JP2000307686A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the power consumption of backlight unnecessary for displaying by discriminating the contents of an incoming call when surrounding illumination does not amount to a reference value and lighting only backlight corresponding to an area where information corresponding to the contents of the incoming call should be displayed. SOLUTION: When surrounding illumination does not amount to a reference value, the contents of an incoming call is discriminated and only backlights corresponding to an area where information corresponding to the contents of the incoming call should be displayed are lighted. In this processor, when illumination sensed by an illumination sensor 115 does not amount to a reference value fixed in advance, a CPU 109 judges whether a judging standard is satisfied or not based on set information stored in a memory 110. Namely, when an incoming call by a telephone function part 117 is telephone communication and the telephone number of its transmitting source is registered in set information in a memory 110, the incoming call is judged to satisfy the judging standard and a switch 108 is controlled to light backlights A 106 and B 107.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus having a liquid crystal display device using a backlight.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a liquid crystal display device has been used as a display means of an information processing device such as a portable information terminal. As a phase change type liquid crystal used in a liquid crystal display device, there are a transmission type liquid crystal and a reflection type liquid crystal.

A liquid crystal display device using transmissive liquid crystal has a structure in which a backlight is disposed on the back of a liquid crystal panel. When a voltage is applied to the liquid crystal panel, the liquid crystal undergoes a phase transition, and light from the backlight is transmitted to the display surface. Display is performed by transmitting or blocking with. The type using the transmissive liquid crystal can recognize the display screen even in a dark place, but has a problem that the power consumption of the backlight is large.

Further, a liquid crystal display device using a reflection type liquid crystal has a structure in which a reflection plate is arranged on the back of a liquid crystal panel.
By applying a voltage to the liquid crystal panel, the liquid crystal undergoes a phase transition, and the display is performed by scattering or transmitting and reflecting the incident light on the display surface. In the type using the reflective liquid crystal, since the light source is external light, a backlight is not required and power consumption can be reduced. On the other hand, it is difficult to recognize a display screen in a dark place. There is a problem that.

In particular, in the case of a liquid crystal display device using transmissive liquid crystal, display control such as turning off the backlight when the information processing device itself is not used for a certain period of time in order to suppress power consumption of the backlight has been conventionally used. Had gone. As a backlight control method for a liquid crystal display device using a transmissive liquid crystal, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-207400 has been proposed. In this conventional technique, a plurality of backlights are arranged on the back surface of a liquid crystal panel, and only the backlight corresponding to a specific position on a display screen to be displayed among the plurality of backlights is turned on.

[0006]

In recent years, in information processing apparatuses, semi-transmissive liquid crystals have been used in place of the above-mentioned liquid crystal display apparatus using transmissive liquid crystals, as a device capable of further reducing power consumption. A liquid crystal display device is employed.
The liquid crystal display device using the transflective liquid crystal uses external light as a light source when the surroundings are bright, similarly to the liquid crystal display device using the reflective liquid crystal, while the liquid crystal using the transmissive liquid crystal when the surroundings are dark. As in the case of the display device, a backlight is used as a light source. As described above, in the liquid crystal display device using the transflective liquid crystal, it is not necessary to turn on the backlight when the surroundings are bright, so that the power consumption can be reduced.

[0007] A further reduction in power consumption is required for a liquid crystal display device using the transflective liquid crystal. However, conventionally, a liquid crystal display device using the transflective liquid crystal has a backlight. Nothing considered power consumption control.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and in an information processing apparatus having a liquid crystal display device using a transflective liquid crystal, a back light according to the surrounding brightness and the content of information to be displayed. An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus capable of controlling power consumption of a backlight by enabling control of lighting of a light.

