JP2001156893A - Display system and its method for communication apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the display system of a communication apparatus by which sentences are easy to read and easily inputted. SOLUTION: The display system of the communication apparatus having a vertically long liquid crystal display part 2 is provided with a display unit part 3 for rotating the liquid crystal display part from a vertical position to a horizontal position and vice versa and with a display change-over part 2A for changing-over the display of the liquid crystal display part from the vertical mode to the horizontal mode with the rotation of the display unit part of performing reverse change-over as a unit for the communication apparatus.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable telephone and a simplified portable telephone (PHS: Personal Handy Ph).
one system). In particular,
The present invention relates to a display system and method for a communication device that makes it easy to see and input text.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, data communication has become popular, and personal computers and other information terminals are generally used by connecting them to portable telephones and the like. As communication devices such as mobile phones have been reduced in size and weight, liquid crystal displays have been increasing in size in contrast to this.

Basically, a communication device such as a mobile phone mainly having a telephone call function is equipped with a device having functions such as an e-mail and an online service, and furthermore, a larger liquid crystal display is desired. ing. FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a conventional foldable mobile phone, and FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a conventional bar-type mobile phone. Note that the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and numbers throughout the drawings and will be described.

FIG. 13 shows a foldable mobile phone, FIG.
A liquid crystal display unit 2 is built in each main body 1 of a communication device such as a bar-type mobile phone shown in FIG. As described above, in the main body 1 of the communication device, the communication function is the main function, and miniaturization and weight reduction are important from the viewpoint of portability from the viewpoint of portability. I have.

[0005]

However, if the screen size of the liquid crystal display unit 2 of the communication device is to be increased, it is difficult to increase the length in the vertical direction but to increase the width in the horizontal direction. For this reason, when the liquid crystal display unit 2 is vertically long, there is a problem that the number of display characters in one horizontal line is small and the text is difficult to read and input is not easy.

In order to solve this problem, there is a method of switching only the display direction in response to a request to view a sentence with a large amount of information with the liquid crystal display unit 2 in a landscape orientation. Is difficult to see, and another problem that operability is poor occurs. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a display system and method for a communication device in which sentences are easy to read and input easily in view of the above problems.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a display system for a communication device having a vertically long liquid crystal display unit.
A display unit for rotating the liquid crystal display from portrait to landscape or vice versa; and a display switching unit for switching the display of the liquid crystal display from portrait to landscape or vice versa with the rotation of the display unit. And a display system for a communication device.

By this means, the liquid crystal display portion, which is long in the vertical direction, can be rotated and the liquid crystal display direction can also be switched, so that a sentence having a large number of characters can be viewed horizontally, and the sentence becomes easy to read and input. In this case, the functionality is similarly improved.
Preferably, a rotation lock mechanism is further provided, and the rotation lock mechanism performs lock setting of the rotation of the display unit and release of the lock setting.

According to this means, since the display unit is made rotatable, free rotation of the display unit can be prohibited. Preferably, an operation button is provided on a main body of the communication device which appears after the display unit rotates from portrait to landscape.

By this means, a new operation button can be provided, so that the operability is further improved. Preferably, the communication device is a foldable mobile phone. Further preferably, the communication device is a bar-type mobile phone. By this means, it is possible to view and input text in various types of mobile phones in landscape orientation.

[0011] Preferably, the display unit rotates the liquid crystal display section from portrait to landscape or vice versa in response to a request signal. By this means, the display unit automatically rotates from portrait to landscape in response to the request signal, and the display on the liquid crystal display unit automatically switches from portrait to landscape, and returns to its original state after the request is completed. Operability is improved.

Further, the present invention relates to a display method of a communication device having a vertically long liquid crystal display portion, wherein the step of rotating the liquid crystal display portion from vertically long to horizontally long or vice versa as a unit of the communication device; A display method for a communication device, comprising: a display switching unit that switches the display of the liquid crystal display unit from portrait to landscape in accordance with the rotation of the liquid crystal display unit 2, and vice versa.

