JPH1174960A - Character selecting method for telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simultaneously display plural characters on screen and to facilitate the input registration operation at the time of storing (registering) a telephone number and a name in a telephone book. SOLUTION: The numerals of the telephone number are inputted by a depression operation with a function selection key and a ten key in an input operation part 10 by the control of CPU 7. The numbers of the telephone number is displayed on an LCD 9 through an LCD driver 8. Then, plural character data are read from a font memory 13 at every key depression operation and one-time key depression operation with the function selection key and the ten key in the input operation part 10 by the control of CPU 7. The plural characters are displayed on the LCD 9 through the LCD driver 8. The desired character is selected from the plural characters which are screen-displayed against the plural characters which are screen-displayed by the operation of the function selection key and the ten key in the input operation part 10, and the selected telephone number and name are registered in the telephone book area of the memory 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone, and more particularly, to a method of selecting a character to be displayed on a display unit of a telephone. It is advantageously applied to telephones and the like.

[0002] In this specification, the term "character" is used to mean "character", "number", "symbol", and the like.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A portable telephone generally has a liquid crystal screen display section of three or more lines, and this screen display section can display a communication state, a partner telephone number, and the like. Further, the mobile phone has a telephone directory function for registering a telephone number as a standard function, and can display the telephone number and name of the other party on this screen display unit. That is, in this type of mobile phone, a user inputs and operates a telephone number and a name, and stores the same in a memory. Thereafter, the user searches by the initials of the name and reads out a telephone number corresponding to the name.
Alternatively, a telephone number corresponding to the input of the abbreviated number can be read and an automatic call can be made.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing a main part of an input operation unit in a conventional portable telephone. The example of FIG. 10 shows a key arrangement of an input operation unit (main part of a keypad) for inputting and storing a character. The numbers are for inputting telephone numbers, and the characters (Katakana characters and English characters) are for inputting names and company names (hereinafter described only with names). The symbols are added to, for example, telephone numbers and characters.

The input operation unit includes keys 1 to 0 for inputting numbers "1" to "0", auxiliary keys for inputting "*", "#", etc., a redial key 100, and Kana / English key 2.
00.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing characters assigned to respective keys of the input operation unit shown in FIG. The character data shown in FIG. 11 is stored as a data table in a font memory (character generator) or the like in the mobile phone. Each character data is assigned to keys 1 to 0, auxiliary keys and redial key 100 shown in FIG. 10, and when inputting characters, the input format (Katakana input mode / English character input mode) is changed by Kana / English key 200. Switching and selection can be made in accordance with the number of times each key is pressed.

That is, character data of katakana characters "A to W" are allocated in accordance with the number of times the keys 1 to 0 of the input operation unit are pressed, and can be selected. In addition, English character data "A to Z, a to z" are assigned to keys 2 to 9 of the input operation unit, and can be selected. Further, a key, a mark,
Symbol data is assigned, and corresponding numeric data 1 to 0 are assigned to keys 1 to 0 of the input operation unit, respectively, so that each can be selected.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a character selection method in a conventional portable telephone. In this character selection method, first, a character input / selection mode is set by pressing a function selection key (not shown). Next, FIG.
As shown in, for example, the telephone number "0123467878"
"9" is input from the numeric keypad shown in FIG.

Next, a katakana input mode is set, that is, a name input state corresponding to the telephone number being displayed on the screen is set. For example, as shown in FIG. 12A, by depressing the ten key 1, the character data of the first "A" in the row A is read from the character data shown in FIG. 11, and is displayed on the screen. Next, as shown in FIG. 12B, when the numeric key 1 is pressed again after the character data of “A”, the character data of “A” in line A is read from the character data shown in FIG. Is displayed.

