JP2006287458A - Portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To activate a plurality of applications by a simple operation. <P>SOLUTION: A portable telephone set comprises: a CPU for controlling the whole; a communication part for performing a function relating to communication; a ROM storing a program for making the CPU execute processing relating to various application softwares; a high-speed RAM as a program execution area; a display part 11 provided with a screen such as an LCD; a display control part for performing the control of displaying an activation image relating to the application at the display part or the like; and an operation part 15 provided with operation keys for performing various operations. In the operation part 15, ten keys are used for instance and the respective operation keys are made to correspond to the application program. To a square 15a where a default is a selection icon (selection position) for e-mail, the two applications of the e-mail and a music player are displayed and registered. Thus, the plurality of applications are activated by one key operation. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, and more particularly to a mobile terminal that can use a plurality of applications.

  In recent years, there has been a remarkable increase in the popularity and improvement of functions of mobile terminals. For example, there is a technique for effectively using a plurality of application programs by assigning each application program of a plurality of application programs stored in a memory to a specific operation key on a portable terminal. By using such a technique, it is possible to easily activate an application corresponding to the pressed operation key by effectively utilizing the limited operation keys (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-3-25648

  By the way, although the above technique has the convenience that an application corresponding to the pressed operation key is started, when it is desired to start a plurality of application groups at the same time, There is a problem that the operation key is required to be input a plurality of times and the operation becomes complicated.

  An object of this invention is to provide the technique which starts a some application by simple operation.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, a first storage unit that stores a plurality of application programs, a user interface unit that gives an instruction to start a corresponding application using an operation key or icon corresponding to each application, and the operation A control unit that activates each application based on each application program that is designated by a key and stored in the first storage unit; and a corresponding operation key that instructs each application program to activate the application program. A second storage unit that stores first association information to be allocated, wherein a first application program and a second application program different from the first application program are stored in the operation key. The portable terminal, wherein is provided that has a third storage unit for storing second association information assigned to Zureka one. Thereby, a plurality of applications can be activated at a time by a single operation.

  Note that the first to third storage units may actually be stored in different storage areas of one memory.

  When the first application program is activated and the second application program is activated at a time exceeding a first threshold with a probability of being performed at a time, the second application information includes the first application program. Is associated with the activation of the second application program.

  When the activation of the first application program and the activation of the second application program fall below a second threshold that has a probability of being performed at a time, the first application program is included in the second association information. And the association between the activation of the second application program and the activation of the second application program are released.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for associating an application in a mobile terminal capable of instructing a plurality of application programs to activate a corresponding application using an operation key corresponding to each application. Selecting the operation key corresponding to one application and tentatively determining it as an association destination candidate; selecting a second application program different from the first application program and tentatively determining as an association source candidate; And providing the association destination candidate and the association source candidate to one operation key and making a final decision.

  According to the present invention, by creating a profile of an application group to be used in advance, a plurality of desired applications can be activated with a single input operation. For example, when you want to listen to music while creating or reading e-mail when you want to watch the web while watching broadcasts, you can quickly prepare the state with minimal operations. Therefore, there is an advantage that it is possible to minimize the trouble of starting the application every time the use is started. In addition, there is an advantage that a large number of functions can be given to a small number of operation keys.

  The mobile terminal according to the present invention estimates an application to be used in cooperation based on a user's selection or based on a user's usage history, and based on this estimation, a plurality of applications are started simultaneously by one operation. It is characterized by.

