JP2006166116A - Portable information device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable information device capable of controlling respective processings in call termination, call origination and call clearing, merely by performing natural operations related to communication. <P>SOLUTION: The portable information device is provided with a call termination signal detection part for detecting call termination signals transmitted from a communication network, a human body detection part for detecting that a part of a human body is brought into contact or approach, and a call termination control part for executing a call termination processing, in response to the detection of the call termination signals. When the call termination signal detection part detects the call termination signal and the human body detection part detects the contact or approach of the human body, the call termination control part executes the call termination processing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable information device, and in particular, is a small and lightweight portable information device that can be carried like a conventional cellular phone, and detects an operation in which a user tries to enter a call state such as a call origination operation or an incoming call operation. The present invention relates to a portable information device capable of performing the above.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a foldable mobile phone is used that is carried in a folded state and is used by opening a lid during a call. In such a foldable mobile phone, when there is an incoming call in a folded state, there is a mobile phone that performs an incoming call process by closing the telephone line by opening the lid from the closed state to the open state (Patent Document). 1).

In addition, there is a mobile phone that captures and releases a telephone line by pressing a dedicated key for starting a call to start a call and pressing a dedicated key for ending a call to end the call.
In addition, in order to avoid the inconvenience of forgetting to press the dedicated key for ending the call when the call is ended, a temperature measuring unit is provided in the handset, and after the call is started by pressing the hook button, the temperature is high. If it is maintained, it is judged that the handset is used by being put on the ear, and if the temperature falls, it is judged that the handset is separated from the human body, and a telephone terminal for performing the end-call processing is also proposed. (See Patent Document 2).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-80145 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-99555

  However, in a mobile phone in which a dedicated key is pressed at the start and end of a call, the dedicated key must be searched out from a large number of small keys, and the operation is troublesome. Also, in the case of a type of folding mobile phone that always receives an incoming call when the lid is opened and enters the call, the caller cannot be confirmed before entering the call, and even the other party who does not want to make a call can enter the conversation. There was a case.

In addition, cell phones with a temperature measurement unit can be used to terminate the call by simply moving the handset away from the ear, so it is possible to prevent unnecessary line connections due to forgetting to press the dedicated key. Therefore, there are cases where it takes time until the temperature falls to a predetermined temperature, such as when the temperature of the outside air is high.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and by providing a human body detection unit for detecting an operation corresponding to the start and end of a call state, a user can receive a call at the time of incoming and outgoing calls. It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable information device that can enter a call state only by performing a more natural operation for a call and can finish the call more quickly.

  The present invention relates to an incoming signal detection unit for detecting an incoming signal transmitted from a communication network, a human body detection unit for detecting that a part of a human body is in contact with or approaching, and in response to detection of the incoming signal. An incoming call control unit that executes incoming call processing, and when the incoming signal detection unit detects an incoming call signal and the human body detection unit detects contact or approach of a human body, the incoming call control unit performs incoming call processing. The present invention provides a portable information device characterized by being executed.

  In addition, an input unit for inputting an instruction for specifying information on a destination to be transmitted, a human body detection unit for detecting that a part of a human body is in contact with or approaching, and a destination for which the instruction is input are called. A transmission control unit that executes a transmission process, and when the destination identification information is instructed and input by the input unit, when the human body detection unit detects contact or approach of a human body, The present invention provides a portable information device characterized by performing transmission processing.

  Furthermore, it is provided with an end control unit for canceling the call state, and a human body detection unit for detecting that a part of the human body is in contact with or approaching the human body, and the human body detection unit continues for a predetermined time or longer. When a contact or approach is not detected, a call information state is canceled by the call termination control unit, and a portable information device is provided.

In addition, it is provided with an end-call control unit that cancels the call state and a human body detection unit that detects that a part of the human body is in contact with or approached, and the human body detection unit contacts the human body within a predetermined time. Alternatively, the portable information device is characterized in that the call state is canceled by the call termination control unit when an approach is detected and a state in which contact or approach of the human body is not detected are alternately repeated a predetermined number of times or more. Is to provide.
Here, when the user explicitly makes a tap operation as will be described later, the end-of-call process is performed.

