JP2007235560A - Portable information terminal and program, and terminal control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make an operation for short-cut processing in a portable information terminal more simple. <P>SOLUTION: The portable information terminal (100) is provided with a first operation device (21) in which mutually different processing is related to a depression operation and its release operation, a second operation device (22) for selecting an input position in a screen of a display device, a means (40) which displays items related to a particular application program in the display device when the depression operation of the first operation device is recognized, and a means (40) to start the application program when an item displayed in the display device is selected as an input position, and the release operation of the first operation device is recognized. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable information terminal such as a cellular phone, and more particularly to operation of the portable information terminal.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, portable information terminals are provided with various application programs for improving user convenience such as a mail communication function and a calculator function. In order to start a desired application on the portable information terminal, at least after the menu screen is displayed by pressing a button, the cursor is moved to a target icon in the menu with a direction button or the like, and the icon is pressed by pressing the button. A series of operations of selecting and starting is required.

  However, such an operation is very troublesome for the user in the case of frequently used applications. In addition, since the menu is subdivided as the number of applications increases, there is a disadvantage that it is difficult to find an application whose frequency of use is low and the location of the icon is not known from the menu.

Therefore, a technique for alleviating such inconvenience is described in, for example, Patent Document 1 described later. Patent Document 1 proposes a mobile communication device having a shortcut function that shifts from a menu hierarchy display screen that is initially operated to a process that completes the operation of a desired display without going through another menu hierarchy display screen. Has been.
JP 2002-199081 A

  According to the method described in Patent Document 1, the screen development can be omitted by the shortcut function. Even in this method, independent buttons are used for displaying the shortcut menu, selecting the menu, and confirming the menu. Operation is required.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for simplifying operations for shortcut processing in a portable information terminal.

  The portable information terminal according to the present invention includes a first operation device in which different processes are associated with the pressing operation and the release operation, a second operation device for selecting an input position on the screen of the display device, Means for displaying an item associated with a specific application program on a display device when a pressing operation of the first operation device is recognized; an item displayed on the display device is selected as an input position; and the first operation Means for activating the application program when a device release operation is recognized.

  A program according to the present invention includes a first operation device in which different processes are associated with a pressing operation and a release operation thereof, and a second operation device for selecting an input position on a screen of a display device. A step of displaying an item associated with a specific application program on a display device when the information terminal recognizes a pressing operation of the first operation device; an item displayed on the display device is selected as an input position; and When the release operation of the first operation device is recognized, a step of starting the application program is executed.

  A terminal control method according to the present invention includes a first operation device in which different processes are associated with a pressing operation and a release operation thereof, and a second operation device for selecting an input position on a screen of a display device. When the portable information terminal provided recognizes the pressing operation of the first operation device, the item associated with the specific application program is displayed on the display device, the item displayed on the display device is selected as the input position, and This is a method of starting the application program when a release operation of the first operation device is recognized.

  According to the present invention, since the portable information terminal activates the application program selected while the first operation device is pressed with a release operation that inevitably occurs in response to the press operation, The operation for this can be simplified. Thereby, a user can use a desired application program promptly.

  FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. The portable information terminal 100 of the embodiment is a display device 10 such as an LCD, an input device 20 including a side button 21 and a direction button 22 described later, a storage device 30 including ROM, RAM, EEPROM, and the like, and a CPU. And a control device 40. The storage device 30 holds a later-described shortcut registration table 31 in the EEPROM.

  FIG. 2 shows an appearance of the portable information terminal 100. The portable information terminal 100 of the present embodiment is a foldable mobile phone configured to be openable and closable by hinge connection, and the state shown in the figure is a state in which the housing is opened. The display device 10 is provided at the upper part of the casing of the portable information terminal 100, and the input device 20 for user operation is mainly provided at the lower part of the casing.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a side button 21 corresponding to the first operation device in the portable information terminal of the present invention is provided on the side surface of the lower part of the housing. In addition, a direction button 22 used for designating a cursor position on the screen is provided on the lower surface of the housing. This direction button 22 corresponds to the second operation device in the portable information terminal of the present invention.

