JP2002164990A - Mobile communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mobile communication terminal that can remarkably improve the character entry operability even when a small-sized keyboard is employed. SOLUTION: The mobile communication terminal is provided with a display section 14 that displays prescribed menu items or entered character strings, a cursor means 32 that matches a position of a cursor with at least one menu item or entered character among the menu items or the entered character string displayed on the display section 14, and control means 28, 30 that control the cursor means 32 by turning a terminal main body 10 around longitudinal and lateral axes to move the position of the cursor in the same direction as the turning direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable communication terminal such as a portable telephone, and more particularly to a portable communication terminal having improved operability when inputting characters.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Personal computers (personal computers),
Most of the character input methods in word processors (word processors) and the like are mainly character input methods using a keyboard. In the case of such a character input method using a keyboard, there is not much restriction on the size, and since there are a wide variety of keys, the operability of character input is good.

[0003]

Most portable communication terminals such as portable telephones use a keyboard as a character input method. However, since mobile communication terminals such as mobile phones are small, their keyboards are also small, and the type and number of keys (buttons) are small. Has become worse.

That is, it is necessary to press the same key many times even if only one character is input, or to memorize a large number of functions and options assigned to one key. However, the operability is also deteriorated. For this reason, erroneous input is likely to occur, and it is often difficult to correct it.

In addition to using such a keyboard, a method of inputting characters using a touch panel that searches and touches characters using an attached pen, or a method of searching for characters by rotating a character string using a rotary dial is used. There is also a method of inputting, but the former method of inputting characters can not be operated with one hand, and there is a problem that if you forget the attached pen you can not input it, the latter method of inputting characters uses a rotary dial Thus, there is a problem that the cursor can be moved only in the same direction as the rotation direction of the rotary dial, and none of the character input methods has led to a significant improvement in operability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable communication terminal device that can greatly improve the operability of inputting characters even when a small keyboard is used. is there.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a portable communication terminal device according to the present invention comprises a display unit for displaying predetermined menu items or input character strings, and a menu displayed on the display unit. A cursor means for adjusting the position of the cursor to at least one menu item or input character of the item or the input character string; and rotating the apparatus body about a vertical axis and a horizontal axis to thereby rotate the apparatus body in the same direction as the rotation direction. Control means for controlling the cursor means to move the position of the cursor.

According to the portable communication terminal device having such a configuration, the cursor position is moved in the same direction as the rotation direction by rotating the device body about the vertical axis and the horizontal axis. Easy to operate, one-handed operation, and the cursor can be moved in two directions, up and down and left and right, greatly improving the operability of character input even when using a small keyboard. Can be improved.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4
FIG. 1 is a diagram referred to for describing an embodiment of a portable communication terminal device according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a mobile phone 10 (mobile communication terminal device) according to an embodiment of the present invention. A mobile phone 10 shown in FIG.
2 (imaging unit) is fixedly (or detachably) provided,
A first display section 14 on which a character string to be described later is displayed, and a second display section on which a character that is determined to be input are displayed.
The display unit 16 is provided with an input operation unit 20 on which various buttons such as a determination button 18 described later are arranged.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a control circuit of the mobile phone 10. In FIG. 1, the CCD camera unit 12, the first display unit 14, the second display unit 16, and the determination button 18 are the same as those in FIG.
And the image processing unit 2
2, a CPU 30 (control means) having a storage unit 24, an external storage unit 26, an image recognition unit 27, and a control unit 28. The mobile phone 10 further includes a cursor driving unit 32 (cursor means) for driving a cursor position displayed on the first display unit 14 under the control of the control unit 28.

The operation procedure of the mobile phone 10 will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the character input mode starts, first, the CCD camera unit 12
Captures the face of a nearby user (not shown),
The initial data obtained by imaging is sent to the image processing unit 22 and processed as image data (see FIG. 4A).

The image data is sent to the image recognition section 27 of the CPU 30, and the position of the image in the frame is set as a reference position (step S1). The image data at this time is stored in the storage section 24 as reference image data. Is done. Thereafter, this image data is used as reference image data unless new reference image data is set.

An initial screen of a character string as shown in FIG. 1 is displayed on the first display unit 14 by the control unit 28 (step S2), and the cursor position is located at the center of the initial screen of the character string. Is displayed (step S3). As the character string, 5 is called from the external storage unit 26 by the control unit 28.
The first display unit 14 displays a zero-tone table, an alphabet, a kanji dictionary, a telephone number from a telephone directory function, and the like.

The cursor position is displayed by converting the color of one character at that position into a color different from the colors of the other characters. The image processing unit 22 always processes the image data from the CCD camera unit 12 (step S4), and the image processed image data is sent to the image recognition unit 27.

When the user turns the mobile phone 10 in any direction, the image data is compared by the image recognition unit 27 with the reference image data stored in the storage unit 24, thereby moving the image. Is determined (step S5). However, when the rotation amount of the mobile phone 10 is small, it is recognized as a camera shake or an erroneous operation, and it is not determined that the image has moved.