The human body detection unit may be provided in the vicinity of a speaker.
According to this, it is possible to enter a call state for an incoming call or outgoing call only by performing a natural operation for entering a call.

Furthermore, the human body detection unit includes a touch unit composed of electrodes, an oscillation signal generation unit that generates a predetermined contact voltage when a part of the human body comes into contact with the touch unit, and a voltage detection unit that detects the contact voltage. When the contact voltage detected by the voltage detection unit is higher than a predetermined voltage, it may be determined that a part of the human body is in contact.
According to this, since human body detection is determined by the human body touching this apparatus, human body detection can be performed quickly and reliably.

The human body detection unit includes a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit, and emits light so that the light receiving unit can receive light reflected by a part of the human body approaching the vicinity of the speaker among the light emitted from the light emitting unit. And the light receiving unit may be provided in the vicinity of the speaker.
According to this, it can detect that a part of human body approached this apparatus, and it can make a human body detection quick without contact.

According to the present invention, since the human body detection unit for detecting that a part of the human body is in contact with or approaching the human body is provided, it is associated with each in the operation stage for executing each function of outgoing call, incoming call, and end call. It is not necessary to perform a special operation, and each function can be executed only by performing a natural operation of the user trying to enter a call state, thereby reducing the operation burden on the user and preventing an erroneous operation.
In addition, for outgoing and incoming calls, the outgoing and incoming calls are executed in a natural operation that leads to a talking state in which a part of the human body, in particular the ear is brought into contact with the speaker part or brought close to the speaker part. The operability can be significantly improved.
Furthermore, for the end-of-call processing, a natural operation of separating a part of the human body, particularly the ear from the speaker portion, or a tap operation related to the natural operation may be performed, so that the end processing can be performed more quickly and reliably. Speak processing can be performed, and user operability can be improved.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited by this.
<Configuration of portable information device>
FIG. 1 shows a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of a portable information device (hereinafter also referred to as a terminal) of the present invention.
The portable information device 1 of the present invention mainly includes a display unit 2, an input unit 3, a call control unit 4, a microphone 5, a speaker 6, a ringer 7, a data storage unit 8, an incoming signal detection unit 9, a line closing unit 10, A human body detection unit 11 and a control unit 21 are included.

The display unit 2 can be a small and lightweight display device such as an LCD or an EL element. The input unit 3 includes numeric keys, dedicated keys such as a menu selection button, a call button, and a line disconnection (end call) button. In addition, the input unit 3 inputs a dial information instruction for specifying a destination to be transmitted.
The call control unit 4 transmits the voice information input from the microphone 5 to the communication network 30, outputs the voice information received from the communication network 30 from the speaker 6, and outputs a ring tone when there is an incoming call. This is a part for realizing functions related to a call such as outputting from.

For example, when there is an incoming call from the telephone network and an operation for answering the incoming call and entering a call is performed, a function of voice input by a microphone and voice output by a speaker can be executed. Is a part that makes a call possible.
In addition, when an instruction to input destination identification information is input by the input unit 3 and an operation for making a call to the destination is performed, a function of voice input by a microphone and voice output by a speaker can be executed and transmitted. This is a part that makes the terminal 1 ready to talk to the other party.

The data storage unit 8 is a part for storing setting data such as telephone numbers and outgoing / incoming histories and various information relating to calls. In addition to semiconductor memory elements such as ROM, RAM, and flash memory, IC memory cards and the like are also included. Can be used. A timer setting value, a contact voltage threshold value, a tap frequency threshold value, etc., which will be described later, are also stored in the data storage unit.
In addition, a program for realizing the function of the portable information device 1 is stored in the semiconductor memory element.
The incoming signal detection unit 9 is a part that detects an incoming signal transmitted from the communication network 30. The line closing unit 10 is a part that closes a line for communication or communication with the communication network 30 for a telephone call or data communication so that the telephone or communication can be performed.

The human body detection unit 11 is a part that detects contact and approach of a part of the human body, and a specific example thereof will be described later.
The control unit 21 is a part for operating various components of the terminal 1 of the present invention to realize various functions such as outgoing and incoming calls, and mainly includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O controller, a timer, and the like. Realized by a microcomputer.
Various functions are realized when the CPU organically operates hardware based on a program stored in a ROM or the like. The control unit 21 mainly includes an incoming signal processing unit 22, an utterance processing unit 23, an end processing unit 24, and a sensor signal processing unit 25 when classified from the functional aspect.
The incoming control unit of the present invention described above corresponds to the incoming signal processing unit 22 in the control unit of FIG. 1, and the outgoing control unit corresponds to the speech processing unit 23 of FIG.

