JP2003060741A - Mobile terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a portable terminal device which can simplify an input operation required for sending an electronic mail and reduce a burden on a user. SOLUTION: When a specific operation key is pressed for a predetermined time or more in a standby state of a mobile phone or the like (step S6).
6: Y), the screen immediately shifts to the e-mail editing screen (step S67). At this time, a mail address registered in advance corresponding to the pressed specific key is transcribed as it is to the destination on the editing screen. Therefore, the user can immediately shift to the e-mail editing operation by simply pressing the key corresponding to the destination to be transmitted among a few specific keys for a relatively long time, and need to input the e-mail address. Nor.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a mobile phone, PHS.
And the like, and more particularly to a mobile terminal device that can easily send an electronic mail.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Mobile phones, PHSs (Personal Handyphs)
one System), PDA (Personal Data Assistance, Pe
rsonal Digital Assistants: Portable information communication devices for individuals) and other communication devices that are convenient for carrying are rapidly spreading. Most of such mobile terminal devices can send and receive electronic mail. However, many mobile terminal devices are small in size so that they are convenient to carry. For this reason, writing and sending an e-mail is not necessary when receiving an e-mail and displaying it on the display screen for reading. In many cases, it is considerably more difficult than inputting from.

[0003] Therefore, an effort is made to simply enter the e-mail address itself. This is because many e-mail addresses are constructed by using English or numbers or symbols (hereinafter simply referred to as characters) with a relatively long number of characters, and typos occur relatively frequently.

FIG. 7 shows a conventional proposal for this purpose. In this proposal disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-45142, buttons are allocated in correspondence with each part constituting an electronic mail address, and memories corresponding to the respective parts are prepared. In the example shown in FIG. 7, "yamada" is assigned to the button "A", "suzuki" is assigned to the button "B", and "@ abc1.co.jp" is assigned to the button "D". When the buttons "A" and "D" are pressed, the e-mail address "yamada@abc1.co.jp"
Assemble and press buttons "B" and "D"
The email address "suzuki@abc1.c
o. jp ″ is assembled. The assembled product may be used as it is for transmission, or a part thereof may be modified and used for transmission.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-55450, a destination address for each user code is registered in each button of the operating means of a facsimile machine used by a plurality of people. Then, the user inputs the user code assigned to him / herself, reads out the one-touch table corresponding to the user code and displays it on the touch panel, and selects the desired mail address by pressing the corresponding part of the panel. Then, an electronic mail in which the original is imaged is transmitted to the destination.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-17852,
The user registers the e-mail address in the one-touch key in advance. And login ID,
By simply pressing the one-touch key after logging in to the network using the password ID or the like, the image data of the document is transmitted as an e-mail to the registered destination.

[0007]

However, according to the proposal disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-45142 for inputting an e-mail address, each part constituting the e-mail is selected by a button, so that one address is input. However, it is necessary to press the buttons as many as the respective parts that make up this and select them. Also, in order to fully assemble many of the email addresses by pressing as many buttons as these splits, a significant number of buttons need to be allocated to them. For example, if 10 users have different user names and domain names, and you try to read the addresses of these emails by pressing the button twice,
Twenty buttons are required.

Further, even if such a number of buttons are allocated, there are few user names and domain names having the same or the same main part. Therefore, this proposal has a problem that a large number of e-mail addresses are partially or completely retyped even if the button is selected. In addition, since the buttons are divided by the number of divided addresses to be used, the number of addresses that can be assembled without modification simply by operating the buttons is very small, and there is a problem that the actual effect is small.

On the other hand, in the case of the proposal of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-55450, by inputting the user code, the address of the electronic mail corresponding to the user is displayed on the touch panel, and the desired one can be selected from these. Is pressed. Therefore, it is easy to select a desired address, but a dedicated touch panel that can recognize the pressed state is required. Further, since it is necessary to input the user code, there is a problem that the operation is time-consuming.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-17852,
Since the user registers the e-mail address in the one-touch key in advance, after logging in to the network,
By pressing the one-touch key, the image data of the original is sent as an electronic mail to the registered destination.

In this technique, since the data to be transmitted is the image of the original document in the facsimile machine, a series of operations for the electronic mail is completed by such an operation. However, when text data is transmitted as an electronic mail from a mobile terminal device such as a mobile phone, it is necessary to edit the title and the mail text in a predetermined format after inputting the mail address.