  Further, on the surface of the lower part of the casing of the portable information terminal 100, in addition to the direction button 22, a determination button 23 used when starting the application by a normal procedure instead of a shortcut process, and a calling button 24 used for a call And an end button 25 and a numeric keypad 26.

  The side button 21 on the side surface of the housing is associated with separate event processing for pressing operation and releasing operation, and information about the association and a control program are stored in the storage device 30 in advance. In the present embodiment, the process of enabling the shortcut is associated with the pressing operation of the side button 21, and the process of starting a specific application by the shortcut is associated with the release operation.

  On the other hand, for the direction button 22, an operation during which the shortcut is valid by pressing the side button 21 and items to be displayed on the display device 10 at the time of the operation are defined in the shortcut registration table 31. .

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the shortcut registration table 31. The shortcut registration table 31 is displayed on the display device 10 while the application 31c representing the application program to be activated by the shortcut, the activation count 31b that is the activation count by the shortcut, and the shortcut is activated. And display order 31a indicating the priority order. The application 31c can be arbitrarily added / deleted by the user by a predetermined operation on the portable information terminal 100.

  In the shortcut registration table 31, the display rank 31a of the application 31c is given a higher rank with respect to the activation count 31b having a larger value. The setting of the order is performed by the processing described later by the control device 40. Further, the display order 31a is associated with the number of operations of the direction button 22. For example, the display order 31a “1” indicates that the direction button 22 is operated once in a specified direction immediately after the side button 21 is pressed. Corresponding to

  The operation of the portable information terminal 100 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The following operation corresponds to an action caused by the control device 40 executing a program held by the storage device 30. Here, for convenience, the “up” key and the “down” key are used for the operation of the direction button 22 while the shortcut is valid, but the key to be used may be changed as appropriate.

  When the portable information terminal 100 recognizes that the side button 21 has been pressed (step A1), it acquires operation information of the direction button 22 while it is being pressed (step A2). This operation refers to operating the direction button 22 with the thumb while pressing the side button 21 with the index finger or middle finger of the right hand in the portable information terminal 100 of FIG.

  The portable information terminal 100 determines whether the acquired operation information is valid. Here, as described above, the operation of the “up” key and the “down” key is effective as the operation of the direction button 22. Therefore, when the acquired operation information is the “left” key and the “right” key, the operation is invalidated and the process proceeds to processing of the operation information to be input next (step A3: No).

  On the other hand, when the operation of the direction button 22 is valid (step A3: Yes), it is determined based on the shortcut registration table 31 whether or not the application corresponding to the operation has been registered so as to be capable of shortcut (step A4). ).

  If the target application 31c is already registered in the shortcut registration table 31 as shown in the display order 31a “1” to “7” in FIG. 3 as a result of the determination, the application item is displayed on the display device 10 ( Step A5). If the application 31c is not registered as in the display order 31a “8” to “10”, the operation is invalidated (step A4: No), and the process proceeds to the processing of the operation information to be input next.

  As an example of the above processing, when the direction button 22 is operated while pressing the side button 21, if it is the first “down” key operation, the display rank 31a “1” in the shortcut registration table 31 is displayed. Browse records. In this case, since “mail creation” is registered in the application 31c of the display order 31a “1”, the application is registered, and the item “mail creation” is displayed on the display device 10.

  When displaying application items on the display device 10, display only those items on the screen, or display a list of items of the application 31c according to the display order 31a, and move the cursor to the item according to the operation of the direction button 22. Display to match.

  Subsequently, when there is a new input operation using the direction button 22, the portable information terminal 100 performs the same processing as described above regarding the operation (step A6: Yes). For example, after the “Create Mail” item is displayed, if the “Down” key is operated once with the direction button 22, the “Image Viewer” item “2” following the display order 31a “1” is displayed. Will be displayed. Subsequently, when the “up” key is operated once with the direction button 22, the display of the item returns from “image viewer” to “compose mail”. Thus, the portable information terminal 100 sequentially changes the items to be displayed along the display order 31a every time the direction button 22 is operated.