The incoming signal processing unit 22 is a part that performs so-called incoming processing. More specifically, the incoming signal processing unit 22 receives an incoming signal detected by the incoming signal detection unit 9, rings a ringer, and specifies a user who is going to enter a call. When a human body detection signal (for example, a contact voltage described later) output from the human body detection unit 11 output in response to the operation is detected, the call control unit sets a call ready state for the incoming call.
The incoming call process includes a process for notifying that there has been an incoming call, a process for responding to the incoming call and closing the line, a process for connecting a microphone and a speaker to the line, and making a call.

The sensor signal processing unit 25 is a part that receives a human body detection signal (such as a contact voltage) output from the human body detection unit 11 and generates a signal for determining the presence or absence of human body detection. For example, when the contact voltage V is used as the human body detection signal, the contact voltage V is compared with a predetermined threshold voltage V _0, and the contact is detected when the contact voltage V is higher than the threshold voltage V _0. This is a part for outputting a signal indicating that there has been present to the CPU.
The sensor signal processing unit 25 can be realized by hardware, but can also be realized by software processing of the CPU of the control unit, and in this case, a signal indicating that there is a contact is output. Instead, the CPU may determine whether or not there is contact.

The utterance processing unit 23 is a part that controls a so-called transmission operation. The utterance processing unit 23 closes the line and then dials the set telephone number to call the other party. It is a part which performs the process which makes a telephone call possible state between.
The end call processing unit 24 is a part for canceling the call state and receiving the next outgoing call or incoming call. For example, when the key input indicating the end of the call is made or when the user ends the call. This is a part that performs a process of terminating a call when it is detected that a corresponding specific operation has been performed.

<Description of human body detection unit>
The human body detection unit 11 is a part that detects that a part of the human body has come into contact with the terminal 1 or has approached the terminal 1. In other words, the user of the terminal 1 of the present invention uses the terminal 1 as a hand. It is a part for detecting whether or not it is currently in a call state. For example, normally, a portion near the speaker of the terminal 1 is brought into a talking state by contacting the ear, but the human body detection unit 11 is a portion that detects whether or not the ear is brought into contact with the speaker portion.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the human body detection unit 11. Here, the human body detection unit 11 includes an oscillation unit 12, a tuning unit 13, a voltage detection unit 14, and a touch unit 15.
The oscillation unit 12 is a part that outputs an AC signal having a specific frequency (for example, several KHz). The oscillation frequency of the oscillating unit 12 is, for example, a frequency near a specific frequency f′c (described later). The tuning unit 13 is a part that tunes the AC signal output from the oscillation unit 12 and includes, for example, a resistor R and a capacitor C as shown in FIG. In this case, the tuning unit 13 becomes a so-called low-pass filter and tunes to an AC signal having a frequency smaller than the cutoff frequency fc (fc = 1 / (2πCR)). The oscillation signal generation unit of the present invention described above corresponds to the oscillation unit 12 and the tuning unit 13 of FIG.
The voltage detection unit 14 is a part that extracts the contact voltage (V) from the tuning unit 13.
The touch part 15 is a contact detection part for detecting that a part of a human body, for example, a hand or an ear has come into contact with the terminal 1, and a metal electrode plate is used, for example. The touch unit 15 is connected to the tuning unit 13 and detects an AC signal whose frequency has changed by utilizing the fact that a human touches the touch unit 15 and a current flows through the human body to the ground.

As shown in FIG. 3, the electrode plate of the touch unit 15 is connected between the resistor R and the capacitor C in the tuning unit 13. When a person is not touching the touch unit 15, the tuning unit 13 has a characteristic of a cutoff frequency fc from the relationship between the resistor R and the capacitor C as shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 shows a graph of the relationship between the frequency and the detection voltage V with a solid line.
Since the oscillation frequency of the oscillation unit 12 is in the vicinity of f′c, the voltage detected by the voltage detection unit 14 after being tuned by the tuning unit is low.
On the other hand, when a human touches the touch unit 15, as shown in FIG. 3B, the human plays the role of a capacitor C ′ provided between the ground and the added capacitor C ′. The capacity changes. That is, the tuning frequency fc of the tuning unit 13 changes.

