JP2006109033A - Portable telephone device and its operation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable telephone device and its operation method enabling a user to safely drive a car and to execute necessary communication when driving a car or when riding in a car. <P>SOLUTION: The portable telephone device is provided with an engine rotation sound sensor 17. The device stores data of "to refuse" or "not to refuse" incoming call/user operation stored in a storage device (a memory) 12 beforehand at the time of starting an engine. The device judges the propriety of the incoming call/user operation by referring to the storage contents at the time of the subsequent incoming call/user operation when sensing the engine rotation sound. When the engine is in a non-operating state, the device is in a normal operation state by releasing the function for judging the propriety of the incoming call/user operation. An incoming call/user operation refusing function of a portable telephone device of a fellow passenger in a car can be made ineffective with button operation by the user in accordance with a voice announcement or the like. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile phone device and an operating method thereof, and more particularly, to a mobile phone device and an operating method thereof capable of controlling an operating state of a mobile phone according to a user's state (whether or not a car is being driven).

  A mobile phone has a large number of base stations each having a relatively narrow service area that overlap each other, and wirelessly communicates with the nearest base station according to the movement of the user who uses the mobile phone. A call (or communication) with a mobile phone or a landline phone is possible. Due to advances in wireless technology and semiconductor technology, mobile phones have become smaller and lighter and have higher performance, and are now one of the essential electronic devices (or communication means) regardless of age.

  Mobile phones are rapidly spreading due to their high convenience as described above, but if used incorrectly, they can cause trouble. For example, use in public transportation (trains, city buses, airplanes, etc.), concert halls, hospitals, etc. not only inconveniences others but also causes safety and life hazards. Further, in the car society, there is a case where an incoming call is made to a driver's mobile phone while driving a car (hereinafter simply referred to as a car). When a user driving a car uses a mobile phone, the driver's attention is distracted and the risk of causing a serious accident increases. Therefore, measures such as strengthening legal regulations and prohibiting the use of mobile phones while driving are being studied, but there are many traffic accidents when using mobile phones.

  In addition, there has also been proposed a mobile phone provided with an incoming call rejection function (or driving mode) for rejecting incoming calls from a partner by a driver or user operation while driving a car. However, if the user neglects this incoming call rejection operation, the incoming call rejection does not function, and cannot be a reliable risk prevention means. The main reason why the user does not set this call rejection function is that it is troublesome to operate every time when getting on and off the car frequently, and forgetting to cancel the call rejection function when getting off and not driving, important It is also conceivable that a situation where the opportunity of communication or telephone call is missed may occur.

  Prior art related to accident prevention by using or operating a mobile phone while driving a car is disclosed or proposed in several documents. A mobile phone that incorporates an engine rotation sound sensing device and automatically rejects an incoming call when it is determined that the engine is operating with reference to data stored in advance for the engine rotation sound is disclosed (for example, Patent Documents). 1). It also has a function to detect that the car is driving based on the engine sound of the car, and automatically responds to the ringing signal while driving, thereby limiting the number of calls on the mobile phone while driving and causing traffic accidents. A portable wireless terminal for preventing the above has been disclosed (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Furthermore, a mobile phone stop device is disclosed that generates a stop signal from a stop signal generator to stop the operation of the mobile phone when a mobile phone call is received in a running car (see, for example, Patent Document 3). .)

JP 2003-60746 A (page 4-5, FIG. 3) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-70492 (page 2-3, FIGS. 1 and 2) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-294970 (page 3-4, FIGS. 2 and 3)

  However, the conventional mobile phone as described above has several problems. That is, as long as the engine is operating, the mobile phone cannot be used in the automobile. In particular, there is an inconvenience that it is impossible or difficult to cope with an emergency situation and that the passenger's (that is, non-driver) mobile phone cannot be used for communication (use) as long as the engine sound is detected.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems of the prior art, and has as its main object to provide a mobile phone device that can overcome or reduce the problems of the prior art and that can also be expected to prevent traffic accidents, and an operating method thereof. .

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the cellular phone device and the operating method thereof according to the present invention employ the following characteristic configuration.

(1) In a mobile phone device that enables wireless communication with the nearest base station to enable communication with other mobile phones or fixed phones, and also detects the engine sound of the vehicle and restricts the operation when driving the vehicle. ,
A mobile phone device comprising confirmation means for confirming in advance with a user whether or not to reject an incoming call / user operation from another telephone when a car engine rotation sound is detected.

  (2) The mobile phone device according to (1), wherein when the user selects “reject” by the confirmation means, the incoming call / user operation is rejected until it is determined that the engine of the car is inoperative.

  (3) The mobile phone device according to (1) or (2), wherein the setting selected by the user is stored in a built-in memory, and the stored setting is automatically updated according to the state of the vehicle.

