JP4025752B2 - Mobile phone and backlight control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile phone having a display unit and an operation unit, and having a backlight as means for illuminating the display unit and the operation unit, and a backlight control method for the mobile phone.

  In recent years, color LCDs have been used for LCD (liquid crystal display) display units of mobile phones. When displaying on the color LCD, the backlight is turned on to ensure visibility. In particular, in a transmission-oriented color LCD, the lighting state of the backlight greatly affects the visibility of the LCD display.

  However, in the conventional mobile phone, in order to reduce current consumption, the backlight is turned off when no operation is detected for a certain period of time.

  That is, in the conventional mobile phone, the backlight unit is turned on only when it is detected that the user has operated. As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, it is detected that the user has operated (S301), and when the backlight unit is not lit (S302), the backlight unit is turned on (S303) and the timer operation is started. (S304). When it is detected that the timer operation has ended (S305), the backlight unit is turned off (S306). If the timer operation end is not detected in S305, it is confirmed whether or not the user has operated (S307). When the user operates, the process proceeds to S302, but when the user does not operate, the process proceeds to S305.

  However, in this case, when the mobile phone is taken out from the pocket or back of the clothes, the backlight remains off, and the LCD display cannot be seen immediately.

  In addition, in a conventional mobile phone, for the purpose of reducing current consumption, a technique for controlling turning on / off of a backlight using an optical sensor or a vibration sensor is disclosed. Patent Document 1 shown below discloses a technique using an optical sensor, and Patent Document 2 discloses a technique using a vibration sensor.

JP 2002-171340 A (page 4-10, FIG. 3-6) Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-179686 (page 3-5, FIG. 1-2)

  As described above, in the conventional mobile phone, the backlight is turned off when no operation is detected for a certain period of time in order to reduce current consumption. In the conventional example shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, when the mobile phone is taken out from the pocket or back of the clothes, the backlight remains off and the LCD display cannot be immediately seen. In order to view the LCD display, it is necessary to turn on the backlight by performing an operation such as pressing an arbitrary key once. Furthermore, if the LCD display becomes dark while editing e-mails etc. in the dark, you can press any key by groping, turn on the backlight, brighten the LCD display, and then enter it by groping There are problems with operability such as the need to delete characters.

  Further, in the technique using the optical sensor disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is possible to automatically control the turning on / off of the backlight according to the surrounding brightness, thereby reducing current consumption. However, depending on the brightness of the surroundings, there is an operational problem that the operator himself has to move to a place where some light can be obtained in order to turn on the backlight in a dark environment.

  Furthermore, in the technology using the vibration sensor disclosed in Patent Document 2, the turning on / off of the backlight is controlled by vibration detection, but inadvertent vibration, for example, a hand holding a mobile phone is unconsciously shaken. There is also a risk that the backlight may turn on due to vibrations when the mobile phone is dropped or vibrations caused by handling a bag containing the mobile phone. .

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and to turn on the backlight by utilizing the movement intended by the operator to change the tilt of the mobile phone, and to improve the operability and the back of the mobile phone. It is to provide a light control method.

In the mobile phone of the present invention, the display unit, the operation unit, the backlight for illuminating at least the display unit, and the attitude of the mobile phone have changed from a state that is not a predetermined reference angle to the state of the reference angle. An inclination detecting means for detecting the operation, a first timer for setting a time from turning on and off the backlight by detecting an operation on the operation unit, and setting the time by detecting a state change by the inclination detecting means. A second timer, and control means for starting the first or second timer and controlling the backlight to be turned on in accordance with the detection. When any one of the second timers is activated and the backlight is lit, the lighting activation of the backlight by the other timer is not started. That.

According to a backlight control method for a mobile phone of the present invention, in the mobile phone having a display unit, an operation unit, and at least a backlight for illuminating the display unit, the attitude of the mobile phone is predetermined by an inclination detection unit. A step of detecting a change from a state that is not a reference angle to a state of the reference angle, and a control unit that detects that a change in state by the tilt detection unit is detected or that an operation on the operation unit has been performed. And turning on the backlight, and controlling the time from turning on the backlight to turning it off according to which of the detections is performed and setting the time in a timer. It is characterized by.

  Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mobile phone according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone 100 according to the first embodiment includes an antenna 101, a wireless unit 102, a tilt sensor 103, a control unit 104, a voice processing unit 108, a receiver 109, a microphone 110, an operation unit 111, an LCD. The control unit 104 includes a display unit 112 and a backlight unit 113. The control unit 104 includes a CPU 105, a memory 106, a timer 107, and peripheral block control circuits.

  The mobile phone 100 communicates with a base station (not shown) via the wireless unit 102 and the antenna 101 under the control of the control unit 104. Radio section 102 selects a signal frequency desired to be received by antenna 101, performs frequency conversion, amplifies and demodulates the signal, and outputs received data to control section 104. The control unit 104 processes the received data and outputs an audio signal to the audio processing unit 108. The audio processing unit 108 converts the audio signal into an analog signal and outputs audio from the receiver 109. The audio input from the microphone 110 is converted into a digital signal by the audio processing unit 108, and the control unit 104 converts the signal into transmission data, modulates it by the radio unit 102, and modulates the carrier wave with a specified frequency. And is transmitted from the antenna 101.

  The control unit 104 monitors the operation unit 111 to determine a user (operator) operation, and performs processing based on the operation. The LCD display unit 112 performs various displays under the control of the control unit 104. The backlight unit 113 is lit at the luminance value set by the control of the control unit 104 and illuminates the display surface of the LCD display unit 112. The control unit 104 controls turning on / off of the backlight unit 113 in accordance with display on / off of the LCD display unit 112 and the like.

  When the horizontal position so that the LCD display unit 112 is easily visible is determined as the reference angle of the mobile phone 100, the mobile phone 100 changes from a non-horizontal state to a horizontal state and reaches the reference angle. When it is determined, the inclination sensor 103 serving as an inclination detection means outputs an ON signal to the control unit 104. Similarly, when the mobile phone 100 changes from a horizontal state to a non-horizontal state and is determined to be no longer at the reference angle, the tilt sensor 103 outputs an off signal to the control unit 104. When the control unit 104 detects that the state of the tilt sensor 103 has changed from the off state to the on state, the control unit 104 turns on the backlight unit 113 and illuminates the display surface of the LCD display unit 112.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  In the first embodiment, when it is detected that the operator has operated (S201), or when the tilt sensor 103 detects a state change from OFF to ON (S202), the backlight unit 113 is being lit. (S203). If the backlight unit 113 is not lit, the backlight unit 113 is turned on (S204), and the operation of the timer 107 is started (S205). When the end of the operation of the timer 107 is detected (S206), the backlight unit 113 is turned off (S207).

  If the backlight unit 113 is on in S203, the timer 107 is restarted. Further, if the timer 107 has not finished operating in S206, if it is detected in S208 that the operator has operated, the process proceeds to S203. If it is not detected in S208 that the operator has operated, it is checked in S209 whether or not the tilt sensor 103 has changed from off to on. If the tilt sensor 103 changes from OFF to ON in S209, it is checked in S203 whether the backlight unit 113 is lit. If the state of the tilt sensor 103 has not changed from off to on in S209, it is determined in S206 whether the timer 107 has finished operating.

  As described above, when the LCD display unit 112 is dark, such as at the start of operation, the backlight unit 113 is turned on by changing the tilt sensor 103 from off to on by changing the tilt of the mobile phone 100, thereby turning on the LCD display unit. 112 can be brightened.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment.

  In the second embodiment, two timers 107 in the first embodiment described above are used. That is, the configuration of the second embodiment is obtained by adding only one timer 107 to the block diagram shown in FIG. 1, and therefore, description of each component is omitted.

  By having two timers 107, the lighting time of the backlight unit 113 when it is detected that the operator has operated, and the lighting time of the backlight unit 113 when the state of the tilt sensor 103 changes from off to on are determined. It can be provided separately. Thereby, the backlight unit 113 is turned on by tilting the cellular phone 100 to return to the reference angle, and the lighting time of the backlight unit 113 is set to be small in the usage application in which the current time is confirmed on the LCD display unit 112. can do. In addition, when the tilt sensor 103 is turned on again while the timer 107 that is started when the tilt sensor 103 changes state from OFF to ON, the tilt sensor 103 is prevented from being restarted. Backlight lighting control in sensor detection is performed separately from other backlight lighting conditions. This makes it possible to suppress unnecessary lighting of the backlight unit 113 in a situation where the inclination sensor 103 is frequently turned on / off, for example, when the operator puts the mobile phone 100 in a pocket or back of clothes. .