When a human touches, it becomes the same state as when a capacitor is added in parallel, so that the impedance of the synchronization unit with respect to the oscillated AC signal increases, and the tuning frequency slightly increases from fc to f'c. To do. At this time, as shown by a dotted line in FIG. 4, the graph is slightly shifted to the right side. That is, since the oscillation frequency of the oscillating unit 12 is in the vicinity of f′c, the extracted voltage V increases as the tuning frequency increases. This increased voltage V <b> 1 (contact voltage) is detected by the voltage detection unit 14 and given to the sensor signal processing unit 25.
The sensor signal processing unit 25 determines that a human has touched the touch unit 15 when detecting that the contact voltage V is greater than a preset threshold voltage. Thus, since it is detected by voltage change that the human touches the touch part 15, it can detect rapidly and reliably.

<Example of human body detection unit>
Next, some examples of the human body detection unit 11, mainly positions where the touch unit 15 of the human body detection unit 11 is attached will be described.
Generally, when an incoming call is received, the user operates to bring the microphone part of the terminal 1 close to the mouth and the speaker part close to the ear, and then enters a call. In addition, it is considered that a call is usually made with the speaker portion in contact with the ear. During a call, the speaker part and the ear are not always in contact and may be separated from time to time, but at least at the beginning of a call to enter a call, the speaker part and the ear should be in contact. It is common to do. Therefore, it is preferable that the touch unit 15 is attached to a portion that is highly likely to come into contact with the ear.

  FIG. 5 illustrates an explanatory diagram of the first embodiment in which the touch unit 15 of the human body detection unit 11 is attached in the vicinity of the speaker 6. Here, an example in which an electrode A corresponding to the touch unit 15 is provided around the speaker 6 is shown. However, the electrode A is not only attached so as to surround the speaker 6 as described above, but a large number of electrodes may be provided in a portion considered to be in contact with the ear. In addition, various arrangements and shapes of electrodes are conceivable.

FIG. 6 illustrates an explanatory diagram of the second embodiment at a position where the touch unit 15 of the human body detection unit 11 is attached.
In FIG. 6, two electrodes (B, C) corresponding to the touch unit 15 are provided. The human body detection electrode B is provided in the vicinity of the speaker 6 similarly to the electrode A in FIG.
The human body detection electrode C is provided in a grip portion that is considered to be touched by a hand holding the terminal 1. In FIG. 6, it is provided on the left side surface of the terminal 1, but is not limited to this position, and may be provided on the right side surface of the terminal 1, or may be provided at a position where any of the five fingers is considered to contact. .
An AC voltage having a specific frequency (several kHz) is applied between the electrode B and the electrode C.
In the case of this embodiment, when a part of the human body such as the hand and the ear is in contact with both of the two electrodes (B, C), it is determined that the person has touched the terminal 1. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the human body detection process according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 shows the case where the ear is brought into contact with the electrode B and the hand is brought into contact with the electrode C. At this time, the electrode B and the electrode C are connected through the human body. That is, the electrode B and the electrode C are electrically connected via the human body, and a weak current flows between both electrodes.
FIG. 8 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the human body detection process of the second embodiment.
When a weak current flows from the electrode B to the electrode C through the human body, a contact voltage V1 is generated and detected by the voltage detector 14 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a third embodiment in which a switch corresponding to the touch unit 15 of the human body detection unit is provided. Here, an example in which the switch is provided in the vicinity of the speaker is shown.
As the switch, it is preferable to use a push switch of a type in which the contact is closed by pressing with an ear. That is, the switch is turned off when not being held by the ear, and the switch is turned on when held by the ear. In the on state, a voltage corresponding to the contact voltage V1 is applied to the voltage detection unit 14.
If such a push switch is provided in a portion that is considered to be in contact with the ear, a human body can be detected. In this case, it is not necessary to provide a circuit corresponding to the oscillating unit and the tuning unit as shown in FIG. 3, and it is only necessary to provide a switch having a simple structure having an open / close contact for controlling the connection of the DC power source.

  FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of Example 4 in which an optical sensor corresponding to the touch unit 15 of the human body detection unit is provided. Here, a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit are provided in the vicinity of the speaker 6. An LED can be used for the light emitting portion, and a photodiode or the like can be used for the light receiving portion. In this case, the ear does not have to be in contact with the speaker portion.

That is, when the ear is brought close to the vicinity of the speaker, the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit are positioned so that the light emitted from the light emitting unit is reflected by the human body such as the ear or the face and the reflected light is received by the light receiving unit. Is provided. In this case, the human body can be detected without contact.
Although depending on the light emission intensity and the light receiving sensitivity, the human body can be detected even if the human body is several millimeters away from the speaker portion. Further, unlike contact detection, even if the ear is slightly separated from the terminal during a call, it is not determined that the call has been terminated by mistake. In this embodiment, since it is possible to detect that the human body has attempted to enter a call before contacting the speaker portion, the human body can be detected more quickly than the contact-type human body detection shown in FIG.

  In addition, since it becomes difficult to hear the sound when the ear is away from the speaker portion, a circuit for measuring the distance between the ear and the speaker portion may be provided, and the volume of the speaker may be increased or decreased in accordance with the measurement distance.

Furthermore, in addition to human body detection using an optical sensor as shown in FIG. 10, human body detection using a microwave sensor or an ultrasonic sensor may be performed.
For example, in the case of a microwave, a microwave transmitter and a microwave receiver may be provided in the vicinity of a speaker to detect the microwave reflected by the human body. In the case of microwaves, the transmission frequency and the reception frequency reflected by the human body differ depending on the relative movement of the human body and the portable information device, so by using the so-called Doppler effect that shifts the frequency, contactless Can detect human body and distance. In the case of ultrasonic waves, detection similar to microwaves can be performed.

Further, when a headset of a type in which speakers are attached to both ears is connected to the terminal 1, electrodes as shown in FIG. 5 may be provided in the vicinity of the two speakers of the headset. When these electrodes come into contact with the left and right ears, the human body can be reliably detected by detecting the voltage generated by the minute current flowing between the electrodes through the human body.
When the terminal 1 is used not for call purposes but for music playback, the detection of the human body when the headset is worn can be used as a music playback start switch. That is, instead of pressing the start button for music playback, music can be automatically played by putting the headset on the ear.

  Further, the electrodes corresponding to the touch unit 15 may be provided at other portions of the terminal 1 instead of being provided at the positions shown in the above-described embodiments. For example, the electrode may be provided at a position where the hand can be easily touched on the outer side surface of the terminal, for example, the back portion without the display unit or the input unit, in order to clearly indicate that the user enters the call when receiving an incoming call.

<Incoming call processing>
Next, a series of operations and processing at the time of incoming call according to the present invention will be described.
FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of one embodiment of the incoming call processing of the present invention. Here, a case where the user enters a call in response to the incoming call when the terminal 1 of the present invention receives an incoming call from the communication network 30 is shown.
In general, when there is an incoming call, the user is notified of the incoming call by ringer or vibration. When the user notices that there has been an incoming call, he / she operates the speaker portion of the terminal 1 to touch the ear in order to enter the call in response to the incoming call. In the case of the foldable terminal 1, the user may perform an operation of bringing the ear close to the speaker portion after performing an operation of opening the lid.

In step S1 of FIG. 11, it is checked whether the incoming signal detection unit 9 has detected an incoming signal. If there is an incoming signal, the process proceeds to step S2, and if there is no incoming signal, the process ends.
In step S2, it is checked whether or not a contact voltage is detected in order to detect a human body. For example, in the case of FIG. 3, it is checked whether or not the detected voltage V is greater than a predetermined threshold voltage. If it is greater, it is determined that the contact voltage V1 has been detected, and the process proceeds to step S4. If it is smaller, the contact voltage is not detected and it is determined that the human body is not detected, and the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, it is checked whether the call button has been pressed. Although the call button is not an essential component in the present invention, it is preferable to provide a dedicated call button so that a clear operation can be performed by the user's own intention as in the conventional case. If the call button is pressed, the process proceeds to step S4. If the call button is not pressed, the process returns to step S1.