  On the other hand, when the direction button 22 is not re-input (step A6: No) and the release of the side button 21 is recognized (step A7: Yes), the portable information terminal 100 activates the application program for the displayed item. (Step A8). As a result, the application selected by the direction button 22 is activated by the shortcut. When canceling the activation by the shortcut, the direction button 22 is operated so as to match the display order 31a “0”, and the side button 21 is released.

  The mobile information terminal 100 adds one activation count 31b in the shortcut registration table 31 for the activated application (step A9), and sorts the applications 31c in descending order based on the added activation count 31b (step A10). . As a result, it is possible to set the application so that the more frequently used the application, the fewer the number of operations of the direction button 22 after the side button 21 is pressed, and thus the quicker activation can be.

  As described above, the portable information terminal 100 displays the items of the application 31c in accordance with the display order 31a every time the direction button 22 is operated while the side button 21 is pressed. Then, when the desired item is displayed, the application can be started immediately by releasing the direction button 22.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the application program can be activated by the shortcut process by a simple button operation on the portable information terminal 100. This is particularly because the shortcut is made effective by the pressing operation of the side button 21, and the release operation that inevitably occurs in response to the pressing operation is associated with the activation of the application.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, by arranging the side button 21 and the direction button 22 used for the shortcut processing on separate casing surfaces, the two buttons can be operated with one hand, and the operability is improved. It is done. The arrangement of the side button 21 and the direction button 22 is not limited to that shown in the figure, and for example, a button that performs the same function as the side button 21 is arranged on the back surface instead of the side surface of the lower part of the housing. Also good.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of embodiment of the portable information terminal which concerns on this invention. It is an external view of the portable information terminal of the embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the shortcut registration table of embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of the portable information terminal of embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

100 Personal digital assistant
10 Display device
20 input devices
21: Side button, 22: Direction button, 23: Enter button, 24: Call button, 25: End button, 26: Numeric keypad
30 storage devices
31 Shortcut registration table
40 Control device

Claims (7)

A first operation device in which different processes are associated with the pressing operation and the release operation;
A second operating device for selecting an input position on the screen of the display device;
Means for displaying on the display device an item associated with a specific application program when recognizing the pressing operation of the first operation device;
A portable information terminal comprising: means for starting an application program when an item displayed on a display device is selected as an input position and a release operation of the first operation device is recognized.   The number of times of activation by the release operation of the first operation device is recorded for each specific application program, and the item of the application program with the larger number of activations is displayed on the display device with higher priority. The portable information terminal according to claim 1.   The portable information terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first operation device and the second operation device are provided on different housing surfaces. A portable information terminal comprising a first operation device in which different processes are associated with a pressing operation and a release operation thereof, and a second operation device for selecting an input position on the screen of the display device.
Displaying an item associated with a specific application program on the display device when recognizing the pressing operation of the first operation device;
And a step of starting the application program when an item displayed on the display device is selected as an input position and a release operation of the first operation device is recognized. In addition to the portable information terminal,
Recording the number of times of activation by the release operation of the first operation device for each specific application program, and executing a step of displaying a larger number of application program items on the display device with a higher priority. 5. The program according to claim 4, wherein A portable information terminal comprising a first operation device in which different processes are associated with a pressing operation and a release operation thereof, and a second operation device for selecting an input position on the screen of the display device,
When the pressing operation of the first operation device is recognized, an item associated with a specific application program is displayed on the display device,
A terminal control method, comprising: starting an application program when an item displayed on a display device is selected as an input position and when a release operation of the first operation device is recognized. The portable information terminal further includes
The number of times of activation by the release operation of the first operation device is recorded for each specific application program, and items of application programs having a large number of activations are displayed on the display device with higher priority. The terminal control method according to claim 6.

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