JP2010109587A - Mobile electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mobile electronic device capable of avoiding the contention processing of applications and improving usability. <P>SOLUTION: The mobile electronic device includes: a rotary dial unit 41 attached so as to be rotated around a prescribed rotary axis to a casing; a rotation amount detection unit 201 for detecting the rotation of the rotary dial unit 41; an application activation processing unit 202 for determining and activating one of the plurality of applications on the basis of the rotation detected by the rotation amount detection unit 201; and an application execution decision unit 203 for determining whether the application determined in the application activation processing unit 202 is under execution. When it is determined in the application execution decision unit 203 that the application determined in the application activation processing unit 202 is under execution, the application activation processing unit 202 stops the activation of the application. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable electronic device having an external operation unit.

  In mobile phones, a more intuitive user interface is required. Here, a folder type mobile phone having a hinge portion is known in which a hinge dial is provided with a rotary dial used for volume switching or the like (see, for example, Patent Document 1). As a usage form of such a rotary dial, a form in which a predetermined application is assigned to the rotary dial in advance and the predetermined application is activated when the rotary dial is operated can be considered.

In addition, mobile phones are equipped with functions for viewing television and radio as well as functions for communication and telephone calls, and are multifunctional. Here, in the mobile phone, when a function such as a TV viewing function is not selected, a standby screen for communication / call is displayed as a top screen (foreground). When the user performs a predetermined operation, the screen shifts to a menu selection screen for selecting another function from the standby screen, and the user selects a desired function by performing a predetermined operation on the selection menu screen. It can be performed.
JP-A-6-90200

  By the way, in the mobile phone configured as described above, a predetermined application (hereinafter referred to as application A) is started by operating the rotary dial, and the application is different from the started application without being operated by the rotary dial unit. A situation where an application (hereinafter referred to as application B) is activated is assumed. When such a situation occurs, when the same application B as the application B currently being executed in the foreground is selected by the operation of the rotary dial, the application B currently being executed in the foreground is terminated to enter a standby state. After returning, the selected application B is activated again.

Here, the flow of the above processing will be specifically described with application A as a Web browser and application B as an e-mail creation application.
1. A web browser is selected by operating the rotary dial.
2. The web browser starts in the foreground.
3. The e-mail address displayed on the web browser (associated with the activation of the e-mail creation application) is selected by the operation key.
4). The email creation application starts in the foreground and the email creation screen is displayed.
5). Operate the rotary dial and select the email creation application.
6). 4. above. The e-mail creation screen that is running is canceled (end of the e-mail creation application). In accordance with the above operation, the e-mail creation application (e-mail menu screen) is activated again.

  In this way, if the same application as the currently running application is selected by operating the rotary dial, the currently running application is terminated regardless of the type of the currently running application. There is a problem that the same application is started again and the usability is impaired.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable electronic device that can avoid such application contention processing and improve usability.

  In order to solve the above problems, a portable electronic device according to the present invention detects a rotation of a casing, a rotary dial portion that is rotatably attached to the casing about a predetermined rotation axis, and the rotation dial portion. Determined by the rotation amount detection unit, the application activation processing unit that determines and activates one of the plurality of applications based on the rotation detected by the rotation amount detection unit, and the application activation processing unit. An application execution determination unit that determines whether or not the application is being executed, and when the application execution determination unit determines that the application determined by the application activation processing unit is being executed, the application activation The processing unit is characterized by stopping the activation of the application.

  In the portable electronic device, when a plurality of applications are being executed, the application execution determination unit determines that the application determined by the application start processing unit is being executed in the background. The unit preferably stops starting the application, switches the application running in the background to run in the foreground, and switches the application running in the foreground to run in the background.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the competition process of an application can be avoided and usability can be improved.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a mobile phone 1 which is an example of a mobile electronic device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows an external view when viewed from the display unit side body 3 in the closed state of the mobile phone 1. FIG. 3 shows an external view of the cellular phone 1 when viewed from the operation unit side body 2 in the closed state. FIG. 4 shows an enlarged view of the vicinity of the rotary dial as an external operation unit. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the function of the rotary dial unit. In the following, a mobile phone will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and has an external operation unit such as a rotary dial unit, and a plurality of applications can be activated independently. For example, a PHS (Personal Handyphone System), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a portable navigation device, a notebook personal computer, or the like may be used.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone 1 includes an operation unit side body 2 and a display unit side body 3. The operation unit side body unit 2 includes an operation key group 11 and a microphone 12 to which a voice uttered by a user of the mobile phone 1 is input on the surface unit 10. The operation key group 11 includes a function setting operation button 13, an input operation button 14, a determination operation button 15, and a control button 16. The function setting operation button 13 is a button for operating various functions such as various settings, a phone book function, and a mail function. The input operation button 14 is a button for inputting a telephone number or characters such as mail. The determination operation button 15 is a button for performing determination and scrolling in various operations. The control button 16 is a button for performing volume control or the like.

