JP2001111687A - Portable telephone set with lighting function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable telephone set with lighting function that reduces the power consumption of its lighting section. SOLUTION: A microcomputer 110 discriminates whether or not any of operation keys 21-25d is depressed (step 310). When any of the operation keys 21-25d is depressed, the microcomputer 110 outputs a pulse signal with a blink time ratio dy of 75% and a frequency of 100 Hz to a transistor(TR) 101 of a lighting device driver circuit 100 (step 340). Thus, the TR 101 blinks lighting devices 60a-60f under the condition of a frequency of 100 Hz and a blink time ratio of 75% according to the pulse signal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a portable telephone having a lighting function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, most of mobile phones widely used are provided with a display unit such as a liquid crystal display panel, an operation unit, and an illumination unit for illuminating the display unit and the operation unit. The illuminating unit keeps on lighting for a certain period of time not only at the time of outgoing / incoming calls but also at each operation on the operating unit, such as data registration in a telephone directory built in the mobile phone and input of a short mail message. Thus, the operation on the operation unit can be easily performed even in a dark area at night or the like.

[0003]

However, in the above-described lighting unit, the lighting device receives continuous power (for example, receives a constant voltage) and emits light as illumination for the display unit and the operation unit. The emission consumes a lot of power. Therefore, there is a problem in that the operable time required for a mobile phone such as a mobile phone or a PHS is not prolonged.

[0004] In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile phone with a lighting function that reduces the power consumption of the lighting section.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a display section (40) for displaying information and an operation section (2) comprising a plurality of keys are provided.
0) and a lighting unit (60a to 60f) that illuminates at least one of the display unit and the operation unit, and is a mobile phone with a lighting function operated by a battery, and controls the lighting unit to intermittently light. A control unit (110) is provided.

Accordingly, the illumination unit intermittently lights up to illuminate at least one of the display unit and the operation unit.
The power consumption of the lighting unit can be reduced.

[0007] The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the control unit controls the lighting unit so that the intermittent lighting is performed so that the intermittent lighting cycle is not visually recognized.

[0008] Thus, the intermittent lighting by the lighting unit is performed so that the period of the intermittent lighting is not visually recognized, and therefore, the operator does not feel uncomfortable.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the control unit includes setting means (222, 272) for setting the degree of intermittent lighting in accordance with an operation on the operation unit, and the intermittent lighting set by the setting means. Lighting means (340) for controlling the lighting unit so as to perform intermittent lighting based on the degree of lighting.

[0010] This allows the lighting section to perform lighting based on the degree of intermittent lighting set by the operator, so that at least one of the display panel and the operating section has a brightness (brightness) desired by the operator. ) Can be obtained.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the control section has a setting display section (230) for displaying on the display section the degree of intermittent lighting set by the setting section.

Thus, the degree of intermittent lighting set by the setting means can be visually recognized on the display unit, so that the setting of the degree of intermittent lighting by the setting means can be easily performed. Note that the mobile phone of the present invention
S is also included.

Incidentally, the reference numerals in parentheses of the above means are examples showing the correspondence with specific means described in the embodiments described later.

[0014]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of a mobile phone with a lighting function according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view of the mobile phone, and FIG. 2 is a front view of the mobile phone in FIG. 1 from which a front case portion 11 is removed. As shown in FIG. The mobile phone includes a case 10 and a key operation unit 20. As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile phone is provided with a printed circuit board 30, a liquid crystal panel 40, contact portions 50a to 50k, 50n to 50z, and lighting devices 60a to 60f. Note that the mobile phone operates with a built-in battery.

As shown in FIG. 1, the key operation section 20 is disposed on the front case section 11 of the case 10. The key operation unit 20 includes a cross key 21, a power key 22, a function key 23, and ten keys (character / number keys) 24a to 2
4k, 24m, and other keys 25a to 25d. The cross key 21 includes an up key 21a, a down key 2
1b, a left key 21c and a right key 21d.

The liquid crystal panel 40 is mounted on the printed circuit board 30 shown in FIG. 2, and is located inside the case 10 in the opening 12 formed in the case 10. Also, the contact portion 50
a to 50k, 50n to 50z are operation keys 21 to 25d
And is mounted on the printed circuit board 30.