If it is determined that the image has moved (YES in step S5), it is determined whether the image has moved to the left (step S7). If YES, the control unit 28 controls the cursor driving unit 32, and The position of the cursor is displayed on the first display unit 14
Is moved to the left from the center position (initial position) (step S8). Incidentally, by rotating the mobile phone 10 to the left around the vertical axis, the image moves to the left as shown in FIG. 4B.

When the image does not move to the left (step S7)
NO), it is determined whether or not it has moved to the right (step S).
9) If YES, the cursor drive unit 32 moves the cursor position from the center position of the first display unit 14 to the right (step S10). Incidentally, by rotating the mobile phone 10 rightward about its longitudinal axis, FIG.
The image moves to the right as shown in FIG.

When the image does not move to the right (step S9)
NO), it is determined whether it has moved up (step S1).
1) If YES, the cursor drive unit 32 is controlled by the control unit 28 so that the cursor drive unit 32 moves the cursor position downward instead of upward (step S12).

By rotating the mobile phone 10 about the horizontal axis, the image moves upward as shown in FIG. 4D. Therefore, when the mobile phone 10 is rotated downward around the horizontal axis, the position of the cursor can be moved downward.

When the image does not move upward (step S1)
(NO of 1) is determined whether or not it has moved down (step S1).
3) In the case of YES, the cursor drive unit 32 is controlled by the control unit 28 so that the cursor drive unit 32 moves the position of the cursor upward instead of downward (step S14).

By rotating the mobile phone 10 upward about the horizontal axis, the image moves downward as shown in FIG. 4 (e). Therefore, when the mobile phone 10 is rotated upward around the horizontal axis, the position of the cursor can be moved upward.

If it is determined that the image has been moved, the control unit 28 of the CPU 30
Since the instruction to move the cursor position corresponding to the moving amount of the captured image is issued, the cursor driving unit 32 receiving the instruction moves the cursor position by an amount corresponding to the moving amount of the image. When the position of the cursor is jumped by many characters and greatly moved, the cursor can be scrolled as described later.

By repeatedly rotating the mobile phone 10 about the vertical axis or the horizontal axis in this manner, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, the position of the cursor is brought to the position of "i" of the character to be input. (Step S15), the enter button 18 of the input operation unit 20 shown in FIG. 1 is pressed to confirm the selected "I" character (YES in step S16), and to input the selected "I" character. Is displayed on the second display unit 16.

If there is a character to be input next (YES in step S17), the flow returns to step S4 to repeat the same operation as described above. If there are no more characters to be input next (NO in step S17), the character Exit input mode.

As described above, the portable telephone 10 rotates the apparatus body about the vertical axis and the horizontal axis repeatedly, so that the position of the cursor is moved in the same direction as the rotation direction each time. Simple and less likely to cause erroneous input. Further, since the user only needs to press the determination button 18, it is not necessary to hold the hand, so that the operation can be performed with one hand. Further, since the cursor can be moved not only in the vertical direction but also in the horizontal direction, the operability of inputting characters can be greatly improved.

By the way, when the mobile phone 10 is turned around the vertical axis or the horizontal axis, and the cursor position has gone too far beyond the character to be input, the mobile phone 10 may be turned in the opposite direction. However, in this case, the rotation (return rotation) from the previous rotated position to the neutral position (reference position) before the rotation of the mobile phone 10 is canceled so as not to be recognized as the rotation, and After passing through the neutral position of the telephone 10, it is recognized as turning in the opposite direction.

Therefore, the rotation when returning the mobile phone 10 to the original neutral position which is easy for the user to see in order to see the position of the cursor after the movement of the first display unit 14 is a rotation for moving the position of the cursor. Is not recognized.

When the mobile phone 10 is turned,
When the rotation exceeds a predetermined amount (when the difference data from the reference image exceeds a predetermined value), the character string on the first display unit 14 is continuously scrolled in the rotation direction. can do. Also, when the speed at which the mobile phone 10 is turned exceeds a predetermined value (when the difference data from the reference image changes abruptly), the character string on the first display unit 14 scrolls in the turning direction. Can be continued. The scrolling operation of such a character string can be stopped by returning the mobile phone 10 to the neutral position.

Also, when riding a train or the like,
Since the background of the image moves without rotating the mobile phone 10, the image is recognized as the rotation of the mobile phone 10, and in order to prevent the position of the cursor from changing, a peripheral portion within a frame including the background is used. Can be changed by determining only the presence or absence of the movement of the image at the center of the frame by canceling the image.

As described above, when it is not necessary to cancel the movement of the background, that is, even when the user is not on a train or the like, the image of the peripheral portion in the frame including the background is canceled and the image of the central portion in the frame is canceled. Only the presence or absence of the movement may be determined. By doing so, the amount of data to be processed is reduced, and high-speed processing becomes possible as compared with the case where all the data in the frame is processed, and the load on the CPU 30 is reduced.

In the above embodiment, only the case where the mobile phone 10 is rotated has been described. However, the mobile phone 10 may be moved closer to or away from the user's face, and the mobile phone 10 is moved in this manner. Thus, the display of the first display unit 14 can be three-dimensionally changed, such as by making each character of the character string on the first display unit 14 larger or smaller.

