JP2006271715A - Portable terminal device and control method of portable terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable terminal device for performing calibration of bearing sensors as a part of operation of an application game program. <P>SOLUTION: An application capable of being executed on the portable terminal device 1 includes a process for requesting a user to perform rotation operation of the portable terminal device 1. The calibration of the bearing sensors 521-1 and 521-2 is performed when the user rotates the portable terminal device 1 in this process. Thereby, the user performs calibration of the bearing sensors 521-1 and 521-2 as a part of operation of the application so that the user is not required to rotate the portable terminal device 1 only for calibration like conventional portable terminal devices. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

 The present invention relates to a portable terminal device provided with application game software.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones have been improved in functionality, and those equipped with a magnetic sensor that detects geomagnetism to measure azimuth and those that can execute applications such as games have been developed. Some applications use an orientation calculated from the detection result of the magnetic sensor. In the prior art, it is necessary to first calibrate the magnetic sensor before executing such an application. Calibration of the magnetic sensor is for calibrating the influence of the magnetic field generated by the electric signal flowing inside the terminal, and the user periodically scans the magnetic sensor data while rotating the mobile phone in a predetermined direction. It was done by a method of taking in and accumulating, and calculating and removing the influence of magnetic fields other than geomagnetism from the obtained data.
Note that Patent Documents 1 to 4 are known as prior art references relating to the present application.
JP-A-10-179926 JP 2002-95871 A JP 2003-199973 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-337619

However, in the conventional calibration method, an application that uses the detection result of the magnetic sensor cannot be executed until the magnetic sensor is calibrated. When calibration is performed in order to execute an application, the user has to perform an operation not directly related to the application operation, that is, an operation of rotating the mobile phone, which places a burden on the user.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a portable terminal device capable of calibrating a magnetic sensor without placing a burden on the user.

 The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and the invention according to claim 1 is a portable terminal device capable of executing application game software, wherein the control means reads and executes the application game software Display means for displaying the contents of the game executed by the application game software, storage means for temporarily storing data, a magnetic sensor for measuring the strength of the magnetic field, and the magnetism when the game is in progress Data storage means for storing the magnetic field data output from the sensor in the storage means; and calibration means for calibrating the magnetic sensor based on the magnetic field data stored in the storage means. It is said.

 The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 1, the application game software uses a rotation operation for rotating the apparatus main body for the progress of the game.

 According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the rotation operation is an operation with the center of gravity of the apparatus main body as a rotation center.

 According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the rotation operation is an operation of swinging the apparatus main body around a position outside the apparatus main body as a rotation center.

  The invention according to claim 5 is a control method of a mobile terminal device capable of executing application game software, wherein the mobile terminal device reads and executes the application game software, and the application game A display step for displaying the contents of a game executed by software, a storage step for temporarily storing data, a magnetic sensor for measuring the strength of the magnetic field, and a magnetic field output by the magnetic sensor when the game is in progress A data storage step for storing data in the storage step; and a calibration step for calibrating the magnetic sensor based on the magnetic field data stored in the storage step. Rotating operation to rotate the game progress It is characterized in that to use.

 According to the present invention, during execution of an application game, the magnetic sensor is calibrated using operations such as rotation and vibration of a mobile phone incorporated as part of the operation of the application game. Therefore, the user naturally performs the calibration of the magnetic sensor as the operation of the application game, and the above burden can be eliminated.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile phone 1 (mobile terminal device) according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 2B is a side view when the terminal unit of the mobile phone 1 is opened and the knob 4 is raised. The X axis, Y axis, and Z axis are set in the directions indicated by the arrows in the figure. Terminal units 2 and 3 are two housings of the mobile terminal device 1.

 The knob 4 is normally covered with the terminal unit 2 and plated to prevent wear. As shown in FIG. 2 (b), when the mobile phone 1 is held horizontally so that the display side is positioned upward with the terminal unit opened, the cover 4 is opened and the knob 4 is raised. Come to the position of the center of gravity. In this state, when the cellular phone 1 is placed on a flat desk or the like so that the knob 4 faces downward, the cellular phone 1 can be rotated around the Z axis around the knob 4. In the following, when the mobile phone 1 is rotated, it is rotated as described above.

 In FIG. 1, an antenna 201 is an antenna for transmitting and receiving radio signals to and from a radio base station (not shown). An RF (Radio Frequency) unit 202 converts a received signal received by the antenna 201 into a received signal having an intermediate frequency and outputs the received signal to the modem unit 203. Further, the RF unit 202 modulates a transmission signal input from the modulation / demodulation unit 203 to a signal having a transmission frequency, and outputs the signal to the antenna 201 for transmission.