In view of this, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-78654, when the user inputs the telephone number or the e-mail address of the destination terminal at the time of turning on the power of the mobile phone, the content is displayed on the mobile phone. It is supposed to be displayed in the section. If the displayed person is OK, the user presses the message service key to execute the mail transmission. Then, the mode is changed to the mail mode and the input screen of the new message is displayed on the display unit. In this state, a message can be input and the transmission process can be performed. That is, in this proposal, by inputting an e-mail address or the like in the next work after the power is turned on, it is possible to shift to the e-mail editing work to some extent easily.

However, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-17
Entering a mail address in the proposal of Japanese Patent No. 852
If an attempt is made to perform editing work with the proposal presented in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 000-78654, the operation is still complicated. That is, the user first logs in to the network by inputting a predetermined ID or the like, presses a one-touch key to call a desired e-mail address, and displays it on the display unit. Next, the message service key is pressed to transition to the mail mode, and the input screen for the new message is displayed on the display unit. Finally, the message is input or edited and the transmission process is performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a portable terminal device which simplifies the input operation required for sending an electronic mail and reduces the burden on the user.

[0015]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, (a) a mail address storage means for storing an electronic mail address corresponding to each specific key;
(B) a specific key press monitoring means for monitoring whether any of the above specific keys is continuously pressed for a predetermined time or more, and (c) any one of the specific keys described above for this specific key press monitoring means. When it is detected that the button has been continuously pressed for a predetermined time or longer, the e-mail editing screen is called, and the e-mail address corresponding to the specific key is incorporated into the predetermined part from the e-mail address storage means at the predetermined position. The mobile terminal device is provided with an electronic mail editing means for displaying in an editable state.

That is, according to the first aspect of the invention, the e-mail address is stored in the mail address storage means in association with each specific key, and any one of these specific keys is continuously operated for a predetermined time or more. When pressed, the edit screen of the e-mail is called, and the mail address corresponding to the specific key is inserted from the mail address storage means at a predetermined location to be displayed in the editable state by being incorporated in the relevant location of the edit screen. is there. This allows immediate email editing with a relatively long press on a particular key.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, either (a) a mail address storing means for storing an e-mail address corresponding to each specific key, or (b) one of the above specific keys is predetermined. A specific key press monitoring means for monitoring whether or not the key is continuously pressed for a predetermined time or longer;
When the specific key press monitoring means detects that any one of the specific keys has been continuously pressed for the predetermined time or more, the edit screen of the e-mail is called and the specific address is specified at the predetermined location from the mail address storage means. E-mail editing means for displaying an editable state by incorporating a mail address corresponding to the key into a relevant part of the editing screen, and (d) a predetermined key other than the specific key described above for a predetermined time or other predetermined time. A predetermined key press monitoring means for monitoring whether or not the key is pressed for a time or more, and (e) the stored in the mail address storage means when the predetermined key press monitoring means is pressed for the predetermined time or another predetermined time. The specific key email address correspondence display means for displaying the email address corresponding to each specific key To be provided in the end equipment.

That is, according to the second aspect of the invention, the e-mail address is stored in the mail address storage means in association with each specific key, and any one of these specific keys is continuously operated for a predetermined time or more. When pressed, the edit screen of the e-mail is called, and the mail address corresponding to the specific key is inserted from the mail address storage means at a predetermined location to be displayed in the editable state by being incorporated in the relevant location of the edit screen. is there. This allows immediate email editing with a relatively long press on a particular key. Similarly, when a predetermined key other than the specific key is pressed for a relatively long time, the email address corresponding to each of the specific keys stored in the email address storage means is displayed. It is possible to easily confirm the key correspondence.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal device according to the first or second aspect, the edit screen displayed by the electronic mail editing means has columns for describing the destination, subject and body of the electronic mail. It is characterized in that it is provided in advance.

That is, according to the third aspect of the invention, since the edit screen displayed by the electronic mail editing means is preliminarily provided with columns for describing the destination, subject and body of the electronic mail, compared to the blank edit screen. Editing can be done quickly.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal device according to the first or second aspect, the specific key press monitoring means continuously presses the specific key for a predetermined time or more in a call or communication standby state. It is characterized by monitoring whether it is done.

