiving unit 10. The power supply circuit unit 25 supplies power to each functional unit (the RF reception circuit unit 11, the memory unit 13, and the baseband processing circuit unit 20) of the GPS reception unit 10 in accordance with the power supply control signal output from the baseband processing circuit unit 20. Supply. By the power supply control by the baseband processing circuit unit 20, intermittent driving of the RF receiving circuit unit 11, which is one of the features of the present embodiment, is realized.

  The host processing unit 30 is a processor that comprehensively controls each unit of the mobile phone 1 according to various programs such as a system program stored in the storage unit 80, and includes a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit). Composed. The host processing unit 30 displays a map indicating the current position on the display unit 50 based on the position coordinates acquired from the baseband processing circuit unit 20, and uses the position coordinates for various application processes.

  The operation unit 40 is an input device configured to include, for example, a touch panel, a button switch, and the like, and outputs a pressed key or button signal to the host processing unit 30. By operating the operation unit 40, various instructions such as a call request, a mail transmission / reception request, various application execution requests, and a position calculation request are input.

  The display unit 50 is a display device that includes an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or the like, and performs various displays based on a display signal output from the host processing unit 30. The display unit 50 displays a position display screen, time information, and the like.

  The sound output unit 55 is a sound output device configured with a speaker or the like, and performs various sound outputs based on the sound output signal output from the host processing unit 30. The sound output unit 55 outputs sound during a call, sound guidance related to various applications, and the like.

  The cellular phone antenna 60 is an antenna that transmits and receives cellular phone radio signals to and from a radio base station installed by a communication service provider of the cellular phone 1.

  The cellular phone wireless communication circuit unit 70 is a cellular phone communication circuit unit configured by an RF conversion circuit, a baseband processing circuit, and the like, and performs modulation and demodulation of the cellular phone radio signal, thereby enabling communication and mailing. Realize transmission / reception and so on.

  The storage unit 80 includes a storage device such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash ROM, a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like, and a system program for the host processing unit 30 to control the mobile phone 1, Various programs and data for executing various application processes are stored.

  The clock unit 90 is an internal clock of the mobile phone 1, and includes a crystal oscillator including a crystal resonator and an oscillation circuit. The time measured by the clock unit 90 is output to the baseband processing circuit unit 20 and the host processing unit 30 as needed. The time measured by the clock unit 90 is corrected based on the clock error calculated by the baseband processing circuit unit 20.

2-2. Circuit Configuration of Baseband Processing Circuit Unit FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the circuit configuration of the baseband processing circuit unit 20, and is a diagram mainly showing circuit blocks according to the present embodiment. The baseband processing circuit unit 20 includes a processing unit 21 and a storage unit 23 as main components.

  The processing unit 21 is a control device and an arithmetic device that collectively control each functional unit of the baseband processing circuit unit 20, and includes a processor such as a CPU or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor).

  The processing unit 21 includes an operation mode switching control unit 211, a satellite capturing unit 213, and a position calculation unit 215 as main functional units. However, these functional units are only described as one embodiment, and all of these functional units do not necessarily have to be essential components. Moreover, it is good also considering a function part other than these as an essential component.

  The operation mode switching control unit 211 performs switching control of the operation modes of the RF receiving circuit unit 11 and the baseband processing circuit unit 20 according to the above principle. The operation mode switching control unit 211 corresponds to a control unit that controls driving of the receiving unit by switching between the first drive control and the multistage drive control. The operation mode switching control unit 211 outputs a power supply control signal corresponding to the intermittent drive pattern to the power supply circuit unit 25 to perform drive control according to the set operation mode, thereby performing RF power reception. The circuit unit 11 is intermittently driven.

  The satellite capturing unit 213 captures a GPS satellite (GPS satellite signal). Specifically, digital signal processing such as carrier removal and correlation calculation is performed on the digitized received signal data stored in the memory unit 13, and GPS satellites are selected based on the result of the digital signal processing. To capture.

  The position calculation unit 215 uses the satellite orbit data 234 and the measurement data 235 acquired for each captured satellite to perform position calculation processing using a known method, so that the position (position coordinates) of the mobile phone 1 and Calculate the clock error (clock bias). The position calculation process can be realized as a process using a method such as a least square method or a Kalman filter.