 The modem unit 203 performs a demodulation process on the received signal input from the RF unit 202 and a modulation process on the transmission signal input from the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) unit 204. The CDMA unit 204 performs transmission signal encoding processing and reception signal decoding processing. The audio processing unit 205 converts the audio signal input from the microphone 301 into a digital signal and outputs the digital signal to the CDMA unit 204. The audio processing unit 205 inputs the digital audio signal from the CDMA unit 204 and converts it into an analog audio signal. Then, the sound is output to the speaker 302 and sounded.

 The antenna 401 is an antenna for receiving a radio signal from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite. The GPS receiving unit 402 demodulates the radio signal received from the GPS satellite, and calculates the position represented by the latitude and longitude of the mobile terminal device 1 (further altitude in the case of the three-dimensional mode) based on the demodulated radio signal. To do.

 The acceleration sensor 510 detects the acceleration of the terminal unit 2 on the XY plane. In the first embodiment, the acceleration sensor 510 includes X and Y axis direction acceleration sensors that detect gravitational acceleration components in the X and Y axis directions. Is detected.

 The magnetic sensor unit 520 includes magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2, a temperature sensor 522, and a sensor control unit 523. The magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2 detect magnetic fields in the X-axis and Y-axis directions, respectively, and output them as magnetic field data. The magnetic sensor unit 520 may be a magnetic sensor that detects a magnetic field in the three-axis directions of the X axis, the Y axis, and the Z axis. The temperature sensor 522 detects the ambient temperature in order to perform temperature compensation of the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2. The sensor control unit 523 performs data processing on the detection outputs of the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2, the temperature sensor 522, and the acceleration sensor 510.

 The main control unit 601 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that performs main control of the mobile terminal device 1. A ROM (Read Only Memory) 602 and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 603 are memories constituting a main memory of the main control unit 601. The ROM 602 holds a program for the main control unit 601. The RAM 603 provides an area for storing data and the like used during operation by the CPU.

 The notification unit 303 includes a speaker, a vibrator, a light emitting diode, and the like, and notifies the user of an incoming call or mail reception by sound, vibration, light, or the like. The clock unit 304 is a time measuring function unit used by the main control unit 601. The main operation unit 305 has a numeric keypad and function keys, and takes a user's instruction input and gives it to the main control unit 601.

 The electronic video unit 306 converts an object image into a digital signal and outputs the digital signal to the main control unit 601. The display unit 307 is a liquid crystal display (LCD) that displays images, characters, and the like based on display signals input from the main control unit. The touch panel 308 is incorporated in the surface of the liquid crystal display of the display unit 307, and outputs a signal representing the input content by the user's contact operation to the main control unit 601.

 Next, the operation of the above-described first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Since the application used in the first embodiment needs to be calibrated during its execution, a process of rotating and vibrating the mobile phone 1 is taken in as part of the operation by the user. In FIG. 3, when the power of the mobile phone 1 is turned on, the main control unit 601 starts up a higher-level program and executes a process of initializing and starting up each part of the mobile phone 1 including the main control unit 601 (step S301). . When the upper program is finished, it waits for a user instruction command via the main operation unit 305 (step S302). Here, when the user sends a command to execute the application, the main control unit 601 starts the designated application (step S303: Yes). When a command other than application execution is given by the user, such as making a call, processing corresponding to the command is performed (step S310). When the user instructs to start the application, the main control unit 601 subsequently executes the application and calibrates the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2 (step S304).

 Next, a roulette game will be taken as an example of an application, and a roulette game operation and calibration method will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. The roulette game is performed by displaying an image as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, the rotation part 51 is divided | segmented into 16 blocks, and the numbers from 1 to 16 are drawn one by one in each block. The rotation unit 51 is rotated by an instruction from the user, and when the rotation stops, the number indicated by the number instruction unit 52 is a hit. Here, only the rotating unit 51 rotates, and the numeric display unit 52 always points to the same place without rotating. The advertisement display unit 53 is a part for displaying an advertisement of a company, and when a winning is found in the roulette game, the company that displayed the advertisement provides a premium to the user.

 In FIG. 5, when the user instructs the start of the roulette game, the main control unit 601 displays an image as shown in FIG. 4 on the display unit 307 (step S501). When the user predicts the block number indicated by the numeral instruction unit 52 after the rotation of the rotation unit 51 and inputs the predicted number from the main operation unit 305, the main control unit 601 stores the input number in the RAM 603 (step S502). ). Subsequently, the main control unit 601 displays a message on the display unit 307 to instruct the user to rotate the mobile phone 1, and monitors the outputs of the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2 (step S503). Here, the rotation operation of the mobile phone 1 is detected as a change in magnetic field by the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2, and the detected magnetic field is converted into digital magnetic field data by the sensor control unit 523 and then the main control unit 601. To be told.

