JP4743543B2 - Portable electronic devices - Google Patents

Description

  In particular, the present invention relates to a portable electronic device suitable for use in a mobile phone in which organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) is mounted as a display monitor.

  As mobile phones become more sophisticated, display monitors are required to have high-definition, multi-color display, large capacity, and the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is now installed in almost all models.

  Since mobile phones are battery-powered, power savings are also required. For this reason, in LCD screen control, for example, as shown in the flowchart in FIG. The brightness is lowered by light control (S61 “NO”, S62), and further, control is performed to turn off the display when there is no key operation (S63 “NO”, S64). This series of screen controls is common to all types of mobile phones having a housing structure such as a straight type, a folder type (clamshell type), a flip type, a revolver type, and a slide type.

In addition, there is a type such as a folder type or a flip type that performs display OFF when a folder (flip) is closed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). In many cases, the display is turned off after a predetermined time has elapsed after detection (see, for example, Patent Documents 3 and 4).
JP-A-11-112622 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-309631 JP-A-9-62198 JP-A-10-210125

By the way, in the field of cellular phones, with the further reduction in thickness, it has been studied to adopt an organic EL having advantages of high contrast, high speed response, high viewing angle, and high color difference reproducibility instead of LCD. However, organic EL is very weak at partial continuous display due to the characteristics of the display device. That is, in the organic EL, each display pixel itself emits light with a color, so that the luminance deteriorates according to the use time for each pixel.
Specifically, if the display is continued only at a specific location as in a fixed image, the luminance of only the pixel at that location is reduced, and the hue is different when the same color is displayed together with other adjacent pixels. Problems due to seizure occur.

Therefore, in a portable electronic device using an organic EL as a display monitor, it is an important design matter to avoid image sticking. However, for example, a clock or an antenna picture (picture symbol) is displayed in consideration of convenience for the user. In the case of a fixed image such as a battery pict that indicates the remaining capacity of the battery, the pictographic display is continued until the display is turned off even if the brightness control is executed after a predetermined time.
Therefore, if the display of these fixed images continues, only the pixel corresponding to the fixed image to be displayed deteriorates, and the luminance of only that pixel is reduced. As a result, a difference in brightness between adjacent pixels occurs, and only the pixel portion of the fixed image appears in a different hue, which is visually undesirable.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides a portable electronic device capable of reducing the occurrence of organic EL image sticking by avoiding partial continuous display as much as possible. Objective.

  The portable electronic device of the present invention has a plurality of display elements, and can form a display unit that performs display by controlling the light emission state of each of the plurality of display elements, and can be formed into an open state and a closed state. The unit is provided in a position where at least a part thereof is exposed in any of the open state and the closed state, the operation unit for inputting an instruction, and the state of the own device are detected, and a predetermined region of the display unit is detected. A control unit that performs status display for notifying the status, and the control unit causes the display unit to display a screen including the status display when the housing is opened, and the housing is opened. When displaying on the display unit in a state, even if the case is closed, the display by the display unit is not erased, and after the case is opened or in the operation unit When the first time has elapsed since the last input occurred, Erase the status of radical 113 to continue the display other than the status display further has a second time to perform the control of the elapsed erase the display other than the status display.

  Further, in the portable electronic device of the present invention, the display unit constitutes one pixel by a plurality of light emitting elements, and generates a color for each pixel by adjusting a light amount for each of the plurality of light emitting elements, You may comprise so that a screen display may be performed with the aggregate | assembly of the said pixel.

  The portable electronic device according to the present invention further includes a power source for supplying power, and the control unit detects a remaining amount of the power source and displays the remaining amount on the display unit with a pictogram as one of the status displays. You may comprise.

  The portable electronic device according to the present invention further includes a communication unit that performs wireless communication, and the control unit detects a wireless reception state by the communication unit, and the reception state is indicated by a pictogram as one of the state displays. You may comprise so that it may display on the said display part.