  (4) The mobile phone device according to (1), (2), or (3), wherein a mobile phone of a passenger of a car is provided with means for canceling the incoming / user operation rejection in advance.

(5) A mobile phone device that allows wireless communication with the nearest base station to communicate with another mobile phone or a fixed phone, and that restricts operation by sensing the engine sound of the vehicle when driving the vehicle. In operation method,
When an engine rotation sound is detected, a step of storing data indicating whether or not to reject the incoming / user operation in the internal memory in advance, and if there is an incoming / user operation after that, refer to the stored contents of the memory to receive / A method for operating a mobile phone device, comprising: determining whether to allow or reject a user operation.

  (6) The operation method of the mobile phone device according to (5), wherein an incoming call during the period during which the incoming call is rejected is stored in the memory as an incoming call history.

  (7) The method for operating a mobile phone device according to (5) or (6) above, wherein the incoming / user operation refusal function of the mobile phone device of a passenger in a car can be disabled by a user button operation.

  (8) The operation method of the mobile phone device according to (7), wherein the operation of selecting the incoming / user operation rejection function is performed by voice announcement to the user's mobile phone device.

  According to the mobile phone device and the operating method thereof of the present invention, the following remarkable effects in practical use can be obtained. In other words, when the engine of the automobile is operated, the incoming / user operation rejection setting is automatically set without performing the user operation. Therefore, the incoming / user operation rejection setting can be surely performed during driving. Since the incoming / user operation rejection setting is automatically canceled when the engine is not operating, it is possible to reliably cancel the incoming / user operation rejection setting when driving is stopped.

  Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of a preferred embodiment of a cellular phone device and its operating method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  First, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, the entire operation method of the cellular phone device according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram when an incoming call is received by the user's mobile phone while the engine is not operating. In this case, even if the engine sound is detected or detected by the engine sound detector (see (1)), for example, in an idling state or a stopped state, the engine speed is the lowest value (or the instruction of the tachometer is 0), it is determined that the engine is not operating when the vehicle is not running (see (2)). When an incoming call is received on the user's mobile phone in this state (see (3)), the incoming call can be made as usual (see (4)), and a ring tone is generated from the user's mobile phone, and the user responds to the incoming call. (See (5)).

  Next, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram when an incoming call is received on the user's mobile phone while the engine is operating. In this case, the engine sound detector senses the engine sound (see (1)) and determines that the engine is operating from the rotational speed of the engine (see (2)). At this time, if there is an incoming call on the user's mobile phone (see (3)), the user's mobile phone rejects the incoming call and does not ring the ringtone from the mobile phone (see (4)). Therefore, the user (driver) can concentrate on his / her attention and drive safely without taking his attention away from the mobile phone.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram when the user performs a user operation on the mobile phone while the engine is not operating. In this case, even if the engine sound is detected by the engine sound detector (see (1)), it is determined that the engine speed is low and the engine is not operating, that is, “the engine is not operating” ((2)). reference). At this time, when the user operates the cellular phone for user operation, for example, confirmation of incoming mail recording (see (3)), the user can operate (see (4)).

  On the other hand, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram when the user operation of the mobile phone is performed “when the engine is operating”. In this case, the engine sound is detected by the engine sound detector (see (1)), and it is determined that the engine is “operating” from the rotational speed of the engine (see (2)). At this time, when the user operates the mobile phone (see (3)), the user operation is rejected and the user operation is impossible (see (4)). As described above, when the user drives the vehicle, the incoming call rejection or reception and the mobile phone user operation enablement or rejection are automatically performed according to whether the vehicle is “engine running” or “engine not running”. Is possible.

  Next, the configuration of the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a main functional block diagram of the cellular phone device 10 according to the present invention. The cellular phone device 10 includes, for example, a processing device 11 which is a CPU (central processing unit), a storage device (or memory) 12, a receiving device 13, an input device 14, a display device 15 such as a liquid crystal display panel (LCD), and an output. A device 16 and an engine rotation sound sensing device 17 are provided.

  Here, the processing device 11 is a control unit that controls the operation of each device connected thereto by a built-in program. The storage device 12 is a memory that stores various data. The receiving device 13 is a receiving unit that receives a wireless signal for wireless communication with the nearest base station (not shown). The input device 14 is a key input unit for inputting a communication partner number or inputting characters of a mail to be transmitted. The display device 15 is a display that displays numbers and characters input by operating a key input unit by a user, a message transmitted from a base station, and the like. The output device 16 is a speaker that provides the user with the voice or message of the other party to call. The engine rotation sound sensing device 17 is an engine sound sensing unit that senses the presence / absence of the engine sound of the vehicle and the number of rotations thereof to determine whether the vehicle is “engine running” or “engine not running”.

