JP2005078260A - Mobile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid having the screen of a mobile terminal seen and the text of email read by others when the user creates or browses email on the mobile terminal. <P>SOLUTION: The mobile terminal has a character window part 53 in which a plurality of characters forming email text can be displayed in such a manner that their display positions are movable. A window image (blind image) 52 where a predetermined image other than the image of each character forming the email text is disposed is created in the part of the mobile terminal except the character window part 53. The window image 52 in which, of the characters forming the email text, the characters corresponding to the display position of the character window part (e.g., characters for 7:00 PM) are displayed within the character window part 53, is displayed on the screen 50. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable terminal having functions for creating, browsing, and transmitting / receiving various messages such as electronic mail.

  In recent years, mobile terminals such as mobile phone terminals and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) have been widely used. Moreover, these portable terminals often have e-mail creation, browsing, and transmission / reception functions. Therefore, by using the mobile terminal, the user can create, view, and send and receive e-mails even when, for example, on the go or on a train.

  Note that an information communication terminal described in Patent Document 1 is known as an example of a conventional portable terminal having a function of transmitting information data such as an electronic mail. In this Patent Document 1, the information communication terminal on the e-mail transmission side divides the e-mail body created by the user into blocks for each number of division unit characters, rearranges each block, and after the rearrangement processing Is sent to the information communication terminal on the receiving side. Also, conversion control information for restoring the rearrangement of the blocks is added to the header of the transmitted email. On the other hand, when the conversion control information input by the user matches the conversion control information in the mail header after receiving the e-mail data, the receiving side information communication terminal, based on the input conversion control information, It is designed to restore block sorting. In other words, when the conversion control information input by the user does not match the conversion control information in the mail header, the mail text in the state where the blocks are rearranged is displayed on the display unit of the receiving side information communication terminal. Will be. Therefore, a third party who does not know the conversion control information cannot steal the contents of the mail regardless of how the receiving side information communication terminal is operated.

JP 2002-334044 A (FIG. 12)

  By the way, for example, when you are out of the office or on a train, if you create or view an email on your mobile device, others can see the screen of your mobile device and read the text content of the email. May end up. In other words, if a user who is a legitimate owner of a mobile terminal is viewing an e-mail on the screen of the mobile terminal and someone else steals the screen, the contents of the e-mail can be read. End up.

  The present invention has been proposed in view of such a situation, and when an e-mail is created or viewed on a mobile terminal, the text content of the e-mail can be viewed by another person looking at the screen of the mobile terminal. An object of the present invention is to provide a portable terminal capable of avoiding a state where the user is read.

  The present invention determines the arrangement of each character and the display position of each character when displaying the characters constituting the text of the e-mail on the screen, the display position on the screen can be moved, and the text of the e-mail A window image in which a character window portion capable of displaying an image of at least one character among the characters constituting the character image and a predetermined image other than the image of each character of the e-mail is arranged in a portion excluding the character window portion Is generated. Then, a window image is displayed on the screen in a state where characters corresponding to the display position of the character window portion are displayed in the character window portion among the characters of the e-mail whose character arrangement and each character display position are determined. .

  In the present invention, a window image in which each character corresponding to the display position of the character window portion among the characters of the electronic mail is displayed in the character window portion is displayed on the screen. Therefore, only the characters displayed in the character window portion are displayed on the screen among the characters constituting the text of the e-mail, and the remaining characters are not displayed on the screen. In the present invention, since the character window portion is displayed so as to be movable on the screen, for example, if the character window portion is moved, each character constituting the text of the e-mail is displayed in the character window portion. Will be displayed one after another.

