JP5452899B2 - Function assignment method for portable terminal and operation buttons - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a function assignment method for a portable terminal and operation buttons that can obtain good operability regardless of the type of function to be used.

  Current general mobile phone terminals are equipped with around 20 buttons such as four-way keys (including decision buttons) and keys for entering numbers and alphabets, and users use these buttons. All operations from calling to internet connection are performed.

  Since these mobile phone terminals are designed to be operated with one hand, the number of buttons is smaller than that of a computer terminal, and several numbers and alphabets are assigned to one button. Therefore, depending on the characters and symbols, the button must be operated multiple times when inputting.

  In addition, there is a shape called a “slide type” as one of terminal shapes for achieving both a large display screen and a small terminal in a mobile phone terminal. A slide-type mobile phone terminal has a structure in which an input unit having operation buttons is arranged on the back of a display unit having a display. The display unit and the input unit are slidably connected, and the button can be exposed only when necessary.

As a technique related to the slide-type mobile phone terminal, there is a “mobile phone” disclosed in Patent Document 1. In the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, operation buttons for using secondary functions such as camera operation are provided separately from normal operation buttons, and each can be slid independently.
JP 2006-325114 A

  In recent years, mobile phone terminals have become more sophisticated, and some models have interface screens similar to those for computer terminals, and are compatible with data (generally mobile versions). Is called).

  Since such a mobile version of the application is highly functional, it may be necessary to input a lot of information during operation. For this reason, in order to improve the input property of characters, mobile phone terminals adopting the QWERTY array have also appeared and are trying to realize operability close to that of a computer terminal.

However, in a mobile phone terminal, there are at most several types of keys that need to be operated when confirming confirmation of outgoing calls and received mail. For this reason, even if a QWERTY key is provided, the majority of keys are not operated at the time of making a call or checking a received mail.
For this reason, it is not always possible to obtain good operability for mobile phone terminals that require operations such as calls and confirmation of received mail, even if a QWERTY key is simply installed.

  In the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, an operation button that is no different from a normal mobile phone terminal is arranged in one input unit. Therefore, if a QWERTY array button is mounted on the other input unit, each button becomes extremely small, and good operability cannot be obtained when inputting a long sentence.

Such a problem is not limited to mobile phone terminals. For example, in the case of a portable music player, the operations performed when using the music playback function are limited to volume adjustment, pause / release, skip, rewind, etc. If there are several keys, good operability can be obtained.
However, when using the editing function of music information (music title, artist name, etc.), since it is necessary to input a lot of information, the QWERTY key can provide better operability.

  In other words, there are functions of the mobile terminal that can provide better operability when the number of keys is larger and those that can be obtained when the number is smaller. Since the portable terminal related to the present invention has only an input unit with a small number of keys or an input unit with a large number of keys, good operability cannot be obtained depending on the function used. Further, as in Patent Document 1, if an input unit with a large number of keys and an input unit with a small number of keys are provided separately, each key becomes extremely small in an input unit with a large number of keys, and good operation is achieved. Sex cannot be obtained.

  As described above, a portable terminal capable of obtaining good operability regardless of the type of function used has not been provided.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object thereof is to provide a function assignment method for a portable terminal and operation buttons that can provide good operability regardless of the type of function used.

A portable terminal according to the present invention includes a display unit including an information display device, and first and second input units each including an operation button, and the first input unit and the second input unit. At least one of the operation buttons has both the first and second input units appear, and the first and second input units appear without changing the orientation of the display unit relative to the first and second input units. The first input unit is housed in the back of the display unit so that the user can hold it with one hand, and the display unit is a single hand holding the first input unit. It is connected with the 1st input unit so that sliding is possible.

The function assignment method of the operation buttons according to the present invention includes a display unit provided with an information display device, and first and second input units each provided with an operation button. The control unit assigns the function of the operation button in the portable terminal in which the input unit is connected independently from the back surface of the display unit. The first input unit is a display unit that can be held by a user with one hand. The display unit is connected to the first input unit so as to be slidable with one finger of one hand holding the first input unit, and at least of the first input unit and the second input unit. on one of the operation buttons, and a state without changing the orientation of the display unit for the first and second input units are allowed to appear in the first or second input unit alone, first及In a state where both are allowed to appear a second input unit, the control unit assigns different functions.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the function assignment | assignment method of the portable terminal and operation button which can obtain favorable operativity irrespective of the kind of function to be used can be provided.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described.
1A and 1B show the configuration of a mobile phone terminal according to the present embodiment. The mobile phone terminal according to this embodiment includes a display unit 5 and input units 7 and 8. On the front face of the display unit 5, a receiver 9, a display 3, a four-direction key 4, and an enter button 11 are arranged. Rails 12 are provided on the back surface 6 of the display unit in the longitudinal direction of the unit.