  The storage unit 23 stores a system program of the baseband processing circuit unit 20, various programs for realizing various functions such as a drive control function, a satellite capturing function, and a position calculation function, data, and the like. In addition, it has a work area for temporarily storing data being processed and results of various processes.

  In the storage unit 23, as a program, the baseband processing program 231 read by the processing unit 21 and executed as the baseband processing (see FIG. 8) and the operation mode switching control processing (see FIG. 9) are executed. An operation mode switching control program 232 is stored. These processes will be described later in detail using a flowchart.

  The storage unit 23 stores an operation mode switching control table 233, satellite orbit data 234, measurement data 235, and calculation result data 236 as main data.

  The operation mode switching control table 233 is a table used by the operation mode switching control unit 211 to perform operation mode switching control. A table configuration example of the operation mode switching control table 233 is, for example, as shown in FIG.

  The satellite orbit data 234 is data such as almanac and ephemeris of each GPS satellite. The satellite orbit data 234 is obtained by decoding a GPS satellite signal received from a GPS satellite, and is obtained as assist data from, for example, a base station of the mobile phone 1 or an assist server.

  The measurement data 235 is various quantities related to the captured GPS satellite signal, and includes, for example, the code phase 235A, the reception frequency 235B, and the reception signal strength 235C.

  The calculation result data 236 is data of a calculation result acquired by the position calculation unit 215 performing a position calculation process, and includes the calculated position and clock error of the mobile phone 1.

2-3. Process Flow FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a flow of baseband processing executed by the processing unit 21 according to the baseband processing program 231 stored in the storage unit 23.

  First, the processing unit 21 sets the normal mode as the operation mode (step A1). Further, the processing unit 21 sets the FIX flag to L (step A3). The FIX flag is a flag for setting before and after position calculation. L is set before position calculation, and H is set after position calculation.

  Next, the processing unit 21 determines whether or not the ephemeris is stored in the storage unit 23 (step A5). If it is determined that the ephemeris is stored (step A5; Yes), the satellite capturing unit 213 receives the satellite. Search / GPS satellite acquisition / tracking processing is performed (step A7). This situation is a so-called hot start situation.

  Specifically, the target satellite is selected using ephemeris. That is, a GPS satellite located in the sky of the mobile phone 1 at the current date and time counted by the clock unit 90 is determined using the ephemeris and selected as a capture target satellite. Then, for each of the acquisition target satellites, correlation calculation using a replica code is performed to acquire and track the GPS satellite signal.

  Next, the position calculation unit 215 performs position calculation processing for calculating the position of the mobile phone 1 and a clock error, and stores the calculation result in the storage unit 23 as calculation result data 236 (step A9).

  If it is determined in step A5 that no ephemeris is stored (step A5; No), the satellite capturing unit 213 performs satellite search / satellite capturing / tracking processing (step A11). This situation is a so-called cold start or warm start situation.

  In the cold start, since neither the ephemeris nor the almanac is owned, it is not possible to determine the satellite located in the sky of the mobile phone 1. Therefore, for example, the satellite search is performed in order from the first satellite (SV1). On the other hand, in the warm start, although the ephemeris is not owned, but the almanac is owned, the acquisition target satellite is selected using the almanac. Then, a satellite search is performed for the selected capture target satellite.

  Next, the processing unit 21 waits until ephemeris decoding is completed (step A13; No). If the ephemeris decoding is completed (step A13; Yes), the position calculation unit 215 performs position calculation processing (step A15).

  After step A9 or A15, the processing unit 21 sets the FIX flag to H (step A17). And the process part 21 determines whether a process is complete | finished (step A19), and when it determines with continuing a process (step A19; No), it returns to step A7. If it is determined that the process is to be terminated (step A19; Yes), the baseband process is terminated.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of the operation mode switching control process executed by the operation mode switching control unit 211 according to the operation mode switching control program 232 stored in the storage unit 23.

  The operation mode switching control unit 211 determines whether it is the operation mode switching determination timing (step B1). The switching determination timing is an elapsed timing every 20 milliseconds. If it is determined that it is not the switching determination timing (step B1; No), the process waits as it is.

