JPH11353283A - Portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable terminal like a PDA(personal digital assistant) having an LCD which displays the image information, etc., and a cover which protects the LCD, a PHS(personal handyphone system) PDA, etc., to automatically switch the display modes, etc., of the LCD via by means of opening/closing the cover and to be used in both vertical and horizontal postures. SOLUTION: A cover 8 can slide on an LCD 3 to open and close the LCD 3 and also can make a part of the LCD 3 being exposed even in its closed state. The opening and closing states of the cover 8 are monitored by a cover position detection means 7 and notified to a terminal control means 1. The means 1 decides the producing direction of the display information based on the opening/closing degree of the cover 8 and indicates the display contents and a display area to a display control means 2. Based on these indications, the means 2 generates the image data and displays them on the LCD 3. Thus, the portable terminal of such a constitution is obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (hereinafter, referred to as an LCD) and a portable terminal having a cover provided for protecting the liquid crystal display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, LCs such as PDAs and cellular phones have been developed.
The number of portable terminals provided with D as a user interface has been increasing, and recently, PHSPDA, which can be said to be a PDA with a communication function, which is a fusion product thereof, has appeared. Since such a PHSPDA is used as a telephone, the frequency of use of the PHSPDA is higher than that of a simple PDA, but a very large LCD is provided for use as a PDA. In general, a lid is provided on the LCD in order to prevent the LCD from being damaged, and the lid is generally opened when used.

FIG. 9 is an external perspective view of a conventional portable terminal. In a portable terminal, if a cover is provided on the LCD to cover the entire terminal, information necessary for a telephone cannot be displayed. Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 9, a lid 32 made of, for example, a transparent material is provided on the LCD 31 of the portable terminal 30.

[0004] Although not shown, other means such as providing another small LCD for displaying telephone-specific information are taken.

[0005]

However, in the above-described conventional configuration, the cost is increased by using a cover made of a transparent material or by adding another small LCD, and display information necessary for operating the telephone function is small. Despite the large LC
It is necessary to display the entire D, and there is a problem that power is wasted.

The present invention takes the above-mentioned conventional problems into consideration and automatically changes the display contents (for example, the orientation) according to the degree of opening and closing of the lid, and changes only the necessary portions of the LCD without any special operation by the user. It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable terminal capable of turning on a display and a backlight, greatly improving operability, and suppressing power consumption.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a cover for protecting an LCD, in which a notch is provided in a part of the cover, and the cover is slidably opened and closed. It is a portable terminal that changes the content of displaying image information, the area displayed on the LCD, or the area of the backlight to be lit according to the opening / closing state of the lid.

According to the present invention, a portable terminal which can be used in both portrait and landscape orientations and has high power use efficiency is realized.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the first aspect of the present invention, a liquid crystal display for displaying image information, and a part of the liquid crystal display which is opened and closed by a slide and is closed even when closed. A lid having a shape such that the lid slides, a lid position detecting means for monitoring the position of the sliding lid, and image information to be displayed on the liquid crystal display based on lid position information notified by the lid position detecting means. And a display control means for generating image data in accordance with an instruction from the terminal control unit and outputting the image data to the liquid crystal display. Has the effect of automatically switching image information to be displayed on the liquid crystal display by sliding.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal according to the first aspect, a driver driving means capable of controlling on / off of a driver circuit in a liquid crystal display in accordance with an instruction of the terminal control means is provided. It has an effect that, when the user slides the position of the lid, the driver circuit that drives the liquid crystal display area in a portion hidden by the lid is automatically turned on / off.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal according to the first aspect, the backlight divided into a plurality of blocks and each block of the backlight according to an instruction from terminal control means. Lighting control means for individually turning on / off the lights, and the user slides the lid to automatically turn on / off the backlight corresponding to the liquid crystal display area of the portion hidden by the lid. It has the effect of doing.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal according to the first aspect, switching of display contents in response to a change in a lid position is controlled with a hysteresis characteristic. This has the effect of preventing frequent switching of image information due to small movement at a point where the lid position is close to the threshold for image display switching, or noise.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal according to the second aspect, switching of the driver circuit of the liquid crystal display on / off in response to a change in the lid position has a hysteresis characteristic. And prevents the frequent switching of the driver circuit of the liquid crystal display device on / off due to the small movement at the point where the lid position is near the threshold value of the image display switching or the noise. Have.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal according to the third aspect, on / off switching of a backlight in response to a change in a lid position is controlled with a hysteresis characteristic. This has an effect of preventing frequent switching of the backlight on / off due to noise at a point where the lid position is near the threshold value for image display switching or noise.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal according to the third aspect, a lid-side interface for transmitting an electric signal for notifying a key and key press information to the lid to the main body. A main body-side interface for receiving the electric signal is provided at a position on the main body side where the lid-side interface is fitted when the lid is closed, and a key is used with the lid closed. Has the effect of enabling