  Hereinafter, a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described using a mobile phone as an example with reference to the drawings. First, the portable terminal according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a main configuration example of a mobile phone according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is an external view of the display unit of the mobile phone according to the present embodiment, and shows a state when an application is registered. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of application registration in the mobile phone according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the mobile phone A according to the present embodiment is configured to cause the CPU 1 to perform overall processing, a communication unit 3 that performs communication-related functions, and various processing related to application software. A ROM 5 for storing a program, a high-speed RAM 7 as a program execution area, a display unit 11 having a screen such as an LCD, a display control unit 12 for controlling a display unit to display a startup screen, etc. And an operation unit 15 having operation keys for performing the operations. For example, a numeric keypad is used for the operation unit 15 as shown in FIG. 2, and each operation key is associated with an application program. Or if FIG. 2 is a display of a display part, 15a to 15i may be a grid-shaped icon. In this case, any one of the icons 15a to 15i is touched by a touch panel method or the like, and a desired application associated with the touched icon of the checkered icons 15a to 15i is selected from the application program selection screen. Can be activated. Hereinafter, a grid-like icon will be described as an example.

  As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, first, when processing is started in Step S <b> 1 (Start), the display unit 11 of the mobile phone A has a reference numeral 12-1 in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 1 via the display control unit 12. As shown in FIG. 8, for example, the first to ninth cells 15a to 15i of 3 × 3 = 9 are displayed. For example, an e-mail application is associated with each cell as a default, for example, and the e-mail application is activated when the cell is selected and determined. Similarly, a web application, a broadcast (receive TV broadcast) application, a music player application, a game application, a calculator application are associated with the second cell 15b to the sixth cell 15f. When these items are selected and determined, the corresponding application software is started. Here, reference numerals 15g to 15i are empty areas.

  Next, registration processing for starting a plurality of applications at once will be described. In step S1, the process is started (Start), and in step S2, for example, one of the icons shown in the grid in FIG. 2 is selected by the selection key, and the e-mail 15a is selected on the display screen 12-1. At the time of selection, a thick frame indicating that the e-mail has been selected is displayed in the cell 15a. In addition to the method of displaying the thick frame, it is possible to notify that the application is selected as the association destination by various methods such as blinking of the cells. Next, the application is registered as an association destination application by performing an operation different from a general application selection operation, such as pressing and holding the enter button. When the application is determined as the association destination, for example, the black and white display of the cell is inverted (display screen 12-2).

  Next, in step S3, an application other than the e-mail that is an association source application that is to be activated in association with the e-mail selected and determined as the association destination application is selected. The display screen 12-3 is a display screen when the user selects the cell 15d of the music player as the association source application. A thick frame is displayed on the cell 15d of the music player selected as the association source application, and the email cell 15a, which is the association destination application, is maintained in an inverted state. Next, in step S4, an associated button application (music player) in the selected state is pressed to register as an association source application (display screen 12-4). As a registration destination, an area 5a for registering application activation is prepared in the ROM 5 of FIG. 1. Based on the storage of the area 5a, an icon cell number, an association destination application, and an association source application are stored. It is preferable to store them in the associated table format.

  In this case, two applications, e-mail and music player, are displayed and registered for the cell 15a whose default is an e-mail selection icon (selection position). Thereby, registration processing of a plurality of applications is performed. In step S5, it is determined whether or not the registration process has been completed. If the registration process has not been completed (n), the process returns to step S3, and further continues the association process regarding the association source application to be associated with the association destination application. Furthermore, another application is added so that three or more registered applications can be activated at a time. When the registration is terminated in step S5 (y), the process is terminated as it is in step S6.

  When a plurality of applications (application groups) are activated at a time, as shown in FIG. 4, the process starts in step S11 (Start), and the lid is opened in step S11 if it is a foldable mobile phone (step S11). S12). Next, in step S13, an application menu is displayed as shown in FIG. 2, and in step S14, an application group, for example, an e-mail and a music player of the cell 15a (FIG. 2) are selected. In step S15, it is determined whether or not there is no memory shortage (shortage of free space in the RAM 7 in FIG. 1) even if two applications are selected at once. If it is determined that there is no memory shortage (n), the process proceeds to step S17 to start a plurality of applications (application group) and actually execute the application group (e-mail and music player). If it is predicted that the memory will be insufficient (y), the process proceeds to step S16, and a list of applications that have already been started is displayed, for example, in chronological order, and any of the applications displayed in step S18 is displayed. Prompt user to exit. Allow the user to determine whether to close the displayed application. If it is not closed (n), it is predicted that the memory will be insufficient. Therefore, the process is terminated without starting up the selected application at once. To do. If the displayed application is to be closed (y), the process proceeds to step S15. If the memory shortage is resolved (n), the process proceeds to step S17 to activate the application group. By the above processing, it is possible to prevent failure of activation of multiple applications due to insufficient memory by starting multiple applications at once while determining whether or not activation of associated application groups is possible at any time. .

