JP2007272760A - Portable terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable terminal device which does not cause problems of application development and a system load even though screen display is easily customized and changed by performing screen display in each display by a different application program. <P>SOLUTION: An application performing part 503 of the portable terminal device 500 performs a first application program 506 when a display selection part 504 selects a first display 501, and performs a second application program 507 when the display selection part 504 selects a second display 502. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile terminal device.

  In recent years, the field of mobile communication has been rapidly developing, and the annual shipment of mobile phone terminals as one form is expected to exceed 800 million in 2005, and its subscribers are also in 2005. In December, it is going to exceed 1.7 billion people worldwide. In addition, the number of shipments and subscribers is not only increasing, but the services provided by mobile operators are also diversified, and the mobile phone terminals manufactured by manufacturers are greatly increased. High functionality and multi-function are progressing.

  One of the technologies that realize the multi-functionality of mobile phone terminals is the correspondence to Java (registered trademark) applications. Java (registered trademark) is a kind of high-level programming language, but by constructing a kind of virtual computer called Java (registered trademark) virtual machine on the CPU by software or hardware, a program that does not depend on the CPU can be executed. This technology has been realized. The correspondence to the Java (registered trademark) application means that such a virtual machine, that is, the Java (registered trademark) execution environment is installed in the cellular phone terminal, and thus the cellular phone terminal using a different CPU or OS can be used. Even if it exists, the same Java (registered trademark) application can be operated. In addition, since malicious code is not executed in Java (registered trademark) by the advanced security mechanism supported at the language level, it is possible to distribute the program safely and program after shipment without worrying about viruses. Can be added.

In addition, portable terminal devices having two displays have been developed. For example, in Patent Document 1, a user interface of a word processor or a FAX transmitter / receiver is displayed on the first display, and a device state is displayed on the second display. Has been disclosed. Mobile phone terminals having a main display and a back display have also been developed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-341290

  However, in the portable commuter described in Patent Document 1, the information displayed on each display is fixed, and the displayed information cannot be customized or changed. Although mobile phones with two displays such as the main liquid crystal and the rear liquid crystal have been developed, the display of the rear liquid crystal is performed by a system program that cannot be changed, and the display is fixed and has a high degree of freedom. Most are low. In addition, some of the latest mobile phones can control the display of the rear liquid crystal by a Java (registered trademark) application. In such a mobile phone, the main liquid crystal can be obtained by executing a specific Java (registered trademark) application. It is possible to display an application-specific screen on the rear LCD as well. However, drawing both the main LCD and the back LCD in one application requires attention to ON / OFF of each display and transition between displays, so the program development is complicated and the program size is large. There is a problem of inviting.

  On the other hand, the above-described problems can be solved by combining two Java (registered trademark) applications for the main liquid crystal and for the rear liquid crystal, and individually performing screen display. Further, by allowing Java (registered trademark) applications to be freely combined, display customization and change are facilitated. However, in this case, the problem is how to allocate the CPU of one mobile phone, which is usually one, to two Java (registered trademark) applications. It is not practical for a device such as a mobile phone to have two Java (registered trademark) applications for the main liquid crystal and the back liquid crystal simultaneously in an execution state. On the other hand, it is desirable that each Java (registered trademark) application can be seamlessly linked.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a portable terminal device that can easily customize or change display display without causing application development or system load problems by displaying the screen with a separate application program for each display. The purpose is to do. Furthermore, it aims at providing the portable terminal device which can make each application program cooperate smoothly.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a first and second display that are selectively used, a first application program that displays a screen on the first display, and the second display. A storage unit that records a second application program that performs screen display, an application execution unit that executes the application program recorded in the storage unit, and a display selection unit that selects a display to be used from the first and second displays The application execution unit executes the first application program when the display selection unit selects the first display, and the display selection unit selects the second display. In this case, the second application program is To provide a mobile terminal apparatus characterized by rows.