  Moreover, the portable electronic device of this invention WHEREIN: The said control part can acquire a present | current time, You may comprise the said present | current time on the said display part as one of the said status displays.

  In the portable electronic device of the present invention, the control unit performs control to lower the luminance of the display unit when a third time shorter than the second time elapses after the status display of the display unit is turned off. It may be configured to execute.

  Moreover, the portable electronic device of this invention WHEREIN: The said operation part may be mounted in the position exposed in the open state of the said housing | casing, and hidden in a closed state.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the portable electronic device which can reduce generation | occurrence | production of image sticking of organic EL can be provided by avoiding a partial continuation display as much as possible.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an external structure of a portable electronic device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Here, a flip-type mobile phone is exemplified as the mobile electronic device.

That is, like the straight type, the display (display unit 15) and the key switch 2 (operation unit) are integrally formed, the screen is always exposed, and the key switch 2 is covered with the flip 3 when the mobile phone is not used. As a result, the key switch (operation unit 16) is hidden (FIG. 1 (a)), and the key switch (operation unit 16) appears by opening the flip 3 only when the mobile phone is used, such as during a call (FIG. 1 (b)). ), The structure.
The opening / closing operation of the flip 3 is assumed to be rotatable by a hinge (not shown) formed at the end portion of the integrally formed casing or by sliding the flip 3.
FIG. 1C is an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 1, and an area X is a state display area, which includes a pictogram P indicating a reception level, a pictogram Q indicating a remaining battery capacity, and an unread mail. In addition, a region R is a normal display region where necessary display is performed, and a standby screen or the like is displayed.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the portable electronic device according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile phone includes a communication unit 11, a control unit 12, a storage unit 13, a voice processing unit 14, a display unit 15, and an operation unit 16.

  The communication unit 11 transmits and receives radio signals to and from the base station via a public line using a channel assigned by any one of base stations (not shown).

For example, the control unit 12 detects the state of the mobile phone necessary for displaying pictographs such as the reception level and the remaining battery capacity, and notifies the state to the region X that is a predetermined display region of the screen of the display unit 15. Has a function to display the status.
Specifically, the control unit 12 causes the display unit 15 to display a screen including a status display when the flip-type housing described above is in an open state, and performs display on the display unit 15 when the housing is in an open state. When the case is closed, the display on the display unit 15 is not erased even if the case is closed, and the first time from the occurrence of the last input in the operation unit 16 described later or after the case is opened. When the time (e.g., pict display time) elapses, the status display of the display unit 15 is turned off, and the display other than the status display is continued. Execute the control to turn off the background screen.
The control unit 12 also executes control to lower the luminance of the display unit 15 when a third time (referred to as a power saving time) that is shorter than the second time elapses after the state display on the display unit 15 is turned off. Details will be described later.

  The storage unit 13 stores a plurality of application programs to be executed by the control unit 12, and is acquired via the above-described pictorial symbols such as the reception level and the remaining battery capacity, a clock, and mail and the communication unit 11. A background image such as a Web (World Wide Web) page or wallpaper is displayed. The storage unit 13 is mounted with, for example, a nonvolatile storage device (nonvolatile semiconductor memory, hard disk device, optical disk device, etc.), a randomly accessible storage device (eg, SRAM, DRAM), or the like.

The audio processing unit 14 processes an audio signal output from a speaker (SP) and an audio signal input from a microphone (MIC, hereinafter referred to as a microphone).
That is, the audio processing unit 14 amplifies the audio input from the microphone, performs analog / digital conversion, further performs signal processing such as encoding, converts it into digital audio data, and outputs it to the control unit 12.
The audio processing unit 14 performs signal processing such as decoding, digital / analog conversion, and amplification on the audio data supplied from the control unit 12, converts the audio data into an analog audio signal, and outputs the analog audio signal to the speaker.