  If it is determined that it is the switching determination timing (step B1; Yes), the operation mode switching control unit 211 determines the received signal strength 235C acquired as the measurement data 235 (step B3). The operation mode switching control unit 211 performs control to switch the operation mode according to the operation mode switching control table 233 stored in the storage unit 23 (step B5), and then returns to step B1.

3. In this embodiment, since there are a plurality of types of drive control, it is possible to adaptively switch the drive control and achieve further reduction in power consumption. Specifically, when the ephemeris is not held and before the position is calculated, the drive control in the normal mode and the second drive control in the second power saving mode are performed based on the received signal strength. And switch. Further, in the case where the ephemeris is not held and after the position calculation, based on the received signal strength, the drive control in the normal mode, the first drive control in the first power saving mode, The multi-stage drive control in the power saving mode 3 is switched.

  Before the position calculation, since it is necessary to decode the navigation message from the GPS satellite signal, intermittent driving is performed by the second drive control in the second power saving mode in which the navigation message can be decoded. On the other hand, since the position can be calculated after decoding the position without decoding the navigation message, the first drive control and the multistage drive control are switched as a more efficient power saving mode. As described above, by switching and controlling the drive control according to the scene and situation, it is possible to realize efficient power saving as the entire GPS receiver.

4). Modifications Embodiments to which the present invention can be applied are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Hereinafter, modified examples will be described.

4-1. In the above embodiment, the intermittent period when the RF receiving circuit unit is intermittently driven is described as 2 milliseconds, but this is only an example. Specifically, the intermittent period may be an intermittent period longer than 2 milliseconds (for example, 4 milliseconds or 10 milliseconds).

  For example, when the intermittent period is 4 milliseconds, the ON period is OFF every 2 milliseconds, such as 2 milliseconds ON period → 2 milliseconds OFF period → 2 milliseconds ON period →. What is necessary is just to drive an RF receiving circuit part intermittently so that a period may be switched.

  Further, for example, different times are assigned to the ON period and the OFF period so that the ON period and the OFF period are switched alternately, such as switching between the ON period of 1 millisecond and the OFF period of 3 milliseconds. It may be intermittently driven.

4-2. Determination of switching destination according to reception status In the above embodiment, the switching destination of drive control is determined based on the received signal strength of the GPS satellite signal, but the criterion for determining the switching destination is not limited to this. For example, the switching destination of the drive control may be determined based on the reception environment of the GPS satellite signal instead of the received signal strength of the GPS satellite signal.

  For example, in the case before (A-1) FIX described with reference to FIG. 4, when the reception environment is a weak electric field environment, the operation mode is set to the normal mode, and when the reception environment is a strong electric field environment, the operation mode is set to the second mode. It is also possible to switch to the power saving mode (second drive control).

  Further, in the case after (A-2) FIX described with reference to FIG. 4, when the reception environment is a weak electric field environment, the operation mode is set to the normal mode, and when the reception environment is the medium electric field environment, the operation mode is set to the first mode. When the reception environment is a strong electric field environment, the operation mode may be switched to the third power saving mode (multistage drive control).

4-3. Operation Mode Setting Conditions The operation mode setting method described in FIG. 4 is merely an example, and it goes without saying that the setting can be changed as appropriate. For example, for the case before (A-1) FIX, the operation mode may be uniformly set to the second power saving mode without using the normal mode as the operation mode.

  Moreover, (A-2) About the case after FIX, it is good also as switching three types of power saving modes, without using normal mode as an operation mode. Specifically, for example, threshold conditions for the received signal strength are set so that the third power saving mode, the first power saving mode, and the second power saving mode are set in descending order of the received signal strength. It is good as well. (B-2) The same applies to the case after FIX.

4-4. Duty ratio control (1) First power saving mode In the first power saving mode, the first duty ratio is not set to a fixed ratio, but is set to be variable so that the first duty ratio is set. It is good also as controlling. In this case, for example, a method of controlling the first duty ratio based on the received signal strength can be applied.

  FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a method for controlling the first duty ratio, and illustrates a table used for controlling the first duty ratio. In this table, the operation mode, the received signal strength, and the first duty ratio (UP period (ON period): SLEEP period (OFF period)) are defined in association with each other.

  In the operation mode, a first power saving mode is defined. In addition, a threshold condition for the received signal strength is defined for the received signal strength. The table in FIG. 10 is created based on the table in FIG. According to FIG. 4, the first power saving mode is applied when the received signal strength satisfies the condition of “θ20 <P <θ30”. Therefore, the threshold condition for the received signal strength is determined on the assumption that the received signal strength satisfies “θ20 <P <θ30”.

  When the received signal strength satisfies the condition “θ20 <P <θ21”, it is determined that the first duty ratio is “0.9: 0.1”. Since the operation period of the baseband processing circuit unit “1000 milliseconds” is divided at a ratio of “0.9: 0.1”, the UP period is “900 milliseconds” and the SLEEP period is “100 milliseconds”. It becomes.

  Further, when the received signal strength satisfies the condition of “θ21 ≦ P <θ22”, the first duty ratio is determined to be “0.8: 0.2” (800 milliseconds: 200 milliseconds). It has been. Similarly, when the received signal strength satisfies the condition “θ28 ≦ P <θ30”, the first duty ratio is set to “0.1: 0.9” (100 milliseconds: 900 milliseconds). It is stipulated. That is, the ratio is determined such that the ratio of the UP period is gradually reduced as the received signal strength increases.

(2) Second power saving mode Similarly, in the second power saving mode, instead of setting the second duty ratio to be a fixed ratio, the second duty ratio is set to be variable so that the second duty ratio is It is good also as controlling. Also in this case, for example, a method of controlling the second duty ratio based on the received signal strength can be applied.

  FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a method for controlling the second duty ratio, and illustrates a table used for setting the second duty ratio. The table configuration example is the same as the table in FIG. 10, and the operation mode, the received signal strength, and the second duty ratio are defined in association with each other.

  A second power saving mode is defined as the operation mode. In addition, a threshold condition for the received signal strength is defined for the received signal strength. The table in FIG. 11 is also created based on the table in FIG. According to FIG. 4, the second power saving mode is applied when the received signal strength satisfies the condition “θ10 <P”. Therefore, the threshold condition for the received signal strength is defined on the assumption that the received signal strength satisfies “θ10 <P”.

  Specifically, “0.8: 0.2” is defined as the second duty ratio when the condition “θ10 <P <θ12” is satisfied. Since the unit period of 20 milliseconds is divided at a ratio of “0.8: 0.2”, the ON period is “16 milliseconds” and the OFF period is “4 milliseconds”.

  Further, “0.6: 0.4” (12 milliseconds: 8 milliseconds) is determined as the second duty ratio when the condition “θ12 ≦ P <θ14” is satisfied, and “θ14 ≦ P “0.4: 0.6” (8 milliseconds: 12 milliseconds) is determined as the second duty ratio when the condition of <θ16 ”is satisfied. Further, “0.2: 0.8” (4 milliseconds: 16 milliseconds) is defined as the second duty ratio when the condition “θ16 ≦ P” is satisfied. The ratio is determined so that the ratio of the ON period is gradually reduced as the received signal strength increases, which is the same as the first duty ratio setting method shown in FIG.

(3) Third power saving mode The third power saving mode is a power saving mode in which the first power saving mode and the second power saving mode are combined. Therefore, it is possible to realize drive control using both the control of the first duty ratio and the control of the second duty ratio.

  FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of the control method of the first and second duty ratios in this case, and shows a table used for setting the first and second duty ratios. In this table, the operation mode, the received signal strength, the first duty ratio, and the second duty ratio are defined in association with each other. This table describes the setting method of the first duty ratio and the second duty ratio, focusing on the cases after (A-2) FIX and (B-2) after FIX explained in FIG. is there.

  According to FIG. 4, when the received signal strength satisfies the condition “θ20 <P <θ30”, the operation mode is the first power saving mode. In the first power saving mode, since only the first duty ratio can be set, the second duty ratio column is set to “-(none)”. When the received signal strength satisfies the condition “θ30 ≦ P”, the operation mode is the third power saving mode. In the third power saving mode, since the first duty ratio and the second duty ratio can be set, both are determined.