  According to such a configuration, the first application program for displaying the screen on the first display and the second application program for displaying the screen on the second display are selected according to the selection of the display selection unit. Since switching is performed, the display display can be easily customized or changed by freely combining the first and second application programs. In addition, such first and second application programs can be developed without being conscious of ON / OFF of each display or transition between displays, and therefore can be easily developed. Moreover, since only the application program for displaying on the display selected by the display selection unit is executed as described above, the system load on the mobile phone can be reduced.

  In the present invention, the application execution unit has a function of temporarily stopping an application program, and preferably also has a function of resuming, and is executed when the display used by the display selection unit is changed. It is preferable that the state of the application program is saved and paused. In addition, when the display selection unit changes the display, if the application program that outputs the screen to the display after the change is further suspended, it is more preferable to restart the application program. In this way, when the application program executed by the application execution unit is switched, the initialization process of the application execution unit and the application program is not performed, so that switching overhead is reduced and each application program is more It becomes possible to link seamlessly.

  Such a configuration can be realized by providing the application execution unit with a function of saving and temporarily stopping the state of the application program, restoring the saved state, and restarting the application.

  In the present invention, the display device may further include a housing having a foldable structure, and the display selection unit may select one of the first and second displays according to a folding operation of the housing. it can. Thereby, an application can be switched in linkage with the folding operation of the housing. That is, the display displayed on the screen can be switched when the application execution unit executes the application program.

  In the present invention configured as described above, the application execution unit preferably includes a Java (registered trademark) execution environment, and the first and second application programs are preferably Java (registered trademark) applications.

  According to the mobile terminal device of the present invention, the application program for displaying the screen on the display selected by the display selection unit is automatically executed. Therefore, the application program for displaying the screen on each display is executed in parallel. There is no need. Therefore, it is possible to display the screen with a different application program for each display, and to easily change or customize each display display by replacing the application program without causing problems of system load and power consumption. Can be realized. In addition, if a single application program is used to display a plurality of displays on the screen, the configuration of the application program may be complicated or the display may be fixed by the application program. In the present invention, the display is performed on each display. Since application programs can be prepared separately, complications such as the structure of the application program can be suppressed, and the degree of freedom of combination can be increased.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be disclosed as an embodiment with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic functional block diagram of a mobile terminal device 500 according to an embodiment of the present invention. This mobile terminal device 500 mainly has an application holding in which a first display 501 and a second display 502, an application execution unit 503, a display selection unit 504, a first application 506, and a second application 507 are stored. Part 505. Examples of such a mobile terminal device 500 include a mobile phone terminal and a PHS terminal used by connecting to a mobile communication network. An application program may be simply described as an application.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example when the mobile terminal device 500 is a foldable housing. The portable terminal device 600 can be folded by a hinge portion 604. When the folding is opened, a main liquid crystal 601 (corresponding to the first display 501 in FIG. 1) and an input device 602 are provided as shown in FIG. In the folded state, the main liquid crystal 601 and the input device 602 are stored inside, and only the rear liquid crystal (corresponding to the second display 502 in FIG. 1, not shown in FIG. 2) is exposed to the outside. It will be in the state. The rear liquid crystal may be always exposed. Of course, the rear liquid crystal may be stored inside and only the main liquid crystal 601 may be exposed to the outside by folding in reverse to the above. In addition, a portion including the main liquid crystal 601 and the rear liquid crystal may rotate, and the rotation axis thereof may be perpendicular to the hinge portion 604 for folding (not necessarily strictly perpendicular). In this case, for example, the main liquid crystal and the rear liquid crystal may be dynamically switched so that the side closer to the numeric keypad for key input becomes the rear liquid crystal by folding at the hinge portion 604. .

  Hereinafter, each functional block shown in FIG. 1 will be described.

  The first display 501 and the second display 502 can be composed of a liquid crystal display device, an organic EL display device, a plasma display device, or the like. The first and second displays 501 and 502 are connected to the application execution unit 503 and can be selectively used from applications executed on the application execution unit 503. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the first and second displays 501 and 502 are configured as a main liquid crystal screen 601 and a rear liquid crystal screen in a portable terminal device of a foldable housing (hereinafter, the main liquid crystal screen 601 and the second liquid crystal screen). The liquid crystal screen is simply referred to as the main liquid crystal, and the back liquid crystal screen is sometimes referred to as the back liquid crystal, and the name “liquid crystal” is used, but the display means is not limited to means using liquid crystals. The main liquid crystal 601 and the rear liquid crystal of the portable terminal device in the foldable casing are not used at the same time, and the main liquid crystal 601 that is in a natural position for the user when the casing is opened is used. In the closed state, the main liquid crystal 601 cannot be visually recognized from the outside, so it is mainly assumed that the rear liquid crystal is used.

