JP5089856B2 - Portable terminal device, display control method, display control program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable terminal device including a display unit capable of mode switching in which an image visually recognized according to a line-of-sight direction is changed.

  Conventionally, a liquid crystal display (LCD) has been widely used as a display for portable devices such as mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). LCDs have been considered to have a narrow viewing angle compared to CRTs (Cathode Ray Tubes), plasma displays, and the like, but with the recent advances in LCD technology, viewing angles have been widened.

  However, when the portable device is used in a crowded situation such as in a train or a bus, the content displayed on the display screen of the portable device may be peeped by surrounding people. In particular, when creating and browsing an electronic mail, it is not preferable in terms of privacy that the contents are peeped by people around.

Therefore, LCDs capable of controlling the viewing angle have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 4). In such an LCD, it is possible to switch from one of a normal wide viewing angle mode and a narrow viewing angle mode with a narrow viewing angle to the other. The narrow viewing angle mode is a mode in which a normal display image can be visually recognized from directly in front of the display screen where the user is present, and a plain image or another image can be viewed from an oblique direction.
JP-A-9-105958 (release date: April 22, 1997) JP 2004-62094 (release date: February 26, 2004) JP 2001-264768 (release date: September 26, 2001) JP-A-2004-38035 (Release date: February 5, 2004)

  By the way, in general, when an electronic mail is created on a mobile phone, the display unit is set to a narrow viewing angle mode. This is to make the e-mail creation screen visible only from the front direction for privacy.

  In this way, in the narrow viewing angle mode, since the e-mail creation screen can be viewed only from the front direction, when replying to a received e-mail, to check the received e-mail It is necessary to switch from the current e-mail creation screen to the received mail screen, or to display the received mail display screen and the reply mail creation screen separately.

  For this reason, when switching between the reception screen and the reply screen, there is a problem that it is difficult to confirm the content of the received mail when creating a reply mail.

  In addition, when the received mail display screen and the reply mail display screen are displayed separately, the portable information terminal has many small displays, so that each screen becomes small and difficult to see.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and its purpose is to easily confirm a plurality of pieces of information so that a received mail display screen can be confirmed at the time of reply mail creation without dividing the screen. The object is to provide a portable terminal device.

  In order to solve the above problems, a mobile terminal device according to the present invention is a mobile terminal device capable of executing at least one type of application program among various application programs represented by e-mail transmission / reception. And a display unit capable of switching between two display modes: a wide viewing angle display mode in which the viewing angle is greater than or equal to a predetermined angle and a narrow viewing angle display mode in which the viewing angle on the display screen is less than the predetermined angle; Based on the display mode determined by the display mode determination unit, the display mode determination unit that determines the display mode of the display unit according to the type of application program The display screen is visible from the front direction and is visible from the side direction. It is characterized by comprising a display control unit for displaying on the display screen.

  According to the above configuration, information according to the application program to be executed is displayed on the display screen visually recognized from the front direction and the side direction of the display unit, so the display screen of the display unit is divided. It is possible to make a plurality of pieces of information visible.

  In this case, the user can easily view the display screen of the side orientation simply by changing the viewing direction from the front orientation to the side orientation.

  In the case as described above, in the narrow viewing angle display mode, different information is displayed in the front orientation and the side orientation, and in the wide viewing angle display mode, the same in the front orientation and the side orientation. It is conceivable to display information.

  That is, when the display mode determined by the display mode determination unit is the narrow viewing angle display mode, the display control unit includes a display screen that is viewed from the front direction and a display screen that is viewed from the side direction. The information to be displayed may be different.

  In this case, when the display mode determined by the display mode determination unit is the narrow viewing angle display mode, the display control unit includes a display screen viewed from the front direction and a display screen viewed from the side direction. By making the information to be displayed different, main information can be displayed on the front orientation display screen during execution of the application program, and sub information can be displayed on the side orientation display screen. .

  In addition, an information separation unit that separates information to be displayed on the front orientation display screen and information to be displayed on the side orientation display screen from the application program is provided, and the display control unit is separated by the information separation unit. Based on the display mode determined by the display mode determining unit, the information may be distributed and displayed on the front orientation display screen or the side orientation display screen.

  For example, when an Internet connection program is started as an application program, a home screen on the WWW (World Wide Web) is displayed on the main front orientation display screen (main screen), and a side orientation display screen serving as a sub In the (sub-screen), the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the home page displayed on the main screen is displayed.

  In addition, when an e-mail transmission / reception program is started as an application program and a reply e-mail is created for a received e-mail, a reply e-mail creation screen is displayed on the main screen. The received e-mail screen is displayed on the sub-screen.

  Further, when the application program is executed, when the information to be displayed is a mixture of images and text, the image is displayed on the main screen and the text is displayed on the sub screen.

  Further, when the display mode determined by the display mode determination unit is the narrow viewing angle display mode, the display control unit displays information corresponding to the application program to be executed on the front and side orientation display screens. A first display mode to be displayed, and information corresponding to the application program to be executed is displayed on the display screen of the front orientation, and information unrelated to the application program to be executed is displayed on the side orientation display screen. Mode switching means for switching between display modes may be included.

  In this case, in the second display mode, information corresponding to the application program to be executed is displayed only on the front orientation display screen, and information unrelated to the application program is displayed on the side orientation display screen. Therefore, the third party cannot grasp the application program being executed by the user. Therefore, the second display mode may be a privacy mode for protecting privacy.