  Further, the display unit side body unit 3 is configured to include a display 21 for displaying various types of information on the surface unit 20 and a sound output unit 22 for outputting the voice of the other party of the call.

  Further, the upper end of the operation unit side body 2 and the lower end of the display unit side body 3 are connected via a hinge mechanism 4. In addition, the cellular phone 1 relatively rotates the operation unit side body 2 and the display unit side body 3 connected via the hinge mechanism 4, thereby displaying the operation unit side body 2 and the display. The unit-side housing 3 can be in a state of being open to each other (open state), or the operation unit-side housing 2 and the display unit-side housing 3 can be in a folded state (closed state).

  FIG. 1 shows a form of a so-called foldable mobile phone 1, but the form of the mobile phone 1 according to the present invention is not limited to this, and the operation unit side body 2 and the display unit side body are not limited thereto. A slide type in which one housing is slid in one direction from a state in which the body portion 3 is overlapped, or an axis line along the overlapping direction of the operation portion side housing portion 2 and the display portion side housing portion 3 A rotary type (turn type) in which one casing is rotated around the center, and the operation section side casing section 2 and the display section side casing section 3 are arranged in one casing and have a connecting portion. There may be no type (straight type).

  In addition, the position where the hinge mechanism 4 is formed includes a rotary dial portion 41 as an external operation portion attached to the housing so as to freely rotate in a predetermined direction. The operation and function of the rotary dial unit 41 will be described later. The external operation unit may have a configuration other than the rotary dial unit 41, and is arranged separately from the input operation button 14 and the determination operation button 15 for performing an input operation, a selection operation, and a determination operation. What is necessary is just to be comprised so that it may be arrange | positioned on the outer side of a body.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the mobile phone 1 includes a sub-display 23 on which predetermined information is displayed on the back side where the display 21 of the display unit side body unit 3 is arranged.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the mobile phone 1 is configured with a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera or the like for photographing a subject on the back side where the operation key group 11 of the operation unit side body unit 2 is arranged. And a light emitting unit 18 that outputs a constant light amount.

  Here, operations and functions of the rotary dial unit 41 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the rotary dial unit 41 is moved along a rotation axis X of the hinge mechanism 4 by a user's finger in a predetermined direction (a direction in FIG. 4 (first direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the hinge mechanism 4). Direction) and b direction (second direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the hinge mechanism 4)). The rotary dial unit 41 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 4, and may be any configuration that can be rotated by a user's operation, and is predetermined along an axis in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis (hinge axis) X. The structure etc. which rotate freely to a direction may be sufficient.

  The rotary dial 41 is provided with a plurality of indicators (icons) I at predetermined intervals in the rotation direction. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the index I is drawn with an image that is easy to understand for the user as a mark when selecting an application.

  Here, the operation of the rotary dial unit 41 by the user will be briefly described. Using the index I as a clue, the user rotates the index I corresponding to a desired application to a selection position S (mark) indicated by a mark or the like on the outer surface of the case of the hinge mechanism 4. The mobile phone 1 activates an application corresponding to the index I that is stationary at the selected position S. In this way, the rotary dial unit 41 enables menu selection that exhibits various functions by operating a physical rotary dial.

