JP2005202852A - Portable communication terminal with function to select icon display menu - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable communication terminal that can facilitate the selection of icons from a menu selection screen. <P>SOLUTION: A cellular phone 100, which has an operating part 105 with direction keys for a plurality of directions and a display part 106, includes a storage part 107 in which a plurality of icons for selecting a menu are grouped into icon groups each with a smaller number of icons than the number of directions and each of the icon groups is stored in association with position information; and a control part 103 that, each time the position information is changed by the operation of any of the direction keys, causes the icon group associated with the position information to be displayed in a manner allowing it to be identified as the icon group to be selected, thus allowing the user to select, by operating any of the direction keys, the icon to be selected from among the icons included in the icon group to be selected. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly to a technique for easily selecting an icon from an icon display menu.

  In recent years, mobile communication terminals such as mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) have become multi-functional, and a user executes a desired function from a menu selection screen in order to cause the mobile communication terminal to execute a desired function. Select a menu by operating the direction keys on the control panel. Each menu on the menu selection screen is displayed as an icon so that the user can understand the contents of the menu at a glance. This allows the user to easily identify and select a menu that performs a desired function. .

  On the other hand, when many icons are simultaneously displayed on the menu selection screen due to multifunctional functions of the mobile communication terminal, there is a problem that each displayed icon becomes small and it is difficult to recognize the contents of the icon. As a technique for solving this problem, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for enlarging and displaying an icon displayed as a cursor without making other icons invisible.

Thereby, even when the number of icons indicating the contents of the menu to be selected is large, the user can easily recognize the contents of the icons.
JP2002-261918

  However, in the above prior art, in order to select an icon for displaying a menu for executing a desired function, the user repeatedly operates the direction key of the operation unit to move the display indicating the selected icon to the icon. Therefore, when the number of icons displayed on the menu selection screen is large, there is a problem that it takes time to select a desired icon.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication terminal that can easily select an icon from a menu selection screen.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention is a mobile communication terminal including an operation unit having a plurality of direction keys and a display unit, and a plurality of icons for selecting a menu, the number of icons being the direction. The storage unit stores the icon groups that are grouped in advance into icon groups that are not more than the number, and associates the grouped icon groups with the position information, and changes each time the position information is changed by the operation of the direction key. The selection target display means for displaying the icon group associated with the position information in a display mode that can be identified as the selection target icon group, and the icons included in the selection target icon group should be selected by operating the direction key. Icon selection means for selecting an icon.

  Since the present invention has the above-described configuration, an icon to be selected can be displayed for each icon group including a plurality of icons. Therefore, the user can easily include an icon group including a desired icon with a small number of direction key operations. Since the number of icons included in each icon group is adjusted so as not to exceed the number that can be selected by one direction key operation, the user can select one direction after selecting the icon group. A desired icon can be selected by key operation.

  Here, the direction key is composed of up, down, left, and right direction keys, and each direction key is arranged on the operation unit so as to be positioned at each vertex of the cross, and the operation unit selects the icon group to be selected. A confirmation key for confirming, the icon selecting means confirming the selection target icon group by operating a confirmation key in the operation section, and each icon included in the confirmed icon group, the operation section Icon display means arranged at each vertex of the cross so as to correspond to the arrangement of each direction key in the display, and displayed in the display area of the display unit, the icon selection means is displayed in the display area An icon to be selected may be selected from the icons by operating the direction key.

  Thus, after the selection target icon group is confirmed, each icon included in the selection target icon group is displayed in the display area of the display unit so as to correspond to the arrangement of the direction keys in the operation unit. The direction key for easily selecting a desired icon can be specified according to the arrangement of the displayed icons on the display unit, and the desired icon can be selected by operating the direction key. It is possible to effectively prevent a mistake that a different icon is selected by mistake.

Here, the storage means preliminarily groups the plurality of icons into a first icon group including the same number of icons as the number of directions and a second icon group including a smaller number of icons than the number of directions. The first or second icon group grouped and the position information designated by the direction key operation are stored in association with each other, and the confirming means determines whether the icon group to be selected is the first icon group or the second icon Determining means for determining whether the group is a group, and when the selection target icon group is the first icon group, the determination unit determines the selection target icon group by operating a determination key in the operation unit;
When the icon group to be selected is the second icon group, the icon display means displays each icon included in the second icon group in the operation unit of the number of direction keys included in the second icon group. It is good also as arrange | positioning at each vertex of a cross shape corresponding to arrangement | positioning, and making it display on the display area of the said display part.