  Note that the side surface orientation of the present application is not limited to the left-right direction, and includes, for example, the up-down direction and a direction with a minute angle (oblique direction).

  As described above, the mobile terminal device according to the present invention includes a wide viewing angle display mode in which the viewing angle on the display screen is a predetermined angle or more, and a narrow viewing angle display mode in which the viewing angle on the display screen is less than the predetermined angle. A display unit that can switch between two display modes, a display mode determination unit that determines the display mode of the display unit according to the type of the application program that is executed, A display control unit that displays the information displayed on the display screen viewed from the front direction and the display screen viewed from the side direction of the display unit based on the display mode determined by the display mode determination unit. The user can easily view the side orientation display screen by simply changing the viewing direction from the front orientation to the side orientation. There is an effect that that.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described as follows. In this embodiment, an example in which the mobile terminal device of the present invention is applied to a mobile phone will be described.

  FIG. 2 shows an appearance of the mobile phone (mobile terminal device) 1 according to the present embodiment. The mobile phone 1 is a so-called clamshell type, and is shown in an open state in FIG. FIG. 2A shows a portion that becomes an inner side when the mobile phone 1 is closed, and a side that is mainly used by a user when the mobile phone 1 is opened. Therefore, in this application, the side shown in FIG. FIG. 5B shows a portion that is on the outside when the cellular phone 1 is closed, and is on the opposite side to the side in FIG. 5A when the cellular phone 1 is opened. Therefore, in the present application, the side shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile phone 1 includes a main body 2 and a lid 3, and the main body 2 and the lid 3 are connected in a hinge shape. The lid 3 is provided with a main screen 4 on the front side and a sub screen 5 on the back side. Although not shown in the figure, an antenna is provided in the lid 3.

  The main body 2 is provided with a main operation button group (operation unit) 6 on the front side. The main operation button group 6 includes a function button group 7 for performing various settings and function switching in the mobile phone 1, and an input button group (input means) 8 for inputting symbols such as numerals and characters. Yes.

  Specifically, the function button group 7 includes a power button for switching on / off the power of the mobile phone, a camera button for starting a shooting mode, a mail button for starting a mail mode, and moving a selection target up, down, left and right. And a determination button that is arranged in the center of the cross button and determines various selections. The input button group 8 is a numeric keypad. A camera 9 is provided on the back side of the main body 2.

  The mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment controls the viewing angle of the main screen 4 to change from one of the wide viewing angle mode (wide viewing angle display mode) and the narrow viewing angle mode (narrow viewing angle display mode) to the other. It has a function to switch. The switching of the viewing angle mode can be executed by the user operating a predetermined operation button.

  The narrow viewing angle mode (multi-screen display mode) refers to a mode in which the main body 4 makes it impossible to see the body of the mail or the captured image from the surroundings. Specifically, the narrow viewing angle mode refers to a display mode in which the viewing angle on the display screen is less than a predetermined angle. In the present invention, even in the narrow viewing angle mode, the display content of the main screen 4 visible from the front direction and the display content of the main screen 4 visible from the side direction can be made different. In this case as well, the display content of the main screen 4 in the main front direction is not visible from the surroundings.

  The wide viewing angle mode refers to a mode in which the display of the main screen 4 can be seen from any angle (single screen display mode). Specifically, it refers to a display mode in which the viewing angle on the display screen is greater than or equal to a predetermined angle.

  The user can arbitrarily change the setting of the narrow viewing angle mode and the wide viewing angle mode with an operation button or the like. It should be noted that the wide viewing angle mode and the narrow viewing angle mode may be automatically switched according to the application activated in the mobile phone 1. For example, when the camera of the mobile phone 1 is activated, the wide viewing angle mode is automatically set, and when the input button group 8 is operated, the narrow viewing angle mode is automatically set.

  Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing how the main screen 4 is seen when the wide viewing angle mode is set, and FIGS. 4 and 5 show the main screen 4 when the narrow viewing angle mode is set. It is the figure which showed how to see.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in the wide viewing angle mode, even when the viewer 31 views the main screen 4 from the front (front direction), the viewer 33 starts from an oblique front on the right side from the front toward the main screen 4. When viewed (right side orientation), or when the observer 32 is seen from the front facing the left side of the main screen 4 (left side orientation), the main image (here, the mail creation screen) is visible. Is done.

  On the other hand, the narrow viewing angle mode in the present application is a multi-screen mode in which different images are displayed in the front direction and the side direction, respectively. As shown in FIG. 4, the main image (mail creation screen) is displayed when the observer 31 is in the front direction. However, another image (sub-image) is visually recognized from the right side orientation where the observer 33 is present or the left side orientation where the observer 32 is present. In this example, a mail reception screen is adopted as the sub image.

  That is, in the narrow viewing angle mode, the observer can view the mail creation screen when viewing the main screen 4 from the front direction, and can view the mail reception screen when viewing the main screen 4 from the side direction. .

  Further, when it is not desired to be viewed by a third party from the side surface orientation, as shown in FIG. 5, an image that may be viewed from the side surface direction, here, a logo “SHARP” is displayed. The narrow viewing angle mode in this case is a privacy mode.

  As described above, even in the same main screen 4, in the narrow viewing angle mode, the images to be displayed are different between the front orientation and the side orientation. Details of the display device for realizing this will be described later.

  In the display mode as shown in FIG. 4, the following display examples can be considered.

