Terminal device and real-time clock control method therefor enabling preservation of clock/calendar information and high information readout speed

摘要

A terminal device such as a mobile terminal is provided with two real-time clocks which are powered by different power sources: a first real-time clock which is built in a control section (built-in microcomputer 1, for example) of the terminal device; and a second real-time clock which is provided outside the control section. At power-on of the mobile terminal or on recovery from failure such as a power cut, clock/calendar information is read out from the second real-time clock and is set to the first real-time clock, and thereafter, the control section obtains the clock/calendar information from the first real-time clock. The second real-time clock is connected to the control section directly by a signal line or via a functional device, or the second real-time clock is built in a functional device which is connected to the control section. By such composition and operation, the clock/calendar information can be maintained reliably and correctly even if failure occurred to the control section. The readout of the clock/calendar information is carried out usually from the first real-time clock (built-in RTC), therefore, high readout speed can be realized.