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Embodiments 1, 4 and 2, 5
Although the same symbol is used for the threshold value Pn used in the description of the third, third, and sixth, it is not necessary to use the same value.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a portable terminal according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the portable terminal, and FIG. 3 is a cover position detecting means of the portable terminal. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of switching display contents in the portable terminal.

As shown in FIG. 1, the portable terminal includes a terminal control means 1 for controlling the entire portable terminal,
A display control means 2 for notifying the driver driving means 4 of a timing for driving a driver circuit (IC) in correspondence with the image data, and outputting the image information to the LCD 3; LC to display
D3, a driver driving unit 4 for driving a driver IC in the LCD 3 in synchronization with image data output from the display control unit 2, a lighting control unit 5, a backlight 6 controlled by the lighting control unit 5, Sliding lid 8
A lid position detecting means 7 for monitoring the current position of the terminal and notifying the terminal control means 1, a lid 8 which can be opened and closed by sliding,
Key 9 on lid 8 and lid side interface 10
And a main body side interface 11.

As shown in FIG. 2, the lid 8 is
2 can be opened and closed by sliding on the LCD 3. In the most opened state, the display area of the LCD 3 is completely exposed, and the user can see all the image information displayed on the LCD 3. The lid 8 is partially cut out 13
2B, a part of the LCD 3 is exposed even in the most closed state as shown in FIG. 2B, and a part of the image information displayed on the LCD 3 can be seen by the user.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a lid position detecting means 7 comprising an electrode 14 on the lid 8 and a resistor 15 on the portable terminal main body 12 provides a lid position corresponding to the sliding of the lid 8 with respect to the portable terminal main body 12. The information is monitored and the lid position information P is notified to the terminal control means 1. In the case of this example, since the electrode 14 also moves in accordance with the movement of the lid 8, the position of the lid can be detected by using the voltage obtained from the electrode 14.

The structure of the lid position detecting means is not limited to this, and another structure may be used.

The terminal control means 1 prepares a display mode corresponding to the area of the LCD 3 exposed from the lid 8,
According to the display mode displayed based on the lid position information notified from the lid position detecting means 7, the display mode and the image content to be displayed in the display mode are determined, and the display of the determined content to the display control means 2 is performed. To instruct.

For example, when the position P1 shown in FIG. 2 is set as a threshold value for switching image information, if P> P1 (the lid 8 is opened from the position P), the screen is displayed using the display mode A shown in FIG. When the display is performed and P ≦ P1 (the lid 8 is opened from the position of P), the screen is displayed using the display mode B. At this time, the display mode A is designed to display in the correct direction when the longitudinal direction of the LCD 3 is set to the vertical direction, and the display mode B is set to display in the correct direction when the longitudinal direction of the LCD 3 is set to the horizontal direction. It was made.