When the numeric key 1 is pressed again after the character data "A" as shown in FIG.
The character data of "U" in line A is read from the character data shown in FIG. 1 and displayed on the LCD. In this way,
Select the number input mode, katakana input mode, or English character input mode, and sequentially press and operate the keys 1 to 0 of the input operation unit to sequentially read out the character data corresponding to the desired telephone number and name, and then set The data is stored in a memory by pressing a key or the like, and the telephone number and name are registered. Along with such new character input registration,
When changing the phone number and name that you have already memorized,
The data is inserted or overwritten and stored by the same key pressing operation, and the new telephone number and name are registered in the telephone directory area of the memory. In this example, the name is input after the input of the telephone number. However, the opposite may be applied, that is, the telephone number may be input after the input of the name.

[0011]

As described above, in the above conventional example, the characters (characters, numbers, and symbols) assigned to the numeric keys and the auxiliary keys are continuously read one by one by sequentially depressing the keys. It is issued and displayed on the screen. At this time, since only one unselected character is displayed on the screen, it is difficult to know in which order the character to be input is allocated. Especially when multiple symbols are assigned to one key, it is necessary to repeat the cyclic key operation until the target symbol is found in order to input one symbol, and to select the desired symbol when it is found There was a problem that the input operation of the character took time.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a character selecting method for a telephone which can perform a character input operation in a short time and easily.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, a method of selecting a character to be displayed on a display unit of a telephone according to the present invention comprises the steps of: Are displayed on the display unit, and a desired character is selected from the plurality of characters displayed on the screen.

According to the present invention, there is provided an input operation means provided with a plurality of operation keys including a plurality of operation keys to which a plurality of characters are assigned, and a character storing a character assigned to the plurality of operation keys. A data storage unit, a screen display unit for displaying a character stored in the character data storage unit on a screen, and detecting a pressing operation of an operation key to which the character is assigned,
A plurality of character data assigned to the pressed operation key is read out from the character data storage means and displayed on the screen display means so that a desired character can be selected from the plurality of characters displayed on the screen. Control means.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a telephone having a function of registering a telephone number and a name, comprising: a plurality of operation keys including a plurality of operation keys to which a plurality of characters are assigned; Character data storage means in which the characters assigned to the operation keys are stored, screen display means for displaying the characters stored in the character data storage means on the screen, and telephone number data and name data displayed on the screen display means. When a press operation of an operation key to which a character is assigned is detected, a plurality of character data assigned to the pressed operation key is read out from the character data storage unit and displayed on the screen display means. , The desired character from among the multiple characters displayed on the screen When the selection operation is performed by the operation key of the input operation unit, the character selection process is performed. When the registration operation in the registration storage unit is performed by the operation key of the input operation unit, the corresponding character displayed on the screen display unit is displayed. And control means for registering the information in the registration storage means.

In the present invention having such a configuration, when a character to be displayed on the screen is selected, a plurality of characters (characters, numbers, and symbols) are simultaneously displayed on the screen, and a desired character is selected from the plurality of characters. It becomes possible.
Therefore, unlike the conventional example, it is not necessary to successively read the characters one by one to sequentially read out the characters one by one and display them on the screen. . This is particularly effective in the case of input / selection operation of symbols or the like whose arrangement order is not known to the user in advance.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a character selecting method for a telephone according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment when the present invention is applied to a mobile phone. FIG.
1 shows an electrical configuration of a mobile phone.
That is, the mobile phone has an antenna Ant for transmitting and receiving to and from a base station (not shown) via a wireless line;
An antenna duplexer 1 such as a high-frequency switch and a duplexer for sharing the antenna Ant for transmission and reception, and a radio (RF) transmission / reception unit 2 that includes a reception system and a transmission system and performs high-frequency amplification, frequency conversion, demodulation, and the like. Have.

The portable telephone further comprises a baseband signal processing unit 3 comprising a receiving system and a transmitting system for performing codec processing such as encoding of a transmission signal in the PCM system and decoding of the reception signal, and a transmission system. An audio signal processing unit (telephone circuit) 4 for amplifying a signal or a received signal, processing a side tone, and the like; a microphone 5 for transmitting a voice; a speaker 6 for outputting a received voice; And a CPU 7 for performing processing such as a call and a call. CPU
7 also performs character selection control described later.