  For example, when an Internet connection program is started as an application program, a home screen on the WWW (World Wide Web) is displayed on the main front orientation display screen (main screen), and a side orientation display screen serving as a sub In the (sub-screen), the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the home page displayed on the main screen is displayed.

  In addition, when an e-mail transmission / reception program is started as an application program and a reply e-mail is created for a received e-mail, a reply e-mail creation screen is displayed on the main screen. The received e-mail screen is displayed on the sub-screen.

  Further, when the application program is executed, when the information to be displayed is a mixture of images and text, the image is displayed on the main screen and the text is displayed on the sub screen.

  Next, a detailed configuration of the mobile phone 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 6. FIG. 6 shows a schematic configuration of the mobile phone 1. The cellular phone 1 includes an antenna unit 10, a radio processing unit 11, a voice processing unit 12, a voice input unit 13, a voice output unit 14, a data processing unit 15, an operation unit (operation means) 16, a storage unit 17, a main display unit ( Display unit) 18, sub display unit 19, power supply unit 20, and control unit (display control unit) 21.

  The antenna unit 10 is for sending radio waves to the outside and receiving radio waves from the outside. Specifically, the antenna unit 10 is for transmitting and receiving radio waves for mobile phones in the 800 MHz band or 1.5 GHz band.

  The wireless processing unit 11 converts data received from the audio processing unit 12 or the data processing unit 15 into a format suitable for wireless transmission, and transmits the converted wireless signal to the outside via the antenna unit 10. . The wireless processing unit 11 converts a wireless signal received from the outside via the antenna unit 10 into an original format, and transmits the converted data to the voice processing unit 12 or the data processing unit 15. Specifically, the wireless processing unit 11 performs channel codec processing, baseband signal processing, data modulation / demodulation processing, RF (Radio Frequency) processing, and the like.

  The voice processing unit 12 converts the voice signal from the voice input unit 13 into predetermined voice data and transmits it to the radio processing unit 11, and converts the voice data from the radio processing unit 11 into a voice signal and outputs the voice. This is transmitted to the unit 14. Specifically, the audio processing unit 12 includes an A / D converter, a D / A converter, an amplifier, and an audio codec circuit.

  The voice input unit 13 converts a sound wave input from the outside into a voice signal that is an electrical signal and transmits the voice signal to the voice processing unit 12. Specifically, the voice input unit 13 includes a microphone.

  The audio output unit 14 converts the audio signal from the audio processing unit 12 into a sound wave and outputs it to the outside. Specifically, the audio output unit 14 includes a speaker and an earphone. Normally, the mobile phone 1 uses an earphone when making a call and a speaker when notifying an incoming call.

  In the case of a telephone, it is desirable that the user's voice input to the voice input unit 13 is heard from the voice output unit 14. For this reason, it is desirable that the audio processing unit 12 adjusts the audio signal from the audio input unit 13 to a predetermined volume level and then transmits it to the audio output unit 14.

  The data processing unit 15 encodes data from the control unit 21 into data of a predetermined format and transmits the data to the wireless processing unit 11, and also decodes data from the wireless processing unit 11 and transmits the data to the control unit 21. is there. Examples of data encoding / decoding (codec) systems performed by the data processing unit 15 include MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) -4 and ITU-T Recommendation H.264. H.263.

  The operation unit 16 creates operation data and transmits it to the control unit 21 when the user operates an input device such as the main operation button group 6 provided on the surface of the mobile phone 1. Examples of the input device include a touch panel in addition to the button switch. In the present embodiment, the operation unit 16 is configured to create operation data for instructing a change in viewing angle by a user operating a predetermined button, and transmit the operation data to the control unit 21.

  The storage unit 17 stores various data and programs. As an example of the storage unit 17, a ROM (Read Only Memory) that is a read-only semiconductor memory that stores fixed data such as a program and communication control data required when the control unit 21 operates, and barcode recognition and communication RAM (Random Access Memory) as a so-called working memory for temporarily storing data related to data, data used for calculation, calculation results, and the like.

  The main display unit 18 and the sub display unit 19 receive image data from the control unit 21 and display an image based on the received image data. Specifically, the main display unit 18 and the sub display unit 19 include a display element such as a PDP (Plasma Display Panel), LCD, EL (Electroluminescence) display, and a driver circuit that drives the display element based on received image data. It is the structure provided with.

  The image includes characters in addition to pictures and figures, and also includes still images and moving images.

  In the present embodiment, the main display unit 18 has a function of receiving viewing angle control data from the control unit 21 and changing the viewing angle based on the received viewing angle control data. Note that the sub display unit 19 may have a function of changing the viewing angle.

  The power supply unit 20 supplies appropriate power to various components in the mobile phone 1. The power supply unit 20 includes a rechargeable secondary battery such as a lithium ion battery, a power supply circuit, and the like.

  The control unit 21 comprehensively controls various components in the mobile phone 1. The function of the control unit 21 is realized by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) executing a program stored in a storage device such as a RAM or a flash memory.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the main display unit 18 and the control unit (display control unit) 21 described above.

  The main display unit 18 includes an image display unit 47 and a viewing angle change / display unit 48. As described above, the image display unit 47 displays an image based on the image data from the control unit 21. The viewing angle change / display unit 48 changes and displays the viewing angle in the image display unit 47 based on the viewing angle change / display data from the control unit 21.