The display control means 2 generates image data corresponding to the display content specified by the display control means 1 and
And outputs the timing synchronized with the image data to the driver control means 4 to the driver control means 4. The driver driving means 4 includes the display control means 2
A timing pulse for driving the driver IC of the LCD 3 is output to the LCD 3 in accordance with the timing received from the LCD 3. The LCD 3 samples the image data input from the display control unit 2 using a timing pulse received from the driver driving unit, and displays the image information on the display screen.

According to the example of the abnormality, for example, when used as a portable telephone, the LCD 3 is used with its longitudinal direction oriented vertically, and when used as a PDA, the LCD 3 is used.
It is possible to use such that the longitudinal direction is used in the horizontal direction.

It is also possible to use a plurality of display modes by setting a plurality of thresholds for switching image display contents and using the same method as in the above example.

The display direction of the image information in each display mode is not particularly limited.

Also, when the lid 8 slides, L
A part of the display area of the CD 3 is hidden from the user, and there is a part where the display contents cannot be seen. The terminal control unit 1 notifies the display control unit 2 of a portion visible to the user in the display area of the LCD 3 based on the lid position information notified from the lid position detection unit 7. The display control means 2 changes the image data only in the visible part which has been instructed first in response to the image display content change instruction of the terminal control means 1.

This makes it possible to reduce the processing time.
However, when the lid position is changed, it is necessary to change the image data in accordance with the change of the visible portion, even if there is no instruction from the terminal control means 1 to change the image display contents.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an LCD driver according to Embodiment 2 of the portable terminal of the present invention.

Although not necessarily as shown in the configuration example of FIG. 5, in general, an LCD is constituted by using several driver ICs which can drive lines each having a certain number of rows and columns as shown in FIG. Display all pixels.

Here, when the position of the lid 8 is slid, the portion of the display area of the LCD 3 which is covered by the lid 8 becomes invisible to the user. In this case, displaying the entire display area of the LCD 3 is not preferable in terms of power consumption. Therefore, in the present embodiment, only a necessary area is displayed.

The driver ICs (drivers 1 to 6 and drivers A to D) in the LCD 3 can be turned on / off independently of each other, and are controlled by driver driving means.

In this case, assuming that the lid 8 slides in parallel to the row and the lid 8 closes to the left, the drivers A to D are always powered on. If the lid 8 is closed below the threshold value P1, only the driver 1 is powered on. On, the drivers 1 and 2 are powered on when they are open above the threshold P1, and the drivers are controlled on and off when they are open above the threshold P2. Turn on the power.

It is not necessary to turn on / off the driver ICs for each driver IC, but it is also possible to turn on / off several driver ICs. Further, the position of the threshold is not limited to being set for each driver IC.

According to the above control, the power is turned on only for a necessary part of the driver, so that the power consumption can be reduced.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a backlight which is Embodiment 3 in a portable terminal of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, the backlight is configured such that an area having the same size as the display area of the LCD 3 is divided into several blocks and arranged in parallel in the sliding direction.

Here, when the position of the lid 8 slides, the portion of the display area of the LCD 3 which is covered by the lid 8 is not visible to the user. In this case, displaying the entire display area of the LCD 3 is not preferable in terms of power consumption.
Therefore, in this embodiment, only the necessary area is turned on by the backlight.

Each of the backlight blocks includes:
The power can be turned on / off independently of each other according to an instruction from the lighting control means 5.

In this case, assuming that the lid 8 slides parallel to the row and closes to the left, the terminal control means 1 sends the lid 8 to the lighting control means 5 in accordance with the lid position information notified from the lid position detection means 7. Is ON only when BL1 is closed from P1, BL1 and BL2 are ON when opened from P1,
When it is opened from the position 2, an instruction is given such that all the backlights are turned on, and the backlight lighting is controlled.

There are no particular restrictions on the number of backlight blocks and the number of thresholds. According to the above-described control, only a necessary portion of the backlight is turned on, so that power consumption can be reduced.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a hysteresis characteristic of switching display contents with respect to a change in a lid position according to Embodiment 4 of the portable terminal of the present invention.