  In addition, the rotary dial unit 41 can select a menu that exhibits various functions in accordance with a physical rotary dial operation. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the rotary dial unit 41 is rotated by 45 ° in the a direction (315 ° in the b direction) based on no operation (neutral (N)) by the user's rotation operation. Thus, the camera function of the photographing unit 17 is activated, and the web browser is activated by being rotated 90 ° in the a direction (270 ° in the b direction). Further, the rotation dial unit 41 is rotated by 135 ° in the a direction (225 ° in the b direction) with no operation ((N)) as a reference, so that the mail application is started, and 180 ° ( The tool menu (a menu for performing various settings relating to sound output and the like in the mobile phone 1) is activated by being rotated 180 degrees in the direction b. In addition, the rotary dial unit 41 is rotated 225 ° (135 ° in the b direction) in the a direction with reference to the time of no operation ((N)), whereby the TV function is activated, and the 270 ° ( The data folder is activated by rotating 90 degrees in the b direction, and the address book is activated by rotating 315 degrees in the a direction (45 degrees in the b direction).

  In addition, the menu allocated according to the rotation angle of the rotary dial part 41 mentioned above is an example, Comprising: It is not limited to this, For example, it is the structure which can register the menu which a user uses frequently. A configuration in which a desired web address is registered and the web address is selected by the rotary dial unit 41 so that the web browser is activated and the web page of the web address can be viewed. It may be. Also, the number of menus is not limited to the number (seven) described above.

  In addition, the user can directly activate various functions assigned to the rotary dial unit 41 under certain conditions by directly operating the rotary dial unit 41, via the main menu as in the past. This makes it possible to easily start a desired application.

  FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing functions of the mobile phone 1. As shown in FIG. 6, the mobile phone 1 includes a display 21 that is not exposed to the outside in the closed state as a display unit, and a sub-display 23 that is exposed to the outside even in the closed state. Furthermore, an operation key group 11 provided for user operation, a rotary dial unit 41 provided for user operation, a communication unit 60 for communicating with an external terminal, a processing unit 70 for performing predetermined processing, A rechargeable battery 80 having a predetermined capacity, a power supply circuit unit 90 that converts a power supply voltage supplied from the rechargeable battery 80 into a predetermined voltage, and supplies the converted voltage to the communication unit 60, the processing unit 70, etc., and a table 101 And a storage unit 100 having

  The communication unit 60 includes a main antenna 61 that communicates with an external device using a predetermined use frequency band, and a communication processing unit 62 that performs signal processing such as modulation processing or demodulation processing.

  The main antenna 61 communicates with an external device (base station) in a predetermined use frequency band (for example, 800 MHz). In the present embodiment, the predetermined use frequency band is 800 MHz, but other frequency bands may be used. Further, the main antenna 61 may have a so-called dual band compatible type that can support a second use frequency band (for example, 2 GHz) in addition to a predetermined use frequency band. You may be comprised by the multiple band corresponding | compatible type | mold which can respond | correspond more than a use frequency band.

  The communication processing unit 62 demodulates the signal received by the main antenna 61, supplies the processed signal to the processing unit 70, and modulates the signal supplied from the processing unit 70, via the main antenna 61. To the external device (base station).

  The power supply circuit unit 90 transforms the power supply voltage supplied from the rechargeable battery 80 to a predetermined voltage value, and supplies the power supply voltage after the transformation to the communication unit 60, the processing unit 70, and the like.

  The storage unit 100 stores a large number of programs executed by the processing unit 70, parameters, various tables, and the like. Specifically, the storage unit 100 operates a large number of application programs that are activated, terminated, interrupted, etc. by the processing unit 70, parameters used in the plurality of applications, and a plurality of application programs. In addition to the OS (Operating System) program, the correspondence between the rotation amount detected by the rotation amount detection unit 201 described later and a plurality of applications (see FIG. 5), and further, it can be started even in the closed state A table 110 indicating whether or not the application is present is stored. The plurality of application programs include application programs for each application that the mobile phone 1 has, such as a reference application, an image reproduction application, a camera, and mail.

  The processing unit 70 performs activation processing for various functions according to the rotation amount supplied from the rotary dial unit 41. Here, the configuration and operation of the processing unit 70 will be described. The processing unit 70 detects the amount of rotation of the rotary dial unit 41, activates a predetermined application corresponding to the detected amount of rotation, and displays a display screen corresponding to the activated predetermined application on the display 21. Control. In this embodiment, the amount of change in the angle of the rotary dial unit 41 is detected as the amount of rotation, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is only necessary to detect a change according to the rotation of the rotary dial unit 41. Or the like may be detected as the rotation amount. Alternatively, the rotational position (or rotational angle) of the rotary dial unit 41 may be detected and controlled according to the detected rotational position.