  According to the present invention, only the characters displayed in the character window portion are displayed on the screen among the characters constituting the text of the e-mail, and the remaining characters are not displayed on the screen. Even if another person sees the screen, the contents of the e-mail cannot be understood, and therefore, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the contents of the e-mail are read by another person looking at the screen of the mobile terminal. Further, according to the present invention, the user can understand the contents of the e-mail by moving the character window part, for example, and sequentially displaying each character constituting the text of the e-mail in the character window part.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In the present embodiment, a mobile phone terminal is cited as an example of the mobile terminal according to the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone terminal according to the present embodiment includes a first casing 1 and a second casing 2 that can be folded in two so as to be folded with respect to the first casing 1. This is a so-called foldable mobile phone terminal.

  The first casing 1 and the second casing 2 are configured such that one end sides of the first casing 1 and the second casing 2 are rotatable with respect to each other via a connecting portion (hinge portion) 3. And a folded state (not shown) (hereinafter referred to as a closed state). In other words, this foldable mobile phone terminal is used in the open state of FIG. 1 when making a call or sending a mail, for example, and is closed when charging or when no call is made.

  The first housing 1 contains the main circuit configuration of the mobile phone terminal. Also, on the upper surface of the first housing 1 (the surface facing the second housing 2), as shown in FIG. An operation unit including a plurality of keys 4 such as function keys and a jog dial 5, a transmission unit 10 including a microphone for transmission, and the like are provided. Note that the operation unit and the transmission unit 10 are provided on the side overlapping the second casing 2. On the other hand, in the second casing 2, a display 6 made of liquid crystal or the like, a receiver 9 having a speaker for call (receiver speaker), a memory slot 11 for inserting an external memory (external storage device), etc. Is provided. Note that the display 6, the receiver 9, and the like are provided on the side overlapping the first housing 1.

  In addition, although not shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone terminal according to the present embodiment is in a state in which the terminal is opened (open state) or in a folded state (closed state). An open / close detection sensor is also provided.

  FIG. 2 shows an internal circuit configuration of the above-described mobile phone terminal according to the present embodiment. Note that only the main circuit configurations shown in FIG. 2 are listed.

  In FIG. 2, an antenna 22 is a whip antenna or a built-in antenna, and transmits and receives signal radio waves. The communication unit 23 performs frequency conversion, modulation and demodulation of transmission / reception signals, spectrum spreading and despreading, discrimination of transmitted / received data as call voice data or other data, and the like. The data other than the call voice data includes image data, e-mail, various data downloaded using the Internet connection function, various program data, and the like. Data other than the received call voice data (packet data, etc.) is sent to and stored in the memory 26 which is an internal memory via the data line.

  The received call voice data is sent to the call voice data processing unit 31 via the data line. The call voice data processing unit 31 decodes the voice data, and sends the decoded voice data to the call speaker (receive speaker) 33 via the data line. The telephone speaker 33 includes a digital / analog converter and an amplifier, and outputs the audio data after digital / analog conversion and amplification. Thereby, a call voice is obtained. On the other hand, a call voice signal input via the microphone 34 for transmission is converted into digital voice data by an analog / digital converter included in the microphone 34 and sent to the communication unit 23 via the data line. .

  The display unit 24 includes, for example, a liquid crystal display panel or an EL (electroluminescence) display panel provided in the second casing 2 and the like and a driving circuit thereof, and is capable of displaying images, e-mail texts, and the like on the screen. Yes. Further, although details will be described later, in the case of the mobile phone terminal of the present embodiment, when the electronic mail function is used, the screen display of FIGS. 3 to 5 is made on the screen of the display unit 24. .

  The operation unit 25 includes a plurality of keys 4 such as numeric keys “0” to “9” provided on the first casing 1 and the like, a power key, a reception key, a screen cursor operation key, a function key, and the like. And various controls such as a jog dial 5. An operation signal generated by the operation unit 25 in response to a user operation is sent to the control unit 21.