Terminal control means 1 in portable terminal of the present invention
Switches the display mode based on the lid position information notified from the lid position detecting means 7.

As shown, the procedure is as follows: when the lid 8 is opened, when the position P of the lid 8 is P> P1 + (H2 / 2),
When the display 8 is closed from the display mode 1 (status 1) to the display mode 2 (status 2), the position P of the lid 8 is set to P
When ≤P1- (H1 / 2), the transition from the display mode 2 (status 2) to the display mode 1 (status 1), and similarly, the transition between the display mode N-1 and the display mode N is performed when the lid 8 is opened. From display mode n (status n) to display mode n + 1 when position P of P is P> Pn + (Hn / 2)
(Status n + 1), when the lid 8 is closed, the display mode n when the position P of the lid 8 is P ≦ Pn− (Hn / 2).
The display mode is changed from +1 (status n + 1) to display mode n (status n).

The margin values before and after the threshold value Pn need not be Hn / 2. In this way, by giving a hysteresis characteristic to the control of the switching of the display content with respect to the change in the lid position, chattering generated in the lid position information detected by the lid position detecting means 7 and minute and insignificant It is possible to prevent the display mode from being switched due to the movement of the lid.

(Fifth Embodiment) In the fifth embodiment, the on / off switching of the LCD driver in response to the change of the lid position in the portable terminal is controlled with a hysteresis characteristic. This will be described with reference to FIG.

The terminal control means 1 switches the display mode based on the lid position information notified from the lid position detecting means 7.

As shown in the figure, when the lid 8 is opened, only the driver 1 is turned on (status 1) when the position P of the lid 8 is P> P1 + (H2 / 2).
On (status 2), when the lid 8 is closed, when the position P of the lid 8 is P ≦ P1− (H1 / 2), the driver 1
From driver 2 ON (status 2) only driver 1 ON (status 1), similarly from driver 1 to N ON and driver 1
When the lid 8 is opened, when the position P of the lid 8 is P> Pn + (Hn / 2), the driver 1 switches from N on (status n) to the driver 1 switches on N + 1 on (status n + 1). When the lid 8 is closed, the lid 8
Driver 1 when the position P is P ≦ Pn− (Hn / 2)
From N + 1 (status n + 1) to N + 1 (status n).

In this manner, the on / off switching of the LCD driver with respect to the change in the lid position is controlled with a hysteresis characteristic, so that the chattering generated in the lid position information detected by the lid position detecting means 7 is prevented. Further, it is possible to prevent the display mode from being switched due to the user's meaningless and minute movement of the lid.

(Embodiment 6) In Embodiment 6, switching on / off of a backlight in response to a change in a lid position in response to a change in a lid position in a portable terminal is controlled with a hysteresis characteristic. The drawing will be described with reference to FIG.

The terminal control means 1 switches the display mode based on the lid position information notified from the lid position detecting means 7.

As shown, when the lid 8 is opened, when the position P of the lid 8 is P> P1 + (H2 / 2), only the backlight 1 is turned on (status 1), and the backlights 1 and 2 are turned on (status 1). Status 2) When the cover 8 is closed, the position B of the cover 8 is P when the position P is P ≦ P1− (H1 / 2).
From L1, 2 ON (Status 2) to only BL1 ON (Status 1), similarly, BL1 to N ON and BL1 to N
The transition of +1 ON is performed when the lid 8 is opened and the position P of the lid 8 is changed.
When P> Pn + (Hn / 2), N1 from BL1 (status n) to N + 1 from BL1 on (status n + 1), and when the lid 8 is closed, the position P of the lid 8 is P
When ≤Pn- (Hn / 2), the lighting backlight is changed from BL1 to N + 1 on (status n + 1) to BL1 to N on (status n).

By controlling the on / off switching of the backlight in response to the change in the lid position with respect to the change in the lid position with a hysteresis characteristic, the lid position detected by the lid position detecting means 7 is controlled. It is possible to prevent chattering occurring in the information and switching of the display mode due to the user's meaningless and minute movement of the lid.

