JP2003067348A - Portable information terminal with scheduler registration assistance means - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a schedule editing means for facilitating data input having schedule for a fixed period periodically repeated. SOLUTION: Schedule having constant pattern repeated every week, in such as lesson schedule of school, is prepared previously as a scheduler registration assistance means in a portable terminal. The schedule is read out, data (days of the week, class subject) are input to the pertinent part, and the batch registration can be performed in the scheduler in the portable information terminal as schedule data. The scheduler in the portable information terminal has a function for displaying as data of a day, by synthesizing the schedule data inputted usual every day and the data of the pertinent day (days of the week) extracted from the schedule data inputted in a batch system from the scheduler registration assistance means and repeated periodically.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile information terminal such as a mobile phone, and more particularly to a mobile information terminal having a schedule registration function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Due to its widespread use and many functions, portable information terminals are becoming familiar devices that are always at hand. Among them, there is an increasing demand for a role as a notebook, and there is a demand for a schedule function that a portable information terminal has, which is easier to handle by utilizing the situation judgment by software.

As a mobile phone having such a schedule function, "phone book and schedule table external editing device for mobile phone" described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-313141.
Then, the schedule table edited and saved by the external computer is transferred to the mobile phone through the serial port such as RS-232 or the infrared port and stored in the memory in the mobile phone. A method has been disclosed in which a user can check a schedule with a mobile phone by displaying a content of an article while calling at a regular time with a clock.

Further, as a means for registering the contents of a schedule in a portable electronic device, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-77111, an icon represented by a pattern that allows the contents of the schedule to be stored is stored in a schedule contents storage means, and a calendar is stored. By setting the schedule contents by registering the corresponding icon on the desired day of
A means for efficiently inputting a schedule is disclosed.

[0005]

In the conventional portable information terminal, when the schedule stored in the internal memory is edited, a method of inputting the schedule data of the day together with the time information in a unit of one day is adopted. , For example,
In the case of a schedule that is repeated every week, it is performed in the form of additionally inputting the information of “repetition” accompanying the entered event, and the repetition is also performed in the form of being added to the time information. There is.

FIG. 1 shows a hardware configuration of a general portable information terminal, which includes a display section 1-1, an operation section 1-4,
A CPU 1-2 that controls these, a memory 1-5 that stores software, a clock 1-3 that serves as a reference for time and date.
have. The scheduler function is stored in the memory 1-5 as software, and the scheduler function software read from the memory 1-5 by the CPU 1-2 according to the schedule input operation of the operation unit 1-4 is sequentially displayed on the display unit 1-.
Display in 1.

5 to 6 show examples of screens displayed on the display screen of the display unit 1-1 when the scheduler function is operated by the operation unit 1-4. For example, as shown in FIG. A calendar for one month for entering a new schedule is displayed. When the date for inputting the schedule (January 1, 2001 in the figure) is selected from the calendar display screen, the schedule edit screen as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed.

The operator inputs predetermined data in the "time", "repetition", and "bell" fields instructed to input the data on the schedule edit screen, and the event data in the "event" field. Enter. When the input event is repeated at intervals such as daily, weekly, or monthly, the "repetition" column can be displayed repeatedly on a specified day by designating to that effect. By repeating these operations for each event, the daily schedule is stored in the memory 2-
Stored in 5.

When confirming the schedule, for example, if a date is specified on the calendar display screen shown in FIG. 5 and a schedule confirmation operation is performed, the data input as the schedule of the date is displayed in chronological order, for example.
If the "bell" is set to ring, the "bell" will ring at that time on the set day.

As described above, the conventional schedule editing is
Since the schedule data for the day is entered together with the time information on a day-by-day basis, various types of information can be handled, but the same character string can be repeatedly entered for repeated fixed information, and the information entered once can be used. When editing
It has a drawback that it is difficult to re-recognize it as the information of a group of categories.

An object of the present invention is to provide a means for facilitating the input of data in which a schedule of a fixed period is periodically repeated at the time of editing a schedule and facilitating the recognition of such information as collective category information. To provide.

[0012]

According to the present invention, a portable information terminal having a schedule function for registering and browsing daily activity schedule data is used to input a schedule in which a certain pattern is periodically repeated. A schedule registration list is provided by providing a scheduler registration assisting unit including a registration screen for each pattern and data, and inputting data to be registered in accordance with the registration screen provided by the scheduler registration assisting unit to collectively schedule a schedule that is periodically repeated. It is characterized in that it can be registered in the ToDo list.

The scheduler registration assisting means of the present invention has a fixed pattern that is repeated every week in a mobile information terminal such as a mobile phone having a limited ability to input information, such as a school timetable. A schedule is prepared in advance in the mobile information terminal, and when the schedule is read out and data is input to the corresponding place, it can be collectively registered as schedule data. Therefore, it becomes possible to easily input the schedule data from the operation unit of the mobile information terminal.