In step S4, after receiving an incoming call, a series of processing such as line capture, call processing for connecting a microphone and a speaker to the line is executed, and thereafter, a call is entered.
The above is a series of processing at the time of an incoming call. The user can make a call ready for an incoming call simply by performing an operation for entering a conventional call in which the terminal 1 of the present invention is brought into contact with the ear. be able to. Therefore, it is not necessary to search for a specific call button, it is only necessary to perform a natural operation for entering a call, and the operability at the time of incoming call can be improved.
In addition, in the case of a foldable terminal, simply opening the lid at the time of incoming call does not suddenly cause a call state, so the user noticed that there was an incoming call and confirmed the caller information displayed on the display unit 2 If the terminal 1 is brought into contact with the ear later, the user can enter a call state when he / she wants to enter the call. Conversely, if the caller does not want to talk, it is possible not to answer the incoming call.

<Call processing>
FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of the transmission process of the present invention. When a user tries to make a call to a specific destination, in general, he / she inputs the destination's phone number (subscriber number), performs an operation for dialing the phone number, and a speaker portion. Touch the ear and wait for the other party to respond.
Here, the dialing operation may be an operation of pushing down a specific “call button” as conventionally performed. In the present invention, the operation of bringing the speaker portion into contact with the ear is used. Use. That is, after inputting the telephone number of the other party to call, touching the touch part 15 of the human body detection part provided near the speaker part of the terminal 1 with the ear is an operation for dialing. .
Specifically, when the configuration as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 5 is provided, it is determined that a dial operation has been performed when a predetermined contact voltage is detected, and a call processing for calling a destination whose instruction has been input is performed. After that, the microphone and the speaker are caused to function by the call control unit to perform a process of making a call possible state to the calling party.
The transmission process includes a process of capturing a line and transmitting a telephone number of a call destination to a communication network.

  In step S11 of FIG. 12, it is first checked whether or not a subscriber number has been set. The subscriber number can be set directly by entering the number of the other party's phone number, as is done with a conventional mobile phone. May be selected and input, or if a voice recognition function is provided, the other party name or number may be input by voice.

If the destination subscriber number is set, the process proceeds to step S12. If not set, the process is terminated.
In step S12, it is checked whether or not a predetermined contact voltage corresponding to human body detection has been detected. In the case of FIG. 3 and FIG. 5, contact voltage is generated by bringing the ear into contact with the speaker portion, and this is detected.
Here, it is checked whether or not the voltage V detected by the voltage detector 14 is larger than a predetermined threshold voltage. If it is larger, it is determined that the contact voltage has been detected, and the user can It is determined that the intention to dial is displayed. At this time, the process proceeds to step S14.

On the other hand, when the contact voltage is not detected in step S12, the process proceeds to step S13 to check whether or not the call button is pressed. When the call button is pressed, the user intentionally performs a dial operation, and the process proceeds to step S14. If it cannot be depressed, the process returns to step S11.
Here, in the present invention, since the process of step S12 is performed, it is not essential to check whether or not the call button has been pressed. However, most conventional mobile phones use a dial operation to press a specific button. Therefore, it is preferable to provide such a call button from the viewpoint of familiarity with the operation and check the depression of the call button as in step S13.

In step S14, as in the conventional case, a call process including a series of processes of capturing a line, transmitting a destination telephone number, and entering a call state when the other party responds to an incoming call is performed.
The above is the flow of the outgoing call processing of the present invention, but the dial operation can be an operation of entering a natural call by bringing the speaker portion of the terminal 1 into contact with the ear, and there is no need to search for a call button. Dialing can be performed easily and easily for the user.

<Ending call processing>
FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 show flowcharts for the call termination process of the present invention. In contrast to the above incoming and outgoing calls, the fact that the human body has been detected is used to detect the end of the conversation. For example, when the configuration shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 5 is provided, it is determined that the end of talk is that a predetermined contact voltage is not detected.
In the conventional mobile phone, when the user ends the call, the user presses a specific call end button and inputs that the call is explicitly ended. In the present invention, the first to fourth embodiments described above are used. In any of the configurations as shown in FIG. 1, the user determines that the end of the speech is just a natural operation of moving the speaker part away from the ear. Therefore, it is not necessary to press down a specific button intended for the end of the call, and forgetting this press-down operation does not leave the line captured, and the operability at the end of the call can be improved. .