  An input button 13 and a slider 16 are provided on the front surface of the input unit 7. An input button 14, a microphone 15, and a slider 17 are provided on the front surface of the input unit 8.

  The rail 12 and the sliders 16 and 17 constitute the double slide structure 1, and each of the sliders 16 and 17 can slide along the rail 12. The double slide mechanism 1 can be realized as a known structure having a shape as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the input unit 7 is in a closed state by sliding only the input unit 8 into an open state, so that the input button 14 is exposed and the user can operate with one hand. Further, by sliding both the input units 7 and 8 into the open state, the QWERTY array button 2 formed by the input buttons 13 and 14 can be operated with both hands.

  FIG. 4A shows the configuration of the display unit 5. FIG. 5 shows a functional configuration of a main part of the display unit 5. The display unit 5 includes a posture sensor 10, expansion sensors 21 and 22, and a control unit 20 in addition to the display 3, the four-direction key 4, the receiver 9, the determination button 11, and the rail 12. The posture sensor 10 detects the posture (tilt with respect to the vertical direction) of the mobile phone terminal and outputs the detection result to the control unit 20. The control unit 20 determines whether the mobile phone terminal is held vertically or horizontally according to a signal from the attitude sensor 10 and determines the direction of information displayed on the display 3 according to the determination result. It changes as shown in FIG.4 (b). Whether the input units 7 and 8 are in the closed state or the open state is detected by the expansion / contraction sensors 21 and 22. The detection results of the expansion sensors 21 and 22 are output to the control unit 20. As will be described later, the control unit 20 changes the orientation of characters and the like displayed on the input buttons 13 and 14 based on the detection results of the attitude sensor 10 and the expansion / contraction sensors 21 and 22.

  As shown in FIG. 6, assigned characters and symbols are displayed on the input button 13 of the input unit 7 and the input button 14 of the input unit 8. The display direction is the same as the display direction of information on the display 3.

  In the double slide structure 1, the sliders 16 and 17 slide on the rail 12 independently to make the input units 7 and 8 open or closed. Therefore, when making a call, a call operation using the input button 14 can be performed by pulling out only the input unit 8 housed in the back of the display unit 5 (open state). When inputting a long sentence, the QWERTY array button 2 formed by the input buttons 13 and 14 can be used by pulling out both the input units 7 and 8 from the back of the display unit 5.

  When performing operations for calls, games, and Internet connection with only one hand, the user holds the mobile phone terminal so that the input unit 8 housed in the back of the display unit 5 is held with one hand, and the hand holding the hand With the thumb or the other hand, the display unit 5 is pushed up in the direction of arrow A as shown in FIG. 7 and is slid until all the input buttons 14 appear. The fact that only the input unit 8 is open is detected by the expansion / contraction sensor 22 and notified to the control unit 20. Since the orientation sensor 10 built in the display unit 5 detects the orientation of the user holding the mobile phone terminal, the display 9 of the display unit 5 has the receiver 9 side up. An image is displayed in the direction of arrow B. Furthermore, in response to only the attitude information of the mobile phone terminal detected by the attitude sensor 10 and the input unit 8 being in the open state, the control unit 20 is in the same direction as the image displayed on the display 3 and the input button 14 Displays the letters and symbols assigned to each.

In addition, when it is necessary to input a long sentence for creating a mail text, the user grasps the input unit 7 and the input unit 8 with both hands and pushes the display unit 5 from both sides with both thumbs. As shown, the input units 7 and 8 are slid in the directions of arrows C and D from the back of the display unit 5 to expose all the input buttons 13 and 14.
The expansion sensors 21 and 22 detect that both the input units 7 and 8 are in the open state, and notify the control unit 20 of them. At this time, since the orientation sensor 10 detects how the user holds the mobile phone terminal, the image on the display 3 is displayed with the direction of the arrow E facing upward. Then, the characters of the QWERTY array button 2 are lit on the input buttons 13 and 14 in the same direction as the image displayed on the display 3. Therefore, the user can input a long sentence by operating the button 2 of the QWERTY array with both hands.