  The application execution unit 503 can be virtually constructed by executing predetermined software on hardware including a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM. As such an application execution unit 503, a Java (registered trademark) execution environment including a Java (registered trademark) virtual machine can be used. The application execution unit 503 has a function of taking out the first and second applications stored in the application holding unit 505, interpreting and executing them, and outputting the screens to the first and second displays 501 and 502. In addition, when the application execution unit 503 receives notification from the display selection unit 504, which will be described later, which of the first and second displays 501 and 502 has been selected, the application execution unit 503 executes the application that outputs the screen to the selected display. It is configured.

  The display selection unit 504 is connected to the application execution unit 503 and notifies the application execution unit 503 which of the first and second displays 501 and 502 has been selected. This notification may be performed from the display selection unit 504 at a timing when the selected display is changed, or may be performed in response to an inquiry from the application execution unit 503. Which of the first and second displays 501 and 502 is selected can be determined according to the user's operation on the input device 603 in the portable terminal device 500 having the configuration example shown in FIG. In addition, when the user opens / closes the folding housing, the main liquid crystal 601 is selected when the opening of the folding is detected by the hinge unit 604, and the back when the folding operation is performed. The liquid crystal 602 may be selected. A mechanism for detecting an operation of opening and closing the mobile terminal device by the user may be provided in addition to the hinge portion of the housing, and the display corresponding to the folded state may be selected as described above. Further, a display (display exposed to the outside) different from the display folded so as to be in contact with the numeric keypad for operation may be selected.

  The application holding unit 505 is connected to the application execution unit 503 and stores a first application 506 and a second application 507. Such an application holding unit 505 can be constructed by, for example, a flash ROM. The first application 506 is a program that outputs a screen to the first display 501 by being executed by the application execution unit 503, and the second application 507 is a screen that is displayed on the second display 502 by being executed by the application execution unit 503. This is a program to output. The first and second applications 506 and 507 are created in accordance with the specification of the application execution unit 503. For example, when the application execution unit 503 is a Java (registered trademark) execution environment, the Java (registered trademark) is used. A class file or a JAR file created according to the language specification can be used. Note that Java (registered trademark) is merely an example, and other programming languages can be used. For example, a programming language that is interpreted and executed by a virtual machine can be used.

  In the portable terminal device 500 according to the present embodiment configured as described above, when the application execution unit 503 executes the first application 506 and outputs the screen to the first display 501, the display selection unit 504 Upon receiving notification that the second display 502 has been selected, the application execution unit 503 executes the second application 507 displayed on the screen of the second display 502. In addition, when the second application 507 is executed and the screen is output to the second display 502, when the notification indicating that the first display 502 is selected is received from the display selection unit 504, the first display 501 is displayed. The second application 506 that displays the screen is executed. As described above, by switching the application to be executed in accordance with the display switching detected by the display selection unit 504, the processing capability of the CPU can be assigned to the execution of the application in accordance with the display to be used.

  The basic operation of the present embodiment is as described above. By providing the application execution unit 503 with a function of saving and temporarily stopping the application state, restoring the saved state, and restarting the application, Furthermore, the operation | movement which utilized the processing capacity of CPU effectively is attained. For example, when the application execution unit 503 uses the Java (registered trademark) execution environment, the contents of the memory and CPU register used by the Java (registered trademark) execution environment are set to different addresses during application execution. By providing a function to save and terminate the Java (registered trademark) execution environment, the application can be temporarily stopped, and then the Java (registered trademark) execution environment is restarted to restore the saved contents to a predetermined address. An application can be resumed by providing a function.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a mechanism for saving the contents of the memory and the CPU register used in the Java (registered trademark) execution environment to another address and restoring them to a predetermined address. This Java (registered trademark) execution environment is constructed by the CPU 701 executing software for constructing the Java (registered trademark) execution environment. At that time, a data section 705a, a bss section 705b, and a stack area 705c of the software constituting the Java (registered trademark) execution environment are secured in a predetermined area of the RAM 704 and used for executing the software. In addition, a Java (registered trademark) heap 706 is provided on the RAM 704, and class files and objects of the Java (registered trademark) application are arranged for use of the Java (registered trademark) application. In addition, when the CPU 701 executes software that constitutes a Java (registered trademark) execution environment, an operation is performed using a register 702 provided in the CPU 701.