  By the processing described above, a plurality of applications can be started at a time by one operation by selecting and determining two applications, e-mail and music player, by selecting the icon shown in the grid 15a. Therefore, the process can be simplified. The association destination application can be deleted and returned to the icon for selecting only the original e-mail by selecting and determining the icon again.

  As described above, according to the mobile phone according to the present embodiment, a plurality of desired applications can be activated by a single input operation by creating a profile of application groups to be used in advance. it can. For example, if you want to watch the broadcast while watching the web, or listen to music while creating or reading e-mail, you can quickly prepare the state with minimal operations. In the above-described embodiment, the process of registering the icon of the association source application in the cell of the association destination application is performed. For example, two new applications are activated at once in the empty cell 15h. For example, an icon may be created, or the original e-mail icon may be moved to an empty cell. Note that a process of associating a plurality of applications with a numeric key may be performed.

  Next, a mobile phone according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of automatic registration processing in the mobile phone according to the present embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a concept when a profile is automatically registered. As shown in FIG. 6, based on the probability (past history) that is a certain time in the past when the association destination application candidate already registered and the association source application candidate to be associated from now on have been activated at one time. When the probability is higher than a certain value, for example, 50%, a process of automatically associating the association destination application candidate with the association source application candidate is performed. At this time, processing for confirming whether or not to associate with the user may be performed. For example, in FIG. 6, the probability that the e-mail application and the music player application are activated at a time is 70%, and the probability that the e-mail application and the calculator application are activated at a time is 10%. , 50% is a predetermined first threshold value for the association, the e-mail application and the music player application are automatically associated (reference B), but the e-mail application and the calculator It is not automatically associated with this application. Further, when the electronic mail application and the music player application are automatically associated, the probability that the music player application and the web application are activated at a time is 30%. If 5%, the first threshold value is 50%, so that no application is automatically associated.

  If the probability that the broadcast application related to the broadcast viewing and the web application are activated at a time is 50% or more, a process of associating them with each other is performed (reference C). For example, if there is a 50% probability that a broadcast (ch ***) application and web application related to broadcast viewing are activated at a time, a process of associating them with each other is performed. Broadcast (ch ####), application, and web application have different probabilities of being activated at the same time for each channel, such as not associating if the probability of association is 20% Alternatively, it may be determined whether or not the association is performed for each channel. The value of 50% probability can be changed as appropriate. Actually, the profile calculation shown in FIG. 6 is performed by the CPU 1 (FIG. 1) and stored in the profile storage area 5a (FIG. 1) in the ROM 5 (FIG. 1). The profile creation processing may be performed periodically, for example, every other month, or may be performed as appropriate based on user instructions. In addition, a history of cases in which a plurality of applications are started simultaneously may be stored, and when a difference from the current profile becomes large to some extent, a new profile creation process may be performed and the storage updated. In addition, regarding multiple applications that are actually related, if there is a case where one of the startups actually stops immediately, the association is automatically canceled when the threshold falls below a certain threshold based on the history, for example, 40%. You may be made to do.

  Actual processing will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, first, processing is started in step S21 (Start), and an icon is selected in step S22. Next, in step S23, the application is activated. In step S24, it is determined whether to start another application or end the start. If no other application is activated, (n) the process is terminated (step S26). When another application is activated (y), a profile is calculated according to the applications activated at a time in step S25, and the process returns to step S24. In this way, a profile relating to application association can be automatically created.