In the display unit 15, the display unit includes a plurality of light emitting elements (one for each of the three primary colors R, G, and B) to form one pixel (display element). Is an organic EL display configured to display a screen by controlling the light emission state of each of the plurality of display elements, specifically, one pixel is configured with the plurality of light emitting elements, A so-called organic EL, which generates a color for each pixel by adjusting the amount of light for each of the plurality of light emitting elements and performs screen display with the aggregate of the pixels, is used as a display device.
The display unit 15 displays an image corresponding to the video signal output from the control unit 12. For example, the phone number of the callee at the time of outgoing call, the phone number of the callee at the time of incoming call, the contents of received or sent mail, success / failure of outgoing calls, background images such as standby screens including wallpaper, date, time, remaining battery level Also displays pictographs such as reception level.

  A plurality of key switches are assigned to the operation unit 16, and when these keys are operated (pressed and released) by the user, a signal corresponding to the operation content is generated, and this is used as a user instruction to the control unit 12 is input.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 12 is functionally expanded so that the main control unit 120, the time monitoring unit 121, the reception level detection unit 122, and the remaining battery capacity detection unit are functionally shown. 123, a case close detection unit 124, a key input acquisition unit 125, a drawing / display control unit 126, and a display memory 127.

  The main control unit 120 reads and executes the application program stored in the storage unit 13 to generate a background image including the above-described pictogram, and also controls the flow of information between the blocks described above. It plays a role as a control center.

  The time monitoring unit 121 incorporates a timer to measure time, and also performs time-out detection for each set time (first to third times) and outputs the time-out to the main control unit 120.

  The reception level detection unit 122 measures the reception intensity of a signal acquired through communication via the communication unit 11 and outputs the signal to the main control unit 120, and is used for generating a pictogram image (antenna level display).

  Further, the remaining battery capacity detection unit 123 detects the remaining capacity of the battery 17 supplied as a power source, outputs the detected remaining capacity to the main control unit 120, and is used for generating a pictographic image (remaining battery capacity display).

  The case closing detection unit 124 covers the key switch by the flip 3 shown in FIG. When the switch (SW) built in is pressed (ON), it is detected and output to the main control unit 120 (for this reason, the case open state is indicated by the switch OFF).

  The key input acquisition unit 125 acquires the key coordinates operated by scanning the key matrix forming the operation unit 16, converts it into key information, and outputs the key information to the main control unit 120.

  Further, the drawing / display control unit 126 draws a background image including a pictograph generated by the main control unit 120 and stored in the storage unit 13 in the display memory 127, and a background including the pictograph drawn in the display memory 127. The image is read in synchronization with the display timing and supplied to the display unit 15 to obtain a desired display.

  In addition to the program area 131 in which the plurality of application programs are stored, the storage unit 13 has a picto area 132 in which pict images such as a clock, antenna level, and remaining battery capacity are stored, and a background image area such as wallpaper. 133 are allocated and stored. Here, the display memory 127 is included in the control unit 12 independently of the storage unit 13, but is assigned to a partial area of the storage unit 13 and the control unit 12 (drawing / display control unit 126) directly. It may be configured to read / write.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the portable electronic device according to the embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the operation of the portable electronic device (mobile phone 1) according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the user performs environment setting of a time parameter using a system setting screen (not shown) displayed on the display unit 15. Prior to the following operations, the control unit 12 (main control unit 120) acquires the time parameter input by the user operating the operation unit 16 via the key input acquisition unit 125 and reflects the time parameter on the mobile phone. Therefore, the system setting process is executed (S401).
Here, the prepared time parameters are a pictographic display setting time (first time), a lighting setting time (second time), and a power saving setting time (third time). As shown in FIG. Here, the power saving time (third time) is arbitrary except that it is shorter than the illumination setting time (second time). Details will be described later. Through the system setting operation described above, the operation described below as the portable electronic device of the present invention becomes possible.

