JP4916377B2 - Information communication terminal - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information communication terminal such as a slide open / close cellular phone.

  In recent years, in mobile phones that are information communication terminals, the size of displays has been increased in order to make display screens easier to see. In this way, as a mobile phone with a large display, the display and the numeric keypad are separately provided in two to three housings to make the mobile phone compact, and each housing can be slid between each. So-called slide open / close type mobile phones have been proposed (Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

  In addition, recent mobile phones have functions that can be used on a personal computer, for example, a homepage browsing function on the Internet, an e-mail transmission / reception function, a schedule management function, and editing of a text created by a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer). It has come to be equipped with functions. Therefore, the user can use the mobile phone as a substitute for a personal computer on the go.

  Generally, when creating an e-mail on a mobile phone, characters are entered using the numeric keypad. However, the numeric keypad provided on the mobile phone assigns multiple characters to the same key, so the number of times the key is pressed. Select an arbitrary character and input a character. Therefore, when creating a long sentence by e-mail using a mobile phone as a substitute for a personal computer, the number of times the key is pressed becomes very large, and it takes a lot of time to input characters.

  Therefore, in order to be able to input characters as if using a keyboard used in a personal computer, the personal computer is connected to a second housing different from the first housing having the display unit, such as a mobile phone described in Patent Document 3. It is conceivable that the keys are provided in the same arrangement as the keyboard used in the above.

JP 2003-348204 A JP 2003-319044 A JP 2001-339499 A

  However, as in the mobile phone described in Patent Document 3, if keys are provided in only one housing in the same arrangement as the keyboard of a personal computer, the number of keys is so large that the key size becomes very small and the key operation is difficult. The problem of becoming. It should be noted that, particularly in a compact slide opening / closing type mobile phone, the key size becomes smaller, so that the key operation becomes more difficult.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily input characters with the feeling of a keyboard used in a personal computer while making the terminal compact when carried. It is to provide an information communication terminal.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a slide opening / closing type information communication terminal, wherein the first casing, the second casing, and the first casing, the second casing, and A third housing, wherein the first housing is provided with at least a display unit, and the second housing and the third housing each have a group of keys arranged in substantially the same manner as a keyboard used in a computer device. The second housing is connected to the first housing so as to be slidable in the short direction of the first housing, and the sliding operation of the second housing The exposed state in which the key provided in the second casing is exposed, and the first casing and the second casing are stacked, and the key provided in the second casing is concealed by the first casing. The third housing is configured to be concealed from the second housing. An exposed state in which a key provided on the third casing is exposed by a sliding operation of the third casing, and is slidably connected in the short direction of the second casing, and the second casing and the third casing it is constituted such that the key provided on the third housing are laminated may take a concealed is hidden in the second housing, the second housing and the third housing upper SL within the exposed state the overall shape of the first surface on which the display unit is a key surface and the second housing and the third housing provided exposed in the housing of a case, Ri shape der curved concavely, slide each housing The exposed horizontal upper surface of the second casing and the exposed horizontal upper surface of the third casing are adjacent to each other in the lateral direction and are exposed on the back side when viewed from the operator. And the exposed upper surface of the third housing located on the front side, the computer device A group of keys of the keyboard and substantially the same sequence as is, is viewed from the operator which is characterized in that it is arranged to appear in the correct orientation at the time of operation of the keyboard.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the information communication terminal according to the first aspect, the surface of the third casing opposite to the surface facing the second casing is a flat surface. It is.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the information communication terminal according to the first or second aspect, a pointing device is provided on the upper surface of the first casing on the side in the longitudinal direction of the display unit.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the information communication terminal according to the first, second, or third aspect, the cross-sectional shape orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the upper surface of the first casing is a convex shape. .

In the present invention, the keyboard used in the computer device is slid by moving the second casing and the third casing in the lateral direction of the casing so that the keys provided on the second casing and the third casing are exposed. Character input can be performed using a group of keys arranged in substantially the same manner. Furthermore, by providing the group of keys divided into the second housing and the third housing, the group of keys can be provided as compared with the case where the group of keys is provided in one housing with a terminal of the same size. The possible space becomes wider. Therefore, the key size can be increased as compared with the case where the group of keys are provided in one housing, and the key operation can be easily performed.
Further, the first casing, the second casing, and the third casing are slid by moving the second casing and the third casing in the lateral direction of the casing so that the keys provided on the second casing and the third casing are concealed. A casing can be made into a lamination | stacking state. Thereby, when only browsing the display screen of the display unit provided in the first casing without using the group of keys, or when carrying the terminal, the first casing, the second casing, and the third casing are removed. By stacking the terminals, the terminal becomes compact and easy to carry.