The portable telephone further comprises an LCD matrix driving circuit 8 for generating and outputting image data from the CPU 7 into X and Y matrix driving signals, and an X and Y matrix driving signal from the LCD matrix driving circuit 8 to a screen. A liquid crystal display (LCD) 9 for displaying, for example, a character at the time of input registration of a telephone number or a name and a cursor as an instruction mark on a screen, and an input operation unit 10 for inputting a telephone number and performing various functions. Have.

Further, the portable telephone has a memory 12 as character data storage means for storing telephone number, name and abbreviated number data in the telephone directory function in a telephone directory area, and stores character data corresponding to addresses. Font memory (character generator) 13 as registration storage means for storing, ROM 14 for storing control programs and the like, and RA as a working memory
M15 and an input / output (I / O) for performing data input / output processing when the CPU 7 takes in and outputs data from each unit.
It has processing circuits 16 and 17.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the external structure of the portable telephone shown in FIG. In the external configuration of this mobile phone, FIG.
, A microphone 5, a speaker 6, an LCD 9, and an input operation unit 10 are arranged.

The input operation unit 10 includes a function selection key 10a for turning on the power, responding to an outgoing / incoming call (on / off hook), selecting or setting a function, etc. It has a numeric keypad 10b for registering numbers, names, and the like in the telephone directory.

The function selection key 10a includes a power on / off key, an on / off hook key, a volume adjustment key, an incoming call selection key, a redial key, a speed dial number key, and the like, for implementing the present invention. A mode setting key / registration setting key 11a for registering in the telephone directory is provided. In addition, a kana / English key 11c for reading out a plurality of characters such as katakana characters, English characters or symbols at the time of registration of a telephone number and a name, and a clear key 1 for instructing deletion of a screen display by an input operation.
1d, and up / down scroll keys 11ea, 11eb for reading the front or bottom of the screen display character at the time of registering the telephone number and name, also used for volume adjustment.
Is provided. Also, the auxiliary key 1 of the numeric keypad 10b
1g (*) and 11h (#) are keys used to scroll the display screen back and forth, left and right, to specify input characters when registering and clearing a telephone number and name, and to input a password when listening to a remote controller. It is assigned as

Numerical keys 10b include numeric keys 1 to
0 is provided, and initial keys for reading out katakana character strings at a time are displayed (assigned) on these keys 1 to 0 as shown in FIG. The keys 1 to 0 also display (assign) a plurality of English characters for reading the plurality of English characters at a time.

In addition to the above, a ringer (speaker) dedicated to an incoming call, an external microphone / earphone jack, an incoming call by vibration, a vibrator for notifying an error setting operation by vibration, an LCD 9 and an input operation unit 10
There is also provided an illuminating section for illuminating the back of the camera, but this is omitted here.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing characters and numbers stored in the font memory 13. The character and numeric data shown in FIG. 3 are stored as a data table in the font memory 13 shown in FIG. This data table stores katakana characters, English characters, and numeric characters corresponding to the addresses of the keys 1 to 0 shown in FIG. When any one of the keys 1 to 0 is pressed, a katakana character string or an English character string for each line shown in FIG. 3 is read and displayed on the LCD 9. Thereafter, the desired character is selected from the katakana character string or the English character string as described below.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing symbols stored in the font memory 13. The symbol data shown in FIG.
After the mode setting key / registration setting key 11a of the function selection key 10a is pressed, the auxiliary key 11g (*) or 11h (#) is pressed to display the screen on the LCD 9, and the up / down scroll keys 11ea and 11eb are used in FIG. All or some of the symbols in each line can be designated and input.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The telephone operation of the configuration shown in FIG. 1 is the same as that of a general (conventional) mobile phone.