By this means, similarly to the above invention, the liquid crystal display portion which is long in the vertical direction can be rotated and the liquid crystal display direction can be switched, so that a sentence having a large number of characters can be viewed horizontally. Are easy to read, and the functionality is similarly improved at the time of input.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display system of a communication device relating to a foldable mobile phone according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, a display unit 3 is provided on a main body 1 of the foldable mobile phone, and the display unit 3 is a unit of the main body 1 and is separated from the main body 1 and connected by a rotatable structure. ing.

The display unit 3 is provided with a large-sized liquid crystal display 2 which is long in the vertical direction, and the liquid crystal display 2 is electrically connected to the main body 1. The liquid crystal display unit 2 shows a normal use state in which a telephone call is performed, and the normal use state generally includes a time and date display, a dial operation, and a state used for setting a function.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a state in which the display unit 3 of FIG. 1 is rotated. As shown in this figure, the display unit 3 rotates 90 degrees, rotates the liquid crystal display 2 from portrait to landscape, and rotates the rotated liquid crystal display 2 back from landscape to portrait. The rotation axis of the display unit 3 is located substantially at the center of the display unit 3. Further, the display unit 3 is provided with a rotation lock mechanism 5 that is fixed by a rotation of 90 degrees in one direction.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the rotation of the rotating shaft of the display unit 3. As shown in FIG. 1A, the rotating shaft 6 of the display unit 3 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and the traveling unit 7 is formed around the rotating shaft 6.
Is provided. The business trip section 7 is provided with a section rotation detection switch 3A, and the rotation detection switch 3A passes through the business trip section 7.

As shown in FIG. 1B, a rotary hole 8 is provided in the main body 1 of the foldable portable telephone.
The rotating shaft 6 of the display unit 3 is formed in a diameter that can be accommodated,
The business trip section 7 of the display unit section 3 has a space 10 which can be rotated 90 degrees. In addition, on both sides of the space 10, the wall 8A,
8B is formed. As shown in FIG. 3C, the rotating shaft 6 of the display unit 3 is accommodated in the rotating hole 8 of the main body 1, and the traveling part 7 of the rotating shaft 6 rotates 90 degrees from the vertical position to the horizontal position. Do.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the rotation detecting switch 3A of FIG. As shown in FIG.
Terminals 11, 12, 1 are inside the business trip section 7 through which A passes.
3, terminals 11 and 13 are connected to a power supply voltage Vcc,
−Vcc is connected. The terminal 12 is connected to GND (ground) via a resistor 14. The projections 9A corresponding to the height position of the rotation detection switch 3A are provided on the walls 8A and 8B.
9B is provided.

The projections 9A and 9B press the rotation detecting switch 3A as the rotation axis of the display unit 3 rotates.
As shown in FIG. 7A, the rotation detecting switch 3A is connected to the terminals 11 and 12 by being pushed by the projection 9A of the wall 8A, and the voltage of the rotation detecting switch 3A becomes Vcc. As shown in this figure (b), it is pushed by the projection 9B of the wall 8B,
The rotation detection switch 3A is connected to terminals 12 and 13,
The voltage of the rotation detection switch 3A becomes -Vcc.

As described above, by detecting whether the voltage of the rotation detection switch 3A is positive or negative, it is possible to detect whether the display unit 3 has rotated 90 degrees in the vertical position or the horizontal position. FIG. 5 is a view for explaining the rotation lock of the display unit 3 on the main body 1. As shown in this figure, the rotation lock mechanism 5 is provided with a rotation lock portion 5A. The rotation lock portion 5A is a thin rod,
The handle portion for unlocking is bendable, and is folded and embedded in a concave portion on the surface of the display unit 3 during locking.

The body 1 has a vertically long hole 5B and a horizontally long hole 5C.
Are provided, and each hole is formed in a diameter such that the rod of the rotation lock portion 5A is inserted. Vertical hole 5B
The position of the horizontally long hole 5C is determined to be a position suitable for fixing (locking) the display unit 3 vertically and horizontally. In the upper part of FIG. 5A, the display unit 3 is fixed at the vertically long position.
The vertical position of the display unit 3 is about to be released, and the lower part of FIG. 5A illustrates a case where the vertical position of the display unit 3 is released.