That is, the invention according to claim 4 shows an example in which the specific key press monitoring means monitors whether or not the specific key is continuously pressed for a predetermined time or more in a call or communication waiting state.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal device according to the first or second aspect, the specific key press monitoring means is the above-mentioned specific during the call under the service that can perform the call and the packet communication at the same time. It is characterized by monitoring whether or not the key is continuously pressed for a predetermined time or more.

That is, in the invention according to claim 5, the specific key press monitoring means determines whether or not the specific key is continuously pressed during the call for a predetermined time or longer under a service capable of simultaneously performing the call and the packet communication. Shows an example of monitoring. Under circumstances other than those shown in claim 4 or claim 5, it goes without saying that when the specific key is pressed for a predetermined time or longer, the edit mode of the electronic mail may be entered.

In the invention according to claim 6, in the mobile terminal device according to claim 3, the content displayed as a reply to the subject of the latest electronic mail received from the mail address is initially displayed as the subject displayed on the editing screen. It is characterized by being written in.

That is, in the invention according to claim 6, not only the input of the address of the electronic mail is omitted but also the input of the subject for reply is simplified.

[0027]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0028]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples.

FIG. 1 shows a main part of a circuit configuration of a mobile phone as a mobile terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The mobile phone 11 of this embodiment is equipped with a CPU (central processing unit) 12. CPU 12 is bus 13
It is connected to each part in the device via. RO of this
M14 is a read-only memory that stores various control programs to be executed by the CPU 12 and fixed data such as a dictionary used for kana character conversion and the like. The work memory 15 is composed of a RAM (Random Access Memory), and stores data that is temporarily needed by the CPU 12 to execute a program. Image data for editing when sending an electronic mail is also stored in a predetermined area of the work memory 15.

The e-mail address memory 16 stores the e-mail address in correspondence with each one of a specific operation key (hereinafter referred to as a specific key) 17 including a ten-key pad of the device and a predetermined function key. It is a memory to be stored and is composed of a non-volatile memory. The timer unit 18 is a time counting circuit for detecting whether or not any one of the specific keys 17 is continuously pressed for a predetermined time or longer. Here, the predetermined time or more refers to a time longer than or equal to the time of being pressed by a so-called normal key input operation, and is what distinguishes a so-called “long press”. The timer unit 18 can be configured as dedicated hardware, but C
It is also possible to appropriately divide the frequency of a clock signal output from a clock circuit (not shown) for operating the PU 12 and count it, and determine by software whether or not the above predetermined time is exceeded.

The key input section 19 is an input circuit for receiving key inputs from various keys including the specific key 17.
The display control unit 21 is a control circuit that controls the display of the display unit 22. The display unit 22 is arranged on the front surface of the main body of the device (not shown), and is a display device such as a monochrome or color liquid crystal panel or organic EL (electronic fluorescence). The transmission / reception unit 23 is a circuit that wirelessly transmits and receives data.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a correspondence table showing the relationship between the specific key registered in the e-mail address memory and the e-mail address. A user of the mobile phone 11 (FIG. 1) can arbitrarily register a mail address in a predetermined specific key such as “1” or “2”. In this example, for example, the numeric keypad "1" is used as a mail address "taro@tanaka.co.jp".
Is registered. Also, it can be seen that the numeric keypad "3" has no registered mail address.

FIG. 3 shows a process of confirming the registered contents of the mail address used in this embodiment and the process of additional registration. Of course, there are various kinds of such processing, and this embodiment merely shows one example.

The user of the mobile phone 11 shown in FIG.
If you forget what email address you registered for each key, press a predetermined key (“#” key in this example) other than that assigned as a specific key among the operation keys for a predetermined time or longer. Depress continuously (step S4)
1: Y). Based on the detection result of the key input unit 19, the CPU 12 shown in FIG. 1 constantly checks in the timer unit 18 whether any key is continuously pressed for a predetermined time or more. In the case of this example, when it is detected that the "#" key has been continuously pressed for the predetermined time or more (step S41: Y), the CPU 12 responds in the e-mail address memory 16 shown in FIG. The table is read and passed to the display control unit 21. The display control unit 21 displays the contents of this correspondence table based on this (step S42). If the user merely confirms the contents of the correspondence table, the predetermined “end” key can be pressed at this stage (step S43: Y) to end the process (end).