  In addition, each time the rotary dial unit 41 rotates, the processing unit 70 refers to the application correspondence table 110 in the storage unit 100 and identifies an application corresponding to the rotation amount. The table 110 has a plurality of tables, and details will be described later, but the processing unit 70 changes the table to be referred to as appropriate according to the currently selected application.

  When the main power supply of the mobile phone 1 is turned on, the processing unit 70 first starts up the OS program, and starts the reference application program under the management of the OS so as to display a communication standby screen on the display 21. Control. Thereafter, each time an application to be started is generated, the processing unit 70 performs control to end or suspend the reference application program and start a new application program under OS management. By this processing, the processing unit 70 performs control to display a screen based on the newly activated application on the display 21 instead of the standby screen. Note that the processing unit 70 terminates or interrupts the activated application program and starts a new application program even when the activated application program is not the reference application program but another application program. to start. Then, the processing unit 70 controls to change the screen based on the previous application program to the screen based on the new application program.

  In the mobile phone 1 configured as described above, when the same application as the currently executed application is selected by operating the rotary dial unit 41, the activation process of the application selected according to the operation of the rotary dial unit 41 is performed. It is possible to maintain the currently running application without executing.

  Here, a specific configuration and operation of the processing unit 70 for exhibiting the function will be described in detail. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the processing unit 70 includes a rotation amount detection unit 201, an application activation processing unit 202, and an application execution determination unit 203.

  The rotation amount detection unit 201 detects the rotation of the rotary dial unit 41. Here, in the present embodiment, the rotation amount detection unit 201 is configured to detect the amount of change in the angle of the rotary dial unit 41 as the rotation amount, but is not limited to this configuration. It is only necessary to detect a change according to the rotation. For example, the rotation amount detection unit 201 may be configured to detect the rotation of the rotary dial unit 41 as a change in resistivity and detect the rotation amount of the rotary dial unit 41 from the detected value. Alternatively, the rotation amount detection unit 201 may be configured to detect the rotation position (or rotation angle) of the rotation dial unit 41 and detect the rotation amount of the rotation dial unit 41 from the detected rotation position.

  The application activation processing unit 202 determines and activates one application among a plurality of applications based on the rotation detected by the rotation amount detection unit 201. The application execution determination unit 203 determines whether or not the application determined by the application activation processing unit 202 is currently being executed.

  If the application execution determination unit 203 determines that the application determined by the application activation processing unit 202 is being executed, the application activation processing unit 202 stops the activation of the application.

  Accordingly, when the mobile phone 1 starts the application according to the rotation operation of the rotary dial unit 41, the mobile phone 1 checks the currently running application, and if it is the same as the currently running application, The activation of the application selected by the rotation operation 41 is stopped. In this way, the mobile phone 1 can avoid application conflict processing and improve usability.

  When the application execution determination unit 203 determines that the application determined by the application activation processing unit 202 is being executed in the background when a plurality of applications are being executed, the application activation processing unit 202 The process is executed as follows. The application activation processing unit 202 cancels the activation of the application, switches the application running in the background to be executed in the foreground, and performs processing to switch the application running in the foreground to be executed in the background. Execute.

  By being configured in this manner, the mobile phone 1 does not end the application running in the background when the application that is the same as the application running in the background is selected by the rotary dial unit 41, and Since active / inactive between the activated applications is switched so that the application is activated in the foreground, application contention processing can be avoided and usability can be improved.

  Here, a specific operation of the processing unit 70 will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. In the following description, the mobile phone 1 starts the Web browser according to the operation of the rotary dial unit 41 from the state where only the stand-by application is started, and then the e-mail address (mail) displayed on the Web browser. Description will be made assuming that the mail application is selected by the operation key group 11 and then the mail application is selected by the rotary dial unit 41 when the mail application is activated.

  In step ST <b> 1, the rotation amount detection unit 201 detects the rotation of the rotary dial unit 41. In the step ST1, a standby screen is displayed on the display 21.

  In step ST2, the application activation processing unit 202 determines an application to be activated based on the rotation detected in step ST1. In this embodiment, the application activation processing unit 202 determines that a web browser has been selected. In the process of step ST2, a standby screen is displayed on the display 21.

  In step ST <b> 3, the application activation processing unit 202 confirms the application currently being executed by the application execution determination unit 203. In this embodiment, the application activation processing unit 202 confirms that only the standby application is activated.