  The control unit 21 includes a display mode instruction acquisition unit (display mode determination unit) 41, an application execution unit 42, a display information detection unit 43, a multi-screen display control unit 44, an image display control unit 45, and a viewing angle change / display control unit. 46, and the information corresponding to the application program to be executed is displayed on the basis of the display mode determined by the display mode instruction acquisition unit 41, the display screen 4 and the side surface orientation of the main display unit 18 viewed from the front direction. It is made to display on the display screen 4 visually recognized.

  The display mode instruction acquisition unit 41 determines the display mode based on the instruction information from the operation unit 16, the display mode information stored in the storage unit 17, and the detection result by the display information detection unit. The determined display mode is notified to the multi-screen display control unit 44. The display mode determined here refers to three display modes: a single screen display mode and a multiple screen display mode (normal mode and privacy mode).

  The application execution unit 42 executes various applications such as e-mail software and image browsing software. The application execution unit 42 notifies the display information detection unit 43 of the application information being executed. Also in this case, the application execution unit 42 executes an application according to an instruction from the operation unit 16.

  The display information detection unit 43 detects information related to the display mode from the application information from the application execution unit 42 and notifies the display mode instruction acquisition unit 41 of the information.

  The multi-screen display control unit 44 sends control signals for setting the display state according to the display mode determined by the display mode instruction acquiring unit 41 to the subsequent image display control unit 45 and the viewing angle change / display control unit 46. To be notified. The multi-screen display unit 44 has a function as an information separating unit that separates information displayed on the front orientation display screen and information displayed on the side orientation display screen from the application program.

  In addition, when the display mode determined by the display mode instruction acquisition unit 41 that is the display mode determination unit is the narrow viewing angle display mode, the multi-screen display control unit 44 displays the front azimuth and side azimuth display screens. The first display mode for displaying information related to the application program to be executed, the information related to the application program to be executed displayed on the front orientation display screen, and the application to be executed on the side orientation display screen It also has a function as mode switching means for switching between the second display mode for displaying information not related to the program.

  The image display control unit 45 controls the image display unit 47 based on the control signal from the multi-screen display control unit 44 and the image data received from various devices or various blocks in the control unit 21, and the main screen. 4 is controlled.

  The viewing angle change / display control unit 46 controls the viewing angle change / display unit 48 based on a control signal from the multi-screen display control unit 44.

  Specifically, the image display control unit 45 and the viewing angle change / display control unit 46, based on the display mode determined by the display mode determination unit, information according to the application program to be executed. The main display unit 18 has a function as a display control unit for displaying on a display screen viewed from the front direction and a display screen viewed from the side direction.

  Here, the detailed configuration of the main display unit 18 will be described below.

  A sectional view of the main display unit 18 is shown in FIG. The main display unit 18 includes a second polarizing plate 111, a switching liquid crystal display unit (hereinafter referred to as SW-LCD) 112, a first polarizing plate 113, a main liquid crystal display unit (hereinafter referred to as main LCD) 114, and a third polarizing plate. 115 are laminated in this order, and a backlight 116 is provided on the third polarizing plate side.

  Here, the relationship between the polarization transmission axis of the first polarizing plate 113 and the polarization transmission axis of the second polarizing plate 111 is preferably set to be parallel, but according to the requirements of the characteristics of the main LCD, the first polarizing plate 113 is May have any axis angle.

  In this case, the polarization direction of the linearly polarized light emitted from the first polarizing plate 113 set at an arbitrary axial angle is appropriately adjusted to match the transmission axis of the second polarizing plate 111 with a λ / 2 plate or the like. By rotating, the same effect can be obtained as when the polarization transmission axis of the first polarizing plate 113 and the polarization transmission axis of the second polarizing plate 111 are set in parallel.

  The second polarizing plate 111 is attached to the SW-LCD 112, and the first polarizing plate 113 and the third polarizing plate 115 are attached to both surfaces of the main LCD 114, and the second polarizing plate of the SW-LCD 112. The side to which 111 is not attached and the main LCD are bonded by the bonding portion 117 via the first polarizing plate 113. And what attached the 2nd polarizing plate 111 to SW-LCD112 functions as a viewing angle control apparatus. Further, the bonding portion 117 may be bonded with a thermosetting or ultraviolet curable resin adhesive, or may be fixed with a so-called double-sided tape. Further, the pasting area may be a whole surface bonding or a partial bonding such as a frame shape.

  In the main LCD 114, a liquid crystal layer 143 is sealed between the transparent electrode substrates 141 and 142. By applying a voltage to the transparent electrode substrates 141 and 142 according to a control unit (not shown), the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 143 is performed. Change the to display the image. The main LCD 114 is controlled by a control unit (not shown) so as to display an operation screen of the mobile phone 1, a picture, an image such as a mail text. As the main LCD 114, a generally known liquid crystal display device may be used. For example, a liquid crystal display device of any mode such as a TN (Twisted Nematic) mode liquid crystal display device driven by an active matrix drive method or a VA (Vertical alignment) mode display type liquid crystal display device can be used. In place of the main liquid crystal display unit 114, a self-luminous display such as an organic EL (Electroluminescence) display device or a plasma display device may be used. In the case of the self-luminous type, a backlight is not necessary.

  In the SW-LCD 112, a substrate 121, a transparent electrode film 126, an alignment film 124, a liquid crystal layer 123, an alignment film 125, a transparent electrode film 127, and a substrate 122 are formed in this order. The initial alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 123 is determined according to the alignment films 125 and 127, and the alignment direction is changed by voltage application from a control unit (not shown) to the transparent electrode films 126 and 127. Then, the narrow viewing angle mode and the wide viewing angle mode are switched by the change in the orientation direction.