  The memory 26 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory). The ROM stores a control program for the control unit 21 to control each unit, various initial setting values, a program for displaying a screen on the display unit 24, a telephone number of the mobile phone terminal, font data, and the like. Yes. This ROM includes a rewritable ROM such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory), and data of e-mail to be transmitted and received, a telephone directory and e-mail address set by the user, and various downloaded data It is also possible to save other user setting values and the like. The RAM is used as a work area when the control unit 21 performs various data processing and an area for temporarily storing image data displayed on the display unit 24.

  The clock unit 27 generates current time information, time count information, and the like.

  The external device connection unit 30 is an interface for connecting an external storage device 40 such as an external memory (external memory) and a mobile phone terminal, and is provided in the memory slot 11 of FIG. The mobile phone terminal according to the present embodiment can store various data such as a phone book, an e-mail address, e-mail data, memo pad data, and data downloaded using the Internet connection function as needed. It is also possible to send it to the external storage device 40 via 30 and store it there.

  The music speaker 32 is a speaker for outputting musical sounds, ringtones, and the like when music data is reproduced, and includes a digital / analog converter and an amplifier in the same manner as the call speaker 33.

  The camera unit 35 includes an optical lens and an image sensor, and is a component for realizing a digital camera function. Photo data taken by the camera unit 35 is stored in the memory 26 or the external storage device 40.

  The control unit 21 includes, for example, a CPU (central processing unit), and performs control of various components of the mobile phone terminal and various arithmetic processes via a control line. Moreover, although mentioned later for details, the control part 21 performs the various arithmetic processing and image generation processing for the screen display of FIGS. 3-5 of this embodiment, and displays the image of FIGS. The process to display on is also performed.

  In addition, although illustration is omitted, the mobile phone terminal of the present embodiment may include a television receiver capable of receiving a television broadcast signal such as terrestrial digital television broadcast.

  Here, the mobile phone terminal according to the present embodiment has a function of displaying, for example, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 when displaying e-mail text on the screen of the display unit 24 (screen of the display 6). I have.

  FIG. 3 shows a normal display state in which an e-mail text image 51 is displayed on the screen 50 of the display unit 24. The text image 51 in FIG. 3 shows an arrangement of characters and a display position of each character when the control unit 21 in FIG. 2 displays each character constituting the text of the e-mail on the screen 50 of the display unit 24. It is the image produced | generated by determining. Note that the e-mail displayed on the screen 50 in FIG. 3 may be either an e-mail that is being created or has been created, or a received e-mail. In the case of the normal display state shown in FIG. 3, the text content of the e-mail displayed on the screen 50 can be seen not only by the user himself but also by others.

  Therefore, when the mobile phone terminal of the present embodiment is executing the function of displaying an e-mail on the screen 50, even if the screen 50 is seen by another person, the contents of the e-mail text can be understood by others. In order to prevent this, for example, a window image 52 as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the screen 50. That is, the control unit 21 causes the display unit 24 to display an image synthesized by overwriting the window image 52 of FIG. 4 on the e-mail text image 51 of the screen 50 of FIG. In other words, the window image 52 shown in FIG. 4 is a blind image such as black for making the e-mail text image 51 of FIG. 3 invisible. Therefore, when the window image 52 is displayed on the screen 50, it is impossible to know what the text of the e-mail is.