  For the first duty ratio, the first power saving mode and the third power saving mode are regarded as a single mode, and the threshold condition for the received signal strength is determined. That is, as the received signal strength increases across the range of the received signal strength to which the first power saving mode is applied and the range of the received signal strength to which the third power saving mode is applied, the ON period is increased. The ratio is set so that the ratio is gradually reduced.

  As for the second duty ratio, the ratio is determined so that the ratio of the ON period is gradually reduced as the received signal strength increases in the range of the received signal strength to which the third power saving mode is applied. .

  In the above description, the case where the duty ratio (first duty ratio, second duty ratio) is controlled based on the received signal strength is described as an example. However, the duty ratio is not based on the received signal strength but on the receiving environment. The ratio may be controlled. That is, the duty ratio may be controlled according to the reception situation including at least the received signal strength of the satellite signal.

4-5. Main body of processing In the above-described embodiment, the drive control of the RF receiving circuit unit is described as being executed by the processing unit of the baseband processing circuit unit. However, this may be executed by the host processing unit of the electronic device.

4-6. Electronic Device In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a mobile phone which is a kind of electronic device has been described as an example. However, an electronic device to which the present invention can be applied is not limited thereto. For example, the present invention can be similarly applied to other electronic devices such as a car navigation device, a portable navigation device, a personal computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and a wristwatch.

4-7. In the above embodiment, the GPS has been described as an example of the satellite positioning system. However, WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System), QZSS (Quasi Zenith Satellite System), GLONASS (GLObal NAvigation Satellite System), GALILEO Other satellite positioning systems may be used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Portable telephone, 10 ... GPS receiving part, 11 ... RF receiving circuit part, 13 ... Memory part, 20 ... Baseband processing circuit part, 21 ... Processing part, 23 ... Memory | storage part, 25 ... Power supply circuit part, 30 ... Host processing unit, 40 ... operation unit, 50 ... display unit, 55 ... sound output unit, 60 ... cell phone antenna, 70 ... cell phone wireless communication circuit unit, 80 ... memory unit, 90 ... clock unit

Claims (10)