  When such a Java (registered trademark) execution environment saves the state of the application and pauses, the contents stored in the register 702 at that time, the data section 705a, the bss section 705b, the stack area 705c, and the Java The contents of the (registered trademark) heap 706 are stored in different memory areas 707. When the Java (registered trademark) execution environment restores the saved state and restarts the application, the register 702 ′, the data section 705 a ′, the bss section 705 b ′, the stack stored in the memory area 707 are used. The contents of the area 705c 'and the Java (registered trademark) heap 706' are returned to the original addresses.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the Java (registered trademark) execution environment provided with the mechanism shown in FIG. 3 and capable of switching between two applications. As described above, by providing the area 708 for storing the application state and the area 709 for compensating for the state of another application, the state of one application is saved and then the state of the other application is restored. Thus, the two applications can be switched and executed.

  Hereinafter, an operation when a Java (registered trademark) execution environment performing the operation shown in FIG. 4 is applied to this embodiment will be described. Here, the case where the area 708 shown in FIG. 5 is used for saving the state of the first application 506 and the area 709 is used for saving the state of the second application 507 will be described with reference to FIG. This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, notification that the second display 502 has been selected from the display selection unit 504 in a state where the application execution unit 503 executes the first application 506 and outputs the screen to the first display 501 (S1701). When the application is received (S1702), the application execution unit 503 temporarily stops the execution of the first application 506, and the contents of the data area, the bss area, the stack area, the Java (registered trademark) heap, and the registers that have been used are stored in the area 708. (S1703).

  Next, the application execution unit 503 stores the state of the second application 506 stored in the area 709, that is, the contents of the data area, the bss area, the stack area, the Java (registered trademark) heap, and the register, respectively, in the original of the RAM 704. The address and register 702 are restored, and the execution of the second application 506 is resumed from the restored state (S1704).

  According to such an operation, the first and second applications 506 and 507 are switched and only necessary applications are executed, so that the processing capability of the CPU can be effectively utilized. In addition, since each application is switched by pausing and resuming, application activation and initialization processing is not performed each time the application is switched, and overhead during application switching can be reduced.

  In the present embodiment, the application execution unit 503 needs to have a function of determining a display that outputs an application screen. Such a function describes, for example, display information output on a screen in a descriptor such as a JAD file attached to a Java (registered trademark) application, and the application execution unit 503 interprets the contents of the descriptor. It can be realized by judging. In addition, when there are a plurality of applications for displaying the screen on each display, the first application 506 that is executed when the first display 501 is selected and the second display 502 that is executed are selected. By registering the second application 507 to be executed, the application to be executed can be specified.

  Further, by transmitting information from the first application 506 to the second application 507, the first application 506 and the second application 507 can be functionally linked, thereby displaying a plurality of displays. Services that use organically become possible.

  For example, when the display selection unit 504 selects the second display 502 in a state where a predetermined condition is satisfied in the first application 506, the application execution unit 503 that executes the second application 507 receives the predetermined execution. By making it possible to notify that the above condition is satisfied, the second application 507 can execute processing corresponding to the situation.

  Hereinafter, an example in which such a service is performed in the portable terminal device 600 having a folding housing illustrated in FIG. 2 will be described.