The lighting devices 60a to 60f are light emitting diodes, and are mounted on the printed circuit board 30. The lighting devices 60a and 60b illuminate the liquid crystal panel 40, and the lighting devices 60c to 60f
Illuminate ~ 25d.

Next, the liquid crystal panel 40 and the operation keys 21 to 21
FIGS. 3 and 4 show an electric circuit configuration for illuminating 25d.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electric circuit configuration of the mobile phone, and FIG. 4 is an electric circuit diagram showing a part of FIG. 3 in detail. The mobile phone includes a memory 70, a key input interface circuit 80, a liquid crystal panel driver circuit 90,
A lighting device driving driver circuit 100 and a microcomputer 110 are provided.

The memory 70 is composed of a ROM, a RAM, etc., and stores various data and programs. The key input interface circuit 80 has contact points 50a to 50k, 50n, 50m, 50p to u of the operation keys 21 to 25d. , 5
Microcomputer 1 receives key input signals from
Output to 10

The liquid crystal panel driver circuit 90 is driven by the microcomputer 110 to
To display various information. As shown in FIG. 4, the lighting device driving driver circuit 100 includes a transistor 101. The transistor 101 receives a pulse signal output from the microcomputer 110 and lights the lighting devices 60a to 60f intermittently.

Here, as the degree of intermittent lighting of the lighting devices 60a to 60f, a level at which the lighting device 60a is visually perceived as if the lighting device 60a to 60f continue to be lit by an afterimage in human vision. In the present embodiment, 100 Hz is adopted as the blinking cycle, and the blinking time ratio (duty of intermittent lighting) is 0%, 25%, 50%, 7%.
5% and 100% can be set.

The microcomputer 110 performs a brightness setting process for lighting the liquid crystal panel 40 and the operation keys 21 to 25d, an intermittent lighting process for the lighting devices 60a to 60f, and other processes. The intermittent lighting process is executed in an interrupt process for each set time with respect to a main routine such as a standby process and a call process.
Executed while waiting.

Hereinafter, the brightness setting process of the microcomputer 110 will be described with reference to FIG. The microcomputer 110 executes the brightness setting process according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, it is determined whether or not "F34" has been pressed (step 200). "F" is the function key 23, "3" is the character / number key 24c.
, "4" are character / number keys 24d.

Next, when "F34" is pressed in step 200, the process proceeds to step 210, in which the liquid crystal panel driver circuit 90 is driven to turn on the data of the blinking time ratio previously set by the liquid crystal panel 40 (hereinafter referred to as "flashing time ratio data"). , Blinking time ratio dy). The previously set blinking time ratio dy is stored in the RAM of the memory 70.

For example, when the previously set blinking time ratio dy is 50%, the liquid crystal panel 40 performs the display shown in FIG. In the right-angled triangle segment in FIG. 6A, the ratio of the black part to the white part is the blinking time ratio dy (50).
%).

Next, the upward key 21 of the cross keys 21
It is determined whether or not a is pressed (step 220). When the upward key 21a is pressed, the process proceeds to step 221 to determine whether or not the blinking time ratio dy is 100%.

Next, when the blinking time ratio dy is not 100% (blinking time ratio dy <100%), the routine proceeds to step 222, where "blinking time ratio dy + 25" is set as the blinking time ratio dy.
% ”(Blinking time ratio dy = blinking time ratio dy + 25)
%), The set blinking time ratio dy (= blinking time ratio dy + 2)
5%) is displayed on the liquid crystal panel 40 by driving the liquid crystal panel driver circuit 90 (step 230).

For example, when the previously set blinking time ratio dy is 50% and the upward key 21a is pressed once, the liquid crystal panel 40 displays the blinking time ratio dy: 75 shown in FIG.
%, And when the upward key 21a is pressed twice, the liquid crystal panel 40 displays the blinking time ratio d shown in FIG.
y: 100% display is performed. Note that the right triangle segment in FIG. 6B has more black portions than in FIG. 6A, and the right triangle segment in FIG. 6C has a black portion compared to FIG. 6B. There are many parts.