In the upper part of FIG. 5B, the display unit 3
Is fixed to the horizontal position, and in the interruption of FIG. 5B, the fixing of the horizontal position of the display unit 3 is about to be released.
In the lower part of (b), the case where the fixing of the horizontally long position of the display unit 3 is released is shown. In this way,
Since the display unit 3 is rotatable, it is possible to prohibit the rotation of the display unit 3 by the rotation lock mechanism 5.

FIG. 6 shows the display unit 3 of FIGS.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a connection relationship of a liquid crystal display unit 2.
As shown in the figure, the display unit 3 is provided with a rotation detection switch 3A, and the rotation detection switch 3A detects the rotation of the display unit 3 by 90 degrees and the reverse rotation.

The liquid crystal display unit 2 is provided with a display switching unit 2A, and the display switching unit 2A switches the liquid crystal display unit 2 from a portrait display to a landscape display. The display switching unit 2A of the liquid crystal display unit 2 is connected to the rotation detection switch 3A of the display unit 3, and the rotation detection switch 3A detects the rotation of the display unit 3 by 90 degrees or vice versa. When the rotation is detected, a detection signal is output to the display switching unit 2A.

When the above-mentioned detection signal is input, the display switching section 2A rotates the display of the liquid crystal display section 90 by 90 degrees and switches the display from portrait to landscape or from landscape to portrait. The rotation direction may be clockwise or counterclockwise. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the display switching unit 2A in FIG.

As shown in the figure, in step S1, the display switching section 2A determines whether or not the liquid crystal display section 2 is displayed vertically. In step S2,
In the case of the determination of the portrait display, the control waits for the input of the 90-degree rotation detection signal from the rotation detection switch 3A. Step S
In 3, when the 90-degree rotation detection signal is input,
The display switching unit 2A switches the display of the liquid crystal display unit 2 from portrait to landscape.

In step S4, when the horizontal display is determined in step S1, the rotation detection switches 3A to 9
Wait for the 0-degree rotation detection signal to be input. In step S5, when the 90-degree rotation detection signal is input, the display switching unit 2A switches the display of the liquid crystal display unit 2 from landscape to portrait. In this way, it is possible to rotate the liquid crystal display unit 3, which is long in the vertical direction, and to rotate the liquid crystal display direction in accordance with the rotation of the liquid crystal display unit 3.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, the display unit 3 is provided with a drive unit 3B. The rotation drive unit 3B receives a request for selecting electronic mail, an online service or the like, and an end signal. The rotation shaft of 3B is rotated by a motor or the like. The drive unit 3B sets and releases the lock of the rotation lock mechanism 5 using a solenoid or the like.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining another example of the operation of the liquid crystal display unit 2. As shown in this figure, in step S11, the rotary drive 3B waits for the input of a selection request signal for e-mail, online service, or the like.
In step S12, when a request signal for e-mail processing or the like is input, the drive unit 3B unlocks the rotation lock mechanism 5.

In step S13, the display unit 3 is rotated by the driving unit 3B. In step S14, the process waits for the input of a 90-degree rotation detection signal from the rotation detection switch 3A. In step S15, when the 90-degree rotation detection signal is input, the lock of the rotation lock mechanism 5 is set by the driving unit 3B.

In step S16, the display switching section 2A
Then, the display on the liquid crystal display unit 2 is switched from landscape to portrait. In step S17, the process waits for the end of the e-mail processing or the like. When the e-mail processing or the like is completed in step S18, the lock of the rotation lock mechanism 5 is released by the driving unit 3B.

In step S19, the display unit 3 is rotated by the driving unit 3B and returned to the original position. In step S20, it waits for the input of a 90-degree rotation detection signal from the rotation detection switch 3A. In step S21, when the 90-degree rotation detection signal is input, the driving unit 3
B sets the lock of the rotation lock mechanism 5.