First, the main control unit 120 detects the open state of the flip 3 of the mobile phone (S402). The detection of the open state of the flip can be determined by the case close detection unit 124 detecting the switch OFF. The main control unit 120 controls the time monitoring unit 121 to start a timer by detecting the open state of the flip 3 by the housing open detection unit 124 (S403).
Subsequently, the main control unit 120 controls the drawing / display control unit 126 to display a battery, an antenna, a clock including other pictograms, and a background image on the display unit 16 (S404: full lighting of display). That is, the drawing / display control unit 126 reads a clock including a battery, an antenna, and other pictograms from the pictogram area 132 of the storage unit 13 and a background image such as wallpaper from the background picture area 133 and superimposes them as screen information. And transferred to the display memory 127. The drawing / display control unit 126 can further obtain a desired display by reading the screen information from the display memory 127 in synchronization with the display timing and outputting it to the display unit 15.

Subsequently, the main control unit 120 waits for key input (S405), and a key input input by the user operating the operation unit 16 is acquired by the key input acquisition unit 125. Here, the time by the time monitoring unit 121 is acquired. Monitoring is performed (S406). When there is no key input within a predetermined time (first time) (S406 “NO”), the main control unit 120 controls the drawing / display control unit 126 and includes the screen information displayed on the display unit 16. The battery, the pictograph including the antenna, and the clock display are turned off, and only the background image such as the wallpaper is displayed (S407). That is, the drawing / display control unit 126 reads a background image such as wallpaper only from the background image storage area 133 of the storage unit 13, transfers it to the display memory 127, and draws it. Then, the background image is read from the display memory 127 and displayed in synchronization with the display timing of the display unit 15.
Note that if there is a key input in each of steps S405 and S406 (S405 “YES”) and no time-out is detected (S406 “NO”), the process returns to step S404.

Next, the main control unit 120 waits for key input (S408), and if there is no key input within the predetermined time (third time) that follows (S409 “NO”), the main controller 120 controls the drawing / display control unit 126 to control the brightness. Make adjustments. At this time, the drawing / display control unit 126 reads a background image such as wallpaper only from the background image storage area 133 of the storage unit 13, transfers it to the display memory 127, and further reads it from the display memory 127 in synchronization with the display timing. The background image is displayed on the display unit 15 with the luminance level lowered by voltage control (S410).
Note that if there is a key input in steps S408 and S409 (S408 “YES”) and no timeout is detected (S409 “NO”), the process returns to step S404.

Subsequently, the main control unit 120 waits for key input (S411), determines whether or not there is a key input within a predetermined time (second time) after the pictograph is turned off (S412), and if there is no key input (S412 “NO”) ), The drawing / display control unit 126 is controlled to turn off all the display to save power (S413).
Note that if there is a key input in steps S411 and S412, respectively (S411 “YES”), and if no timeout is detected (S412 “NO”), the process returns to step S404.

  In the above-described embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the display is fully lit when triggered by the detection of flip opening. However, the display may be lit when triggered by the last input in the operation unit 16. Although not described in detail, the reception level detection unit 122 measures the reception intensity (antenna level) of the reception signal acquired via the communication unit 11 in the pictographic display, and the battery remaining capacity detection unit 123 The remaining battery capacity is detected and output to the main control unit 120. The main control unit 120 converts the antenna level and the remaining battery capacity into display information for pictographic display and writes the display information in the pictogram area of the storage unit 13. It is assumed that processing is always performed.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, there is no key input operation for a certain period of time (first time) after the display is fully turned on when the flip is opened or the last input in the operation unit 16 is generated. By turning off the fixed display image portion such as a pictograph or a clock after a lapse of time), it is possible to take measures against image sticking of the organic EL.
In addition, after the fixed image portion is turned off, there is no more key operation, and after a certain time (third time) has elapsed, the brightness is adjusted and the light is displayed to reduce the load on the pixel. It is possible to extend the life of the display unit used and save power. Furthermore, after the fixed image portion is turned off, there is no key input operation, and further power saving is possible by turning off the display completely after a certain time (second time) has elapsed. Therefore, user convenience is ensured based on the series of screen controls described above, and organic EL burn-in prevention, long life, and power saving can be achieved. If power saving of the organic EL becomes possible, the life of the battery can be extended, and the mobility as a portable electronic device can be increased.