  When a car engine is operated in a state of “reject” a user setting “incoming operation during engine operation / automatic refusal setting for user operation” to be described later, the engine rotation sound detection device 17 incorporated in the mobile phone device 10 Sense sound. When the user's mobile phone receives an incoming call or user operation while the engine is in operation, the mobile phone automatically rejects the incoming call or user operation. When the engine is stopped, the incoming / user operation rejection setting is automatically canceled. It should be noted that when the user setting “incoming operation during engine operation / automatic rejection of user operation” is “not rejected”, incoming calls and user operations are not automatically rejected even when the engine is operating.

  The mobile phone device 10 includes an engine rotation sound sensing device 17 and, when detecting engine sound of a car, “rejects” or “does not reject” “incoming operation during engine operation / user operation automatic rejection setting” for the user. It is possible to select and set. When this user setting is set to the “not rejected” state, the same processing as that of a conventional mobile phone is performed, and reception of incoming calls and user operation are enabled.

  On the other hand, when this user setting is set to “reject”, the engine rotation sound sensing device 17 determines whether or not the processing device 11 is “engine in operation”. Receiving this determination result, the processing device 11 stores “incoming / user operation refusal set” in the storage device 12. When it is determined that “the engine is not operating”, the engine rotation sound sensing device 17 notifies the processing device 11 that “the engine is not operating”. Upon receiving this notification, the processing device 11 stores “no incoming call / user operation rejection setting” in the storage device 12. At this time, if there is an incoming call to the user's mobile phone, the processing device 11 determines that the incoming call has been received via the receiving device 13. Here, the processing device 11 refers to the “incoming / user operation rejection setting” stored in the storage device 12, and performs the following processing according to “no incoming / user operation rejection setting / present”.

(1) In the case of “no incoming call / user operation refusal setting” The processing device 11 determines that the incoming call is possible, issues a request to ring the ring tone to the output device 16, and requests to display the incoming call to the display device 15 And the other party's telephone number and the like are stored in the storage device 12 as an incoming call history. Thereafter, when a response request for an incoming call is notified from the input device 14 to the processing device 11 by the user, the state shifts to a voice call state.

(2) In the case of “with incoming call / user operation refusal setting” The processing device 11 determines that the incoming call is not possible, and does not send a request to the output device 16 to ring the ringtone, and stores the other party's telephone number and the like in the storage device 12. Only save as incoming call history. When a user operation is performed on the mobile phone, it is determined that the user operation is performed in the processing device 11 via the input device 14. Here, the processing device 11 refers to the “incoming / user operation rejection setting” stored in the storage device 12, and performs the following processing according to “no incoming / user operation rejection setting / present”.

(1) In the case of “No incoming / user operation rejection setting” The processing device 11 determines that the user operation is possible, and issues a request to the output device 16 to display a screen corresponding to each user operation. Therefore, the user can perform user operations on the mobile phone device 10.

(2) In the case of “with incoming call rejection setting” The processing device 11 determines that the user operation is not possible, and does not issue a request to the output device 16 to display a screen corresponding to each user operation. Therefore, the user cannot perform the user operation of the mobile phone device 10.

  Next, the operation of the embodiment of the cellular phone device 10 according to the present invention shown in FIG. 5 will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. Here, FIG. 6 is an operation when the engine is started, FIG. 7 is an operation when there is an incoming call, FIG. 8 is an operation when a user operation is performed, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an operation when the engine is stopped.

  First, with reference to FIG. 6, the operation of the mobile phone device 10 when the engine is started will be described. The “incoming / user operation rejection setting” of the mobile phone device 10 is set to an initial setting value of “no incoming / user operation rejection setting” (step S11). When the engine is operated (step S12), the user setting “incoming engine operation / user operation rejection setting” is determined (step S13). If it is set to “reject”, the engine rotation sound detection device 17 built in the mobile phone device 10 detects the engine sound (step S14), and “incoming call / user operation reject setting” is set. The data is stored in the storage device 12 (step S15). On the other hand, the user setting “incoming operation during engine operation / automatic refusal setting for user operation” is determined (step S13), and if it is set to “not rejected”, the engine rotation sound sensing device 17 senses the engine sound. The process ends without changing “no incoming call / user operation rejection setting”.

  Next, in FIG. 7, when there is an incoming call to the cellular phone device 10 (step S21), the “incoming / user operation rejection setting” currently stored in the storage device 12 is referred to (step S22). In the case of “no incoming call / user operation rejection setting”, it is determined that the incoming call is possible, a ring tone is sounded (step S23), the incoming call is displayed on the display of the display device 15 (step S24), and the other party telephone number is displayed in the incoming call history. Data storage (step S25) is performed. Thereafter, when the user responds to the incoming call (step S26), the process shifts to a voice call (step S27). On the other hand, as a result of referring to “incoming call rejection setting” currently stored in the storage device 12 (step S22), if “incoming call rejection setting is present”, it is determined that the incoming call is impossible, and the incoming call of the storage device 12 is determined. Only the other party telephone number data is stored in the history (step S28).