  The window image 52 is provided with a character window portion 53 for displaying, for example, several characters in the e-mail text image 51 of FIG. That is, the screen 50 of FIG. 4 of the present embodiment corresponds to a screen in a state where, for example, a window image 52 having a plain character window portion 53 is superimposed on the e-mail text image 51 of FIG. Each character displayed in the window unit 53 is the display of the character window unit 53 on the screen 50 in FIG. 4 among the characters of the e-mail text image 51 displayed on the screen 50 in FIG. Each character is arranged at a position corresponding to the position. The character window 53 can be moved within the screen 50 in response to, for example, a movement instruction operation by the user or automatically. That is, the control unit 21 performs display control for moving the character window unit 53 in the window image 52 based on a movement instruction operation signal generated when the user operates the operation unit 25, and at the same time, the screen 50 of FIG. The electronic mail text image 51 is controlled as it is, and the display unit 24 displays an image synthesized by overwriting the window image 52 of FIG. Therefore, when the position of the character window 53 is sequentially moved on the screen 50 of FIG. 4, the characters of the e-mail sentence image 51 of FIG. 3 can be seen one after another through the character window 53. Will go. More specifically, for example, when the character window 53 is moved by one line from the state of the screen 50 in FIG. 4, the e-mail text image 51 in FIG. Each character of “Today's Strike” will be displayed. Further, for example, when the character window portion 53 is moved to the right by one character from the state of the screen 50 in FIG. 4, “7 o'clock later” of the e-mail sentence image 51 in FIG. 3 is displayed, and when the character window portion 53 is further moved to the right by one character from the state, the character window portion 53 includes an e-mail text image 51 of FIG. Each character of “7 o'clock” is displayed. Therefore, first, after the character window portion 53 is arranged at a position corresponding to the leftmost end of the top row of the e-mail sentence image 51 in FIG. The character window unit 53 is moved to a position corresponding to the leftmost end of the second line of the e-mail text image 51 in FIG. 3 and then moved to the position corresponding to the rightmost end of the uppermost line. If the movement display control of the character window portion 53 that sequentially moves the window portion 53 to the right is repeated, an e-mail text image 51 of FIG. Will be displayed in sequence. As a result, the user of the mobile phone terminal can know what text content the e-mail has on the screen 50 in FIG. On the other hand, even if another person steals the screen of the mobile phone terminal that is in the display state of the screen 50 of FIG. 4 for a short time, for example, only a part of the characters can be seen, so that the stealing was performed. It is almost impossible for others to understand the entire text content of an email.

  In the mobile phone terminal of this embodiment, instead of the blind image such as the window image 52 in FIG. 4, as shown in the screen 50 in FIG. A dummy image made up of text or the like that has nothing to do with the image 51 can also be used as the window image 54. In the case of the window image 54 of FIG. 5 as well, a character window portion 53 similar to that described above is provided in the screen 50. In the case of the example of FIG. 5 as well, as in the example of FIG. 4, even if another person steals the screen of the mobile phone terminal that is in the display state of the screen 50 of FIG. It is almost impossible to understand the entire text content of an email.

  Note that the display state of the screen 50 in FIG. 3 and the display state of the screen 50 in FIGS. 4 and 5 may be switched by a user operating a predetermined key provided in the mobile phone terminal. Alternatively, when the e-mail text is displayed on the screen, it may be set in advance so that the screen 50 shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 5 is displayed. In addition, the screen may be switched to the screen 50 of FIG. That is, in these cases, the control unit 21 switches the display state of the screen 50 when the user operates a predetermined key or receives an operation signal from the operation unit 25 in response to a display switching operation instruction from the user. Control display. In addition, the mobile phone terminal according to the present embodiment may perform screen switching when a preset switching condition is met. More specifically, for example, the mobile phone terminal automatically determines whether the screen 50 shown in FIG. 3 or the screen 50 shown in FIG. 4 or 5 is used depending on the subject of the incoming email or the subject of the outgoing email. May be switched automatically. That is, for example, when the user setting is set such that an advertisement mail including a character such as “advertisement” in the subject field of the received email may be viewed by others, the control unit 21 receives When it is detected that the text “advertisement” is included in the subject line of the mail, display control is automatically performed to switch to a display state without a window image as in the example of FIG. In addition, for example, the mobile phone terminal automatically determines whether to use the screen 50 in FIG. 3 or the screen 50 in FIG. 4 or 5 according to the transmission source address of the received electronic mail or the transmission destination address of the transmission electronic mail. You may switch to That is, for example, for each address registered in the address book in the memory 26 of the mobile phone terminal, an address where an e-mail can be seen by another person or an address where the e-mail is not desired to be seen by another person is used. When the user setting is made, the control unit 21 determines which of the above-described addresses is set as the transmission source address of the reception e-mail or the transmission destination address of the transmission e-mail, and the determination result Accordingly, the automatic switching display control to the screen 50 of FIG. 3 or the screen 50 of FIGS. 4 and 5 is performed.