  As described above, in the mobile phone terminal according to the present embodiment, the display unit and the input unit are separated from each other in the same manner as the mobile phone terminal such as the folding type and the slide type. Since the input unit 8 and the input unit 8 slide, the user can use the mobile phone terminal by deforming it into a state suitable for the application. Therefore, when making a telephone call or inputting a short sentence, only one input unit 8 can be slid to operate with one hand. In addition, when inputting a long sentence such as when creating a mail text, both the input units 7 and 8 can be slid and the QWERTY array button 2 can be used. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the number of times the button is pressed when inputting characters and to realize good operability.

  Thus, the mobile phone terminal according to the present embodiment can be used by being transformed into a state suitable for the user's purpose of use.

In addition, the said embodiment is an example of suitable implementation of this invention, and this invention is not limited to this.
For example, in the above embodiment, a mobile phone terminal has been described as an example, but it is not always necessary to have a function of communicating via a mobile phone network.
In the above embodiment, only the operation button 14 of the input unit 8 has different functions (one keypad or QWERTY array key) when the input unit 8 is pulled out alone and when both the input units 7 and 8 are pulled out. However, when the input unit 7 is pulled out alone, a function different from that when both the input units 7 and 8 are pulled out may be assigned to the operation button 13.
As described above, the present invention can be variously modified.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the mobile telephone terminal which concerns on suitable embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of a double slide mechanism. It is a figure which shows the state which slid one or both of the input units. It is a figure which shows the structure of a display unit. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the principal part of a display unit. It is a figure which shows the direction of the button arrange | positioned at an input unit. It is a figure which shows the state which pulled out only one side of the input unit. It is a figure which shows the state which pulled out both input units.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Double slide structure 2 QWERTY arrangement | positioning button 3 Display 4 4-direction key 5 Display unit 6 Display unit back surface 7, 8 Input unit 9 Receiver 10 Attitude sensor 11 Determination button 12 Rail 13, 14 Input button 15 Microphone 16, 17 Slider 20 Control part 21, 22 Stretch sensor

Claims (9)

A display unit having an information display device, and first and second input units each having an operation button;
The operation buttons of at least one of the first input unit and the second input unit include both the state in which the first or second input unit appears alone and the first and second input units. A different function is assigned in a state where the display unit does not change the orientation of the display unit with respect to the first and second input units .
The first input unit is housed on the back of the display unit so that a user can hold it with one hand, and the display unit is slidable with one finger of one hand holding the first input unit. A portable terminal connected to one input unit.   The display unit and the first and second input units are connected by a rail installed on the back surface of the display unit and a slider installed on each surface of the first and second input units. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein:   In a state where both of the first and second input units appear, the buttons individually for at least each letter of the alphabet span the operation buttons of the first input unit and the operation buttons of the second input unit. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal is assigned.   4. The portable terminal according to claim 3, wherein a button is assigned to each character of the alphabet in a QWERTY array.   5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a sensor that detects a posture of the terminal, wherein the direction of information displayed on the operation button of the first input unit is changed according to a detection result of the sensor. A portable terminal according to claim 1.   The mobile terminal according to claim 5, wherein a direction of information displayed on the information display device is changed according to a detection result of the sensor.   The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a communication function via a mobile phone network.   8. The portable terminal according to claim 7, wherein a numeric key is assigned to an operation button of the first input unit in a state where only the first input unit appears. A display unit having an information display device, and first and second input units each having an operation button, the first and second input units appearing independently from a back surface of the display unit; A method in which the control unit assigns the function of the operation button in the mobile terminals that are connected to each other,
The first input unit is housed on the back of the display unit so that a user can hold it with one hand, and the display unit is slidable with one finger of one hand holding the first input unit. Connected to one input unit,
A state in which the first or second input unit appears alone on at least one of the operation buttons of the first input unit and the second input unit, and both the first and second input units A function assigning method of operation buttons, characterized in that the control portion assigns different functions to the state in which the display unit does not change the orientation with respect to the first and second input units .

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