That is, a radio transmission / reception process through the antenna Ant, the antenna duplexer 1, the radio transmission / reception unit 2, the baseband signal processing unit 3, the audio signal processing unit 4, the microphone 5, the speaker 6, and the encoding / decoding. By the codec voice processing, a call is made with a base station (not shown) and a destination through a mobile telephone network, and a call is made by receiving (closing a communication path). Further, the detection of the end signal at the end of the call causes release of the call path in the mobile telephone network and the public wired telephone network.

In such a calling operation, the input operation unit 10 is connected after the line connection with the mobile telephone network by calling.
, A telephone number is input, and the selection signal is transmitted to connect with the other party. When the telephone directory function is used for making a call, a telephone number registered in the telephone directory area of the memory 12 or a first letter of a name is input to search for a telephone number.
Alternatively, the telephone number is read by inputting the abbreviated number, and this selection signal (telephone number signal) is sent to the mobile telephone network to establish a line connection with the other party.

The registration of telephone numbers and names in the telephone directory (memory 12) will be described below. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display screen of the LCD 9 when registering a telephone number and a name in the telephone directory. When performing a registration operation, first, the mode setting key / registration setting key 11a of the input operation unit 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is pressed. When the CPU 7 detects this press through the I / O processing circuit 16 shown in FIG. 1, the CPU 7 sets a working area in the RAM 15 to register a telephone number and name, or enters a telephone directory registration mode for partially changing the name. Set. Hereinafter, new registration of a telephone number and a name will be described with reference to FIG. When a part of the telephone number and name already registered in the telephone directory is changed, the additional insertion or overwriting is performed by basically the same operation as the new registration.

First, a telephone number shown in FIG. 5A is registered. Specifically, a registration setting key 11a of the function selection key 10a is pressed. The CPU 7 receives this push signal through the I / O processing circuit 16 shown in FIG. 1 and sets the numeric input mode. Here, the input operation unit 1 shown in FIG.
For example, when the telephone number "01234456789" is input by the numeric keypad 10b shown in FIG. 2 at 0, the telephone number data is output from the CPU 7 to the LCD matrix drive circuit 8, where it is converted into X, Y matrix drive signals. The data is sent to the LCD 9 and displayed on the screen. At the same time, the telephone number data is temporarily stored at a corresponding address in the working area of the RAM 15.

Next, the key in the function selection key 10a
The English key 11c is depressed, and this depressed signal causes
Is input by the CPU 7 through the I / O processing circuit 16 shown in FIG. Here, in order to register the name corresponding to the telephone number “012345789” in katakana characters, the katakana character string is read out by pressing keys 1 to 0 shown in FIG. In this case, the character strings shown in FIG. 3 corresponding to the pressed keys 1 to 0 are displayed on the LCD 9 through the CPU 7 and the LCD matrix driving circuit 8 together with the cursor of the triangular arrow.

For example, as shown in FIG.
Displays a katakana character string of "AIUEO" on the line A assigned to the key 1 of the numeric keypad 10b above the telephone number. At the same time, a cursor with a triangular arrow is displayed on the LCD 9. Thereafter, the input operation unit 10 shown in FIG.
Is operated by pressing the auxiliary keys 11g and 11h of the numeric keypad 10b. This push signal is transmitted to the I / O processing circuit 1 shown in FIG.
The CPU 7 takes in the data through 6, and moves the entire katakana character on the line A one character at a time with respect to the cursor (scroll)
Control. In addition, by selecting and holding the auxiliary keys 11g and 11h to make the left and right scroll speed of the displayed characters on one screen faster than the normal speed, the input characters can be selected more quickly.

For example, when the name is “Aoki”, FIG.
As shown in (c), the katakana character string on line A is moved to the position of the character "A" with respect to the cursor, and the mode setting key / registration setting key 11a is pressed to register this character. The registration instruction signal is received by the CPU 7 through the I / O processing circuit 16 shown in FIG. 1 and temporarily stored in a corresponding address in the working area of the RAM 15. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 5D, the katakana character string on line A is moved to the position of the character "o" with respect to the cursor, and this character is registered.