  The number of characters displayed in the character window 53 is not limited to four characters as in the examples of FIGS. 4 and 5, and may be, for example, one character or a plurality of characters for one line. The number of display characters can be changed to an arbitrary number according to user settings. In this case, the control unit 21 controls the size of the character window unit 53 according to a size change instruction input by the user or a display character numerical value set in advance by the user. In addition, when the character window unit 53 is set to move by a movement operation instruction input by the user, the movement operation instruction input by the user may be made by operating the jog dial 5 of FIG. 1 or other keys, for example. It can be linked to the cursor operation. Further, when the character window unit 53 is set to automatically move, the moving speed and moving direction thereof may be a predetermined constant moving speed or constant moving direction, and can be arbitrarily set by the user. May have been made. The control unit 21 also performs movement display control of these character window portions 53. Further, the number of characters displayed in the character window unit 53 may be changed according to the text content of the e-mail. In other words, the control unit 21 has a function of analyzing and determining the text content of the e-mail, and when it is determined that the text content of the e-mail is difficult to guess even if many characters are displayed in the character window unit 53. When the width of the character window 53 is automatically increased, and conversely, when it is determined that the text content of the e-mail can be easily estimated even with a small number of characters, the width of the character window 53 is automatically decreased. Display control is performed. Note that the character window 53 may be a cursor having a function for displaying several characters in the e-mail text image 51 of FIG. In addition, in this embodiment, the method for displaying each character of the e-mail in the character window unit 53 is not limited to the method of overwriting the window image on the sentence image 51 of FIG. 3 as described above. Character data to be displayed at a position on the screen corresponding to the display position of the character window portion 53 is extracted from the e-mail data, and a character image generated from the extracted character data is extracted on the character window portion 53. It is also possible to use a technique such as The control unit 21 also performs image display control when such a display method is employed.

  The blind image that is the window image 52 in FIG. 4 is not limited to black, and may be an image having another color or some design. The blind image may be prepared in advance in the memory 26 of the mobile phone terminal, the external storage device 40, or the like, or may be generated by the control unit 21 by calculation inside.

  The dummy image which is the window image 54 in FIG. 5 is not only a text image but also other images, photographs, moving images including a television image, etc. as long as it is not related to the text image 51 of the e-mail in FIG. May be. The dummy image is not only an image prepared in advance in the memory 26 or the external storage device 40 of the mobile phone terminal, but also a weather forecast or news downloaded using an Internet connection function via the communication unit 23, for example. Various information images such as advertisements may be used. In addition, when the information image such as the weather forecast and news is used as a dummy image, the user can know useful information such as the weather forecast and news at the same time as knowing the text content of the e-mail. it can. Further, the dummy image may be updated in accordance with a user instruction, or may be automatically updated at predetermined time intervals. Note that the fixed time interval for automatic updating of the dummy image can be set to an arbitrary time interval by the user. The dummy image can be updated by loading from data stored in advance in the memory 26 or the external storage device 40, or by downloading from a desired site on the Internet for each update. good. Control of these updates is performed by the control unit 21. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the site to which the mobile phone terminal connects using the Internet connection function may be set by the user, for example, automatically transmitted from a predetermined site information providing device or the like via the base station May have been. When receiving URL information from a site information providing apparatus via a base station, the site information providing apparatus wants the user to receive what information the user wants to receive based on information obtained in advance from the user. The URL of a site that can provide information according to the survey result is prepared.