(Embodiment 7) FIG. 8 is an external perspective view of a portable terminal with a key according to Embodiment 7 of the present invention.

In the seventh embodiment, a cover-side interface for transmitting an electric signal for notifying the key and key press information to the cover to the main body is provided, and when the cover is closed, the cover-side interface is provided. A main body side interface for receiving the electric signal is provided at a position on the main body side where the is fitted.

That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the lid 8 has a key 9 for the user to input information to the portable terminal.
And a lid-side interface 10 composed of electrodes for exchanging pressing information of the key 9 with the main body as an electric signal.
The portable terminal body 12 is provided with a body-side interface 11 composed of electrodes for exchanging pressing information of the key 9 through the lid-side interface 10.

In this configuration, when the lid 8 is open, an instruction is input using an input device such as a touch panel arranged on the LCD 3.

Here, when the lid 8 is closed, the terminal control means 1 transmits the pressing information of the key 9 on the lid 8 to the lid side interface 10,
The terminal is controlled based on the press information obtained through the main body side interface 11.

The configuration of the interface is not particularly limited as long as an electric signal is transmitted.

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention, the display contents (for example, the direction) can be automatically changed according to the degree of opening and closing of the lid without any special operation of the user, so that the operability is greatly improved. Can be improved. In addition, since the display of the LCD and the turning on of the backlight are performed only in necessary portions according to the degree of opening and closing of the lid, power consumption can be suppressed, and battery life, which is the basic performance of the portable terminal, can be improved. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a portable terminal according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the portable terminal.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an example of a lid position detecting unit in the portable terminal.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of switching display contents in the portable terminal.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an LCD driver according to a second embodiment in the portable terminal of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a backlight according to a third embodiment of the portable terminal of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hysteresis characteristic of switching display contents with respect to a change in a lid position according to the fourth embodiment in the portable terminal of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an external perspective view of a portable terminal with a key according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an external perspective view of a conventional portable terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Terminal control means 2 Display control means 3 Liquid crystal display (LCD) 4 Driver drive means 5 Lighting control means 6 Backlight 7 Lid position detecting means 8 Lid 9 Key 10 Lid interface 11 Main body interface 12 Mobile terminal body 13 Notch 14 electrode 15 resistor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04Q 7/32 G06F 1/00 331C H04B 7/26 V

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A liquid crystal display for displaying image information, a lid which is opened and closed by a slide and has a shape such that a part of the liquid crystal display is exposed even in a closed state, and Lid position detection means for monitoring the position, terminal control means for determining the content and display range of image information to be displayed on the liquid crystal display, based on the lid position information notified by the lid position detection means, A mobile terminal comprising display control means for generating image data in accordance with an instruction from a terminal control unit and outputting the image data to the liquid crystal display. 2. The portable terminal according to claim 1, further comprising driver driving means capable of controlling on / off of a driver circuit in the liquid crystal display in accordance with an instruction of the terminal control means. 3. A backlight comprising: a backlight divided into a plurality of blocks; and lighting control means for individually turning on / off each of the blocks of the backlight in accordance with an instruction from a terminal control means. The mobile terminal according to claim 1. 4. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein switching of display contents in response to a change in a lid position is controlled with a hysteresis characteristic. 5. The portable terminal according to claim 2, wherein on / off switching of a driver circuit of the liquid crystal display in response to a change in a lid position is controlled with a hysteresis characteristic. 6. The portable terminal according to claim 3, wherein the on / off switching of the backlight in response to a change in the lid position is controlled with a hysteresis characteristic. 7. A lid-side interface for transmitting an electric signal for notifying a key and key press information to the lid to the lid, wherein the lid-side interface is fitted with the lid-side interface when the lid is closed. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein a main body side interface for receiving the electric signal is provided at a position.