JPH0819023A - Portable small sized communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve use convenience by displaying numeral information displayed on a liquid crystal display section while changing the direction of display depending on the direction of the small sized communication equipment. CONSTITUTION:When the small sized communication equipment is taken out of a pocket or the like, a gravity sensor 9 senses the direction of the small sized communication equipment, and a control section 8 decides whether or not the small sized communication equipment is directed in a normal direction. When the direction is decided to be a normal direction, the control section 8 controls a display drive circuit 7 so as to change the direction of indication of numeral information displayed on a liquid crystal display section 5 depending on the direction of the small sized communication equipment sensed by the gravity sensor 9. That is, when the small sized communication equipment is extracted with its upside down, the numeral characters having been displayed in the usual direction on the liquid crystal display section 5 are displayed while its indication direction is changed with its upside down (180 deg. rotation).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable small communication device such as a pager having an information display section such as liquid crystal, and more particularly,
The present invention relates to a small communication device capable of changing the display direction of the information display unit according to the takeout direction of the small communication device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, as shown in FIG. 9, a portable small-sized communication device 1 such as a pager is provided with an information display section 2 made of liquid crystal. And character information (in this case, numerical information is shown)
Is displayed on the information display unit 2 to transmit information. Then, the information display unit 2 of the small communication device 1
Always displayed information in a predetermined direction.
That is, the small-sized communication device 1 can read the numerical information in the normal orientation only in the normal orientation as shown in FIG.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, for example, when the small communication device 1 is turned upside down when it is taken out from a pocket or the like, the numerical information displayed on the information display section 2 is also turned upside down. However, it is difficult to read the message instantly, and usually, the small communication device 1 has to be held up and down to change its vertical direction. However, the small-sized communication device 1 is frequently used outdoors, and for example, when carrying a document or the like in one hand in a crowded train, it is necessary to carry the small-size communication device 1 with one hand. It was inconvenient.

[0004]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a small communication device capable of automatically or manually changing the display direction of an information display unit according to the takeout direction of the small communication device. The purpose is to provide.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a portable small-sized communication device having a display unit for displaying information, in which the information displayed on the display unit is displayed in accordance with the direction in which the small-sized communication device is taken out. It is characterized in that a means for changing the display direction is provided.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is an external view of an embodiment of a small portable communication device (pager) according to the present invention in a normal orientation.
[Fig. 2] is an internal schematic configuration diagram of the small communication device shown in Fig. 1. First, as shown in FIG. 1, the small-sized communication device 3 includes a liquid crystal display unit 5 for displaying numerical information, character information, etc. (in this case, numerical information is shown) on a front surface 4, and a voice output unit described later. And the speaker 6. The small-sized communication device 3 displays the information in the normal orientation shown in FIG. 1 and the liquid crystal display unit 5 in a predetermined orientation (normal orientation).

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the small communication device 3 is connected to the liquid crystal display section 5, the display drive circuit 7 connected to the liquid crystal display section 5, and the display drive circuit 7. Control unit 8 and a gravity sensor 9 connected to the control unit 8
And a signal transmitting / receiving unit 10 connected to the control unit 8 and an audio output unit 11 connected to the control unit 8.

Next, the operation of the small communication device 3 will be described with reference to the operation flowchart of FIG. First, in step 13 of FIG. 3, the small communication device 3
Is called by a telephone, the transmission / reception unit 10 detects the call and the voice output unit 11 outputs a voice (a dial tone) under the control of the control unit 8. Next, at step 14, the display driving circuit 7 displays the numerical information on the liquid crystal display section 5 in a predetermined orientation (normal orientation) as shown in FIG. 1 based on the transmission information from the telephone.

Next, in step 15, when the small communication device 3 is taken out of the pocket or the like, the gravity sensor 9 detects the orientation of the small communication device 3,
In step 16, the control unit 8 determines whether or not the orientation of the small communication device 3 is a normal orientation as shown in FIG. When it is determined in step 16 that the orientation is not normal, in step 17, the control unit 8 responds to the orientation of the small communication device 3 detected by the gravity sensor 9 according to the orientation of the liquid crystal display unit 5. The display drive circuit 7 is controlled so as to change the display direction of the numerical information displayed on the display.

That is, for example, when the small communication device 3 is taken out upside down as shown in FIG. 4A, it is normally oriented to the liquid crystal display unit 5 as shown in FIG. 4B. Change the numerical information displayed by to upside down (1
Rotate by 80 °) Display. (Also, when the small communication device 3 is taken out sideways as shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), it is possible to display the numeral information displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 5 in the normal orientation by changing it to the horizontal orientation. Therefore, the user can directly directly read the display information while the small communication device 3 is taken out.