  In addition, the window image may be obtained by performing some kind of effect processing on the display image of the e-mail in FIG. 3 so that the text content cannot be understood. The effect processing in this case is performed by the control unit 21. Further, the window image is not limited to an image displayed over the entire screen, and may be an image having a size covering at least the e-mail text image.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the function of displaying an e-mail is being executed, by displaying the window image 52 or 54 on the screen 50, the screen 50 can be seen by others. Even so, it is possible to prevent others from understanding the content of the e-mail text. On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, the user of the mobile phone terminal can move the character window 53 for displaying several characters in the e-mail text image 51 of FIG. , You can know what kind of text the email is. Therefore, even when using the mail function in public places, such as when going out or on a train, users can prevent others from reading the text content of the mail and care about the eyes around them You can use the e-mail function without worry and protect your privacy.

  The above description of the embodiment is an example of the present invention. For this reason, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made according to the design or the like as long as the technical idea according to the present invention is not deviated. For example, the information that is not seen by others by the window image may be not only electronic mail but also various other messages, still images, moving images, and the like. In addition, the mobile terminal of the present embodiment is not limited to a mobile phone terminal, but may be various portable electronic devices such as a PDA, a notebook personal computer, and a digital television receiver having a communication function. Applicable.

It is an external appearance perspective view of the state which opened the folding type | mold mobile telephone terminal of this invention embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the mobile telephone terminal of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen as which the text of the email was displayed. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen on which the window image as a blind image and the character window part were displayed. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen on which the window image as a dummy image and the character window part were displayed.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... 1st housing | casing, 2 ... 2nd housing | casing, 3 ... Connection part, 4 ... Key, 5 ... Jog dial, 6 ... Display, 9 ... Reception part, 10 ... Transmission part, 11 ... Memory slot, 21 ... Control part, 22 ... Antenna, 23 ... Communication part, 24 ... Display part, 25 ... Operation part, 26 ... Memory, 27 ... Clock part, 30 ... External device connection part, 31 ... Call voice data processing part, 32 ... Music Speaker, 33 ... speaker for call, 34 ... microphone, 35 ... camera part, 40 ... external storage device, 50 ... screen, 51 ... text image of e-mail, 52, 54 ... window image, 53 ... character window part

Claims (5)

Display means having a screen capable of displaying images;
An e-mail acquisition means for acquiring e-mail data at the time of creation, transmission, or reception;
Character arrangement determining means for determining the arrangement of each character and the display position of each character when displaying each character constituting the text of the e-mail acquired by the e-mail acquiring means on the screen of the display means;
A character window portion capable of moving a display position on the screen of the display means and displaying an image of at least one of the characters constituting the text of the electronic mail acquired by the electronic mail acquisition means. A window image generating means for generating a window image in which a predetermined image other than the image of each character constituting the text of the e-mail is arranged in a portion other than the character window portion,
Of the characters whose arrangement and display position are determined by the character arrangement determining means, the character corresponding to the display position of the character window portion of the window image generated by the window image generating means is displayed in the character window portion. And a display control means for controlling the window image to be displayed on the screen of the display means in a state where the window image is displayed. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,
A text image generation means for generating a text image of the e-mail in which the arrangement and display position of each character are determined by the text layout determination means;
The display control means includes a text image of the e-mail generated by the text image generation means on the screen of the display means and a window image generation means on the screen of the display means when a switching instruction is input by a user or when a preset switching condition is met. A portable terminal characterized by performing control to switch and display a window image generated by. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,
The window image generation means includes a size change means for changing the display size of the character window portion in accordance with a change instruction input by a user or preset size change setting information. . The mobile terminal according to claim 1,
The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the window image generation means includes movement control means for moving and controlling the display position of the character window portion in accordance with a movement instruction input by a user or preset movement setting information. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,
Having information acquisition means for acquiring predetermined information that can be displayed on the screen of the display means via a predetermined network or a predetermined external storage device;
The portable terminal characterized in that the window image generation means generates a window image in which the predetermined information acquired by the information acquisition means is arranged in a portion of the predetermined image excluding the character window portion.

Images