  The operation of the second embodiment will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG. As described above, two timers 107 are provided and are expressed as timer A and timer B, respectively.

  When the backlight unit 113 is not turned on in the state where it is detected that the operator has operated in S401 (S402), the backlight unit 113 is turned on using the timer A (S403), and the operation of the timer A is performed. Is started (S404). If the timer A has not timed out in S405, it is confirmed whether or not the operator has operated (S413). If the operator has not operated, it is confirmed whether or not the inclination sensor 103 has changed from off to on. (S414). When the timer A times out in S405, the backlight is turned off (S406).

When the tilt sensor 103 detects a change from OFF to ON in a state where it is not detected that the operator has operated in S401 (S407), the lighting state of the backlight unit 113 is confirmed (S408). In S408, if the timer B is activated, it is determined that the inclination sensor 103 has just changed its state from off to on, and the timer is not started again. That is, if the backlight unit 113 is not lit in S408, the backlight unit 113 is turned on using the timer B (S409), and the operation of the timer B is started (S410). When the timer B times out in S411, the backlight unit 113 is turned off (S412). If the timer B has not timed out in S411, it is confirmed whether the operator has operated (S415). If the operator has not operated, it is confirmed whether the tilt sensor 103 has changed from off to on. (S416). If the tilt sensor 103 has not detected a state change from OFF to ON in S416, the process returns to S411 and returns to the process of confirming whether the timer B has timed out. If the tilt sensor 103 detects a change from OFF to ON in S416, the process returns to S408 and returns to the process of confirming the lighting state of the backlight unit 113. If the backlight unit 113 is on in S408, it is checked in S417 whether the timer B is activated. A transition to S 411 if the timer B has not timed out in S417, if the timer B has timed out in S411, turns off the backlight unit 113.

  Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mobile phone according to the third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the third embodiment.

  In the third embodiment, a front and back backlight control method using a tilt sensor is proposed in a foldable mobile phone having an LCD display and a backlight on both the front and back. Thus, in a folding cellular phone using a tilt sensor, when it is not necessary to turn on the front backlight, only the rear backlight can be turned on, and when it is not necessary to turn on the rear backlight, Only can be lit.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the mobile phone 500 according to the third embodiment includes an antenna 501, a wireless unit 502, a tilt sensor 503, a control unit 504, an audio processing unit 508, a receiver 509, a microphone 510, an operation unit 511, The front LCD display unit 512, the front backlight unit 513, the rear LCD display unit 514, the rear backlight unit 515, and the open / close detection unit 516 are configured. The control unit 504 is a control circuit for the CPU 505, memory 506, timer 507, and peripheral blocks. Have

  As apparent from FIG. 4, the configuration of the third embodiment has an open / close detection unit 516 added to the configuration of the first embodiment, and the LCD display unit has only one location. The backlight unit includes two parts, a front LCD display unit 512 and a front backlight unit 513, and a back LCD unit 514 and a back backlight unit 515.

  In the third embodiment, when the open / close state of the foldable mobile phone 500 changes, the open / close detection unit 516 detects the change and informs the control unit 504 that the open / close state has changed. In addition, the control unit 504 controls turning on / off the front backlight unit 513 in accordance with the display on / off of the front LCD display unit 512. The same applies to the ON / OFF control of the rear LCD display unit 514 and the rear backlight unit 515. Since the operation of other components is the same as that described in the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  Next, the operation of the third embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When it is detected that the operator has operated in a state where the opening / closing detection unit 516 does not detect that the foldable mobile phone 500 is opened (the closed state and the open state) (S601) ( S602), or when the tilt sensor 503 detects a change from off to on (S603), the front backlight unit 513 and the back backlight unit 515 are turned on / off differently depending on the open / close state of the mobile phone 500 (S604). ).

If the cellular phone 500 is opened in S604, the back backlight unit 515 is turned off (S605), and it is confirmed whether the front backlight unit 513 is lit (S606). If the front backlight unit 513 is not turned on in S606, the front backlight unit 513 is turned on (S607), the timer 507 is started (S608), and it is checked in S609 whether the timer 507 has timed out. If timed out in S609, the front backlight unit 513 is turned off (S610).
), The timer 507 is stopped (S611). If the time-out has not occurred in S609, a change in the open / close state of the foldable mobile phone 500 is confirmed (S618).
). If there is no change in the open / closed state in S618, it is detected whether or not the operator has operated (S619). If the operator is not operating in S619, it is detected whether or not the inclination sensor 503 has changed from OFF to ON (S620). If no change is detected in S620, the process proceeds to S609.

  If the cellular phone 500 is closed in S604, the front backlight unit 513 is turned off (S612), and it is confirmed whether the rear backlight unit 515 is lit (S613). If the back backlight unit 515 is not lit in S613, the back backlight unit 515 is lit (S614), the timer 507 is started (S615), and it is confirmed in S616 whether the timer 507 has timed out. If timed out in S616, the rear backlight unit 515 is turned off (S617), and the timer 507 is stopped (S611). If the time-out has not occurred in S616, a change in the open / closed state of the foldable mobile phone 500 is confirmed (S621). If there is no change in the open / closed state in S621, it is detected whether or not the operator has operated (S622). If the operator is not operating in S622, it is detected whether or not the inclination sensor 503 has changed from OFF to ON (S623). If no change is detected in S623, the process proceeds to S616.

  As described above, when the folding mobile phone 500 has the LCD display unit and the backlight unit on both the front and the back, only the front backlight can be obtained by combining the detection of the folding open / close state and the detection by the tilt sensor. It is possible to turn on or only the back backlight.

  In the first to third embodiments described above, the reference angle for detecting the state change by the inclination sensors 103 and 503 is set to the posture state in which the mobile phones 100 and 500 are placed horizontally. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the reference angle may be set to be adjustable to the tilt posture angle of the mobile phone that is most easily recognized by the operator.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the mobile telephone of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the mobile telephone of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the mobile telephone of the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of 3rd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the conventional mobile telephone.

Explanation of symbols

100, 500 Mobile phone 101, 501 Antenna 102, 502 Wireless unit 103, 503 Tilt sensor 104, 504 Control unit 105, 505 CPU
106, 506 Memory 107, 507 Timer 108, 508 Audio processing unit 109, 509 Receiver 110, 510 Microphone 111, 511 Operation unit 112 LCD display unit 113 Backlight unit 512 Front LCD display unit 513 Front backlight unit 514 Rear LCD display unit 515 Rear backlight unit 516 Open / close detection unit

Claims (5)

A display unit, an operation unit,
A backlight for illuminating at least the display unit;
An inclination detecting means for detecting that the posture of the mobile phone has changed from a state that is not a predetermined reference angle to the state of the reference angle;
A first timer for setting a time from turning on the backlight to turning off by detecting an operation on the operation unit;
A second timer for setting the time based on detection of a state change by the inclination detecting means;
In response to whether the detection is due to starting the first or second timer,
Control means for controlling to turn on the backlight,
When either one of the first timer and the second timer is activated and the backlight is lit, the cellular phone is not started to activate the backlight by the other timer. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein the other timer is a second timer.   3. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined reference angle is set to a posture state in which the mobile phone is placed horizontally. 4.   3. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined reference angle can be changed from a posture state in which the mobile phone is placed horizontally. 4. In a backlight control method for a mobile phone having a display unit, an operation unit, and a backlight for illuminating at least the display unit,
Detecting a change in the attitude of the mobile phone from a state that is not a predetermined reference angle to a state of the reference angle by an inclination detection unit;
For the detection by the inclination detecting means, the first time is
Detecting that the operation by the operation unit has been performed, setting the second time as the time from turning on the backlight to turning off;
When a change in state is detected by the tilt detection means or when it is detected that an operation has been performed on the operation unit, the control means turns on the backlight and controls the timer to set the corresponding time. And a process of
When it is detected that the state has been changed by the tilting means while the backlight is turned on, the backlight is set to the timer again with the first time as the time from turning on the backlight to turning it off. In the case where it is detected that the operation on the operation unit has been performed without continuously lighting , the second time is set to the timer again with the second time as the time from turning on to turning off the backlight. A backlight control method for a mobile phone, comprising: a step of setting and suppressing continuous lighting .

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