In the above embodiment, the case where the position of the cursor is set to one character in the input character string has been described. However, in addition to the character, for example, one menu among a plurality of menu items may be used. It can also be used to position the cursor on an item.

In the above-described embodiment, the rotation and the direction of the mobile phone 10 are detected by the CCD camera unit 12.
For example, the rotation and the direction of the mobile phone 10 may be detected by a device such as a gyrocompass.

In the above embodiment, the character to be input is selected by positioning the cursor at one character in the character string on the first display unit 14. If you want to input a character that you do not understand, move the mobile phone 10 along the trajectory of how to write the character that you do not know how to read it, list up the character candidates, and select and enter the character you want to enter It can also be done.

In this case, the locus of movement of the mobile phone 10 is recognized by the image recognition unit 27 and stored in the storage unit 24, and the control unit 28 stores the kanji called from the external storage unit 26 in the storage unit 24. In comparison with the characters, several similar characters are listed up and displayed on the first display unit 14, and the user can select one of the characters and input the character.

For this reason, it is possible to input even a character whose reading method is unknown. In this case, if nothing is done, it becomes difficult to distinguish characters other than the characters, such as a one-stroke stroke, from the original character trajectory. May be moved, and the mobile phone 10 may be moved without pressing the enter button 18 for portions other than the character trajectory.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been specifically described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and may be variously modified based on the technical idea of the present invention. Can be changed.

[0039]

As described above, according to the portable communication terminal device of the present invention, by rotating the device body about the vertical and horizontal axes, the position of the cursor is the same as the direction of the rotation. Is moved, the operation is simple, one-handed operation is possible, and the cursor position can be moved in two directions, up and down and left and right, so even when using a small keyboard The operability of inputting characters can be greatly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a mobile phone 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control circuit of the mobile phone 10 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the mobile phone 10 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing image data captured by the CCD camera unit 12 of the mobile phone 10 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4A is a diagram showing reference image data in which an image is at a reference position;
FIGS. 4B to 4E are diagrams illustrating image data captured by the CCD camera unit 12 when the mobile phone 10 is rotated in each direction.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 mobile phone 12 CCD camera section 14 first display section 16 second display section 18 enter button 20 input operation section 22 image processing section 24 storage section 26 external storage section 27 image recognition section 28 control section 30 CPU 32 cursor drive section

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) H04M 1/725 H04B 7/26 109T F term (reference) 5B087 AA09 AE09 BC08 BC12 BC13 BC32 DD06 DD14 DE03 5E501 AB03 AC15 BA05 CB14 EA05 EA12 EB05 FA02 FA05 FA14 FB22 FB24 5K027 AA11 BB02 FF22 HH26 5K067 AA34 BB04 EE02 FF02 FF23 FF31

Claims (9)

[Claims] A display unit for displaying a predetermined menu item or an input character string; and positioning a cursor to at least one of the menu item or the input character string displayed on the display unit. Cursor means, and control means for controlling the cursor means so as to move the position of the cursor in the same direction as the rotation direction by rotating the apparatus main body about a vertical axis and a horizontal axis. A portable communication terminal device characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the scrolling operation such that the position of the cursor continuously moves in the same direction as the rotation direction by rotating the apparatus main body at a higher speed than usual. The mobile communication terminal device according to claim 1. 3. The control means controls the apparatus so as to perform a scroll operation in which the position of the cursor is continuously moved in the same direction as the rotation direction by rotating the apparatus body from a reference position by a predetermined angle or more. Claim 1 characterized by the following:
A portable communication terminal device according to claim 1. 4. An image pickup unit for picking up an image, a display unit for displaying a predetermined menu item or an input character string, and at least one of the menu item or the input character string displayed on the display unit. A mobile phone comprising: cursor means for adjusting the position of a cursor to an input character; and control means for controlling the cursor means so as to move the position of the cursor based on a change in an imaging screen of the imaging unit. Communication terminal device. 5. The control unit according to claim 4, wherein, when the imaging screen of the imaging unit suddenly changes, the control unit controls to continuously move the position of the cursor in the same direction based on the change. The portable communication terminal device according to the above. 6. A storage unit for storing a reference image among images picked up by the image pickup unit, wherein the control unit compares the image output by the image pickup unit with the stored reference image. 5. The portable communication terminal device according to claim 4, wherein said cursor means is controlled by a user. 7. When the imaging screen of the imaging unit is displaced by a predetermined value or more with respect to the stored reference image, the control unit continuously moves the position of the cursor in the same direction based on the displacement. 7. The portable communication terminal device according to claim 6, wherein the control is performed as follows. 8. An operation system according to claim 7, further comprising: a determination button for confirming a menu item or an input character on which the cursor is located, and performing an operation corresponding to the menu item on which the cursor is located when the determination button is pressed, The mobile communication terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls to input an input character. 9. The display of the display section changes three-dimensionally, for example, by moving the entire apparatus closer to or away from a user to increase or decrease the size of each character of the menu item or input character string. The mobile communication terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the communication.