  In step ST4, the application execution determination unit 203 determines whether or not the application determined in the process of step ST2 and the application confirmed in the process of step ST3 are the same. When it is determined that they are the same (Yes), the process proceeds to step ST11, and when it is determined that they are not the same (No), the process proceeds to step ST5. In the present embodiment, the application execution determination unit 203 determines that the currently running application is a standby application and the selected application is a Web browser, so that they are not the same.

  In step ST5, the application activation processing unit 202 executes application activation processing. In this embodiment, the application activation processing unit 202 activates the Web browser in the foreground. In the process of step ST5, a web browser is displayed on the display 21.

  In step ST <b> 6, the processing unit 70 waits for an operation by the operation key group 11 and the rotary dial unit 41. Strictly speaking, the rotation amount detection unit 201 waits for an operation by the rotary dial unit 41. In this embodiment, the e-mail address (associated with the activation of the mail application) displayed on the Web browser is selected by the operation key group 11. The processing unit 70 activates the mail application in the foreground. Note that the processing unit 70 may perform processing for terminating the Web browser, or may start the Web browser in the background. In this embodiment, in a state where the mail application is activated, the rotary dial unit 41 is rotated by the user's operation from the current position (position where the web browser is activated) to the position where the mail application is activated. Done.

  In step ST <b> 7, the rotation amount detection unit 201 detects the rotation of the rotary dial unit 41.

  In step ST8, the application activation processing unit 202 determines an application to be activated based on the rotation detected in step ST7. In this embodiment, the application activation processing unit 202 determines that a mail application has been selected.

  In step ST9, the application activation processing unit 202 confirms the application currently being executed by the application execution determination unit 203. In this embodiment, the application activation processing unit 202 confirms that the mail application is being activated.

  In step ST10, the application execution determination unit 203 determines whether or not the application determined in step ST8 and the application confirmed in step ST9 are the same. When it is determined that they are the same (Yes), the process proceeds to step ST11, and when it is determined that they are not the same (No), the process returns to step ST5. In the present embodiment, the application execution determination unit 203 determines that both the currently executing application and the selected application are mail applications and are the same.

  In step ST11, the application activation processing unit 202 stops activation of the selected application in order to avoid conflict processing. Accordingly, the currently activated mail application is maintained as it is.

  In this way, when the mobile phone 1 starts the application according to the rotation operation of the rotary dial unit 41, the mobile phone 1 checks the currently running application, and if it is the same as the currently running application, Since the activation of the application selected by the rotation operation of the rotary dial unit 41 is stopped, application conflict processing can be avoided and usability can be improved.

  Further, as another embodiment, when the currently running application and the selected application are the same, the mobile phone 1 has a specific state (for example, a mail application). In such a case, the configuration may be such that the activation of the selected application is stopped only in a specific state (such as during communication or mail creation).

It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the mobile telephone which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows an external appearance when it sees from the display part side housing | casing part in the closed state of a mobile telephone. It is a figure which shows an external appearance when it sees from the operation part side housing | casing part in the closed state of a mobile telephone. It is a figure when the rotation dial part vicinity is expanded. It is a figure where it uses for description about the function of a rotary dial part. It is a functional block diagram which shows the function of a mobile telephone. It is a flowchart with which it uses for description about the specific operation | movement (operation | movement which avoids the competition of an application) of a process part.

Explanation of symbols

1 cellular phone 70 processing unit 201 rotation amount detection unit 202 application activation processing unit 203 application execution determination unit

Claims (2)

A housing,
A rotary dial portion attached to the housing so as to be rotatable around a predetermined rotation axis;
A rotation amount detection unit for detecting rotation of the rotary dial unit;
An application activation processing unit that determines and activates one application among a plurality of applications based on the rotation detected by the rotation amount detection unit;
An application execution determination unit that determines whether the application determined by the application activation processing unit is being executed,
When the application execution determination unit determines that the application determined by the application activation processing unit is being executed, the application activation processing unit stops the activation of the application. When it is determined that the application determined by the application activation processing unit is being executed in the background when the plurality of applications are being executed,
The application activation processing unit stops the activation of the application, switches the application running in the background to run in the foreground, and switches the application running in the foreground to run in the background. The portable electronic device according to claim 1.

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