The scheduler in the portable information terminal is
A function to combine the normal schedule data input for each day and the data of the corresponding day extracted from the periodically repeated schedule data collectively input from the scheduler registration assisting means, and display it as one-day data have.

Further, by using the communication function with the external device provided in the portable information terminal to transmit / receive registration data between users who register a schedule for the same purpose,
It is characterized in that common registration data is shared between the portable information terminals, so that it is possible to omit the time and effort of individually registering.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The scheduler registration assisting means of the present invention is realized by software and realizes its function in the structure of a conventional general portable information terminal. Therefore, the hardware configuration of the portable information terminal as the environment for executing the software of the present invention is the same as in the conventional example shown in FIG. 1, the display unit 1-1, the operation unit 1-4, and the CPU 1-2 for controlling these. , A memory 1-5 for storing software, and a clock 1-3 as a reference of time and date. The schedule function of the present invention as software stored in the memory 1-5 is executed by the CPU 1-2.

According to the present invention, as a registration means for the scheduler, a conventional function of designating a specific day and registration and a function of registering a plurality of days in a fixed format based on a specific rule are provided. There is. As the schedule display means for designating the date, the conventional schedule data input every day and the data of the corresponding day extracted from the periodically repeated schedule data collectively input from the scheduler registration assisting means. Has a function of synthesizing and displaying as 1-day data.

With respect to the function of the scheduler of the portable information terminal according to the present invention, the operation of registering and browsing the schedule on a daily basis and the schedule which is periodically repeated will be described below.

The daily schedule function accumulates continuous daily operations and registers an action schedule for a fixed period.
It is for browsing. It may be browsed in any manner, but due to the limitation of the display capacity that can be viewed and general behavior patterns, browsing is often done in units of one week and one month. The example of the list screen of the unit scheduler is shown.

The operation of one day is 24 hours or 14 hours.
It is managed by dividing it into 40 minutes. It is not impossible to manage in seconds or less, but for the purpose of managing human behavior, it is practically rare to manage schedules in short units such as seconds. Clock 1-3 is 1440 a day
It provides information on a minute basis, day breaks for each month, number of days in a month for each year, and so on.

The display section 1-1 is commonly used for various functions of the portable information terminal and refers to various information. From the viewpoint of small size and power saving, LCD is often used. Due to the small size of the personal digital assistant, it is difficult to display all the dates of the year handled by the scheduler function at once.

Therefore, as described above, the days are displayed in a list for each month or week, and one of the days is selected to confirm the schedule within the day. Similarly, when registering a schedule, select one of the days displayed in the list,
Enter the schedule for the day.

The operation section 1-4 is commonly used for various functions of the portable information terminal and is for inputting various information. Although a keyboard, mouse, direction indicating device, etc. are used, due to the nature of the mobile information terminal, the ability is limited, and it takes time to enter information compared to a personal computer etc. Desired.

When registering a schedule on a daily basis, a specific day is selected from the list, and the name of the event in the day, information to be noted, etc. are displayed on the display unit 1 as in the conventional case. Editing information displayed in -1 (Fig. 6)
While watching, input from the operation unit 1-4 for each event.

Information added to one event is time,
Various settings such as marking indicating the nature of the event, function selection whether to notify with sound or screen at the time, information to be associated with the event such as telephone number or personal information, etc. are possible, but in the embodiment, Only the name of the event is specified. The presence or absence of other information is not directly related to the achievement of the object of the present invention, and can be appropriately selected as necessary.

These schedulers input on a daily basis are called by various names such as "schedule,""ToDolist," and "schedule" depending on the list format of the scheduler for that purpose and the difference in additional information. However, the scheduler registration assisting means of the present invention can be applied to any case.

Next, a method of registering over a plurality of days in a fixed format based on a specific rule, which is a characteristic part of the present invention, will be described.

FIG. 2 is an example of an input screen displayed on the display section 1-1 when registering over a plurality of days in a fixed format based on the registration rule according to the present invention. In this example, a screen created for the purpose of collectively registering a weekly class schedule, which is called a timetable for students, is shown. This screen is displayed by reading the software created in advance and stored in the memory 1-5, for example, under the name "class timetable".

Generally, a department schedule has a nature of being repeated every week. Therefore, on this screen, the weekly schedule from Monday to Sunday is displayed and input for each day of the week. The information to be entered should include the name of the day of the week and which department will be offered as the number of lessons on that day. Here, the first lesson is expressed by the term "1 time limit".

For the "1st period", the user inputs the class name "physical education", for example. The data "day of the week" and "1st period:" to "5th period:" are registered in advance in the software, and the user inputs the day of the week name and the department name after them. By repeating this for each day of the week, a schedule for one week is created.

Even if it is called a timetable, the style of lectures and the allocation of lessons per week differ depending on the school. The user is prompted to input just before inputting the lesson for one week, and the number of items to be input is limited based on the information previously input in the continuous input screen for the lesson for one week thereafter. The scheduler displays daily information based on this information.