  A liquid crystal layer 123 is disposed between the substrates 121 and 122. By applying a voltage to the transparent electrode films 126 and 127 according to a control unit (not shown), the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 123 is changed, Display an image. The control unit changes the alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 123 to the alignment direction for the wide viewing angle mode or the narrow viewing angle mode according to the wide viewing angle mode or the narrow viewing angle mode set by the user. . Only one of the alignment films 124 and 125 may be provided.

  The backlight 116 supplies light for display. The third polarizing plate 115 extracts linearly polarized light in a certain direction from the light of the backlight 116 before entering the main LCD 114. The first polarizing plate 113 passes through the main LCD 114 and extracts linearly polarized light in a certain direction from the light before entering the SW-LCD 112. The second polarizing plate 111 extracts linearly polarized light in a certain direction from the backlight light transmitted through the main LCD 114 and the SW-LCD 112.

  In the following, an example of alignment of liquid crystal molecules in four SW-LCDs will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 8A shows the main screen of the main display unit 18 of the mobile phone 1 so that the vertical direction of the image on the main-LCD 114 is the top and bottom of the page. Hereinafter, the horizontal direction on the display screen is referred to as the x direction, the vertical direction is referred to as the y direction, and the thickness direction of the main display unit 18 is referred to as the z direction. 8 and 9, the transparent electrode films 126 and 127 and the alignment films 124 and 125 are omitted from the illustration.

  First, as shown in FIG. 8A, the polarization transmission axes of the second polarizing plate 111 and the first polarizing plate 113 are arranged in the y direction. Further, the rubbing direction of the alignment films 124 and 125 is made parallel to the polarization transmission axes of the first and second polarizing plates 111 and 113 and opposite to each other by 180 degrees, so that the alignment direction has an anti-parallel structure. Then, a polyimide material as a horizontal alignment material is used as the alignment films 124 and 125, and liquid crystal molecules are aligned so as to be substantially parallel to the substrates 121 and 122. Thus, the liquid crystal molecules are uniaxially aligned so that the major axis direction of the liquid crystal molecules is substantially parallel to the polarization transmission axis.

  In this case, as shown in the AA ′ cross-sectional view of FIG. 8B, the liquid crystal molecules of the SW-LCD 112 are uniaxially aligned substantially parallel to the polarization transmission axis of the first polarizing plate 113 in the state where no voltage is applied. Yes. The light incident on the SW-LCD 112 from the backlight 116 through the main LCD 114 is transmitted through the first polarizing plate 113, so that the polarization direction of the light incident on the SW-LCD 112 and the alignment direction a of the liquid crystal molecules are substantially the same. .

  FIG. 8C shows how the liquid crystal molecules are seen when the SW-LCD 112 in this state is viewed while being displaced in the x direction. According to the figure, the shape when the liquid crystal molecules are projected from the front direction (the shape of the liquid crystal molecules as viewed from the observer 31) is the liquid crystal molecules 35a, and the major axis direction and the deflection direction of the incident light substantially coincide. ing. When the angle formed between the major axis direction of the projection diagram of the liquid crystal molecules and the polarization direction of the incident light is 0 degree, the incident light is transmitted without being influenced by birefringence. Can be seen. Similarly, the shape of the liquid crystal molecules projected from the viewpoint shifted in the x direction from the front (the shape of the liquid crystal molecules as viewed from the observers 32 and 33) is also the liquid crystal molecules 35b and 35c, and is incident on the major axis direction. The light deflection directions are substantially the same. Therefore, the image on the main LCD 114 can be seen. That is, the image on the main LCD 114 can be seen from any direction. This state, that is, the state in which no voltage is applied, is set as the wide viewing angle mode.

  On the other hand, in the narrow viewing angle mode, an AC voltage is applied to the transparent electrode films 125 and 126 so that the liquid crystal molecules are inclined 45 degrees with respect to the substrates 121 and 122 by rotation about the x direction from the state where no voltage is applied. For example, a voltage of 100 Hz and 3 V) is applied. The state of the liquid crystal molecules at this time is shown in FIGS. FIG. 9A shows the A-A ′ cross section, and it can be seen that the substrate is inclined 45 degrees with respect to the substrates 121 and 122. FIG. 9B shows the B-B ′ cross section, in which the liquid crystal molecules are inclined by about 45 degrees from the normal direction to the paper surface.

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 9B, a liquid crystal molecule viewed from the observer 31, that is, a projection view of the liquid crystal molecule from the front direction is a liquid crystal molecule 36a. Since the orientation change of the liquid crystal molecules is caused by rotation about the x-axis direction, the polarization directions of the second polarizing plate 111 and the first polarizing plate 113 always coincide with the major axis direction of the liquid crystal molecules 36a. For this reason, when viewed from the front direction (when viewed by the observer 31 of FIG. 9), the image of the main LCD 114 is visible as it is without being affected by birefringence.

  On the other hand, the liquid crystal molecules viewed from the viewer 32 on the left side toward the main display unit 18, that is, the projections of the liquid crystal molecules projected from the left side toward the substrates 121 and 122 are as liquid crystal molecules 36b. In this case, since the polarization direction of the second polarizing plate 111 and the first polarizing plate 113 has an angle with the major axis direction of the liquid crystal molecule projection diagram (liquid crystal molecule 36b), the major axis direction of the liquid crystal molecule projection diagram is incident light. The polarization direction and the crossing angle. Therefore, when viewed from the observer 32, the light is not transmitted through the SW-LCD 112 due to the influence of the birefringence of the liquid crystal, and the image on the main LCD 114 cannot be seen.