If it is determined in step 16 that the orientation is normal, the process is terminated in the display state as it is. Next, a specific example of the display drive circuit 7 (1 for display direction) for switching the display direction of the numerical information on the liquid crystal display unit 5 in response to a switching control signal from the control unit 8
The case of 80 ° rotation) will be described.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the display drive circuit 7. Reference numeral 18 denotes a BCD code signal output from a counter or the like of the control section 8 to the liquid crystal display section 5 (7-segment display). A decoder for converting into a compatible decoder signal, the output of which is a logical value replacement circuit 19-
It is configured such that the 7-segment display 5 is controlled by inputting to the driver 20 via 1, 19-2, and 19-3 and the driver output. Here, the above 7
When the normal display 3 is displayed on the segment display 5, a BCD code of 0011 is input to the decoder inputs A, B, C and D, and the decoder output has seven terminals a.
The signal 1111001 is output to g.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), the number 3 can be displayed by turning on only a, b, c, d and g of the segments a to g attached to the seven segments. . Now, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
When the number 3 rotated by 180 ° is displayed as shown in (b), a and d, b and e, c are compared with FIG. 7 (a).
And f may be exchanged. To this end, the replacement circuits 19-1, 19-2, 19-3 described above
This operation is performed.

That is, the outputs a and d of the decoder 18 shown in FIG. 6 are supplied by the first replacement circuit 19-1, b and e are supplied by the second replacement circuit 19-2, and c and f are supplied by the third replacement circuit 19-2. The replacement circuit 19-3 replaces the respective logic values and inputs them to the driver. At this time, the replacement circuit 19 is controlled by the switching signal s from the control section 8 in order to enable the erect display. According to the display drive circuit configured as described above, the switching signal s causes the switching signal s to be set to 18 degrees as shown in FIG. 7A or 7B.
A display rotated by 0 ° can be displayed.

Next, a specific example of the above-mentioned replacement circuit 19 will be described. The replacement circuits 19-1, 19-2, 1 of FIG.
Since all of 9-3 may be the same circuit, the replacement circuit 19-1 for replacing a and d will be described as an example.
FIG. 4 is a truth diagram of a replacement circuit when a and d are replaced by a control signal s. Here, the logical values of a and d are replaced when the value of the control signal s is 0, and the output signal on the right side is obtained with respect to the input signal on the left side in the figure.

FIG. 8B is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of a concrete replacement circuit derived from this truth diagram.
Since it is easy to derive a specific logic circuit from the truth diagram, detailed description will be omitted. Therefore, FIG.
The circuit of (b) uses the control signal s to decode the decoder signals a and d.
Has a function that can be replaced or not. Therefore, three of these circuits, 19-1 and 19 in FIG.
2 and 19-3, the decoder output for displaying the upright numeral 3 as shown in FIG.
A display rotated by 180 ° can be performed as shown in (b).

In this embodiment, 1 for display is used.
I explained about the case of 80 ° rotation,
The rotation can also be easily achieved by increasing the number of segments of the liquid crystal display unit 5 and applying the above-described logical value replacement technique. Although the pager has been described as an example in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to all mobile devices with a display mechanism. It is not necessary to explain that the gravity sensor can detect the vertical and horizontal directions if, for example, mercury relays are provided so as to be orthogonal to each other. Further, in addition to automatically detecting the orientation of the pager and changing the display direction, it is possible to provide a manual changeover switch and determine the display direction by the intention of the user.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the display direction of the numerical information displayed on the liquid crystal display is changed according to the direction of the small communication device, the display is very convenient. Get better.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a small portable communication device (pager) according to the present invention.
It is an external view of an example of.

2 is a schematic internal block diagram of the small communication device shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is an operation flowchart of the small communication device shown in FIG.

4A and 4B are explanatory views of a display orientation changing operation in the small communication device shown in FIG.

5 (a) and 5 (b) are explanatory diagrams of a display orientation changing operation in the small communication device shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing an example of the display drive circuit shown in FIG.

7A and 7B are explanatory diagrams of display orientation changes.

8 (a) and 8 (b) are diagrams showing a circuit example of the replacement circuit shown in FIG. 6 and a truth table thereof.

FIG. 9 is an external view of a conventional small portable communication device.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a problem of a conventional small portable communication device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 3 ... Small portable communication device (pager), 2 ... Information display section, 4 ... Front surface, 5 ...
Liquid crystal display, 6 ... speaker,
7 ... Display drive circuit, 8 ... Control unit,
9 ... Gravity sensor, 10 ... Signal transmitting / receiving unit,
11 ... Audio output unit, 13 to 17 ... Each step, 18 ... Decoder, 19 ... Substitution circuit, 20 ... Driver,

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A portable small-sized communication device having a display unit for displaying information, comprising display direction changing means for changing the display direction of the information displayed on the display unit according to the extraction direction of the small-sized communication device. A small portable communication device characterized by the above. 2. A portable small-sized communication device having a display unit for displaying information, comprising display direction changing means for changing the display direction of the information displayed on the display unit according to the takeout direction of the small-sized communication device. When the small communication device is taken upside down, the changeover switch for manually changing the display direction so that the information displayed on the display is displayed upside down is the display direction changing means. A small portable communication device characterized by being equipped with. 3. When the takeout direction of the small-sized communication device is upside down, the display direction changing means changes the display direction so that the information displayed on the display unit is displayed upside down. The portable small-sized communication device according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The display direction changing means changes the display direction so that the information displayed on the display section is displayed sideways when the small communication device is taken out sideways. The portable small communication device according to claim 1.