  Thus, after selecting an icon group, each icon of the mobile communication terminal is grouped as a first icon group in units of the maximum number of icons that can be selected by a single direction key operation after the icon group is selected. As a result, fractional icons that cannot be grouped as the first icon group can be grouped as the second icon group, so even when there are many icons to be selected, the number of icon groups to be selected is minimized. Therefore, it is possible to select an icon group including a desired icon efficiently.

  When the second icon group including the fractional icons is a selection target, the selection target is not determined by the user's confirmation key operation, but is directly selected by the user's direction key operation. Since a desired icon included in the second icon group can be selected, the number of key operations for selecting an icon can be reduced accordingly.

<Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile communication terminal, specifically, a mobile phone 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone 100 includes an antenna 101, a radio unit 102, a control unit 103, an audio processing unit 104, an operation unit 105, a display unit 106, a storage unit 107, a speaker 108, and a microphone 109.

The radio unit 102 demodulates communication radio waves input via the antenna 101 into communication data, outputs the communication data to the control unit 104, modulates communication data input from the control unit 104, and uses the antenna as communication radio waves 101 to the base station.
Here, “communication data” refers to voice data, character data, image data, etc. of a call.

The audio processing unit 104 D / A converts the audio data input from the control unit 103 to generate an audio signal, outputs the audio signal to the speaker 108, and performs A / D conversion on the audio signal input from the microphone 109. Data is generated and output to the control unit 103.
The operation unit 105 includes various input keys, receives various instructions from the user via the input keys, and outputs them to the control unit 103.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the configuration of the input keys in the operation unit 105. The operation unit 105 includes a selection confirmation key 1051, a call start key 1052, a call end key 1053, a direction key unit 1054, and a numeric keypad 1055.
FIG. 2 shows an example of the input key configuration of the operation unit 105. The input key configuration of the operation unit 105 is not limited to the example of FIG. 2, and other configurations may be used. For example, the input keys may be arranged differently from the specific example of FIG. 2, and the types of direction keys included in the direction key unit 1054 are not limited to four types, and may be four or more types. And there may be a plurality of types less than four types.

The selection confirmation key 1051 is a key for displaying a menu selection screen for selecting a program for executing various functions of the mobile phone 100 or for confirming a menu group to be selected from the menu selection screen.
Here, the “menu group” is a part of the display area of the display unit 106 that includes a plurality of icons, which are GUIs (Graphic User Interfaces) in which the contents of functions realized by each menu are imaged on the menu selection screen. A plurality of icons are selected for each partition area when a menu is selected.

  FIG. 3A shows a specific example of a menu selection screen displayed on the display unit 106 when the selection confirmation key 1051 is pressed when the mobile phone 100 is in a standby state. Each number shown in FIG. 3A represents an icon representing the contents of each function realized by executing the program (here, for convenience of explanation, the icon is represented by a number), and FIG. The squares surrounding the icons 1, 2, 6, and 7 in (a) represent the selected menu group (hereinafter referred to as “selected group”) that is highlighted.

The selection group moves on the menu selection screen as shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C in response to pressing of each direction key included in a direction key section 1054 described later, and the selection confirmation key 1051 is pressed. The selected group is confirmed.
For example, when the selection confirmation key 1051 is pressed at the position of the selection group shown in FIG. 3C, the icon selection screen shown in FIG. Is displayed.

The call key 1052 is a key that is pressed when a telephone number is transmitted to the outside or when an incoming call is received from the outside and a call is answered.
The call end key 1053 is a key for inputting a call end instruction to the control unit 103 or inputting a power on / off instruction to the control unit 103.
The direction key unit 1054 includes four types of direction keys: an up direction key 10541, a down direction key 10543, a right direction key 10542, and a left direction key 10544. As shown in FIG. 2, each of the up direction key 10541, the down direction key 10543, the right direction key 10542, and the left direction key 10544 is arranged at the position of each vertex of the cross.

The up direction key 10541 is a key for moving the selection group displayed on the menu selection screen in the upward direction. Specifically, the control unit 103 instructs to increase the Y coordinate of a specified position coordinate described later by a predetermined value. It is a key for inputting to.
The down key 10543 is a key for moving the selection group displayed on the menu selection screen downward. Specifically, the control unit 103 issues an instruction to decrease a Y coordinate of a specified position coordinate described later by a predetermined value. It is a key for inputting to.

The right direction key 10542 is a key for moving the selection group displayed on the menu selection screen in the right direction. Specifically, an instruction to increase the X coordinate of a specified position coordinate described later by a predetermined value is given by the control unit. This is a key for inputting to 103.
The left direction key 10544 is a key for moving the selection group displayed on the menu selection screen in the left direction, and is used to input an instruction to the control unit 103 to decrease an X coordinate of a specified position coordinate described later by a predetermined value. Is the key.

Each direction key is a key for inputting a desired icon selection instruction to the control unit 103 from the icon selection screen.
The numeric keypad 10545 includes a numeric keypad for inputting a telephone number and characters.
The display unit 106 displays each icon in a predetermined display region based on the information about the icon display region and icon pattern specified by the control unit 103, and displays the display region specified by the control unit 103 in reverse video. , Display the selected group.

The storage unit 107 stores an icon management table 1071, an allocated partition management table 1072, and selected icon display position information 1073.
Here, the “icon management table 1071” is an identifier of each icon displayed on the menu selection screen, a display area of the icon indicated by the coordinate range of the X coordinate and the Y coordinate, and image image data of the icon. This is a table indicating the correspondence between the icon pattern to be displayed, the assigned partition number to which the icon belongs, the assigned partition group number to which the icon belongs, and the designated display state of the icon.

Here, the “assigned section number” is assigned to each of a plurality of icons displayed on the menu selection screen (the number of directions indicated by the direction key (here, 4), not necessarily the same number). This is a number for identifying a partitioned area (hereinafter referred to as “allocated partitioned area”) on the menu selection screen.
Also, the “allocation block group number” indicates whether or not the layout of the allocation block area on the menu selection screen is at a specific position, specifically, whether the X coordinate range or the Y coordinate range of the allocation block area is within a specific range. This is a number for identification.

The “designated display state” is display state designation information for designating the display state of the associated icon. Specifically, either “inverted display” or “normal display” is selected. Refers to information that specifies.
Here, “inverted display” means that the character color and the background color in the normal display are displayed in reverse.

FIG. 4 shows a specific example of the icon management table 1071. In the icon management table 1071 in FIG. 4, information for displaying the menu selection screen shown in FIG.
Specifically, the display unit 106 displays the icons 1 to 24 as shown in FIG. 3A based on the icon pattern shown in the icon management table 1071 in FIG. 4 and the coordinate range showing the display area of the icon pattern. In the display area designated by the icon management table 1071 (for example, the icon 1 has a coordinate range indicated by “(0,0) − (X1, Y1)”, that is, a coordinate range in which the X coordinate ranges from 0 to X1, Y The display area of the coordinate range from 0 to Y1, the icon 2 is also displayed in the coordinate range from X1 to X2 and the coordinate range from 0 to Y1 in the X coordinate. Based on the designated display state of each icon shown, the icons 1, 2, 5, and 6 are highlighted and the other icons are normally displayed.

Further, the “allocated section management table 1072” is a table showing a correspondence relationship between designated position coordinates, allocated section numbers, and allocated section group numbers.
Here, the “designated position coordinates” are designated to the control unit 103 in response to pressing of each direction key (up direction key 10541, down direction key 10543, right direction key 10542, left direction key 10544) of the operation unit 105. In the initial state (after the menu selection screen is displayed and before the user first inputs a direction key from the operation unit 105), the specified position coordinates are displayed. Is set to an initial value (here, (0, 0)), and then the Y coordinate is increased by a predetermined value in response to the down key 1053 being pressed, and the Y coordinate is changed in response to the up key 1051 being pressed. The X coordinate is increased by a predetermined value when the right direction key 1052 is pressed, and is decreased by a predetermined value when the left direction key 1054 is pressed.

Here, each predetermined value may be the same value, or may vary according to the X coordinate or the Y coordinate immediately before the increase or decrease.
FIG. 5 shows a specific example of the allocated partition management table 1072.
Here, the X coordinate of the designated position coordinate indicates 0, which is the initial value in the initial state, and when the right arrow key 1052 is pressed when the X coordinate is the initial value, the X coordinate of the designated position coordinate is X2. When the right key 1052 is pressed when the X coordinate is X2, the X coordinate is increased by (X4−X2) (X4> X2), and the X coordinate is X4. In this case, the X coordinate is set so as not to increase or decrease even if the right direction key 1052 is pressed. When the X coordinate is X4 and the left direction key 1054 is pressed, the X coordinate is set to (X4- When the left direction key 1054 is pressed when the X coordinate is X2, the X coordinate is decreased by X2, and when the X coordinate is the initial value, the left direction key 1054 is pressed. However, the X coordinate is set not to increase or decrease And the.

  In addition, the Y coordinate of the designated position coordinate indicates 0 which is an initial value in the initial state, and when the Y coordinate is the initial value, if the down key 1053 is pressed, the Y coordinate of the designated position coordinate is only Y2. When the Y-coordinate is Y2 and the down key 1053 is pressed, the Y-coordinate is increased by (Y4-Y2) (Y4> Y2), and the Y-coordinate is Y4. The Y coordinate is set not to increase or decrease even when the down key 1053 is pressed. When the Y coordinate is Y4 and the up key 1051 is pressed, the Y coordinate is (Y4-Y2). ) And when the Y coordinate is Y2, when the up key 1051 is pressed, the Y coordinate is decreased by Y2, and when the Y coordinate is the initial value, the up key 1051 is pressed. And the Y coordinate is set not to increase or decrease That.

The “selected icon display position information 1073” refers to information for designating a display area of a selection target icon to be displayed on the icon selection screen. Specifically, the allocation partition group number, the allocation partition number, and the like. This is a table showing the correspondence with the display area of each selection target icon assigned to the assigned section area of the assigned section number.
In the selection icon display position information 1073, the display area of each selection target icon is that each selection target icon on the icon selection screen is displayed by each direction key (up direction key 10541, down direction key 10543, right direction key 10542, A layout corresponding to each vertex of the cross shape is designated so as to correspond to the layout of the left direction key 10544).

FIG. 6 shows a specific example of the selected icon display position information 1073. Based on the selected icon display position information 1073 shown in FIG. 6, the icon selection screens shown in FIGS. 3D to 3F are displayed.
Specifically, in the menu selection process to be described later, the control unit 103 determines that the selected group is confirmed by pressing the selection confirmation key 1051 in the state shown in FIG. 1072, the allocated block group number 1 and the allocated block number 4 corresponding to the designated position coordinates (X2, Y2) at the time of determination are specified, and the allocation specified by referring to the selected icon display position information 1073 in FIG. Display areas corresponding to the partition group number 1 and the assigned partition number 4, (X1, 0)-(X2, Y1), (X2, Y1)-(X3, Y2), (X1, Y2)-(X2, Y3) , (0, Y1)-(X1, Y2) are specified, and the selection target icon 1 corresponding to the assigned partition group number 1 and the assigned partition number 4 specified with reference to the icon management table 1071 in FIG. , Select 14,18,19, are displayed respectively in the display area to identify each selected icon as shown in Figure 3 (d).

  In the state shown in FIG. 3C, when the Y coordinate of the designated position coordinate is increased by (Y4-Y2) by pressing the down key 10543, the control unit 103 assigns the allocated partition management table of FIG. With reference to 1072, the assigned block group number 2 and the assigned block number 8 corresponding to the designated position coordinates (X2, Y4) after the increase of the Y coordinate are specified, and the specified assigned block group number corresponds to the assigned block number 8 When the X coordinate range or the Y coordinate range of the partition area indicates that it is in a specific range (in this case, the assigned partition group number is “2”), further refer to the selection icon display position information 1073 in FIG. The display areas (X2, Y1)-(X3, Y2), (0, Y1)-(X1, Y2) corresponding to the allocated partition group number 2 and the allocated partition number 8 specified in this way are specified. 4 icons The selection target icons 23 and 24 corresponding to the allocated partition group number 2 and the allocated partition number 8 identified with reference to the management table 1071 are selected, and the selected icons are displayed in the respective display areas shown in FIG. To display each.

  Further, in the state shown in FIG. 3C, when the X coordinate of the designated position coordinate is increased by (X4-X2) by pressing the right direction key 10542, the control unit 103 assigns the allocated partition management table of FIG. With reference to 1072, the assigned partition group number 2 and the assigned partition number 6 corresponding to the designated position coordinates (X4, Y2) after the X coordinate increase are specified, and the specified assigned partition group number corresponds to the assigned partition number 6 Since the X coordinate or Y coordinate of the partition area is in a specific range, it further corresponds to the allocated partition group number 2 and the allocated partition number 6 specified with reference to the selected icon display position information 1073 in FIG. Assigned partition groups identified by specifying display areas (X1, 0)-(X2, Y1), (X1, Y2)-(X2, Y3), and referring to the icon management table 1071 in FIG. Issue 2 and select the selection icon 15, 20 corresponding to the allocated partition number 6, and displays each of the display regions identified each selected icon as shown in FIG. 3 (e).

The control unit 103 includes a microprocessor, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like, and controls the entire mobile phone 100 according to a control program stored in the ROM.
In addition, a menu selection program is recorded in the ROM, and the control unit 106 activates and executes the menu selection program to perform the following menu selection processing.
<Operation>
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the menu selection process performed by the control unit 103. The above operation will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When the control unit 103 receives a menu selection program activation instruction from the user via the selection confirmation key 1051 pressed on the operation unit 105, the control unit 103 reads the menu selection program from the ROM, activates the menu selection program (step S701), and stores it. The icon management table 1071 and the assigned partition management table 1072 stored in the unit 107 are read, and based on the assigned partition management table 1072, the assigned partition number corresponding to the designated position coordinates in the initial state is specified. In the icon management table 1071 The designated display state of the icon corresponding to the specified assigned partition number is highlighted, the designated display state of other icons is normally displayed, and the icon pattern of each icon shown in the icon management table 1071 is displayed on the display unit 106. Display area and finger Each icon is displayed on the menu selection screen according to the display state (step S702), and whether or not the selection group displayed on the menu selection screen has been confirmed is determined by whether or not the selection confirmation key 1051 has been detected. (Step S703).

If the selected group has not been confirmed (step S703: N), it is determined whether any directional key press on the operation unit 105 has been detected (step S704).
If any direction key press is detected (step S704: Y), the control unit 103 refers to the assigned partition management table 1072 and assigns the assigned partition group number corresponding to the designated position coordinate specified by the direction key. And another selected group is selected based on whether the X coordinate range or the Y coordinate range of the allocated partition area corresponding to the specified position coordinate is within the specific range based on the specified allocated partition group number. It is determined whether or not (step S705). Specifically, when the assigned partition group number indicates that the X coordinate range or the Y coordinate range of the assigned partition region corresponding to the designated position coordinate is within a specific range, another selected group is selected. If not, it is determined that the instruction by the direction key is an instruction to display the icon selection screen.

If no other selected group has been selected (step S705: N), the control unit 103 further determines whether or not the pressed direction key is the down key 10543 (step S706).
If the key is the downward key 10543 (step S706: Y), the control unit 103 is assigned from the icon management table 1071 to the assigned partition area of the assigned partition number corresponding to the designated position coordinate designated by the downward key 10543. The selected area is selected, the assigned area group number to which the designated position coordinate belongs and the display area corresponding to the assigned area number are designated on the display unit 106 with reference to the selected icon display position information 1073, and the right key on the operation unit 105 10542 and the left direction key 10544 are displayed in a predetermined display area corresponding to the arrangement of the left direction key 10544 (step S707), and an icon selection instruction is displayed from the displayed icons via the right direction key 10542 or the left direction key 10544. When received from the user (step S708), the selected icon Thus to start a program that is specified (step S709).

  When the pressed direction key is not the down direction key 10543 (in the case of the right direction key 10542) (706: N), the control unit 103 designates the designated position designated by the right direction key 10542 from the icon management table 1071. The icon assigned to the assigned partition area of the assigned partition number corresponding to the coordinates is selected, and the assigned partition group number to which the designated position coordinate belongs and the display area corresponding to the assigned partition number are referred to by referring to the selected icon display position information 1073. It is designated on the display unit 106, and is displayed in a predetermined display area corresponding to the arrangement of the up direction key 10541 and the down direction key 10543 in the operation unit 105 (step S711). To select an icon from the displayed icons. That (step S712), starts the program specified by the selected icon (step S709).

  When the selected group is confirmed in step S703 (step S703: Y), the control unit 103 refers to the assigned partition management table 1072 and determines the assigned partition group number and assigned partition number corresponding to the designated position coordinates at the time of determination. Then, each icon assigned to the assigned partition area of the specified assigned partition number is selected from the icon management table 1071, and the assigned partition group number and assigned partition number specified by referring to the selected icon display position information 1073 are selected. A corresponding display area is designated on the display unit 106, and each of the selected display areas corresponding to the arrangement of the up direction key 10541, the down direction key 10543, the right direction key 10542, and the left direction key 10544 in the operation unit 105 is selected. An icon is displayed (step S713), an up direction key 10541, When an instruction to select an icon from the displayed icons is received from the user via any one of the direction key 10543, the right direction key 10542, and the left direction key 10544 (step S714), the program specified by the selected icon Is activated (step S709).

If no directional key press is detected in step S704 (step S704: N), the control unit 103 proceeds to the process of step S703.
In step S705, when another selection group is selected (step S705: Y), the control unit 103 refers to the assigned partition number corresponding to the designated position coordinate designated by the direction key with reference to the icon management table 1071. By designating the display unit 106 so that the designated display state of the icon to be displayed is reversed and the designated display state of the other icons is normal display, the selected group newly selected on the display unit 106 can be identified. Is displayed in reverse (step S710).

<Supplement>
As described above, the mobile phone 100 according to the present invention has been described based on the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.
(1) For example, in the present embodiment, the number of icons included in the selected group is four, but the number of icons included in the selected group is not greater than the number of direction keys that the operation unit 105 has. Any number may be used. Further, although the number of direction keys of the operation unit 105 is four in the present embodiment, it may be four or more or less.
(2) In the present embodiment, the number of icons included in the selected group is the same, but the number of icons included in the selected group may be different. In addition, some selection groups in the selection group may include only one icon.
(3) In the present embodiment, adjacent icons are highlighted as a selected group. However, in the icon management table 1071, a plurality of icons in a predetermined non-adjacent display area are assigned the same assigned section number. A plurality of non-adjacent icons may be highlighted as a selected group.
(4) In this embodiment, in the icon management table 1071, the designated display state of the icon selected as the selected group is highlighted and the designated display state of other icons is the normal display. If the icon included in the group can be identified from other icons, another designated display state may be designated in the icon management table 1071. For example, the designated display state of the icon selected as the selected group may be normal or reverse display, and the designated display state of other icons may be hidden.
(5) In the present embodiment, each selection target icon on the icon selection screen is displayed in the display area of the display unit 106 so as to be arranged corresponding to each direction key in the operation unit 105. Each selection target icon may be further enlarged and displayed.

  In a mobile communication terminal, it can be used as a technique for easily selecting an icon from an icon display menu.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the mobile telephone 100 in embodiment of this invention. 6 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the configuration of input keys in the operation unit 105. FIG. A specific example of the menu selection screen displayed on the display unit 106 is shown. A specific example of the icon management table 1071 is shown. A specific example of the allocated partition management table 1072 is shown. A specific example of the selection icon display position information 1073 is shown. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of menu selection processing performed by a control unit 103.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Mobile phone 101 Antenna 102 Radio | wireless part 103 Control part 104 Audio | voice processing part 105 Operation part 106 Display part 107 Memory | storage part 1051 Selection confirmation key 1052 Call start key 1053 Call end key 1054 Direction key part 1071 Icon management table 1072 Allocation block management table 1073 Selection icon display position information 10541 Up direction key 10542 Right direction key 10543 Down direction key 10544 Left direction key

Claims (3)

A mobile communication terminal including an operation unit having a plurality of direction keys and a display unit,
Storage means for previously grouping a plurality of icons for selecting a menu into icon groups in which the number of icons is not greater than the number of directions, and storing each grouped icon group in association with position information;
Selection target display means for displaying an icon group associated with the changed position information in a display mode that can be identified as a selection target icon group each time position information is changed by the operation of the direction key;
A mobile communication terminal comprising: an icon selection unit that selects an icon to be selected by operating the direction key from among icons included in the selection target icon group. The direction key is composed of up, down, left and right direction keys, and each direction key is arranged on the operation unit so as to be positioned at each vertex of the cross shape,
The operation unit has a confirmation key for confirming a selection target icon group,
The icon selecting means is
Confirming means for confirming a selection target icon group by operating a confirm key in the operation unit;
Icon display means for arranging each icon included in the confirmed icon group at each vertex of the cross so as to correspond to the arrangement of each direction key in the operation unit and displaying the icon in the display area of the display unit. ,
The mobile communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the icon selection unit selects an icon to be selected from among icons displayed in the display area by operating the direction key. The storage means preliminarily groups the plurality of icons into a first icon group including the same number of icons as the number of directions and a second icon group including a smaller number of icons than the number of directions. Storing the first or second icon group associated with the position information specified by the direction key operation,
The determination means includes a determination means for determining whether the selection target icon group is the first icon group or the second icon group,
When the selection target icon group is the first icon group, the determination unit determines the selection target icon group by operating a determination key in the operation unit,
When the icon group to be selected is the second icon group, the icon display means displays each icon included in the second icon group in the operation unit of the number of direction keys included in the second icon group. The mobile communication terminal according to claim 2, wherein the mobile communication terminal is arranged at each vertex of the cross so as to correspond to the arrangement and is displayed in the display area of the display unit.

Images