Next, the blinking time ratio dy set in step 240 is replaced with the previously set blinking time ratio dy and stored in the RAM of the memory 70 (step 240), and the blinking flag is set in the RAM of the memory 70. (Step 250).

Next, it is determined whether or not the power key 22 has been pressed (step 260). When the power key 22 has been pressed, the routine proceeds to step 200. Thus, the blinking time ratio d
y can be determined.

If it is determined in step 260 that the power key 22 has not been pressed, the process proceeds to step 220. If the blinking time ratio dy is 100% in step 221 (blinking time ratio dy = 100%), the process proceeds to step 220.

Next, at step 220, the upward key 21
If a is not pressed, the process proceeds to step 270, where it is determined whether or not the down key 21b is pressed.
When b is pressed, the process proceeds to step 271 to determine whether or not the blinking time ratio dy is 0%.

Next, when the blinking time ratio dy is not 0% (blinking time ratio dy ≠ 0%), the routine proceeds to step 272,
As the blinking time ratio dy, “blinking time ratio dy−25%” is set (blinking time ratio dy = blinking time ratio dy−25%),
The set blinking time ratio dy is set to the liquid crystal panel driver circuit 90.
Is driven to display on the liquid crystal panel 40 (step 230). Thereafter, the processing of steps 240 to 260 is performed.

For example, when the previously set blinking time ratio dy is 50% and the downward key 21b is pressed once, the liquid crystal panel 40 displays the blinking time ratio dy: 25 shown in FIG.
% Is displayed, and when the downward key 21b is pressed twice, the liquid crystal panel 40 displays the blinking time ratio d shown in FIG.
y: 0% is displayed. In the right-angled triangle segment in FIG. 6D, there are fewer black portions than in FIG. 6A, and in the right-angled triangle segment in FIG. 6E, there are fewer black portions than in FIG.

Next, at step 270, the down key 21
When b is not pressed, the processing of steps 240 to 260 is performed. The up key 21a and the down key 21b
When none of the keys is pressed, the blinking time ratio dy set previously is stored in the RAM of the memory 70. In this case, the liquid crystal panel 40 performs display with the blinking time ratio dy: 50% shown in FIG.

The blinking process in the microcomputer 110 will be described below with reference to FIG. The microcomputer 110 performs a blinking process according to the flowchart shown in FIG. Note that the lighting devices 60a to 60f
Blinking cycle: data of 100 Hz is stored in the ROM of the memory 70 in advance.

First, it is determined whether or not the intermittent illumination is set (step 300). When the blinking flag is set in the RAM of the memory 70, it is determined that the intermittent illumination is set. , Proceed to step 310.

Next, at step 310, the operation keys 21 to 21
It is determined whether any one of the keys 25d has been pressed. If any one of the operation keys 21 to 25d has been pressed, the process proceeds to step 320, where the lighting timer (specifies the lighting time). ) Is set.

Next, it is determined whether or not the operation of the lighting timer has been completed (whether or not the lighting timer has been reset) (step 330). If the operation of the lighting timer has not been completed, the process proceeds to step 340. .

Next, during the brightness setting process described above, the memory 7
0 of the blinking period ratio dy stored in the RAM 70 and the blinking period (100) stored in the ROM of the memory 70.
Hz) data, and blinking time ratio dy (for example,
75%), and outputs a pulse signal having a frequency of 100 Hz to the transistor 101 of the lighting device driver circuit 100.

Therefore, the transistor 101 has a frequency:
Lighting device 60a at 100Hz, blinking time ratio: 75%
６０60f are turned on intermittently. Thereby, the intermittent lighting of the lighting devices 60a to 60f causes the liquid crystal panel 40 to emit light.
And the operation keys 21 to 25d can be illuminated. When the operation of the lighting timer ends in step 330, the intermittent lighting of the lighting devices 60a to 60f is turned off (step 370), and the process proceeds to step 310.

As described above, the lighting of the liquid crystal panel 40 and the operation keys 21 to 25d is performed by the lighting devices 60a to 60d.
Since a constant voltage is not output at 0f, but is intermittently lit, power consumption for illumination of the liquid crystal panel 40 and the operation keys 21 to 25d can be reduced. here,
As the intermittent lighting by the lighting devices 60a to 60f, a device whose blinking cycle is not visually recognized is employed, so that the operator does not feel uncomfortable.