In step S22, the display switching section 2A
Then, the display on the liquid crystal display unit 2 is switched from landscape to portrait. In this way, by a selection request such as e-mail,
Since the display unit 3 is automatically rotated, the operability of switching the display of the liquid crystal display 2 can be improved.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a display system of a communication device relating to the bar-type portable telephone according to the present invention, and FIG. 10 is a view showing a state where the display unit 3 of FIG. 9 is rotated. As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the display unit 3 and the liquid crystal display unit 2 of the bar-type mobile phone have the same configuration as the display unit 3 and the liquid crystal display unit 2 of the foldable mobile phone shown in FIGS. Has actions and actions.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a modification of FIG. 2, and FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a modification of FIG. 11 and 12
In the rotating state of the display unit 3 of the foldable or stick type mobile phone, a plurality of operation buttons 4 are provided at a position of the main body 1 visible at that time. By providing the added operation button 4 with a new function, operability can be improved.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The vertically long liquid crystal display can be rotated and the liquid crystal display direction can be switched, so that sentences with many characters can be viewed horizontally, making the text easier to read and the same functionality when inputting Is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display system of a communication device relating to a foldable mobile phone according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a state in which a display unit unit 3 of FIG. 1 is rotated.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining rotation of a display unit unit 3;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a rotation detection switch 3A of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining rotation lock of the display unit section 3 on the main body 1.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a connection relationship between a display unit unit 3 and a liquid crystal display unit 2 in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the liquid crystal display unit 2.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating another operation example of the liquid crystal display unit 2.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a display system of a communication device related to the bar-type mobile phone according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a state where the display unit unit 3 of FIG. 9 is rotated.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a modification of FIG. 2;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a modification of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a conventional foldable mobile phone.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a conventional bar-type mobile phone.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Main body 2 ... Liquid crystal display part 2A ... Display switching part 3 ... Display unit part 3A ... Rotation detection switch 3B ... Rotation drive part 4 ... Operation button 5 ... Rotation lock mechanism 5A ... Rotation lock part 5B ... Vertical oblong hole 5C ... Horizontal hole 6 ... Rotating shaft 7 ... Business trip part 8 ... Rotating hole 8A, 8B ... Wall 9A, 9B ... Protrusion 10 ... Space 11, 12, 13 ... Terminal 14 ... Resistance

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G09G 3/20 680 G09G 3/20 680S 5K067 3/36 3/36 H04Q 7/38 H04B 7/26 109T F Term (reference) 2H093 NC21 ND02 NE10 NG01 5C006 AB01 BF38 EC01 FA01 5C080 AA10 BB05 DD13 EE22 EE23 JJ06 JJ07 KK47 5G435 AA00 BB12 DD01 EE13 EE16 EE49 LL07 5K023 AA07 DD08 HH07 FB0317A

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A display system for a communication device having a vertically long liquid crystal display unit, wherein a display unit unit for rotating the liquid crystal display unit from portrait to landscape or vice versa as a unit of the communication device; A display switching unit for switching the display of the liquid crystal display unit from portrait to landscape or vice versa as the unit rotates. 2. The display of a communication device according to claim 1, further comprising a rotation lock mechanism, wherein the rotation lock mechanism locks and unlocks the rotation of the display unit. system. 3. The display system for a communication device according to claim 1, wherein an operation button is provided on a main body portion of the communication device which appears after the display unit rotates from portrait to landscape. 4. The display system for a communication device according to claim 1, wherein the communication device is a foldable mobile phone. 5. The display system for a communication device according to claim 1, wherein the communication device is a bar-type mobile phone. 6. The display system according to claim 1, wherein the display unit rotates the liquid crystal display unit from portrait to landscape or vice versa in response to a request signal. 7. A display method for a communication device having a vertically long liquid crystal display unit, wherein the liquid crystal display unit is rotated from vertically long to horizontally long or vice versa as a unit of the communication device; A display switching unit for switching the display of the liquid crystal display unit from portrait to landscape or vice versa with rotation of the display device.