On the other hand, when the user wants to register a mail address that does not exist in this correspondence table (step S43: N), he operates the cursor key (not shown) among the operation keys to display the contents shown in FIG. The location of the specific key to be registered in is selected (step S44). For example, in the example of the correspondence table shown in FIG. 2, since the ten key "3" is not registered, the cursor can be moved to this portion to register a new mail address. Of course, even if the registered mail address is used infrequently, the cursor can be moved to the position of the specific key to overwrite the new mail address.

In any case, when the user selects a desired specific key portion for registration (step S44:
Y), a list of unregistered addresses that have already been used for transmission or reception is displayed on the display unit 22 (step S45). These may be displayed in descending order of frequency of use, or may be displayed in order from those closer to the present to those farther in time. When the user finds the desired mail address, he or she selects it with the cursor key (step S46: Y). As a result, the mail address is registered as corresponding to the corresponding specific key (step S47).

FIG. 4 shows the flow of processing when the user of this mobile phone edits and sends an electronic mail. The user turns on the power source (not shown) of the mobile phone 11 (FIG. 1) and waits for reception (step S
61: Y), waiting for the operation key to be pressed (step S62).

When the operation key is pressed (Y), the CPU 12
Determines whether or not this is a specific key based on the detection result of the key input unit 19 (step S63). If it is other than the specific key (N), if the key is a ten-key, the value indicated by the key is input, and the original input processing of the key is performed (step S64).

On the other hand, when the CPU 12 determines that the specific key has been pressed (step S63:
Y), the time counting operation by the timer unit 18 is started (step S65). Then, when the specific key is continuously pressed for a predetermined time or longer (step S66: Y), the process proceeds to the email editing process (step S67). On the other hand, when the pressing of the specific key is completed within the pressing time that is shorter than the predetermined time (step S66: N), the process proceeds to step S64 and the original input process of the key is performed.

FIG. 5 shows an outline of the electronic mail editing process shown in step S67. That is, when the user continuously presses the specific key for the predetermined time as described above, C
The PU 12 reads the mail address corresponding to the specific key from the e-mail address memory 16 (step S81), and creates an edit screen by transcribing the mail address into the e-mail destination field (step S82). Then, this is displayed on the display unit 22 (FIG. 1) (step S83).

FIG. 6 shows an example of a display screen initially displayed on the display unit. In this example, the initial screen is displayed when the user presses the ten key "2" of the specific keys shown in FIG. 2 for a predetermined time or longer. Since "hanako@mori.ne.jp" as the destination of the e-mail is automatically transcribed in the uppermost line of the display unit 22, the user does not need to manually input it. In addition, the name "subject" is described in the next line, and the title (subject) of the electronic mail can be described here. In the next line, the name "body" is described, and a cursor 91 indicating the input position for inputting characters is displayed below the name.

In the present embodiment, the contents of the latest "subject" of the received electronic mail are stored in the electronic mail address memory 16 in addition to the correspondence table shown in FIG. The content corresponding to is initially written after the character "Re:" indicating a reply. In the example shown in FIG. 6, "hanak"
o @ mori. ne. Since the “subject” of the latest e-mail sent from “jp” is “party notice”, the title “Re: party notice” is initially added. Of course, the user can change this "subject" by overwriting or the like, and can use it as it is.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the user can immediately display the edit screen shown in FIG. 6 on the display unit 22 by simply pressing the specific key for a predetermined time or longer during the waiting time of the telephone or data. Moreover, at this stage, the e-mail address of the recipient and the predetermined items have already been written, so
All or part of these input processes can be omitted.

Returning to FIG. 5, the description will be continued. When the edit screen as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the display unit 22 (step S83), edit input is performed for this (step S83).
84: Y), the input content is reflected as the edit content (step S85), and a new edit screen is displayed. After creating the body of the email, the editing screen is being added accordingly. On the other hand, if the user instructs the destruction of the edit screen (step S86: Y), the electronic mail is discarded without being transmitted.

On the other hand, when the editing input is completed, the user instructs the transmission (step S87: Y). In this case, electronic mail transmission processing is performed for the mail address indicated as the destination (step S88).