A continuous drive mode for continuously driving an RF receiving circuit unit that receives an RF signal that is a satellite signal from a positioning satellite and a baseband processing circuit unit that processes a signal received by the RF receiving circuit unit ; and the base Reception of at least the satellite signal among at least one intermittent drive mode including at least a multi-stage intermittent drive mode in which the band processing circuit unit is intermittently driven and the RF reception circuit unit is intermittently driven in the drive period of the baseband processing circuit unit. A switching control step for switching the driving mode according to the reception situation including the signal strength,
A drive control step of driving the RF receiving circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit in accordance with the drive mode switched by the switching control step;
The receiving part drive control method containing. A continuous drive mode for continuously driving an RF receiving circuit unit that receives an RF signal that is a satellite signal from a positioning satellite and a baseband processing circuit unit that processes a signal received by the RF receiving circuit unit ; and the base Among one or more intermittent drive modes including at least a multi-stage intermittent drive mode in which the band processing circuit unit is intermittently driven and the RF reception circuit unit is intermittently driven during the driving period of the baseband processing circuit unit . A switching control step of switching the drive mode according to the reception status including at least whether or not the satellite orbit information of the positioning satellite is held;
A drive control step of driving the RF receiving circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit in accordance with the drive mode switched by the switching control step;
The receiving part drive control method containing. An RF receiving circuit unit receiving an RF signal that is a satellite signal from a positioning satellite, and a baseband processing circuit unit calculating a position based on the received signal ;
A continuous drive mode in which the RF receiver circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit are continuously driven; and the baseband processing circuit unit is intermittently driven and the RF receiver circuit unit is driven during a drive period of the baseband processing circuit unit. A switching control step of switching the drive mode according to a reception situation including at least whether or not the position is calculated among at least one intermittent drive mode including at least a multi-stage intermittent drive mode for intermittent drive;
A drive control step of driving the RF receiving circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit in accordance with the drive mode switched by the switching control step;
The receiving part drive control method containing. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
The intermittent drive mode includes a plurality of types.
Receiver drive control method. An RF receiving circuit unit for receiving an RF signal which is a satellite signal from a positioning satellite ;
A baseband processing circuit unit for processing a signal received by the RF receiving circuit unit;
A continuous drive mode in which the RF receiver circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit are continuously driven; and the baseband processing circuit unit is intermittently driven and the RF receiver circuit unit is driven during a drive period of the baseband processing circuit unit. Of the one or more intermittent drive modes including at least the multi-stage intermittent drive mode for intermittent drive, switching control for switching the drive mode according to the reception situation including at least the received signal strength of the satellite signal, and the drive switched by the switching control A control unit that performs drive control for driving the RF reception circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit according to a mode;
Including a receiving device. An RF receiving circuit unit for receiving an RF signal which is a satellite signal from a positioning satellite ;
A baseband processing circuit unit for processing a signal received by the RF receiving circuit unit;
A continuous drive mode in which the RF receiver circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit are continuously driven; and the baseband processing circuit unit is intermittently driven and the RF receiver circuit unit is driven during a drive period of the baseband processing circuit unit. According to the reception situation including at least whether or not the satellite orbit information of the positioning satellite is obtained by receiving the satellite signal out of one or more intermittent drive modes including at least a multi-stage intermittent drive mode for intermittent drive. Switching control for switching the drive mode, and a control unit for performing drive control for driving the RF reception circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit according to the drive mode switched by the switching control,
Including a receiving device. An RF receiving circuit unit for receiving an RF signal which is a satellite signal from a positioning satellite ;
A baseband processing circuit unit for calculating a position based on a signal received by the RF receiving circuit unit;
A continuous drive mode in which the RF receiver circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit are continuously driven ; and the baseband processing circuit unit is intermittently driven and the RF receiver circuit unit is driven during a drive period of the baseband processing circuit unit. Of one or more intermittent drive modes including at least a multi-stage intermittent drive mode for intermittent drive, switching control for switching a drive mode according to a reception situation including at least whether the position has been calculated , and switching by the switching control A control unit that performs drive control to drive the RF receiving circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit according to the driving mode;
Including a receiving device. A continuous drive mode for continuously driving an RF receiving circuit unit that receives an RF signal that is a satellite signal from a positioning satellite and a baseband processing circuit unit that processes a signal received by the RF receiving circuit unit ; and the base Reception of at least the satellite signal among at least one intermittent drive mode including at least a multi-stage intermittent drive mode in which the band processing circuit unit is intermittently driven and the RF reception circuit unit is intermittently driven in the drive period of the baseband processing circuit unit. Switch the drive mode according to the reception status including signal strength,
Driving the RF receiving circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit according to the switched driving mode;
Receiver device. A continuous drive mode for continuously driving an RF receiving circuit unit that receives an RF signal that is a satellite signal from a positioning satellite and a baseband processing circuit unit that processes a signal received by the RF receiving circuit unit ; and the base Among the one or more intermittent drive modes including at least a multi-stage intermittent drive mode that intermittently drives the band processing circuit unit and intermittently drives the RF reception circuit unit during the drive period of the baseband processing circuit unit, obtained by the reception, According to the reception status including at least whether or not the satellite orbit information of the positioning satellite is held, the drive mode is switched,
Driving the RF receiving circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit according to the switched driving mode;
Receiver device. A continuous drive mode for continuously driving an RF receiving circuit unit that receives an RF signal that is a satellite signal from a positioning satellite and a baseband processing circuit unit that calculates a position based on the signal received by the RF receiving circuit unit ; And , among the one or more intermittent drive modes including at least a multi-stage intermittent drive mode in which the baseband processing circuit unit is intermittently driven and the RF receiving circuit unit is intermittently driven during the driving period of the baseband processing circuit unit. According to the reception status including at least whether or not the satellite orbit information of the positioning satellite is obtained, switching the drive mode,
Driving the RF receiving circuit unit and the baseband processing circuit unit according to the switched driving mode;
Receiver device.

Images