Here, two end speech processes (FIGS. 13 and 14) will be described.
First, in FIG. 13, when the undetected state continues for a certain time (for example, 2 seconds) after the detection of the human body is stopped, it is determined that the talk is finished, and the talk process is performed.
In step S21 of FIG. 13, it is determined whether or not a call is currently being made. Here, whether or not a call is in progress can be checked by setting a call flag when the communication state is established by incoming or outgoing call processing and checking the call flag.
If the call is in progress, the process proceeds to step S22, and if not, the process ends. In step S22, a timer for measuring time for determining whether or not the call is over is started. Here, this timer is a timer for measuring the above-mentioned fixed time, and for example, a time of about 2 seconds is set.

  In step S23, it is checked whether or not there is a human body detection. That is, it is checked whether or not a contact or approach of a human body is detected. The presence or absence of human body detection may be performed using any one of the methods in the first to fourth embodiments described above. For example, when the configurations as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 are provided, it is checked whether or not the contact voltage has become lower than a predetermined threshold value. If the contact voltage is low, it is determined that no human body has been detected, and the process proceeds to step S24. On the other hand, if a contact voltage higher than the threshold is still detected, the human body is detected and the process is terminated assuming that the call is still in progress.

  In step S24, it is checked whether or not the set timer has timed out. If the time has expired, the process proceeds to step S25. If the predetermined time has not yet elapsed, the process returns to step S23, and the human body detection check is continued. Here, the provision of such a timer avoids judging that an unintentional operation is ended as a single check only because the speaker part may be separated from the ear even during a call. Because.

Therefore, when there is a timeout and the process proceeds to step S25, the human body is not continuously detected for a certain period of time. As a result, the operation in which the speaker portion is separated from the ear for a moment during a call is not determined to be the end of the call, and the call can be continued. The numerical value of the fixed time set here is not limited to 2 seconds, and may be 1 second or 3 seconds or more. Depending on the user's usage state and operational tendency, a shorter time may be better, and it may be more convenient to set a longer time. Therefore, it is preferable that the user can set the timer time in advance.
In step S25, a call termination process is performed. The call termination process is a process for releasing the call ready state established by the call control unit, releasing the line, stopping the function of the microphone or speaker, screen control for returning the call screen to the idle screen, This includes a process for sending the terminal 1 end-of-call signal, and after this, the terminal 1 is ready for outgoing and incoming calls.

Next, the end speech process in FIG. 14 will be described. Here, it is detected that a specific tap operation has been performed within a certain time after the human body is no longer detected, and it is determined that the end-call operation has been intentionally performed when this specific tap operation has been performed.
In other words, the tap operation is used for the end operation instead of the conventional button pressing operation intended for the end of the call. Here, the tap operation means an operation that alternately repeats a state in which contact or approach of the human body is detected and a state in which contact or approach of the human body is not detected, and is an intentional operation by the user. When the presence / absence of human body detection is repeated a predetermined number of times or more by this tap operation, it is determined as an end of call operation.

For example, when the configurations of FIGS. 3 and 5 are provided, the speaker portion and the ear are brought into contact (contact ON), and the speaker portion and the ear are separated (contact OFF) several times. This is a tap operation.
Further, when the number of taps is set to 2, it is determined that the tap operation has been performed when an operation such as contact OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF is performed from the contact ON state.
Here, the contact ON / OFF repetition may be performed unconsciously during a call, and therefore, when the contact ON / OFF is repeated a predetermined number of times during a certain time (for example, 3 seconds), It is determined that an intentional tap operation has been performed, and the end of call processing is started.

  In step S31 of FIG. 14, it is checked whether or not a call is in progress. If the call is in progress, the process proceeds to step S32. If not, the process ends. In step S32, it is checked whether there is human body detection. If no human body is detected, the process proceeds to step S33, and if not, the process ends. Human body detection may be performed by any of the methods described in the first to fourth embodiments.