  As described above, according to the present invention, there is an excellent effect that characters can be easily input with the feeling of a keyboard used in a personal computer while the terminal is compact when carried.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a mobile phone (mobile communication terminal) as an information communication terminal will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of the mobile phone according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view showing an example of an external configuration of the mobile phone. The cellular phone 10 according to the present embodiment includes a main control unit 120 serving as a control unit, an internal memory 121 serving as a storage unit, a wireless communication unit 122 serving as a communication unit that performs communication via the cellular phone communication network 20, and an antenna 112. And a display unit 125 as a display unit, a key operation unit 126 as an operation unit, and a clock unit 127.

  The main control unit 120 includes, for example, a CPU, a cache memory, a ROM, a system bus, and the like, and transmits and receives data to and from each unit such as the internal memory 121 and the wireless communication unit 122 by executing a predetermined control program. Go and control each part. The main control unit 120 is connected to a microphone 108 as a sound input unit and a speaker 109 as a sound output unit via a sound signal processing unit 123. Further, a display unit 125 is connected to the main control unit 120 via a display control unit 124 as a display control unit. The main control unit 120 is also connected with a key operation unit 126 and a clock unit 127 operated by a user when instructing various processes and inputting various data.

  The wireless communication unit 122 and the antenna 112 as the communication means function not only as telephone communication means but also as means for sending and receiving mail.

  The internal memory 121 is configured by a semiconductor memory such as a RAM or a ROM, and stores a control program executed by the main control unit 120 and various data. As these storage means, instead of the internal memory 121, a storage medium such as a memory card or an IC card that can be attached to and detached from the mobile phone body may be used.

  The display control unit 124 controls to display an image on the display unit 125 based on the drawing data sent from the main control unit 120. The display unit 125 is configured by using a display 110 including a liquid crystal panel and displays various images based on image data stored in the internal memory 121.

  The speaker 109 receives the analog signal converted from the digital signal by the sound signal processing unit 123, and outputs a voice during a call, or outputs a mail ringtone, a telephone ringing tone, music, or the like. The sound generation means including the speaker 109 and the sound signal processing unit 123 reproduces and outputs a sound effect and music (song, melody) using an attached file attached to the received mail. Can be controlled.

  Note that the speaker 109 may be configured by separately providing a receiver speaker (receiver) for listening to voice during a call and an external output speaker for outputting a ring tone, music, or the like, or these receivers. A single speaker may be used so as to serve as both a speaker for external use and a speaker for external output.

  The key operation unit 126 includes a data input key 104 having a key arrangement substantially similar to a keyboard used in a personal computer, a track pad 105, a call start key provided on a side surface of the mobile phone 10 (not shown), an end key, and the like. Consists of a talk key and a multi-function key, and is used when a user instructs to start or end a call, select a menu, switch a display mode, etc. or input information. The track pad 105 is a kind of pointing device, and the pointer displayed on the display unit 125 is operated by tracing a plastic plate with a finger, and this pointer is overlaid with a layer displaying a menu or a selection screen. It is possible to perform selection operations such as change or determination of. Further, the call start key, the call end key, the multi-function key, and the like can be omitted by providing the data input key 104 with the functions of these various keys.

  The microphone 108 converts the user's voice into an electrical signal (analog signal). An audio electrical signal (analog signal) output from the microphone 108 is input to the sound signal processing unit 123 and converted into a digital signal.

  The clock unit 127 is configured using an RTC (real time clock) or the like, and functions as a means for outputting current time data. The current time data output from the clock unit 127 can be used for displaying date and time information on the display unit 125 including the liquid crystal display (LCD) 110.

Next, characteristic parts of the present invention will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, the mobile phone 10 is formed in a long thick plate shape as a whole. More specifically, in the mobile phone 10, the first casing 101, the second casing 102, and the third casing 103, each of which has a long plate shape that intersects the thickness direction and has a thick plate shape, are laminated. Therefore, the second casing 102 is connected to the first casing 101 through a sliding mechanism (not shown) so as to be slidable in the short direction, and the third casing 103 is connected to the second casing 102 (not shown). Are slidably connected in the short direction.

  The first casing 101 incorporates a microphone 108 at one end in the longitudinal direction and a speaker 109 at the other end. In addition, a large screen display 110 and a track pad 105 are provided on the surface portion exposed to the outside of the first casing 101, and sound is input to a part where the microphone 108 and the speaker 109 are incorporated. An opening is provided to facilitate output.