In the embodiment described above, the case where an e-mail is created and edited by the mobile phone has been described.
Similarly, in other portable terminal devices such as the above, the input of the mail address can be omitted and the editing screen can be called quickly. Further, although the embodiment describes the editing of the electronic mail in the state of waiting for the reception, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, in the state of a service where you can use voice call and packet communication at the same time on your mobile phone, you can open the edit screen for email in the same way during a call and edit the email without directly entering the email address. Is.

Further, in the embodiment, the subject of the electronic mail is entered in the edit screen shown in FIG. 6, but such an entry field is not necessarily displayed, and the edit screen of the electronic mail is displayed. Should be displayed easily.

[0048]

As described above, the first to sixth aspects of the invention are described.
According to the invention described above, the e-mail can be edited immediately by simply pressing a specific key associated with the e-mail address in advance for a relatively long time, and it is not necessary to input the e-mail address. For this reason, not only is it possible to quickly create an e-mail, but there is an effect that erroneous transmission due to a typo in the e-mail address is eliminated.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the e-mail addresses are stored in association with each of the plurality of specific keys, the correspondence between these e-mail addresses and the specific keys can be simply confirmed. You can

Further, according to the invention of claim 3, the edit screen displayed by the electronic mail editing means is provided with columns for describing the destination, subject and body of the electronic mail in advance. Therefore, the blank edit screen is displayed. Editing can be performed more quickly than in.

According to the invention described in claim 6, the subject displayed on the editing screen is initially written with the reply contents of the subject of the latest electronic mail received from the mail address. Not only can you simply type in the subject line for your reply, but if you missed the latest email you received, you can see this from the subject line.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of a circuit configuration of a mobile phone as a mobile terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a correspondence table showing a relationship between a specific key registered in an email address memory and an email address.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a state of confirmation of registration contents of an email address and additional registration processing used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing when a user of a mobile phone edits and sends an electronic mail.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an outline of the electronic mail editing process shown in step S67.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an example of a display screen initially displayed on the display unit in the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing each button and each part constituting an electronic mail address in a proposal made conventionally.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 mobile phones 12 CPU 14 ROM 16 E-mail address memory 17 Operation key (specific key) 18 Timer section 22 Display

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F term (reference) 5K027 AA11 BB01                 5K067 AA34 BB04 BB21 DD17 DD23                       EE02 EE10 FF07 FF23 HH21                       HH23                 5K101 KK02 LL12 NN02

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A mail address storage means for storing an e-mail address corresponding to each specific key, and a specification for monitoring whether any of the specific keys is continuously pressed for a predetermined time or more. Key press monitoring means, and when the specific key press monitoring means detects that one of the specific keys has been continuously pressed for the predetermined time or longer, an email editing screen is called to store the mail address storage means at a predetermined location. And an electronic mail editing unit for displaying the mail address corresponding to the specific key in an editable state by incorporating the mail address in the corresponding portion of the edit screen. 2. A mail address storage means for storing an e-mail address corresponding to each specific key, and a specification for monitoring whether any of the specific keys is continuously pressed for a predetermined time or more. Key press monitoring means, and when the specific key press monitoring means detects that one of the specific keys has been continuously pressed for the predetermined time or longer, an email editing screen is called to store the mail address storage means at a predetermined location. To an electronic mail editing means for displaying an editable state by incorporating a mail address corresponding to the specific key into a relevant portion of the editing screen, and a predetermined key other than the specific key for the predetermined time or another predetermined time or more. A predetermined key press monitoring means for monitoring whether or not the button is pressed, and the predetermined key press monitoring means for the predetermined time. A mobile terminal, comprising: a specific key mail address correspondence display unit that displays a mail address corresponding to each of the specific keys stored in the mail address storage unit when pressed for another predetermined time or longer. apparatus. 3. The editing screen displayed by the electronic mail editing means is preliminarily provided with columns for describing the destination, subject and body of the electronic mail. Mobile terminal device. 4. The specific key press monitoring means monitors whether or not the specific key is continuously pressed for a predetermined time or more in a call or communication standby state. Mobile terminal device. 5. The specific key press monitoring means monitors whether or not the specific key is continuously pressed for a predetermined time or longer during a call under a service in which a call and a packet communication can be performed simultaneously. The mobile terminal device according to claim 1. 6. The subject displayed on the editing screen is initially written with the reply content of the subject of the latest electronic mail received from the mail address. Mobile terminal device.