  Similarly, a liquid crystal molecule viewed from the viewer 33 on the right side toward the main display unit 18, that is, a projection diagram of the liquid crystal molecules from the right side toward the substrates 121 and 122, is a liquid crystal molecule 36c. Since the polarization direction of the second polarizing plate 111 and the first polarizing plate 113 has an angle with the major axis direction of the projection diagram, the major axis direction of the liquid crystal molecule projection diagram has a crossing angle with the polarization direction of the incident light. The direction rotates. Therefore, when viewed from the viewer 33, light does not pass through the SW-LCD 112 due to the influence of the birefringence of the liquid crystal, and the image on the main LCD 114 cannot be seen.

  When a voltage is applied to the transparent electrode films 126 and 127 by the mechanism as described above, as shown in FIG. 5, when the main screen 4 is viewed from the front direction (when viewed by the observer 31), birefringence occurs. The image of the main LCD 114 can be seen as it is without being influenced by the light, but when viewed from the direction other than the front direction (when viewed by the observers 32 and 33), light is not transmitted through the SW-LCD 112 due to the influence of birefringence. The image on the main LCD 114 becomes invisible.

  The orientation direction of the liquid crystal molecules in the narrow viewing angle mode is not limited to 45 degrees with respect to the substrates 121 and 122. But it doesn't matter. In other words, it may be larger than the inclination angle when substantially parallel to the substrates 121 and 122 and smaller than the inclination angle when substantially vertical (that is, larger than 0 degree and smaller than 90 degrees).

  The inclination angle is preferably 10 degrees or more and 80 degrees or less, and more preferably 40 degrees or more and 50 degrees or less. This is because the birefringence increases as the inclination angle approaches 45 degrees, and the image can be favorably hidden. Further, when the tilt angle is small, the driving voltage is small, so that power consumption can be reduced.

  Note that when the observer is displaced in the y direction, the major axis direction of the projection diagram of the liquid crystal molecules does not change, so whether or not the main LCD 112 can be viewed depends only on the displacement of the viewpoint in the x direction. Therefore, a line of sight from a direction parallel to the yz plane (a plane drawn by rotation of a point on the liquid crystal molecule that changes the alignment direction) is taken as a line of sight from the front direction.

  In addition, for one or both of the transparent electrode films 126 and 127, a film that has been subjected to electrode patterning so that an electrode is disposed on a portion other than the logo portion shown in white (black portion) of “SHARP” is used. As a result, at least in the logo portion where no voltage is applied to one of the transparent electrode films, no voltage is applied to the liquid crystal molecules, so that the alignment direction is substantially parallel to the substrates 121 and 122 in the same manner as when no voltage is applied. Therefore, only the logo portion is not affected by birefringence in the SW-LCD 14 when viewed from any direction. Therefore, the image viewed by the viewers 32 and 33 is a logo image such as the main screen 4 as shown in FIG. 5 in which light is blocked at portions other than the logo portion and light is transmitted through the logo portion.

  For the purpose of hiding the image of the main LCD 114, the pattern electrode preferably covers 60% or more, preferably 80% or more of the main display unit 18 with the electrode. However, for the purpose of simply overlapping the image on the main LCD 114 with the image on the SW-LCD 112, the pattern electrodes may be arranged with any electrode distribution.

  One example is a display example of the main screen 4 as shown in FIG. In this way, in order to display different images in the front direction and the side direction, for example, by providing the pattern electrodes of the SW-LCD 112 in a matrix and further providing a drive circuit for driving these electrodes, a simple matrix ( It is conceivable that the liquid crystal molecules of an arbitrary display pattern are changed in a passive manner to change the alignment state of the liquid crystal molecules and display in the lateral direction.

  In this case, not only simple matrix driving but also active driving using an active element such as a TFT may be used.

  Here, using the SW-LCD configured as described above, the change in transmittance according to the line-of-sight direction in the multiple image display mode was measured. The results are shown in FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a graph showing measurement results when the SW-LCD of the liquid crystal molecule alignment example 1 is set to the multiple image display mode. In the measurement, the polarization transmission axis of the first polarizing plate is arranged in the vertical direction, and the target point is changed from the line of sight (normal angle) perpendicular to the main display unit 18 (elevation angle 0 degree). The viewpoint was shifted from side to side. Note that the viewpoint is shifted from an elevation angle of 0 degrees until the angle between the direction perpendicular to the main display unit 18 and the line of sight reaches 80 degrees (until the elevation angle reaches 80 degrees), and the viewpoint is viewed from the line of sight and the line of sight. The transmittance of the SW-LCD was measured. The horizontal axis of the graph indicates the elevation angle, and the vertical axis indicates the transmittance. Moreover, as SW-LCD, it measured using the thing of retardation when it sees from the front 500nm, 600nm, 800nm, 1000nm, 1500nm.