  The data input key 104 is divided into a surface of the second housing 102 facing the first housing 101 and a surface of the third housing 103 facing the second housing 102. The data input key 104 is divided into the first housing 101. The second casing 102 is slid with respect to the second casing 102, and the third casing 103 is slid with respect to the second casing 102, whereby the data input keys provided on the second casing 102 and the third casing 103 as shown in FIG. All 104 can be exposed. In the mobile phone 10, the key layout of the data input keys 104 is substantially the same as that of a keyboard used in a personal computer or the like, so that the keys of the second casing 102 and the third casing 103 are exposed. By doing so, the user can input keys with the same feeling as a keyboard used in a personal computer.

  Further, by providing the data input key 104 divided into the second casing 102 and the third casing 103, the space for arranging the data input key 104 can be widened without increasing the size of the mobile phone 10. Therefore, the key size of the data input key 104 can be increased while maintaining the compact size of the mobile phone 10. This makes it possible to easily perform key operations such as character input while reducing the size of the mobile phone 10 when carrying it.

  FIG. 4A is a side view of the mobile phone according to the present embodiment when the slide is unfolded, and FIG. 4B is a side view of the mobile phone when the mobile phone is stacked. As shown in FIG. 4A, the shape of the first housing 101 viewed from the longitudinal direction is a curved shape like a convex lens, and the shape of the second housing 103 and the third housing 103 viewed from the longitudinal direction is concave. It has a curved shape. Therefore, when the second casing 102 and the third casing 103 are slid to expose the data input key 104, the second casing 102 and the third casing 103 slide along the curve between the casings. When the mobile phone 10 is viewed from the longitudinal direction on the desk, the overall appearance of the mobile phone 10 is a shape in which the user is curved into a concave lens shape. As described above, when the data input key 104 is exposed, the user-side surface of the entire mobile phone 10 is curved in a concave shape, so that the user can enter characters when placing the mobile phone 10 on a desk or the like. Since the display can be seen from the front, the display screen is easy to see, or even when the user operates with both hands, while maintaining a light and comfortable operating environment, The casing can be composed relatively compactly.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4B, when the second casing 102 and the third casing 103 of the mobile phone 10 are slid into a stacked state, the entire outer shape of the mobile phone 10 viewed from the longitudinal direction is rounded. have. This arc shape gives a nice feeling to grasp with the palm and fingers, and the user can easily hold the mobile phone 10 with one hand.

  When the lower surface (mounting surface) of the third casing 103 is convexly curved as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the surface portion of the mobile phone 10 is deformed along the curvature of the third casing 103. When working on a soft surface such as a possible knee, the mobile phone 10 can be stably installed with almost no wobbling. However, when the mobile phone 10 is placed on a hard surface that cannot be deformed along the curvature of the third housing 103, such as a desk using a top plate made of wood or plastic, the character is input. For example, the mobile phone 10 may become wobbled, making it difficult to perform key input.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, when the mobile phone 10 is placed on the surface of the third housing 103 opposite to the surface facing the second housing 102, in other words, on the desk or the like. The installation surface side of the third casing 103 in contact with the surface may be flat without being curved. In this case, the mobile phone 10 is in a stable state without wobbling on the desk, making it easier to perform key input when inputting characters.
Even in this case, if the curved shape is maintained on the display surface, it is possible to obtain ease of holding by grasping this surface with the palm side.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the slide opening / closing information communication terminal, the first casing 101, the second casing 102, and the third casing 103 that have a long shape in the plane intersecting the thickness direction and can be stacked on each other. The first casing 101 is provided with at least the display 110 of the display unit 125, and the second casing 102 and the third casing 103 are provided with a group of keys substantially similar to the keyboard used in the computer device. A certain data input key 104 is divided and provided with the arrangement maintained, and the second housing 102 is slidably connected to the first housing 101 in the short direction of the first housing 101, By the sliding operation, it is possible to take an exposed state in which the key provided in the second housing 102 is exposed and a concealed state in which the key provided in the second housing 102 is concealed in the first housing. The third housing is connected to the second housing so as to be slidable in the second housing 102 short direction, and the key provided on the third housing 103 is exposed by the sliding operation of the third housing. And a concealed state in which the key provided on the third casing 103 is concealed by the second housing. As a result, the second casing 102 and the third casing 103 are slid in the lateral direction of the casing so that the data input keys 104 provided on the second casing 102 and the third casing 103 are exposed. Characters can be input using a group of data input keys 104 arranged in substantially the same manner as the keyboard used. Further, by providing the data input key 104 divided into the second housing 102 and the third housing 103, the data input key 104 is provided compared to the case where the data input key 104 is provided in one housing with a terminal of the same size. The space that can be widened. Therefore, the key size can be made larger than the case where a group of data input keys 104 arranged in substantially the same manner as a keyboard used in a personal computer is provided in one housing, so that key operations can be easily performed. . Further, the first casing 102 is slid in the lateral direction of the casing so that the data input keys 104 provided on the second casing 102 and the third casing 103 are concealed. 101, the second casing 102, and the third casing 103 can be stacked. Thus, when only browsing the display screen of the display provided in the first casing 101 without using the data input key 104 or when carrying the terminal, the first casing 101, the second casing 102, and the third casing By placing the housing 103 in a stacked state, the terminal becomes compact and easy to carry. Therefore, it is possible to input characters easily with the feeling of a keyboard used in a personal computer while reducing the size of the terminal when carried.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, when the second casing 102 and the third casing 103 are in the exposed state, the surface of the display unit 125 of the first casing 101 on which the display 110 is provided, the second casing 102 and the third casing 103. The entire surface of the casing 103 with the exposed key is curved in a concave shape. As a result, the appearance of the entire mobile phone 10 viewed from the longitudinal direction when the mobile phone 10 is placed on the desk with the data input key 104 exposed is a shape in which the user side is curved in a concave shape. As described above, when the data input key 104 is exposed, the user-side surface of the entire mobile phone 10 is curved in a concave shape, so that the user can enter characters when placing the mobile phone 10 on a desk or the like. Since the display can be seen from the front, the display screen is easy to see.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the surface of the third casing 103 opposite to the surface facing the second casing 102 is a flat surface. As a result, even when the mobile phone 10 is placed on a hard surface or the like, the mobile phone 10 does not wobble and can perform operations such as character input in a stable installation state.