  Next, in FIG. 8, when the user performs a user operation with the mobile phone device 10 (step S31), the “incoming / user operation rejection setting” currently stored in the storage device 12 is referred to (step S32). ). In the case of “no incoming / user operation rejection setting”, it is determined that the user operation is possible, and a screen display corresponding to the user operation (step S33) is performed. On the other hand, when the “call rejection setting” currently stored in the storage device 12 is referred to (step S32), if “the call rejection setting is present”, it is determined that the user operation is impossible, and the user operation is performed. Impossible (step S34).

  Finally, in FIG. 9, a case where the vehicle engine is stopped (step S41) will be described. At this time, if the engine rotation sound sensing device 17 built in the mobile phone device 10 senses the stop of the engine sound (step S42), “no incoming call / user operation rejection setting” is stored in the storage device 12. (Step S43), it is automatically returned to the normal state in which the incoming call / user operation is possible, and the process ends.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. If the passenger has the same cellular phone device 10 as described above in addition to the driver, the passenger's cellular phone device automatically activates the incoming call rejection function. Therefore, the following operation is performed when the engine is started.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 10, it is assumed that the initial value is “no incoming call / user operation setting” (step S51). Therefore, the engine is operated (step S52), and it is determined whether there is an incoming call / user operation rejection setting during engine operation (step S53). When “reject” is set, the engine rotation sound sensing device 17 as shown in FIG. 5 senses the engine sound (step S 54), and stores “incoming call / user operation reject setting” in the storage device 12. (Step S55). Thereafter, the mobile phone device sounds a “warning sound” (step S56). Here, a warning sound is sounded from all mobile phones in the same vehicle.

  Next, the mobile phone device notifies the user of a voice announcement such as “The engine has been activated. Do you refuse incoming calls or user operations while the engine is running? S57). Then, it is determined whether or not a button (referred to herein as an “M” button for convenience) is pressed (step S58). Here, when the “M” button of the mobile phone device is not pressed by the user, the subsequent incoming call is rejected in the state of “with incoming call rejection setting”. On the other hand, when the user presses the “M” button of the mobile phone device, “no incoming call rejection setting” is stored in the storage device 12 (step S59), and subsequent incoming calls are allowed.

  The configuration and operation of the preferred embodiment of the cellular phone device and the operating method thereof according to the present invention have been described in detail above. However, such an example is merely an example of the present invention and does not limit the present invention. Those skilled in the art will readily understand that various modifications and changes can be made according to a specific application without departing from the gist of the present invention.

Incoming calls when the engine is not operating Incoming calls when the engine is running User operation when the engine is not running User operation when the engine is not running Example configuration Flow chart during engine operation Incoming call flow chart User operation flowchart Engine stop flowchart Flow chart during engine operation (improvement)

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Mobile telephone apparatus 11 Processing apparatus 12 Storage apparatus 13 Reception apparatus 14 Input apparatus 15 Display apparatus 16 Output apparatus 17 Engine rotation sound detection apparatus

Claims (8)

In a mobile phone device that wirelessly communicates with the nearest base station to enable communication with other mobile phones or fixed phones, and senses the engine sound of the vehicle when driving the vehicle to limit the operation.
A cellular phone device comprising: a confirmation unit for confirming in advance with a user whether or not to reject an incoming call / user operation from another telephone when a car engine rotation sound is detected.   2. The mobile phone device according to claim 1, wherein when the user selects “reject” by the confirmation unit, the incoming call / user operation is rejected until it is determined that the engine of the car is inoperative.   The mobile phone device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the setting selected by the user is stored in a built-in memory, and the stored setting is automatically updated according to the state of the vehicle.   The mobile phone device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, further comprising means for canceling the incoming call / user operation rejection in advance in a mobile phone of a passenger of a car. In a method for operating a mobile phone device, which enables wireless communication with a nearest base station to enable communication with another mobile phone or a fixed phone, and when the vehicle is driven, senses the engine sound of the vehicle and restricts the operation. ,
When an engine rotation sound is detected, a step of storing data indicating whether or not to reject the incoming / user operation in the internal memory in advance, and if there is an incoming / user operation after that, refer to the stored contents of the memory to receive / A method of operating a mobile phone device, comprising: determining whether to allow or reject a user operation.   6. The method of operating a mobile phone device according to claim 5, wherein an incoming call during the period during which the incoming call is rejected is stored in the memory as an incoming call history.   The method for operating a mobile phone device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the incoming / user operation refusal function of the mobile phone device of a passenger of a car can be disabled by a user's button operation.   8. The operation method of the mobile phone device according to claim 7, wherein the operation of selecting the incoming / user operation rejection function is performed by voice announcement on the user's mobile phone device.

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