  According to this, all showed the maximum transmittance of about 85% at an elevation angle of 0 degree, and the transmittance decreased as the elevation angle increased. In the case of the retardation of 1500 nm, the transmittance was almost 0% at an elevation angle of about 30 degrees, and the transmittance rose again when the elevation angle was further increased. When the retardation is 1000 nm, the elevation angle is about 38 degrees, and when the retardation is 800 nm, the elevation angle is about 44 degrees and the transmittance is almost 0%. Further, when the retardation is 600 nm and 500 nm, the minimum is at an elevation angle of about 50 degrees and about 60 degrees, respectively, and the transmittance is kept below 10% even if the elevation angle is increased thereafter.

  For SW-LCD, the retardation is determined according to the direction in which the main LCD is not desired to be visually recognized, or in accordance with the use environment, the luminance of the main LCD, etc. do it. For example, when hiding the image of the main LCD with respect to a line of sight from an elevation angle of about 45 degrees, a SW-LCD having a low transmittance at this elevation angle and showing retardation of 500 nm to 1000 nm may be used. When it is desired to hide the image of the main LCD around the line of sight from an elevation angle of 30 ° to 50 °, a retardation having a low transmittance in this range and having a retardation of 800 nm to 1000 nm may be used. On the other hand, when it is desired to hide the image of the main LCD with respect to the line of sight from a range where the elevation angle is greater than 40 degrees, it is sufficient to use a retardation having a retardation of 500 nm to 600 nm in this range.

  A flow of display mode determination processing in the mobile phone 1 having the above configuration will be described below with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, it is determined whether or not the display mode is a multiple display mode (step S1). If it is determined that the display mode is the multiple display mode, the process proceeds to step S2 to determine whether the privacy mode is set. The determination in step S1 may be determined from the application program, or the user may manually set the multiple display mode by operating the operation unit 16 and determine whether or not the display mode has been set.

  If it is determined in step S2 that the privacy mode is not set, the main screen 4 is set to the multi-screen mode, and the front screen information (for example, a mail creation screen) is displayed on the front screen (front orientation screen). Horizontal screen information (for example, a mail reception screen) is displayed on the horizontal screen (side orientation screen) (step S3). The main screen 4 in this case is as shown in FIG.

  If it is determined in step S2 that the mode is the privacy mode, the main screen 4 is set to the privacy mode, is in the narrow viewing angle mode, and is viewed by others on the horizontal screen (side orientation screen). Further information is displayed (step S4). The main screen 4 in this case is as shown in FIG. The determination of the privacy mode in this case may be determined from the application program, or the user may manually set the privacy mode by operating the operation unit 16 and determine whether or not the setting has been made. .

  If it is determined in step S1 that the display mode is not the multiple display mode, the single screen display mode is set and the wide viewing angle mode is executed (step S5). The main screen 4 in this case is as shown in FIG.

  An example of determining a specific display mode is shown below.

  (1) When display information from the Internet is detected (when information is to be acquired from the Internet). In this case, by default, the single screen display mode is set.

  When the multi-screen mode is selected, the main homepage image is displayed on the front orientation display screen, and the URL is displayed on the side orientation display screen.

  When the privacy mode is selected, information is displayed on the front orientation display screen and a display that may be seen on the side orientation display screen is performed.

  When the single screen display mode is selected, wide-field display is performed.

  (2) At the time of mail reply (at the time of “mail reply” operation). In this case, the multi-screen mode is set by default.

  When the multi-screen mode is selected, a reply operation screen is displayed on the front orientation display screen, and a reception screen just for viewing is displayed on the side orientation display screen.

  When the privacy mode is selected, information is displayed on the front orientation display screen and a display that may be seen on the side orientation display screen is performed.

  When the single screen display mode is selected, wide-field display is performed.

  (3) When attempting to display a screen in which images and characters are mixed (at the time of display). In this case, the multi-screen mode is set by default.

  When the multi-screen mode is selected, figure / table / photo information is displayed on the front orientation display screen, and character information is displayed on the side orientation display screen.

  When the privacy mode is selected, an image and characters are displayed on the same plane of the front orientation display screen, and a display that may be seen on the side orientation is displayed.

  When the single screen display mode is selected, images and characters are displayed (wide-field display) in the same plane of the front-facing display screen.

  In the technology employed in the present application, the display on the side orientation display screen is black and white or two-color display using a color polarizing plate. In view of this, a chart photograph using a plurality of colors is a front image, and character information transmitted in black and white display is displayed on a horizontal screen.

  In addition, as a method for separating a character and an image, it can be identified by an identification method using an extension and an image processing method called “image region separation”.

  As described above, the multi-screen display control unit 44 included in the display control unit displays the display determined by the display mode instruction acquisition unit 41 with respect to the image display control unit 45 and the viewing angle change / display control unit 46. When the mode is the narrow viewing angle display mode, the first display mode (normal multi-screen display mode) for displaying information according to the application program to be executed on the display screen of the front orientation and the side orientation, and the front orientation In order to display information corresponding to the application program to be executed on the display screen and to switch the second display mode (privacy mode) to display information unrelated to the application program to be executed on the side orientation display screen. The control signal is transmitted.

  In this case, in the second display mode, information corresponding to the application program to be executed is displayed only on the front orientation display screen, and information unrelated to the application program is displayed on the side orientation display screen. Therefore, the third party cannot grasp the application program being executed by the user.

  According to the mobile phone 1 having the above configuration, information corresponding to the application program to be executed is displayed on the main screen 4 viewed from the front direction and the side direction of the main display unit 18. A plurality of pieces of information can be made visible without dividing the display screen of the unit 18.

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the user can easily view the display screen of the side orientation simply by changing the viewing direction from the front orientation to the side orientation.