The lighting devices 60a to 60f illuminate the liquid crystal panel 40 and the operation keys 21 to 25d based on the blinking time ratio dy set by the operator.
In the operation keys 21 to 25d and the liquid crystal panel 40,
The brightness desired by the operator can be obtained.

Also, there is a conventional light sensor provided with an optical sensor for detecting the brightness of the surroundings and turning off the illumination unit when the surroundings are bright (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-7).
No. 4691), power for the optical sensor to detect brightness is always consumed. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, since no optical sensor is employed, no power is consumed for the optical sensor to detect brightness.

In implementing the present invention, "0%" may not be set as the blinking time ratio dy.
That is, the range of the blinking time ratio dy may be set to 0 <blinking time ratio dy ≦ 100.

Here, conventionally, the lighting devices 60a to 60a
The start and stop of the lighting of the lighting devices 60a to 60f can be set, and the lighting of the lighting devices 60a to 60f is set to reduce the power consumption. While the lighting stop is set, the lighting devices 60a to 60a
It takes time and effort to set the lighting start at 0f. On the other hand, since the blinking time ratio dy cannot be set to “0%”, the liquid crystal panel 40 and the operation keys 21
Lighting to ２５25d is performed, and the above-mentioned labor is not required.

In the above embodiment, the liquid crystal panel 40
Although the example in which both the operation key 20 and the operation key 20 are illuminated intermittently has been described, the invention is not limited thereto, and only one of the liquid crystal panel 40 and the operation key 20 may be illuminated intermittently.

In the above embodiment, the liquid crystal panel 40
In adjusting the brightness of the operation keys 20, the lighting device 6
Although the example in which the blinking time ratio (duty) is adjusted as the blinking degree of 0a to 60f has been described, the invention is not limited thereto.
The blink cycle may be adjusted. Further, the invention is not limited thereto, and both the blinking time ratio and the blinking cycle may be adjusted.

In implementing the present invention, a color liquid crystal panel may be used as the liquid crystal panel 40. In this case, more power is consumed than in the case where a monochrome liquid crystal panel (black and white liquid crystal panel) is employed as the liquid crystal panel 40. Therefore, when the power consumption is reduced by intermittent lighting, the built-in operation of the mobile phone is reduced. The possible time can be extended effectively. Further, when a color liquid crystal panel is employed as the liquid crystal panel 40, a color display according to the operator's preference can be obtained by adjusting the brightness of the operator's preference.

In the practice of the present invention, the intermittent lighting by the lighting devices 60a to 60f may be made to visually recognize the blinking cycle.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a front view of the mobile phone shown in FIG. 1 with a front case part removed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electric circuit configuration of the mobile phone.

FIG. 4 is an electric circuit diagram showing a part of FIG. 3 in detail.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a brightness adjustment process of the microcomputer in FIG. 3;

FIGS. 6A to 6E are views showing display on a liquid crystal panel in a brightness adjustment process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing blinking processing of the microcomputer.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numeral 20: key operation unit, 40: liquid crystal panel, 60a to 60f
... lighting device, 110 ... microcomputer.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A display unit (40) for displaying information, an operation unit (20) comprising a plurality of keys, and an illumination unit (60a to 60f) for illuminating at least one of the display unit and the operation unit. A mobile phone equipped with a lighting function, which is operated by a battery, comprising: a control unit (110) for controlling the lighting unit so as to be intermittently turned on. 2. The mobile phone with a lighting function according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the lighting unit so as to perform the intermittent lighting so that a cycle of the intermittent lighting is not visually recognized. 3. The setting unit (222, 272) for setting the degree of the intermittent lighting according to an operation on the operation unit, and the degree of the intermittent lighting set by the setting means. 3. The lighting function-equipped mobile phone according to claim 1, further comprising: lighting means (340) for controlling the lighting unit so as to intermittently light the lighting unit based on the condition. 4. The setting display means (230), wherein the control section displays the degree of the intermittent lighting set by the setting means on the display section.
The mobile phone with a lighting function according to claim 3, comprising: