JP2006014222A - Mobile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mobile terminal informing a user of diversified information items whereby the user can confirm contents of the information items with a simple operation. <P>SOLUTION: An LED of a light emitting section 21 is lighted in various colors or various patterns in response to a change in management information to inform the user. A control section 20 has a text read aloud function, and when the user depresses a depression button 19a during the lighting of the LED, the control section 20 reads aloud a text in response to the change in the management information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile terminal device represented by a mobile phone, for example.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for improving the operation comfort of a telephone has been developed (for example, Patent Document 1 below), and various technical developments have been made on a mobile terminal device represented by a mobile telephone. .
For example, a technique for notifying a user that an e-mail has been received is known by configuring a mobile phone so that an LED emits light when an e-mail is received.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-252216

By the way, since the light emission pattern of the LED in the conventional mobile phone is single, the information that can be given to the user is limited, and cannot correspond to various functions of the mobile phone.
In the case of a folder type (folding type) mobile phone, in order to actually confirm the contents of the e-mail after the user is notified, the case is opened and a predetermined key operation is performed. Since this is necessary, the operation is complicated. In particular, when voice reading is used as guidance, access to the text of received mail is inevitably delayed.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminal device capable of notifying a user of various information and confirming the content of the information with a simple operation. There is to do.

  In order to achieve the above object, an aspect of the present invention provides an input key, a light emitting means, information for managing an internal operation state including at least one of a battery remaining amount and a radio wave state, and reception and reception of e-mails. Management information including at least one of information for managing data acquired from the outside including at least one of presence / absence, and instructing the light emitting means that there is a notification matter when a change occurs in the management information Control means, storage means for storing the notification matter and text in association with each other, and when the input key is operated after the light emission means is instructed to emit light, text related to the notification matter that is the reason for the light emission instruction is displayed. A portable terminal device comprising a reading-out means for reading out.

Preferably, a plurality of the input keys and the light emitting means are provided and are associated with each other in a one-to-one correspondence. When the input means corresponding to the light emitting means instructed to emit light is operated, A portable terminal device that reads a text related to a notification item that is a reason for a light emission instruction.
Preferably, the open terminal / closed state can be formed by a plurality of connected casings, and the input key and the light emitting means are arranged at positions exposed in the closed state. It is.

  Preferably, the reading-out means reads out text related to a notification matter that is a reason for the light emission instruction when the light-emitting means is instructed to emit light in the closed state and then an open state is formed. Mobile terminal device.

  Preferably, the light-emitting means has a plurality of light-emitting states, and the control means has one light-emitting state previously assigned to a change in management information from the plurality of light-emitting states. To emit light.

  Preferably, the text is composed of a plurality of items, and the reading means is capable of reading the text for each item, and the plurality of light emitting states are respectively assigned to combinations of the items of the text, The control means causes the light emitting means to emit light with one light emitting state corresponding to a combination of items specified in advance among the plurality of light emitting states.

  According to the mobile terminal device of the present invention, various kinds of information can be notified to the user, and the content of the information can be confirmed with a simple operation, so that the operational comfort is improved.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a mobile terminal device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of a mobile phone 1 as a mobile terminal device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the appearance of the mobile phone 1.
The mobile phone 1 is a so-called foldable mobile phone having a movable mechanism. FIG. 2A is a front view in an opened state (open state), and FIG. 2B is a closed state (closed state). (C) is a side view in the open state, and (d) is a side view in the closed state.

As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone 1 includes a communication processing unit 11 including a transmission / reception antenna 111, a memory 12, a key input unit 13, a dial input unit 14, a sub display unit 15, and a main display unit 16. And an audio processing unit 17 including a speaker 171 and a microphone 172, an open / close switch 18, a reading key input unit 19, a control unit 20, and a light emitting unit 21.
The sub display unit 15 and the main display unit 16 are both embodiments of the display means of the present invention, and the control unit 20 is an embodiment of the control means of the present invention. The light emitting unit 21 is an embodiment of the light emitting means of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the main body case 10 of the mobile phone 1 includes a key input side main body case 101 as a first case and a display side main case 102 as a second case. These are connected by a movable mechanism (not shown) to form an open / close state.

The communication processing unit 11 performs a wireless communication operation via the base station, for example, a telephone number calling operation or an e-mail transmission / reception operation.
The communication processing unit 11 is configured to include a transmission / reception antenna 111. In order to perform wireless communication using radio waves, the communication processing unit 11 modulates voice information, e-mail, and the like processed by the control unit 20, and a base (not shown) by the transmission / reception antenna 111. Send to the station.
Further, the communication processing unit 11 demodulates various information such as e-mail and voice information transmitted from the base station by radio and received by the transmission / reception antenna 111 and outputs the demodulated information to the control unit 20.
The transmission / reception antenna 111 is built in the key input side main body case 101 or the display side main body case 102 and is not exposed to the outside in FIG.

The memory 12 includes a non-volatile memory such as an EEPROM, and stores a control program for transmitting and receiving calls and mails, an Internet browser, message data, an address book in which names and telephone numbers are registered.
The memory 12 stores a speech reading database including a text string necessary for a reading function to be described later. In this database, text strings for reading are systematically arranged so that the connection relationship before and after is established as a sentence.

The memory 12 also includes management information including information for managing the remaining battery level, radio wave status, and other internal operation states, and information for managing presence / absence of e-mail reception and other data acquired from the outside. Remember. This management information is updated by the control unit 20 as necessary.
For example, if there is an occurrence of an event such as a missed call (an incoming call that the user did not answer) or an unread e-mail (the body content is not displayed yet), the contents of the management information It is updated by the control unit 20.

For example, in order to appropriately notify the user when there is a change in management information, information that associates the change in management information (update of management information) with the emission color and its pattern is stored in the memory 12 in advance. The
Thereby, in the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment, for example, when a new e-mail is received, the light emitting unit 21 emits light with a predetermined color and a predetermined light emission pattern.

The text stored in the memory 12 may be configured to be associated with a change in management information. For example, the text is included in the management information itself separately or in addition to this. It can also be configured to be associated.
Then, “read-out matters (notification items)” to be notified (notified) by a read-out function to be described later includes “management information after change” and “how the management information has changed”. Any text may be stored.

  The key input unit 13 has an end (end call) / power key, a start (call) key, a plurality of numeric keys corresponding to numbers, etc., and when these keys are operated by the user, Input information is output to the control unit 20.

As shown in FIG. 2C, the dial input unit 14 is arranged on the side surface of the display-side main body case 102 so that the user can easily operate with the thumb of the user when holding the mobile phone 1 in the open state. The dial-type input unit is configured to be operated in two directions.
For example, the dial input unit 14 is operated when enlarging / reducing the text to be displayed or changing the output volume.

The sub display unit 15 includes a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), and is a display unit that is visually recognized by the user in the closed state as illustrated in FIG.
The main display unit 16 has a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), and is a display unit that is visually recognized by the user in the open state, as shown in FIG.
The sub display unit 15 and the main display unit 16 display the text of the received e-mail and various text data stored in the memory 12 in the closed state and the open state, respectively.

The audio processing unit 17 includes an audio processing circuit, and is connected to a speaker 171 that outputs audio for a call function and a microphone 172 that inputs audio.
The sound processing unit 17 performs predetermined processing on the sound collected by the microphone 172 and supplies the processed sound to the control unit 20. In addition, the audio processing unit 17 performs predetermined processing on the audio information supplied from the control unit 20 and outputs the audio information from the speaker 171.
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the speaker 171 includes two voice output means, that is, a reception speaker 171 a and a ringer speaker 171 b, and outputs a voice as a processing result of the reading function.

The open / close switch 18 is a switch for detecting the open / closed state of the mobile phone 1.
Various technologies can be applied to the specific configuration of the open / close switch 18. For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, a contact portion is provided on each of the key input side main body case 101 and the display side main body case 102. In the closed state (FIG. 2 (b)), the two contacts are electrically non-conductive so that the device can be turned off.
For example, the cellular phone 1 is configured so that the open / close switch 18 is turned on (ON state) when the mobile phone 1 is closed, and the open / close switch 18 is turned off (OFF state) when the mobile phone 1 is open. By detecting, the open / close state of the mobile phone 1 is determined.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the reading key input unit 19 includes a push-down button 19a disposed in the center of the display-side main body case 102, and an input circuit for switch input by the button. The
The push button 19a is an embodiment of the input key of the present invention.
The cellular phone 1 according to the present embodiment has a reading function. When the push button 19a is pressed (operated), a voice is output from the ringer speaker 171b in the closed state and a voice is output from the receiving speaker 171a in the open state.
The control unit 20 to be described later determines the open / closed state of the mobile phone 1 based on the output of the open / close switch 18 and then notifies the audio processing unit 17 of the audio output destination for reading.

  The control unit 20 is composed mainly of a microcomputer and controls the entire mobile phone 1. For example, the control unit 20 controls the transmission / reception of various types of information in the communication processing unit 11, the processing of audio information for the audio processing unit 17, the display control of information on the main display unit 16, and the input information of the key input unit 13. Responsive processing, access control to the memory 12, and the like are performed.

  When there is a change in the management information, the control unit 20 controls the light emitting unit 21 to turn on the LED. Further, when the user operates the push-down button 19a with the LED lit, a read-out function for content related to management information (corresponding to the read-out means of the present invention) is executed. At that time, the text-to-speech method is used as a text-to-speech function, rather than a system that outputs speech data for text-to-speech, and a text string is extracted / generated and the text is read out.

For example, as an example of the change in the management information, when the “battery remaining amount” that is information for managing the internal operation state of the mobile phone 1 has changed, the text indicating the change in the remaining battery amount is stored from the memory 12. Extract a column (such as “Battery is low”) and read it.
As an example of the change in the management information, when the e-mail reception information, which is information for managing data acquired from the outside, changes, the e-mail items (“sender”, “subject”) from the memory 12. , “Text”, etc.), a text string for reading is generated after being extracted to a work area in the control unit 20, and the text string is read out. For example, if it has been designated in advance to notify only the “sender”, a text string such as “Mail from Mr. Tamura” is generated and read out.

As described above, if there is a change in the management information, the control unit 20 basically reads out the text corresponding to the change by the reading-out function.
As in the example described above, the text that the battery has been depleted must be associated with the “change” in the management information.
For example, if the battery management information is associated with “battery depleted” on the battery 2 scale, it will be read as “battery depleted” even when the scale is changed from 1 scale to 2 scales. Occurs. Therefore, it is necessary to associate the text “battery depleted” with the “change in management information” from the third scale to the second scale.

However, apart from configuring the text to be associated with changes in the management information, for example, it is possible to notify the user of various information just by associating the text with the management information itself, and The contents of information can be confirmed with a simple operation.
For example, associating the battery 2 scale with “Battery 2 scale” and the battery management information has changed from the 3rd scale to the 2nd scale, it is sufficient for the user to read the text of the management information after the change. Understandable. In addition, “out of service area” can be said to “out of service area” as well.

  The control unit 20 scans the extracted / generated text string in order from the first character, refers to the reading database in the memory 12 in advance, and performs speech synthesis in units of sentences while considering the connection relationship before and after. Since speech synthesis is performed on a sentence-by-sentence basis, according to this reading function, it is possible to change to a male sound, change to a female sound, change the reading speed, and the like.

The voice synthesis result generated by the control unit 20 is processed by the voice processing unit 17 and output from the reception speaker 171a or the ringer speaker 171b.
At this time, the control unit 20 is configured so that when the opening / closing switch 18 is in an on state (ON state), that is, when the mobile phone 1 is in a closed state, a sound is output from the ringer speaker 171b. When 18 is in an off state (OFF state), that is, when the mobile phone 1 is in an open state, the sound processing unit 17 is controlled so that sound is output from the reception speaker 171a.

The light emitting unit 21 includes a plurality of LEDs and an LED drive circuit, and can emit various colors. For example, by including a red LED, a blue LED, and a green LED, a wide range of colors can be emitted according to the degree of gradation.
The LED driving circuit drives a plurality of LEDs by a control signal from the control unit 20. Thereby, the light emission part 21 radiate | emits the light of various colors and patterns (flashing / lighting) according to a control signal.
In addition, the light emission part 21 is one Embodiment of the light emission means of this invention.

In the above, each component which comprises the circuit block of the mobile telephone 1 was described.
Next, the positional relationship between the push button 19a of the reading key input unit 19 and the LED of the light emitting unit 21 will be described.
In the cellular phone 1 according to the present embodiment, the push button 19a itself or the vicinity of the push button 19a is caused to emit light so as to associate the information transmission by the light emission with the operation button. The LED is arranged in the vicinity of the push-down button 19a.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the cross-section AA shown in FIG. 2 and shows various examples of the positional relationship between the push button 19a and the LED.
In the figure, the optical path of the light emitted from the LED is schematically represented by an arrow. Various examples of the configuration of the contact point of the push button can be considered, and a specific configuration example is not intended here. Furthermore, although two LEDs are illustrated, this is only an example, and it goes without saying that the number of LEDs can be arbitrarily set.
3A to 3C, the push-down button 19a is coupled to a leaf spring (SPR). When the push-down button 19a is pressed (operated), the contacts T1 and T2 are connected. The electrical signal is input to the control unit 20 by making electrical conduction through contact.

In FIG. 3A, the push-down button 19a is formed of a light transmissive resin or the like, and the LED is disposed directly below the push-down button 19a. Thus, when the LED emits light, the user recognizes that the push button 19a itself is emitting light. Therefore, the user recognizes that information corresponding to the push-down button 19a has been issued.
In FIG. 3B, a slight gap is provided between the display-side main body case 102 and the push-down button 19a, and the LED is disposed directly below the gap. Thus, similarly, when the LED emits light, the user recognizes that the push button 19a itself is emitting light. Therefore, the user recognizes that information corresponding to the push-down button 19a has been issued.
In FIG.3 (c), the transparent glass 102a is provided in a part of the display side main body case 102 in the vicinity of the push button 19a, and LED is arrange | positioned directly under the transparent glass 102a. Thereby, when the LED emits light, the user recognizes that information corresponding to the push-down button 19a is emitted.
In addition, if there are a plurality of buttons 19a and the information associated with each button is different, it is possible to know what kind of information is emitted simply by looking at which button emits light. It can also be used for the user's judgment as to whether a quick response is necessary or not.

Next, a setting example of the light emission color and the light emission pattern when the management information is changed due to the occurrence of an event such as newly receiving an e-mail will be described.
FIG. 4 is an example of setting the emission color and emission pattern corresponding to the occurrence of an event, where (a) shows the relationship between the event type and the emission color, and (b) shows the relationship between the reading range by the reading function and the emission pattern. Are shown respectively.

For example, as shown in (a), when a new event for receiving an e-mail occurs, the control unit 20 updates the management information in the memory 12 and causes the LED of the light emitting unit 21 to emit light in “green” color. . This notifies the user that the e-mail has been received.
Furthermore, as shown in (b), when only the number of unread e-mails is notified, the light emission pattern is turned on only once. Further, when notifying the number of unread e-mails and the name of the sender, the light emission pattern is lit twice.
It should be noted that the range to be read out of the information included in the e-mail is configured to be set by operating the menu screen by the user in advance.

As described above, by associating the occurrence of an event with the corresponding emission color and emission pattern, it is possible to notify the user of the event type by visual information.
When the user recognizes such light emission and presses the push button 19a, information corresponding to the light emission color and the light emission pattern is read out by the reading function.
For example, in the example shown in FIG. 4, when the “green” color is lit only once, information on the number of unread e-mails is read as “two unread mails”. That is, the control unit 20 accesses the management information in the memory 12, extracts data on the number of unread e-mails, generates a text string such as “two unread mails”, and reads them out.

In addition, with reference to FIG. 4, although the example of the light emission color and light emission pattern set corresponding to generation | occurrence | production of an event was shown, if it is the information managed as management information regardless of generation | occurrence | production of an event, It does n’t matter.
For example, FIG. 5 shows an example in which the light emission color is changed according to the destination of the incoming e-mail. In this way, if the emission color is changed depending on the destination, the user can easily determine whether the information is to be confirmed by pressing the push button 19a immediately.

Next, the light emission processing performed by the control unit 20 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the light emission process.
The cellular phone 1 is configured so that the user can select the operation / non-operation (ON / OFF) of the reading function and the operation / non-operation (ON / OFF) of the LED light emitting function, and the management information changes. Then, these pieces of information are discriminated and processed.

First, when an event such as reception of an e-mail occurs (step ST10), the operation / non-operation (ON / OFF) of the reading function is determined. As a result, when the reading function is not operating, normal processing is performed (step ST12).
The normal process is a process of notifying the user of information when the LED lighting and reading functions are not used. For example, if an event occurs when an e-mail is received, the display unit receives the e-mail. For example, a process of displaying an icon or the like indicating that the operation has been performed.

Next, it is determined whether or not there is a user confirmation operation (step ST13). Here, the user confirmation operation refers to, for example, an operation in which the user turns the casing from the closed state to the open state immediately after receiving an e-mail. The control unit 20 determines the confirmation operation of the user by detecting a change in the state of the open / close switch 18 (from an on state to an off state).
If the user opens the housing after an event such as the reception of an e-mail occurs, the user has already notified the e-mail reception, so the event has already been recognized and the LED Therefore, it is not necessary to actively notify the occurrence of the event, so that the necessary post-processing is performed without emitting the LED (step ST14). In post-processing, for example, in the case of receiving an e-mail, the body of the e-mail is read out.

Next, the operation / non-operation (ON / OFF) of the LED light emitting function is determined (step ST15). As a result, when the LED light emission function is set to the non-operation state, the above-described normal processing is performed without emitting the LED.
When the LED light emission function is set to the operating state, after the light emission color and the light emission pattern corresponding to the occurrence of the event are retrieved from the memory 12 to select and determine the light emission of the LED (Step ST16 and ST17) The LED is driven to emit light with the selected emission color and emission pattern.

As described above, according to the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment, the LED emits light with various colors and patterns corresponding to the change of the management information, and the push button 19a is pressed while the LED is emitting light. Then, the information is read out according to the change in the management information.
Therefore, the user can recognize the change of the management information from the visual information. For example, it is possible to recognize the reception of a new electronic mail or the presence / absence of a missed call using the emission color and its pattern.
At that time, by setting the level of information to be read in advance, when a change in management information is notified, the level of information to be read can be recognized by the user, and the operation comfort is improved. Thus, it is possible to recognize the information output by voice before pressing the push button 19a.
For example, when outputting only the number of received e-mails by voice, or when outputting the number of recipients and the name of the called party by voice, changing the light emission pattern according to the information level, the user can press It is possible to recognize again how much information is generated by pressing the button 19a. In other words, since it can be determined at a glance, for example, the current setting is set to read up to the text, the user can suppress as much as possible the situation that the private email text is read out unexpectedly during work.

  According to the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment, it is detected that the housing is in the closed state, and the voice output destination is determined to be the ringer speaker 171b. It is possible to confirm the reading voice up to the main body.

According to the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment, since the LEDs are arranged in the vicinity of the push button 19a, the push button 19a to be pressed by the user is emphasized by the light emission of the LED, thereby preventing an erroneous operation of the user. Can be operated reliably even in the dark.
According to the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment, when the user does not press the push button 19a and the case is opened, the reading of information to be notified is started. It is possible to eliminate omissions in information notification.

  In addition, in the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment, apart from being configured to associate text with changes in management information, various information can be sent to the user simply by associating text with the management information itself. Notification can be made and the contents of the information can be confirmed with a simple operation.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of a mobile phone. It is the figure which illustrated an example of the external appearance of a mobile telephone, (a) is a front external view, (b) is a back external view, (c) is a front external view, (d) is a back external view. Each figure is shown. It is the example which illustrated the reading key and light emission part which concern on embodiment. It is an example of the light emission pattern according to an event kind. It is an example of the light emission pattern according to the other party. It is a flowchart which shows a light emission process.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Mobile telephone 10 ... Main body case 101 ... Key input side main body case 102 ... Display side main body case 11 ... Communication processing part 111 ... Transmission / reception antenna 12 ... Memory 13 ... Key input part 14 ... Dial input part 15 ... Sub display part 16 ... Main display unit 17 ... Audio processing unit 171 ... Speaker 171a ... Receiving speaker 171b ... Linger speaker 172 ... Microphone 18 ... Open / close switch 19 ... Reading key input unit 20 ... Control unit 21 ... Light emitting unit

Claims (7)

An input key,
Light emitting means;
Information for managing the internal operating state including at least one of the remaining battery level and the radio wave state, and information for managing data acquired from the outside including at least one of e-mail reception and incoming / outgoing And management means including either of them, and a control means for instructing the light emitting means that there is a notification matter when a change occurs in the management information,
Storage means for storing the notification matter and the text in association with each other;
A portable terminal device comprising: a reading unit that reads out text related to a notification matter that is a reason for the light emission instruction when the input key is operated after the light emission unit is instructed to emit light. A plurality of the input keys and the light emitting means are provided and are associated one-to-one,
2. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein when the input unit corresponding to the light emitting unit that is instructed to emit light is operated, the reading unit reads out text related to a notification item that is the reason for the light emission instruction. apparatus. An open state / closed state can be formed by a plurality of connected casings,
The portable terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the input key and the light emitting unit are arranged at a position exposed in a closed state. The read-out means reads out text related to a notification matter that is a reason for the light emission instruction when an open state is formed after the light emission means is instructed to emit light in the closed state. The mobile terminal device according to 1. The light emitting means has a plurality of light emitting states,
The control means includes
5. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting unit emits light with one light emission state assigned in advance to a change in management information from among the plurality of light emission states. apparatus. The text is composed of a plurality of items,
The reading means can read the text for each item,
The control means includes
The portable terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the light emitting unit emits light in one light emission state assigned in advance to each of the plurality of items from the plurality of light emission states. The text is composed of a plurality of items,
The reading means can read the text for each item,
Each of the plurality of light emission states is assigned to a combination of the text items,
The control means includes
The portable terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the light emitting unit emits light with one light emitting state corresponding to a combination of items designated in advance among the plurality of light emitting states.

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