 When an instruction to rotate the mobile phone 1 is displayed on the display unit 307, the user rotates the mobile phone 1. At this time, as described above, the mobile phone 1 is placed on a flat desk or the like so that the XY plane of FIG. Then, the mobile phone 1 is rotated around the Z axis. When the rotation operation is detected from the output of the magnetic sensor (step S504: Yes), the main control unit 601 performs the moving image processing, and displays the effect that the rotating unit 51 of FIG. 4 rotates around the center point of the circle as a moving image. The information is displayed on the part 307 (step S505). Next, the main control unit 601 checks whether the calibration of the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2 has been completed, and if it has already been completed, the process proceeds to step S507 (step S506: Yes). If not completed, the process proceeds to the calibration process (step S506: No).

 In the calibration process, the main control unit 601 accumulates magnetic field data detected by the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2 in the RAM 603 (step S511). If the data over the angular range (100 degrees) required for calibration can be accumulated while the mobile phone 1 is rotating (step S512: Yes), the main control unit 601 performs calibration based on the accumulated data. Calculation is performed (step S513). If the rotation of the mobile phone 1 stops before data exceeding the angle range (100 degrees) necessary for calibration is accumulated (step S512: No), an error message is displayed on the display unit 307 and the user rotates. After instructing to increase the angle, the process returns to step S504 (step S514).

 FIG. 6 is a graph plotting accumulated magnetic field data, where the horizontal axis represents the magnetic field in the X-axis direction and the vertical axis represents the magnetic field in the Y-axis direction. In the arithmetic processing in step S513, the plotted data is first approximated by an elliptic equation, and the center point and ellipticity of the ellipse are obtained. In the upper graph of FIG. 6, the triangle mark is the measurement data, the circle mark is the center of the ellipse, and the figure surrounded by the dotted line is the approximate ellipse. Next, when coordinate conversion of the measurement data (magnetic sensor output data) is performed so that the approximated ellipse becomes a perfect circle centered on the origin, the arithmetic processing is completed and the calibration is completed. In the graph on the lower side of FIG. 6, square marks are measurement data after coordinate conversion, and dotted circles are true circles. In the coordinate system after calibration, the angle from the horizontal axis of the measurement data (angle α in FIG. 6) corresponds to the azimuth.

 Returning to FIG. 5, when the calibration is completed, the main control unit 601 returns to the process of the roulette game. Next, in order to determine the timing for stopping the rotation of the rotation unit 51, the main control unit 601 detects the rotation stop of the mobile phone 1 (step S507). FIG. 7 is a graph showing a change in the detected azimuth, in which the horizontal axis represents time, the vertical axis represents the azimuth, the azimuth data detected by the square mark, and t0 is rotated in step S504, and the azimuth is changed. It ’s time to start. The main control unit 601 also detects the rotation stop by monitoring the detection outputs of the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2, and the time when the detection output does not change is defined as the rotation stop time t1. However, the rotation of the rotating unit 51 is not stopped at time t1, but is further continued for a certain time while gradually decreasing the rotation speed, and is completely stopped at time t2. The time t from the time t1 to the time t2 is determined so as to be proportional to the angular velocity v0 at the time when the rotation of the mobile phone 1 is started (step S508). The angular velocity v0 is obtained based on azimuth data of about three points from the time t0 when rotation is started. In addition, it is possible to obtain a time t in proportion to the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 510 at time t0.

 When the times t1 and t2 are obtained, the main control unit 601 performs moving image processing, and displays on the display unit 307 an effect that the rotation unit 51 stops rotation while gradually decreasing the rotation speed as described above. Thereafter, the roulette game progresses such as hit determination and score calculation (step S509), and one roulette game is completed. When continuing the roulette game, the process returns to step S502, and thereafter, steps S502 to S510 are repeatedly executed (step S510: No).

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Also in the second embodiment, the configuration of the mobile phone 1 shown in FIG. 1 is the same. In the second embodiment, a slot game is introduced as an application game. In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the operation of rotating the mobile phone 1 around the outside of the mobile phone 1 corresponds to the operation of pulling the lever in the slot game. FIG. 9 shows a screen displayed in the slot game. In FIG. 9, the rotation unit 90 is divided into three blocks on which numbers are drawn. When the lever 91 is pulled, the display rotates within the three blocks. When the rotation of the display stops, it is a win if all the numbers displayed at the center of each block match.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an application subroutine (step S304 in FIG. 3) in the slot game. In FIG. 9, when the user instructs the start of the slot game, the main control unit 601 displays an image as shown in FIG. 9 on the display unit 307 (step S901). Subsequently, the main control unit 601 displays a message on the display unit 307 to instruct the user to rotate the mobile phone 1 as shown in FIG. 8, and monitors the outputs of the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2 (step). S902).