Further, similarly to the case where the row A is read, the key "2" of the numeric keypad 10b is pressed, and the row is read (FIG. 5 (e)), and the auxiliary key is pressed to register "K". After setting, the name "Aoki" for the telephone number "012345789" is registered. Working area data of this RAM 15 (telephone number, name data)
Is stored in the memory 12 under the control of the CPU 7 and registered in the telephone directory when the mode setting key / registration setting key 11a is pressed. The registration of inserting the English characters shown in FIG. 3 before and after the characters of the telephone number and the name is also performed in the same manner as in the case where the rows A and F are read and selected. The registration of inserting the symbols shown in FIG. 4 before and after the telephone number and name characters is also displayed on the screen in the same manner as described above, although the method of reading the symbol strings from the font memory 13 is different, and the registration setting operation is basically the same. . After the registration in the telephone directory is completed, the telephone number corresponding to the initial of the name is searched and read, and this telephone number is automatically transmitted.

As described above, in this embodiment, it is not necessary to sequentially press the keys to sequentially read out characters one by one and display them on the screen, so that a desired character can be easily selected. In particular, when inputting a symbol string whose order arrangement is not known in advance, as described above, when read from the font memory 13, the symbol string stored for each address in the memory is displayed in whole or in part on the display screen. By doing so, a symbol to be input can be found immediately at a glance, so that the input operation does not take much time, and the telephone number and name can be quickly registered in the telephone directory.

Next, another embodiment will be described.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display screen when a cursor is moved to a character string to make a selection. The example of FIG. 6 is different from the above-described embodiment in that a desired character is selected by moving (scrolling) the character one character at a time with respect to a cursor that displays the entire character at a fixed position on the screen. The whole character, for example, the line A is displayed on the screen at a fixed position, and the cursor is moved (moved from the dotted line cursor to the solid line cursor in the figure) with respect to the character string on the line A, Two characters are selected consecutively.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a display screen when a selection is made from a plurality of character strings. In the example of FIG. 7, the screen is displayed by operating the function selection key 10a and the numeric keypad 10b of the input operation unit 10 for each row A and row C in the above-described embodiment. A, f) by pressing the function selection key 10a and the numeric keypad 10b.
At the same time, they are displayed on the screen. And this multiple lines,
For example, the cursor is moved (moved from a dotted line cursor to a solid line cursor) with respect to line a and line
The two characters "A, O" are continuously selected. It should be noted that the entire characters on the lines A and K may be scrolled with respect to a fixed cursor and the cursor may be selected.

After displaying one line of character string (for example, line A) on the screen, the character string of the next desired line (for example, line A) is selected by depressing the keys 1 to 0 of the numeric keypad 10b. Instead, the user may depress the up / down scroll keys 11ea and 11eb and the auxiliary keys 11g and 11h to scroll and read the upper and lower rows of the character example displayed on the screen, and display the screen. In this case, the character string of the next line close to the character string of the currently displayed line can be read out and displayed on the screen in a short time.

The embodiments described here are for explaining the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto. That is, in these embodiments, the case where the telephone number and name displayed on the screen are registered in the electronic telephone directory has been described as an example, but the present invention is not particularly limited to this, and the screen display is performed using the present invention. Of course, the present invention is also applicable to a case where the contents are transmitted as a message to the partner terminal.

Further, the selection method described in the present embodiment is an example, and other selection methods may be, for example, using an underline instead of a triangular arrow, or inverting the display. Thereby, the display space of the character string / symbol string in the limited display screen can be effectively used.
Furthermore, in the present embodiment, a method of selecting characters (characters, numbers, and symbols) using a mobile phone has been described. However, the present invention is not particularly limited to mobile phones, and it is possible to provide a key for a wired phone or all characters. It is also applicable to small data terminals that cannot be used.