The top view when the mobile telephone which concerns on embodiment of this invention slide-expands and the data input key is exposed. The block diagram which shows an example of schematic structure of the mobile phone. The top view when the 1st housing, the 2nd housing, and the 3rd housing of the said mobile telephone are in a lamination | stacking state. (A) is a side view at the time of slide deployment of the mobile phone according to the present embodiment. (B) is a side view of the cellular phone when stacked. (A) is the side view at the time of slide expansion | deployment of the mobile telephone which concerns on other embodiment. (B) is a side view of the cellular phone when stacked.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Mobile telephone 101 1st housing 102 2nd housing 103 3rd housing 104 Data input key 105 Trackpad 108 Microphone 109 Speaker 110 Display 120 Main control part 121 Internal memory 124 Display control part 125 Display part 126 Key operation part

Claims (4)

In the information communication terminal of slide opening and closing method,
A surface that intersects the thickness direction has a long shape and includes a first housing, a second housing, and a third housing that can be stacked on each other,
The first housing is provided with at least a display unit,
The second casing and the third casing are provided with a group of keys arranged in a manner substantially the same as a keyboard used in a computer device, while maintaining the arrangement.
The second housing is connected to the first housing so as to be slidable in the first housing short direction,
An exposed state in which a key provided in the second casing is exposed by a sliding operation of the second casing, and a key provided in the second casing by stacking the first casing and the second casing. Is configured to be able to take a concealed state concealed by the first housing,
The third casing is connected to the second casing so as to be slidable in the second casing lateral direction,
An exposed state in which a key provided in the third casing is exposed by a sliding operation of the third casing, and a key provided in the third casing by stacking the second casing and the third casing. Is configured to be able to take a concealed state concealed by the second housing ,
Overall shape of the upper Symbol second housing and the third surface casing is exposed in the first display portion of the housing is a surface and the second housing and the third housing provided key when in the exposed state Is a concave curved shape ,
A horizontally long exposed upper surface of the second housing exposed by sliding each housing and a horizontally exposed upper surface of the third housing are adjacent to each other in the lateral direction, and are located on the back side when viewed from the operator. A group of keys arranged in substantially the same manner as the keyboard used in the computer device spans the exposed upper surface of the housing and the exposed upper surface of the third housing located on the near side, when viewed from the operator. An information communication terminal characterized by being arranged so as to be seen in a correct orientation . In the information communication terminal according to claim 1 ,
An information communication terminal characterized in that a surface of the third housing opposite to the surface facing the second housing is a flat surface.   In the information communication terminal according to claim 1 or 2,
An information communication terminal comprising a pointing device on a side surface in the longitudinal direction of the display unit on the upper surface of the first casing.   In the information communication terminal according to claim 1, 2, or 3,
An information communication terminal characterized in that a cross-sectional shape orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the upper surface of the first casing is a convex shape.