  As described above, according to the mobile phone according to the present embodiment, since the association relating to activation of a plurality of applications is automatically performed based on the user's usage history, even if the user is not particularly conscious, the minimum Multiple applications can be started at the same time with limited operation. If one of the applications started at a time, for example, an e-mail application is currently in use, the other application is not displayed and is started in the background. You can listen to the sound output from headphones.

  As described above, the profile creation method for creating a profile for a frequently used application group may be manual setting, or may be automatically based on the percentage of usage time of each application or from the frequency of startup simultaneously. It may be created. When the remaining memory capacity is reduced, a list of applications that are currently activated may be displayed, applications that are not being used are terminated, and desired applications may be launched.

  As mentioned above, although each embodiment of the present invention has been described by taking a mobile phone as an example, it goes without saying that a PDA, a notebook PC, or the like may be used.

  The present invention can be used for a portable terminal capable of starting a plurality of application software.

It is a functional block diagram which shows one structural example of the mobile telephone by embodiment of this invention. It is a front view of the mobile phone by this Embodiment. It is an external view which shows the flow of application registration in the mobile telephone by the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the starting process of the application of the mobile telephone by this Embodiment. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the automatic registration process in the mobile telephone by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the idea in the case of registering the profile by this Embodiment automatically.

Explanation of symbols

A ... mobile phone, 1 ... CPU, 3 ... communication unit, 5 ... ROM, 7 ... RAM, 11 ... display unit, 12 ... display control unit, 15 ... operation unit, 15a-15i ... key or grid area.

Claims (10)

A user who gives an instruction to activate a corresponding application using a first storage unit that stores a plurality of application programs and an operation key or icon corresponding to each application (hereinafter collectively referred to as an “operation key”). An interface unit, a control unit that activates each application based on each application program that is designated by the operation key and stored in the first storage unit, and for instructing each application program to activate the application program A second storage unit that stores first association information to which a corresponding operation key is assigned,
A third storage unit that stores second association information for assigning a first application program and a second application program different from the first application program to any one of the operation keys is provided. Mobile terminal.   The second association information is information for allocating the second application program activation process to the operation key allocated to the first application program activation process associated with the first association information. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, comprising:   The second association information includes information for assigning the startup process of the first application program to an empty operation key other than the operation key assigned to the startup process of the first application program. Item 3. The mobile terminal according to Item 2.   The second association information includes information for assigning the startup process of the second application program to an empty operation key other than the operation key assigned to the startup process of the first application program. Item 2. The mobile terminal according to Item 1.   When the first application program is activated and the second application program is activated at a time exceeding a first threshold with a probability of being performed at a time, the second application information includes the first application program. The portable terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein activation of the second application program is associated with activation of the second application program.   When the activation of the first application program and the activation of the second application program fall below a second threshold that has a probability of being performed at a time, the first application program is included in the second association information. 6. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the association between the activation of the second application program and the activation of the second application program is canceled. A method for associating a plurality of application programs with a portable terminal capable of instructing to activate a corresponding application with an operation key corresponding to each application,
Selecting the operation key corresponding to the first application, and tentatively determining as an association destination candidate;
Selecting a second application program different from the first application program and temporarily determining it as an association source candidate;
And a step of assigning the association destination candidate and the association source candidate to one operation key and making a final decision.   The step of tentatively determining the association source candidate is performed based on whether or not the probability that the first application program and the second application program are activated at a time exceeds a first threshold value. 8. The method for associating an application according to claim 7, characterized in that:   When the activation of the first application program and the activation of the second application program fall below a second threshold that has a probability of being performed at a time, the first application program is included in the second association information. 9. The method of associating an application according to claim 7 or 8, further comprising the step of canceling the association between the activation of the second application program and the activation of the second application program.   The program for making a computer perform the step of any one of Claim 7-9.

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