[0043]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the character input method of the telephone of the present invention, a plurality of characters (characters, numbers, and symbols) are simultaneously displayed on a screen and a desired character is selected. Becomes possible. Therefore, it is not necessary to sequentially depress keys to sequentially read out characters one by one and display them on the screen as in the related art, and to select them after the screen is displayed. This makes it possible to easily select a desired character.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a character input method in a telephone according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the external configuration of the mobile phone shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing characters stored in a font memory according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing codes stored in a font memory according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display screen when registering a telephone number and a name in a telephone directory in the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display screen when a selection is made by moving a cursor with respect to a character row in the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a display screen when a selection is made from a plurality of character strings in the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a configuration of a main part of an input operation unit in a conventional telephone.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing characters assigned to keys of the input operation unit shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a character input method on a conventional telephone.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 CPU 9 Liquid crystal display (LCD) 10 Input operation unit 10a Function selection key 10b Numeric keypad 11a Mode setting key / registration setting key 11c Kana / English key 11ea, 11eb Up / down scroll key 11g, 11h Auxiliary key 12 Memory 13 Font memory 15 RAM

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A method for selecting a character to be displayed on a display unit of a telephone, wherein when a key to which the character is allocated is pressed, a plurality of characters allocated to the key are displayed on a screen of the display unit. And selecting a desired character from the plurality of characters displayed on the screen. 2. An input operation means in which a plurality of operation keys including a plurality of operation keys to which a plurality of characters are assigned are provided; and a character data storage means in which characters assigned to the plurality of operation keys are stored. Screen display means for displaying a character stored in the character data storage means on a screen, and when a press operation of an operation key to which the character is assigned is detected, the character data storage means Control means for reading out a plurality of assigned character data, displaying the data on the screen display means on the screen, and performing a selection operation of a desired character from the plurality of characters displayed on the screen. A featured telephone. 3. The character selection method and telephone according to claim 1, wherein the screen display of the plurality of characters is displayed in one or more stages. 4. The whole of the plurality of characters displayed on the screen moves with respect to the instruction mark displayed on the screen,
3. A character selecting method and a telephone according to claim 1, wherein a desired character is selected. 5. A character input method and a telephone according to claim 1, wherein a desired character is selected by moving an instruction mark for the plurality of characters displayed on the screen. 6. The display mark or the plurality of characters displayed on the screen can be moved at a high speed by a long-pressing operation of an auxiliary key.
Character input method and telephone in the telephone described. 7. The character according to claim 1, wherein one of the characters is selected or a plurality of characters are selected as a selection of a desired character for the plurality of characters displayed on the screen. Input method and telephone. 8. A plurality of characters displayed on the screen are read out in a forward or reverse direction by another key pressing operation and are newly displayed on the screen. A character input method and a telephone according to claim 1 or 2, wherein 9. The screen according to claim 1, wherein a desired character selected from the plurality of characters displayed on the screen is displayed on the screen at a different position from the plurality of character strings displayed on the screen. Character input method on telephone and telephone. 10. A telephone provided with a function of registering a telephone number and a name, wherein: input operation means provided with a plurality of operation keys including a plurality of operation keys to which a plurality of characters are assigned; Character data storage means storing characters assigned to the character data storage means, screen display means for displaying a character stored in the character data storage means on a screen, and telephone number data and name data displayed on the screen display means. Registration storage means for storing, when detecting a press operation of the operation key to which the character is assigned, reading out a plurality of character data assigned to the pressed operation key from the character data storage means, and displaying the screen display means On the screen, and a plurality of characters displayed on the screen are displayed. When a selection operation of a desired character is performed by an operation key of the input operation unit, a character selection process is performed, and when a registration operation to the registration storage unit is performed by an operation key of the input operation unit, the screen display unit And a control unit for registering the corresponding character displayed on the screen in the registration storage unit.