JP2001230859A - Mobile phone - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mobile phone by which a user itself can surely, easily and immediately operate lighting/extinguishment of a backlight depending on the operating state. SOLUTION: The mobile phone is provided with a display section, a lighting means for the display section, a sensor having a sensing function about a contact or proximity of an object, and a control section that conducts lighting control of the lighting means on the basis of a sensing output of the sensor. Furthermore, the control section conducts the lighting control on the basis of the sensing output at the detection of an incoming call and/or at the detection of an operation entry.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display control technique for a display of a portable telephone, that is, a so-called backlight control technique.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, liquid crystal backlight devices are well known. 2. Description of the Related Art A mobile phone includes a liquid crystal display unit having a backlight device for displaying a telephone number input by a key operation unit, a calling number display at the time of an incoming call, and the like.

[0003] In a portable telephone, the backlight cannot be turned on at all times to save power. Therefore, when a key operation input or an incoming call is received, the backlight is turned on for a certain period of time.

[0004] In addition, a mobile phone which has advanced one step further turns on the backlight only when it is used in a dark place. Therefore, a light receiving window is provided near the display unit and a light receiving sensor is provided inside, so that the backlight is turned on according to the amount of received light. Perform control. That is, a reference voltage value equal to the sensor output corresponding to a predetermined light amount is stored in the memory in advance, and when a key operation input or an incoming call is received, the reference voltage value is compared with the sensor output, and the backlight is fixed when the surroundings are dark. It is controlled so that it is turned on for an hour. A further advanced mobile phone stores a plurality of reference voltage values and adjusts the brightness of the backlight in a plurality of steps according to the surrounding brightness.

[0005]

However, in the prior art, although the brightness of the surroundings where the backlight should be turned on is set in advance by the manufacturer, the situation is not always easy to see in actual use. For example, there is a problem of compatibility between the light receiving sensor and the light source, and the amount of received light can be accurately detected for natural light, but when used under a street light at night, some light sources of the street light may not be detected. There are cases where light cannot be detected by the light receiving sensor or it is difficult to detect light. In addition, even in the case of use under natural light, the backlight lighting control is not always properly performed in a usage situation in which light hits the mobile phone in a spot-like manner, or conversely, a shadow shows a spot-like shape. .

The present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned prior art, provides a portable telephone which allows the user to operate the backlight on / off in a simple, reliable and instantaneous manner according to the use condition.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention provides a sensor capable of sensing the contact or proximity of an object such as a touch sensor on or near the surface of a housing of a portable telephone. The backlight can be turned on / off instantaneously by the user touching or touching the sensor with the sensor in accordance with the use condition, and further removing the finger from the sensor.

For this purpose, a portable telephone according to the present invention has a display unit, an illuminating unit of the display unit, a sensor having a function of detecting contact or proximity of an object, and a detection output of the sensor. And a control unit for controlling lighting of the lighting means based on the control information.

The invention described in claim 2 is the first invention.
In the mobile phone of the present invention, the control unit performs lighting control based on the presence or absence of the detection output when an incoming call is detected and / or an operation input is detected.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a front view of a portable telephone and FIG. 2 is a block diagram thereof, showing an embodiment of the present invention.
Will be described with reference to FIG. 3 which is a backlight control flowchart. In the respective drawings, the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals.

1, reference numeral 1 denotes a telephone housing, and 2 denotes a backlight ON / OFF provided on a side surface of the housing 1.
A sensor used as an OFF switch, 3 is a liquid crystal display unit (LCD) equipped with a backlight device, 4 is a key operation unit, 5 is a reception unit, 6 is a transmission unit, and 7 is an antenna. When the user touches the sensor 2 with a finger during an incoming call or key operation, the backlight of the LCD 3 turns on, and when the finger is released, the backlight turns off. As the sensor 2, a touch sensor that detects a current value based on a change in electric resistance value due to sweat or a temperature change, or a sensor that outputs an infrared ray or an ultrasonic wave and detects a distance to an object or an approach of the object by reflection thereof. Various types of sensors such as a distance measuring sensor and a proximity sensor can be used, but a situation where the backlight is turned on regardless of the user's intention is assumed, so a light receiving sensor that detects the amount of light in the surroundings Cannot be used.

In FIG. 2, which is a block diagram of a portable telephone, 3A is an LCD driver, and 3B is a light emitting diode (L).
ED) backlight, 3C is the backlight L
This is an LED driver for driving the ED. Reference numeral 8 denotes a wireless unit, 9 denotes a control unit, 10 denotes an audio signal processing unit, 11 denotes a storage unit, and 12 denotes a ringer.

The control unit 9 drives the sensor 2 when detecting a calling signal from a reception signal of the wireless unit 8 or detecting a key input operation by the key operation unit 4. During this period, when there is a detection output from the sensor 2 due to the contact (or proximity) of the finger, a drive command control signal is output to the LED driver 3C to turn on the backlight 3B. Therefore, the backlight 3B is turned on when the user touches (or approaches) the sensor 2 with a finger during an incoming call in which the ringer 12 is ringing or during a key input operation such as a dial transmission operation.

Further, in order to prevent the backlight from being turned on / off excessively depending on the presence / absence of a key operation or the contact state of a finger, it takes about t1 seconds (for example, about 10 seconds) since neither the incoming signal nor the key operation can be detected. Control is also performed so that the backlight 3B continues to be turned on for about t2 seconds (for example, 1 second) after the detection output of the sensor-2 disappears. These control operations are performed in step 101 in the flowchart of FIG.
１１０110.

As described above, it is only necessary to bring the finger into contact or close proximity with the dedicated sensor, so that the backlight can be easily and quickly turned on and off based on the user's intention. A push-button or slide-type switch may cause an erroneous operation, but the present invention does not cause an erroneous operation and can respond to the movement of the user's finger with good response.

[0016]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display unit, an illuminating unit of the display unit, a sensor having a function of sensing contact or proximity of an object, and the illumination based on a detection output of the sensor. And a control unit for controlling the lighting of the means, so that the backlight can be turned on only when the user wants to turn on the backlight, which is effective in power saving, and as described above. By using the dedicated sensor, it is possible to easily and quickly control the backlight easily and quickly by responding to the movement of the finger simply by touching or approaching the finger without fear of erroneous operation.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable telephone in which the control unit according to the first aspect performs lighting control based on the detection output when an incoming call is detected and / or when a key operation input is detected. As a result, it is possible to prevent lighting when a finger is erroneously touched during standby, which is highly effective in achieving power saving.

[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 block diagram of a mobile phone showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a backlight control flowchart showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Phone case 2: Sensor 3: Liquid crystal display (LCD) 3A: LCD driver 3B: Backlight using a light emitting diode (LED) 3C: LED driver for driving the LED of the backlight 4: Key operation unit 5: Receiving unit 6: Transmitting unit 7: Antenna 8: Wireless unit 9: Control unit 10: Audio signal processing unit 11: Storage unit 12: Ringer

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A display unit, a lighting unit of the display unit, a sensor having a function of sensing contact or proximity of an object, and a control unit for controlling lighting of the lighting unit based on a detection output of the sensor. A mobile phone, comprising: 2. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein the control unit performs lighting control based on the detection output when an incoming call is detected and / or when an operation input is detected.