  Note that the side surface orientation of the present application is not limited to the left-right direction, and includes, for example, the up-down direction and a direction with a minute angle (oblique direction).

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope shown in the claims. That is, embodiments obtained by combining technical means appropriately modified within the scope of the claims are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  Note that each unit and each processing step of the portable terminal device according to the above embodiment is such that a calculation unit such as a CPU executes a program stored in a storage unit such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a RAM, and an input unit such as a keyboard. It can be realized by controlling output means such as a display or communication means such as an interface circuit. Accordingly, various functions and various processes of the portable terminal device of the present embodiment can be realized simply by a computer having these means reading the recording medium on which the program is recorded and executing the program. In addition, by recording the program on a removable recording medium, the various functions and various processes described above can be realized on an arbitrary computer.

  As this recording medium, a program medium such as a memory (not shown) such as a ROM may be used for processing by the microcomputer, or a program reader is provided as an external storage device (not shown). It may be a program medium that can be read by inserting a recording medium therein.

  In any case, the stored program is preferably configured to be accessed and executed by the microprocessor. Furthermore, it is preferable that the program is read out, and the read program is downloaded to a program storage area of the microcomputer and the program is executed. It is assumed that this download program is stored in advance in the main unit.

  The program medium is a recording medium configured to be separable from the main body, such as a tape system such as a magnetic tape or a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a flexible disk or a hard disk, or a disk such as a CD / MO / MD / DVD. Fixed disk, IC card (including memory card), etc., or semiconductor ROM such as mask ROM, EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), flash ROM, etc. In particular, there are recording media that carry programs.

  In addition, if the system configuration is capable of connecting to a communication network including the Internet, the recording medium is preferably a recording medium that fluidly carries the program so as to download the program from the communication network.

  Further, when the program is downloaded from the communication network as described above, it is preferable that the download program is stored in the main device in advance or installed from another recording medium.

  Since the present invention uses a front direction display screen and a side direction display screen, the display unit itself of a mobile phone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), etc. can be applied to a small mobile terminal device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1, showing an embodiment of the present invention, is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of a mobile phone. It is a figure which shows the external appearance in the state which opened the said mobile telephone, The figure (a) is a front view, The figure (b) is a rear view. 6 is a diagram showing a main screen viewed from the front or oblique direction when the mobile phone according to the embodiment of the present invention is set to the single image display mode. 6 is a diagram showing a main screen viewed from the front or oblique direction when the mobile phone according to the embodiment of the present invention is set to the normal mode of the multiple image display mode. 6 is a diagram showing a main screen viewed from the front or oblique direction when the mobile phone according to the embodiment of the present invention is set to the private mode of the multiple image display mode. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the said mobile telephone. It is a figure which shows sectional drawing of the main display part shown in FIG.1 and FIG.6. The display part when the said mobile telephone is set to single image display mode is shown, (a) is drawing which looked toward the display surface of a display part, (b) is a cross section which shows AA 'cross section. FIG. 4C is a cross-sectional view showing a BB ′ cross section. The display part when the said mobile telephone is set to multiple image display mode is shown, (a) is sectional drawing which shows an AA 'cross section, (b) is sectional drawing which shows a BB' cross section. . 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between an elevation angle of line of sight and transmittance in the SW-LCD in the main display unit. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the determination process of the display mode in the said mobile telephone.

Explanation of symbols

1 Mobile phone (mobile terminal device)
4 main screen 6 main operation button group 16 operation unit 17 storage unit 18 main display unit 21 control unit (display control unit)
31 observer 32 observer 33 observer 41 display mode instruction acquisition unit (display mode determination unit)
42 Application execution unit 43 Display information detection unit 44 Multiple screen display control unit (information separation unit, mode switching means)
45 Image display control unit 46 Viewing angle change / display control unit 47 Image display unit 48 Viewing angle change / display unit

Claims (4)

A main LCD that displays an image such as an operation screen, a photograph, and a mail text, and a liquid crystal layer that is disposed in front of the main LCD and is sandwiched between a matrix-like transparent electrode film and an alignment film. A display unit having a SW-LCD whose viewing angle is switched by controlling the applied voltage, and a drive circuit for applying a voltage to the matrix-like transparent electrode film,
The drive circuit controls the voltage applied to the matrix-shaped transparent electrode so as to form a narrow viewing angle portion of an arbitrary pattern on the SW-LCD, and thereby the image displayed on the main LCD and the A portable terminal device that displays a narrow viewing angle portion formed on a SW-LCD as a front-oriented display screen and a side-oriented display screen, respectively . A main LCD that displays an image such as an operation screen, a photograph, and a mail text, and a liquid crystal layer that is disposed in front of the main LCD and is sandwiched between a matrix-like transparent electrode film and an alignment film. Display control method for portable terminal device comprising: a display unit having a SW-LCD whose viewing angle is switched by controlling an applied voltage; and a drive circuit for applying a voltage to the matrix-like transparent electrode film Because
By controlling the voltage applied to the matrix-like transparent electrode so as to form a narrow viewing angle portion of an arbitrary pattern on the SW-LCD, the image displayed on the main LCD and the SW-LCD A display control method for a portable terminal device, comprising: a first step of displaying the formed narrow viewing angle portion as a front-oriented display screen and a side-oriented display screen, respectively . A display control program for a portable terminal device according to claim 1,
A display control program for causing a computer to function as the drive circuit .   A computer-readable recording medium on which the display control program according to claim 3 is recorded.

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