[0009]

According to the present invention, a plurality of backlights are arranged on the back of a liquid crystal unit using a transflective liquid crystal, and lighting control of each of the plurality of backlights is individually performed. And a communication unit for performing communication, and an illuminance sensor for sensing ambient illuminance, and the backlight lighting control unit detects when an incoming call occurs in the communication unit and detects the incoming call with the illuminance sensor. It is determined whether or not the illuminance has reached a predetermined reference value set in advance, and if it is determined that the illuminance has not reached the predetermined reference value, the incoming call is received based on the information regarding the incoming call received by the communication means at the time of the incoming call. Determining the area of the liquid crystal section where information relating to the determined incoming call is to be displayed, and controlling a switch to turn on a backlight corresponding to the determined area. To. Thereby, it is possible to control the lighting of the backlight according to the brightness of the surroundings and the content of the incoming call, and it is possible to suppress the power consumption.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a liquid crystal display device of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. The liquid crystal display device includes a polarizing filter 101 that absorbs a specific linearly polarized light component and transmits other polarized light components, a glass substrate 102, a transparent electrode 103, a liquid crystal layer 104, and reflects a specific linearly polarized light component and other polarized light components. Transmissive polarizing film 105, backlight A106, backlight B1
07, a switch 10 for controlling the lighting of this backlight
8, the CPU 109. Note that an LED may be used instead of the backlight as the auxiliary lighting device. When the surroundings are bright, the polarizing filter 101
Is reflected by the semi-transmissive polarizing film 105, and the reflected light is used as a light source. When the surroundings are dark, the CPU 109 controls the switch 108, and the switch 108 simultaneously turns on the backlight A106, the backlight B107, or the backlight A106 and the backlight B107, and uses light from the backlight as a light source.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a display screen in a liquid crystal display device. As shown in FIG. 2A, the display screen of the liquid crystal display device is divided into a region 201 and a region 202, which can be displayed independently. The area 201 is a lighting target area of the backlight A106, and the area 202 is a backlight B10.
7 is a lighting target area. FIG. 2A is a display example when both the backlight A106 and the backlight B107 are turned on. FIG. 2B is a display example when only the backlight A106 is turned on. FIG. 3C is a display example when only the backlight B107 is displayed.

Next, the configuration of an information processing apparatus having the above-described liquid crystal display device will be described. FIG. 3 shows a system configuration diagram of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

A backlight A 106 supplies light to be used as a light source to a portion corresponding to the region 201 of the display screen of the liquid crystal unit 112, and a backlight B 107 corresponds to a region 202 of the display screen of the liquid crystal unit 112. The light to be used as a light source is supplied to a portion to be lighted. The switch 117 is
Under the control of the CPU 109, lighting of the backlight A106 and the backlight B107 is controlled.
The CPU 109 includes a microprocessor or the like, and controls the entire information processing apparatus. Memory 110
Stores various information used in the control processing by the CPU 109. LCD controller 11
1 controls display on the liquid crystal unit 112 under the control of the CPU 109. The liquid crystal unit 112 is shown in FIG.
And displays various information. The liquid crystal unit 112 is provided with the polarizing filter 1 shown in FIG.
01, glass substrate 102, transparent electrode 103, liquid crystal layer 10
4. It is composed of a transflective polarizing film 105. The graphic memory 113 stores display data displayed by the liquid crystal unit 112. Tablet 114
The tablet 114 reads coordinate information input from a pen (not shown). The tablet 114 is integrated with the liquid crystal unit 112. The illuminance sensor 115 is for sensing the brightness around the information processing device. The real-time clock 116 is for measuring time.
The telephone function unit 117 performs communication with a wireless base station such as a mobile phone or a PHS.

Next, the operation of the display control process in the information processing apparatus configured as described above will be described. When an incoming call from another information processing device occurs in the telephone function unit 117 (step 401), the CPU 109 detects this and causes the illuminance sensor 115 to sense the surrounding brightness (step 402). The CPU 109 controls the illuminance sensor 11
It is determined whether or not the illuminance sensed in step 5 is higher than a predetermined reference value (step 403). If it is higher than the reference value, the backlight A107 and the backlight B10 are determined.
8 is turned on, and information corresponding to the incoming call is displayed on the liquid crystal unit 112 via the LCD controller 111 (step 4).
10). Here, as shown in FIG. 5, the memory 110 stores a telephone number, a mail address, and a flag (details) for indicating whether or not to display detailed information on the caller when a call arrives, as shown in FIG. Information display flag) is stored. The value of the detailed information display flag is set to "1" for those displaying detailed information on the transmission source, and "0" is set for those not displaying.