  When an instruction to rotate the mobile phone 1 is displayed on the display unit 307, the user rotates the mobile phone 1. Here, instead of rotating using the knob 4 as in the first embodiment, the user rotates the mobile phone 1 around the outside of the mobile phone 1 as shown in FIG. For example, this can be realized by performing an operation in which the user shakes the mobile phone 1 while holding it. When the rotation operation is detected from the output of the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2 (step S903: Yes), the main control unit 601 performs the moving image processing, and the effect of pulling the lever of FIG. 9 and the display in the rotation unit 90 are displayed. The effect of rotation is displayed as a moving image on the display unit 307 (step S904).

  Next, the main control unit 601 checks whether the calibration of the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2 has been completed, and if it has already been completed, the process proceeds to step S906 (step S905: No). If not completed, the process proceeds to the calibration process (step S905: No). The calibration processing in steps S909 to S912 is performed by the same method as in the first embodiment.

  When the calibration process is completed, the process returns to the slot game process again, and the main control unit 601 determines a position in the rotation unit 90 where the display rotation is stopped (step S906). As in the first embodiment, the stop of rotation is set after a certain time from the time when the rotation operation of the mobile phone 1 by the user is finished, and the time is proportional to the angular velocity or acceleration at the time of starting the rotation. decide.

  The position of the rotation stop is obtained, and the main control unit 601 performs the moving image processing, and displays on the display unit 307 an effect that the rotation of the display stops in the rotating unit 90 as a moving image. Thereafter, the slot game proceeds such as hit determination and score calculation (step S907), and one slot game is completed. If the slot game is to be continued, the process returns to step S902, and thereafter, step S902 to step S908 are repeatedly executed (step S908: No).

 The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, but the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes design changes and the like within a scope not departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, introducing a game like a life game as an application and making the rotation movement of the mobile phone 1 correspond to the movement of rolling the dice, or introducing it into a dart game, the vibration movement of the mobile phone 1 and the action of throwing a dart It is also possible to make them correspond to each other. Further, the screen for displaying the application image and the moving image is not limited to the display unit 307 in FIG. 1 but may be a second display unit that is displayed when the terminal unit is closed. This second display unit is attached to the surface opposite to the main operation unit 305 of the terminal unit 2 in FIG. 2 or the surface opposite to the display of the terminal unit 3.

 The present invention is suitable for use in a mobile phone or the like that includes an orientation sensor and can execute application game software.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile phone 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure when opening the terminal unit of the mobile telephone 1 concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the mobile telephone 1 concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a screen displayed in a roulette game. It is a flowchart showing the procedure which performs a calibration during execution of a roulette game. It is the graph showing the calibration of the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2 in FIG. It is the graph showing the time change of the azimuth | direction detected with the magnetic sensors 521-1 and 521-2 in FIG. It is the figure which showed operation of the mobile telephone 1 concerning 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a screen displayed in a slot game. It is a flowchart showing the procedure which performs a calibration during execution of a slot game.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Mobile telephone (mobile terminal device) 2, 3 ... Terminal unit 4 ... Knob 50 ... Roulette rotary table 51 ... Rotating part 52 ... Number indication part 53 ... Advertisement display part 90 ... Rotating part 91 ... Lever 305 ... Main operation part 307 ... Display unit 510 ... Acceleration sensor 521-1, 521-2 ... Magnetic sensor (azimuth sensor) 523 ... Sensor control unit 601 ... Main control unit 602 ... ROM 603 ... RAM

Claims (5)

In a mobile terminal device capable of executing application game software,
Control means for reading and executing the application game software;
Display means for displaying the contents of the game executed by the application game software;
Storage means for temporarily storing data;
A magnetic sensor for measuring the strength of the magnetic field;
Data storage means for storing in the storage means magnetic field data output by the magnetic sensor when the game is in progress;
Calibration means for calibrating the magnetic sensor based on magnetic field data stored in the storage means;
A portable terminal device comprising:  The mobile terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the application game software uses a rotation operation for rotating the device main body for the progress of the game.   The portable terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the rotation operation is an operation with the center of gravity of the apparatus main body as a rotation center.   The portable terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the rotation operation is an operation of swinging the apparatus main body around a position outside the apparatus main body as a rotation center. In a control method of a mobile terminal device capable of executing application game software,
The portable terminal device
A control step of reading and executing the application game software;
A display step for displaying the content of the game executed by the application game software;
A storage step for temporarily storing data;
A magnetic sensor for measuring the strength of the magnetic field;
A data storing step of storing magnetic field data output from the magnetic sensor when the game is in progress in the storing step;
A calibration step for calibrating the magnetic sensor based on the magnetic field data stored in the storage step,
The application game software is
A method for controlling a portable terminal device, characterized in that a rotation operation for rotating a device main body is used for the progress of a game.

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