In step S33, a timer is started and the detected tap count T is initialized. The timer is set at a preset time as in FIG. The tap count T is set to zero as an initial value. Further, the threshold value of the number of times of comparison with the detected tap number T is set in advance. The preset number of times threshold may be set by the user.
Next, in step S34, it is checked whether or not the timer has timed out. If timed out, it is determined that the tap operation intended to end the call has not been performed, and the process ends.
On the other hand, if it has not timed out yet, the process proceeds to step S35, and the number of taps is counted in order to monitor the tap operation.

The number of taps is counted by, for example, continuously counting the number of times a predetermined contact voltage is detected. Here, the detection of one set of contact ON and contact OFF is counted as one tap.
In step S36, it is checked whether or not the current tap count T is greater than a preset threshold value. If the number of taps T that is greater than the threshold is counted, it is determined that an intentional tap operation has been performed, and the process proceeds to the end-of-call process in step S37. When the number of taps T is less than or equal to the threshold value, the process returns to step S34 and the number of taps is checked again.

In step S37, as in step S25 of FIG. 13, a call termination process for canceling the call available state is performed.
When the end call processing of FIG. 14 is performed, an intentional end call operation of the user is required at the end of the call, but this is not related to the operation of depressing the call button but related to the natural call operation as described above. Therefore, the end speech processing can be executed more quickly and reliably, there is no operation burden on the user, and there is no erroneous operation, and the operability in the end speech can be improved.
Further, in the end speech processing of FIGS. 13 and 14, since it is determined that the end speech operation has been started using any of the human body detection methods of the first to fourth embodiments described above, the end speech processing is erroneously performed. The end-of-call process can be performed more quickly and reliably.

1 is a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of a portable information device of the present invention. It is a block diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of the human body detection unit of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing of the contact voltage detection function in the human body detection part of this invention. It is a relationship graph of the oscillation frequency and detection voltage in the human body detection part of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the attachment position of the human body detection part in Example 1 of the portable information device of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the attachment position of the human body detection part in Example 2 of the portable information device of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the human body detection process in the case of Example 2 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the human body detection process in the case of Example 2 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the attachment position of the human body detection part in Example 3 of the portable information device of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the attachment position of the human body detection part in Example 4 of the portable information device of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the incoming call process of the portable information device of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the transmission process of the portable information device of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the end-call process of the portable information device of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the end-call process of the portable information device of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Portable information device 2 Display part 3 Input part 4 Call control part 5 Microphone 6 Speaker 7 Ringer 8 Data storage part 9 Incoming signal detection part 10 Line closing part 11 Human body detection part 12 Oscillation part 13 Tuning part 14 Voltage detection part 15 Touch Unit 21 Control unit 22 Incoming signal processing unit 23 Speech processing unit 24 Ending processing unit 25 Sensor signal processing unit 30 Communication network

Claims (5)

An incoming signal detection unit that detects an incoming signal transmitted from a communication network, a human body detection unit that detects that a part of the human body has touched or approached, and an incoming call process in response to the detection of the incoming signal. An incoming call control unit to execute,
The portable information device, wherein when the incoming signal detection unit detects an incoming signal and the human body detection unit detects contact or approach of a human body, the incoming call control unit executes incoming processing. An input unit that inputs an instruction specifying information for specifying a destination to be transmitted, a human body detection unit that detects that a part of the human body is in contact with or approached, and a calling process for calling the destination input by the instruction A transmission control unit for executing
A portable information device characterized in that when the destination identification information is instructed and input by the input unit, the human body detection unit performs a calling process to the destination when detecting contact or approach of a human body. An end-call control unit that cancels the call state, and a human body detection unit that detects that a part of the human body has touched or approached,
The portable information device, wherein the call state is canceled by the call termination control unit when the human body detection unit does not detect contact or approach of the human body for a predetermined time or longer. An end-call control unit that cancels the call state, and a human body detection unit that detects that a part of the human body has touched or approached,
When the human body detection unit repeatedly detects a state in which contact or approach of the human body is detected within a certain time and a state in which contact or approach of the human body is not detected alternately a predetermined number of times, the end speech control unit The mobile information device is characterized in that the call state is canceled by.   The portable information device according to claim 1, wherein the human body detection unit is provided in the vicinity of a speaker.

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