  First, a stock price check application is registered as a second application to be displayed on the rear liquid crystal 602 of the portable terminal device 600, and an online stock trading application is registered as a first application to be displayed on the main liquid crystal 601. At the time of this registration, the case where the stock price of a specific brand has risen by a certain value or more in the stock price check application is registered simultaneously as the “predetermined condition”. In addition, in the online stock trading application, as an operation when receiving a notification that “predetermined conditions” are satisfied, login with a predetermined user ID and register to perform a transaction to sell a predetermined number of the specified issues To do. By registering in this way, in a state where the casing of the portable terminal device 600 is folded, the stock price of a specific brand is checked by a stock price check application and displayed on the rear liquid crystal. When the housing of the mobile terminal device 600 is opened while the stock price of a specific brand has risen above a certain level, an online stock trading application is executed and processing is automatically performed so that the stock is sold as registered. Proceeding and online trading is performed by the user confirming the process.

  In this way, it is possible to perform a service in which the stock price check application displayed on the screen of the rear liquid crystal 602 and the online stock trading application displayed on the main liquid crystal 601 are linked. Services such as complex online trade can be provided without missing.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the summary, it can implement in a various aspect. For example, in the above embodiment, the portable terminal device having a foldable casing has been described. However, if one of the plurality of display devices is selectively used, the portable terminal device having a slide-type casing is used. It is also possible to apply to the above. Further, the application execution unit may not include the Java (registered trademark) execution environment. Further, the method of saving the application state by the application execution unit is not limited to the above, and other methods may be used as long as the application can be paused / resumed.

  Furthermore, for services that link applications that display the screen on the back LCD and applications that display the screen on the main LCD, it is possible to display the current schedule on the back LCD and display the entire schedule on the main LCD. It is.

  According to the mobile terminal device of the present invention, the application program for displaying the screen on the display selected by the display selection unit is automatically executed. Therefore, the application program for displaying the screen on each display is executed in parallel. There is no need. Therefore, it is possible to display the screen with a different application program for each display, and to easily change or customize each display display by replacing the application program without causing problems of system load and power consumption. Can be realized. In addition, if the screen display of a plurality of displays is performed by one application program, the program may be complicated or the display may be fixed by the application. However, in the present invention, application programs for displaying on each display are separately provided. Since it prepares, complication of a program is suppressed and the freedom degree of a combination can also become high. Therefore, the present invention is industrially useful.

1 is a schematic functional block diagram of a mobile terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the structural example at the time of making the portable terminal device concerning embodiment of this invention into a folding type housing | casing A drawing for explaining a mechanism for saving the contents of memory and CPU registers used in the Java (registered trademark) execution environment to another address and restoring them to a predetermined address Drawing for explaining operation of Java (registered trademark) execution environment capable of switching between two applications The flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement at the time of applying the Java (trademark) execution environment which performs operation | movement shown in FIG. 4 to this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

500 mobile terminal device 501 first display 502 second display 503 application execution unit 504 display selection unit 505 application holding unit 506 first application 507 second application

Claims (6)

First and second displays selectively utilized;
A storage unit that records a first application program that displays a screen on the first display and a second application program that displays a screen on the second display;
An application execution unit for executing the application program recorded in the storage unit;
A display selection unit for selecting a display to be used from the first and second displays,
The application execution unit executes the first application program when the display selection unit selects the first display, and executes the first application program when the display selection unit selects the second display. A mobile terminal device that executes the application program according to claim 2. The application execution unit has a function of pausing and resuming an application program,
The portable terminal device according to claim 1, wherein when the display used by the display selection unit is changed, the state of the application program being executed is saved and paused.   3. The application program according to claim 2, wherein when the display selection unit changes the display, if the application program that outputs the screen to the display after the change is further suspended, the application program is resumed. Mobile terminal device.   4. The mobile phone according to claim 2, wherein the application execution unit has a function of saving and temporarily stopping a state of the application program, restoring the saved state, and restarting the application. 5. Terminal device. Furthermore, it has a housing with a foldable structure,
5. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the display selection unit selects one of the first and second displays in accordance with a folding operation of the casing. apparatus.   The said application execution part contains a Java (trademark) execution environment, The said 1st and 2nd application program is a Java (trademark) application, The any one of Claims 1-5 characterized by the above-mentioned. The mobile terminal device according to 1.

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