The CPU 109 determines display contents to be displayed on the liquid crystal unit 112 based on the setting information. That is, when the telephone function unit 117 receives the telephone number transmitted from the wireless base station, the CPU 109 refers to the setting information in the memory 110 based on the received telephone number and corresponds to the received telephone number. Identify the source of the call.
Then, as shown in FIG. 2A, "*** is a call from Mr. ***" in the area 202 of the display screen according to the specified sender.
And the like, and a message notifying of the incoming call is displayed. At this time, if the detailed information display flag is “1”, the CP
U109 displays the detailed information on the specified transmission source in area 201 of the display screen. The message for notifying the incoming call and the detailed information on the caller are stored in the memory 110.
Is stored in When displaying such information, C
The PU 109 extracts information to be displayed from the memory 110 and outputs the information to the graphic memory 113, and controls the LCD controller 111 so that the output information is displayed on the liquid crystal unit 112. It should be noted that the detailed information on the transmission source is stored in the memory 110 for each transmission source.
The setting information stored in the memory 110 is information that can be separately set by the user, and the value of the detailed information display flag is also set by the user in advance.

When an e-mail is received by the telephone function unit 117, as shown in FIG.
09 displays the received e-mail in the area 201 of the display screen.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 403 that the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 115 has not reached the predetermined reference value, the CPU 109
Based on the setting information stored in 0, it is determined whether each of the following criteria A to C is satisfied,
Lighting control of the backlight A106 and the backlight B107 is performed according to the determination result.

First, the CPU 109 determines whether or not the criterion A is satisfied (step 404). That is, when the incoming call by the telephone function unit 117 is a telephone communication, the telephone number of the caller is registered in the setting information of the memory 110, and the detailed information display flag is “1”,
The CPU 109 determines that the determination criterion A is satisfied, and controls the switch 108 to turn on the backlight A 106 and the backlight B 107 (step 40).
5). Then, CPU 109 displays a message notifying the incoming call in area 202 of the display screen of liquid crystal unit 112, and displays detailed information on the caller in area 201 (step 410). The display screen when it is determined that the criterion A is satisfied is as shown in FIG.

If it is determined in step 404 that the criterion A is not satisfied, the CPU 109
Determines whether the criterion B is satisfied (step 4
06). That is, if the incoming call by the telephone function unit 117 is the reception of an electronic mail and the mail address of the sender is registered in the setting information of the memory 110, the CP
U109 determines that the criterion B is satisfied, and controls the switch 108 to turn on the backlight A106 (step 407). And the CPU 109
Displays the received e-mail in the area 201 of the display screen of the liquid crystal unit 112 (step 410). The display screen when it is determined that the criterion B is satisfied is shown in FIG.
become that way.

If it is determined in step 406 that the criterion B is not satisfied, the CPU 109 determines whether or not the criterion C is satisfied (step 408). That is, if the incoming call by the telephone function unit 117 is a telephone communication and the telephone number of the caller is registered in the setting information of the memory 110 and the detailed information display flag is “0”, the CPU 109 It is determined that the criterion C is satisfied, and the backlight B1
07 is turned on (step 409). Then, CPU 109 causes message 202 indicating the incoming call to be displayed on region 202 of the display screen of liquid crystal unit 112 (step 410). The display screen when it is determined that the criterion C is satisfied is as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, in step 408, the memory 1
In the case of an incoming call whose source is not registered in the setting information 10 or an e-mail in which the source is not registered in the setting information of the memory 110, the CPU 109 determines that the criterion C is not satisfied, and A106 and the backlight B107 are controlled not to be turned on. Subsequently, when an e-mail is received by the telephone function unit 117, the CPU 109 displays the e-mail in the area 201 of the display screen of the liquid crystal unit 112 (step 410).

When the screen is displayed in step 410, the CPU 109 determines whether there is no input from the tablet 114 for a predetermined time with reference to the real-time clock 116, and there is no input for a predetermined time from the tablet 114. In this case, the backlight A 106 and the backlight B
The power supply to the power supply 107 is interrupted, and the mode is shifted to the sleep mode (step 411).