  In addition, according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, only the mobile phone is illustrated as the mobile electronic device. Is possible. Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, the flip-type mobile phone is exemplified as the portable electronic device. However, the portable electronic device has two types of slide type, in which the housing divided into two is slid vertically or horizontally. It can be applied to any type as long as the housing forms an open state and a closed state, and the screen is exposed in any state, such as a revolver type that slides a separate housing to rotate. .

  The functions of the constituent blocks of the portable electronic device of the present invention may be realized entirely by software, or at least a part thereof may be realized by hardware. For example, the data processing in the main control unit 120, the time monitoring unit 121, the reception level detection unit 122, the remaining battery capacity detection unit 123, the casing close detection unit 124, the key input acquisition unit 125, and the drawing / display control unit 126 is 1 Alternatively, it may be realized on a computer by a plurality of programs, or at least a part thereof may be realized by hardware.

It is a figure which shows an example of the external appearance structure of the portable electronic device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the internal structure of the portable electronic device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the block diagram which expanded and showed the function of the internal structure of the control part shown in FIG. It is the figure which showed the operation | movement of the portable electronic device which concerns on embodiment of this invention with the flowchart. It is the figure shown in order to demonstrate the time relationship monitored by a control part. It is the figure which showed the operation | movement of LCD screen control in the conventional portable electronic device with the flowchart.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 ... Flip, 11 ... Communication part, 12 ... Control part, 13 ... Memory | storage part, 14 ... Audio | voice processing part, 15 ... Display part, 16 ... Operation part, 120 ... Main control part, 121 ... Time monitoring part, 122 ... Reception Level detection unit 123... Battery remaining capacity detection unit 124. Case closing detection unit 125. Key input acquisition unit 126... Drawing / display control unit 127.

Claims (7)

A display unit having a plurality of display elements and performing display by controlling the light emission state of each of the plurality of display elements;
A housing that is capable of forming an open state and a closed state, and wherein the display unit is provided at a position where at least a part is exposed in either the open state or the closed state;
An operation unit for inputting instructions;
A control unit for detecting a state of the device itself and performing a status display for notifying the state to a predetermined area of the display unit,
The controller is
When the casing is opened, the display unit displays a screen including the status display. When the casing is open and the display unit is displaying, the casing is closed. The display on the display unit is not erased even after the first time elapses after the casing is opened, or when the first time has elapsed since the last input in the operation unit. The portable electronic device is characterized in that a display other than the status display is continued and a control other than the status display is performed when the second time elapses. The display unit
A pixel is composed of a plurality of light emitting elements, a color is generated for each pixel by adjusting a light amount for each of the plurality of light emitting elements, and a screen display is performed by an aggregate of the pixels. The portable electronic device according to claim 1. It has a power supply to supply power,
The controller is
The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the remaining amount of the power source is detected, and the remaining amount is displayed on the display unit by a pictogram as one of the status displays. A communication unit for performing wireless communication;
The controller is
The wireless reception state by the communication unit is detected, and the reception state is displayed on the display unit with a pictogram as one of the state displays. Portable electronic device. The controller is
The portable electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a current time can be acquired, and the current time is displayed on the display unit as one of the status displays. The controller is
The control for lowering the luminance of the display unit is executed when a third time shorter than the second time has elapsed since the display of the state of the display unit is turned off. Item 1. A portable electronic device according to item 1. The operation unit is
The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is mounted at a position that is exposed when the casing is open and is hidden when the casing is closed.

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