As described above, a plurality of backlights are provided on the back surface of the liquid crystal, and when the surroundings are dark, only the backlight necessary for display is turned on according to the contents of the incoming call. The power consumption of the light can be reduced.

In the above description of the embodiment, the determination as to whether or not to display the detailed information on the caller at the time of the incoming call at step 404 is made according to the value of the detailed information display flag of the setting information in the memory 110. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be determined whether or not the detailed information of the transmission source is stored in the memory 110, and if the detailed information is stored, the detailed information may be displayed. .

If it is determined in step 408 that the determination criterion C is not satisfied, the user is notified by voice that a telephone or e-mail has been received by a voice output unit (not shown). Is also good. In response to the notification by voice, the user is enabled to respond to the incoming call when the incoming call is received, and the backlight B107 is turned on by the user's instruction when the incoming electronic mail is received.

Further, in the above description of the embodiment, the display screen area is divided into two parts, and the backlight is arranged. However, the number of divisions of the display screen area is further increased (for example, (Three or more), and a backlight may be arranged in each of them.

[0027]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a plurality of backlights are arranged on the back surface of the liquid crystal unit, and the surrounding illuminance reaches a predetermined reference value by the backlight lighting control means. If not, the content of the incoming call in the communication means is determined, and only the backlight corresponding to the area where information corresponding to the incoming call should be displayed is turned on. Can be suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a liquid crystal display device of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of a display screen in the liquid crystal display device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of backlight lighting control according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a view showing setting information stored in a memory 302 of the information processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Polarization filter 102 ... Glass substrate 103 ... Transparent electrode 104 ... Liquid crystal layer 105 ... Transflective polarizing film 106 ... Backlight A 107 ... Backlight B 108 ... Switch 109 ... CPU 110 ... Memory 111 ... LCD controller 112 ... Liquid crystal unit 113 ... Graphic memory 114 ... Tablet 115 ... Illuminance sensor 116 ... Real time clock 117 ... Phone function unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus having a liquid crystal display device using a transflective liquid crystal, comprising: a liquid crystal unit; a plurality of backlights disposed on a back surface of the liquid crystal unit; A switch for individually controlling lighting, a communication unit for performing communication, an illuminance sensor for sensing ambient illuminance, and an illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor when an incoming call occurs in the communication unit. It is determined whether or not the predetermined reference value has been reached, and if it is determined that the predetermined reference value has not been reached, the content of the incoming call is determined based on the information on the incoming call received by the communication means at the time of the incoming call. Discriminating, deciding an area of the liquid crystal portion in which information relating to the content of the discriminated incoming call is to be displayed, and controlling the switch to turn on the backlight corresponding to the decided area. An information processing apparatus comprising: a backlight control unit. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display control means for controlling the liquid crystal unit to display information associated with the content of the incoming call determined by the backlight lighting control means. . 3. The communication means performs telephone communication and mail communication. The backlight lighting control means determines whether the incoming call in the communication means is telephone communication or mail information, and information associated with the determined incoming call content. Determining the area of the liquid crystal portion where the display of the display is to be performed, and controlling the switch to turn on the backlight corresponding to the determined area. If it is determined that the communication is telephone communication, a message indicating that an incoming telephone communication has occurred is displayed in the area of the liquid crystal unit determined by the backlight lighting control means, while the backlight lighting control means If it is determined that the content of the incoming call is mail communication, the received mail information is displayed in the area of the liquid crystal unit determined by the backlight lighting control means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that. 4. A system further comprising a memory for storing information relating to a transmission source, wherein the backlight lighting control unit determines whether a transmission source of an incoming call in the communication unit is stored in the memory,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the switch is controlled so that the backlight is not turned on when the transmission source is not stored. 5. The backlight lighting control means according to claim 1, wherein, when the content of the incoming call is a telephone communication and the origin of the incoming call is registered in the memory, the area for displaying a message indicating that the incoming call of the telephone communication has occurred and the origin of the incoming call are provided. Each of the areas for displaying the additional information is determined, and the switch is controlled so as to light the backlight corresponding to the determined area. The display control means controls the area of the liquid crystal unit determined by the backlight lighting control means. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a message indicating that an incoming telephone communication has occurred and additional information regarding a caller are displayed.