As described above, the scheduler function realized by the software of the present invention inputs the schedule of one week in association with the day of the week and registers it in the memory 1-5 as schedule data.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the display operation of the schedule edited in the embodiment of the present invention. The operation of displaying the edited schedule in the present embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, a list screen of the scheduler as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the display section 1-1 of the portable information terminal (3-2), and a specific date is designated by the user from this list screen (3 -3). The scheduler refers to the data of the specified date, and at the time of reference, recognizes what day of the week the date is from the calendar information (3-4).

Then, the data of the corresponding day of the week is cut out from the one-week schedule data stored in the memory 1-5 (3-5). For example, if it is Monday, the information for Monday is cut out with reference to the one-week schedule. Next, the data of the corresponding date is cut out from the schedule input every day of the conventional processing (3-6). The one-week schedule and the one-day schedule thus obtained are combined and displayed side by side as a one-day schedule (3-7).

FIG. 4 shows an example in which the schedule input every day and the schedule input every week are combined and displayed. The order of display can be rearranged by setting rules for each input information. For example, if there is mutual time information, they may be arranged according to time. Further, if there is no time information, if the information is displayed separately for each reference source, it becomes easy to recognize as the information of each category.

Next, a mechanism for cutting out the input weekly schedule data will be described.

The input weekly data is realized by overwriting the data prepared in advance.
In the case of the example, the data is composed of information of "day of the week", "time period" and "character string information" displayed in association with the "time period". For example, "Weekday" is Monday,
One time period is assigned to the “what time period” and physical education is assigned to the “character string information”. These are managed as one set of data in a form that is summarized for one week.

Therefore, the scheduler uses the first "day of the week"
Get the information about the day of the week you need by referring to the data in. Further, the information "what time period" is referred to, the data of the "character string information" associated therewith is read and displayed on the screen.

The data may be handled as a collection of individual data, or may be handled as text data in the form of a character string. Recognize as data according to the rules of each data delimiter.

Since this weekly data is simple data, it is easy to exchange data not only with the input portable information terminal but also with other external devices connected to the portable information terminal. For example, data having the same information terminal can be shared by exchanging data through serial data transmission commonly referred to as USB or RS232C or data transmission by infrared rays.

By using a communication line or an external device,
It is possible to provide individual weekly data that matches a variety of occupations and lifestyles as a default.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the daily schedule and the weekly schedule are explained as a combined display of the daily schedules. The schedule can cover two or more schedules. In addition, it is possible to provide a screen for inputting the monthly schedule and the yearly schedule together with the weekly schedule, collect data, and expand the data at the same time.

In the embodiment, the daily schedule and the daily schedule are combined and displayed based on the two schedules, but each schedule data is displayed independently without combining. It is also possible to provide a means for switching.

Further, in the embodiment, the information "1 time limit" is not the target of processing by the user as the structure of the data for one week referred to by the scheduler. However, depending on the school to which the user belongs, various names such as “first hour” and “first lecture” may be used.

In such a case, for example, by defining the symbol "<:>" and inputting the information "<1 time limit: physical education>", the information surrounded by "<" and ":" becomes 1 By treating the information as one event and displaying the information sandwiched between “:” and “>” as the event display, the name “1 time limit” can also be realized as a user's edit target.

In the embodiment, the class timetable of the school is shown as an example, but different types such as the weekly schedule or monthly schedule of the company, the schedule of housework, lessons learned, events in the town, or the TV schedule you want to watch, etc. It is possible to take advantage of the features of the present invention for various periodic schedules of.

Further, it is also possible to register a pattern in which different schedule data are mixed in one cyclic schedule data registration means without specifying the type of the schedule which is cyclically repeated.

[0049]

Since the present invention is provided with an input screen prepared in advance for collectively inputting a schedule that is periodically repeated, it is possible to input schedule data with a smaller number of steps.

Further, since the periodically repeated schedule data registered in one mobile information terminal is configured to be transmitted to another mobile information terminal, it is possible for a person in the same environment as in a class timetable, for example. If the schedule is common between the two, the schedule data can be registered without inputting data from the keyboard of the mobile information terminal.

Further, even when there is a change in the periodically repeated schedule, it is possible to easily re-recognize as a more comprehensive category edit in the act of editing the original periodic data again. ,
It can also be used for long-term operation.

In terms of software structure, since data can be registered regardless of the presence or absence of time information, even if the clock information is not set immediately after purchase, it can be handled in the software without contradiction. .

Further, since the repeated data is stored in a fixed pattern, the data need only be quoted when it is expanded into daily data, so that the number of data in the portable information terminal can be reduced. You can do it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a portable information terminal to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schedule editing input screen showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a display operation of a schedule edited in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a read-out display screen of a schedule edited in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a general scheduler list screen.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a general daily schedule editing screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

1-1 Display 1-2 CPU 1-3 clock 1-4 Operation part 1-5 memory

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A portable information terminal equipped with a scheduler capable of registering and browsing action schedule data on a daily basis, and a function of collectively inputting data in which a schedule of a fixed period is periodically repeated, and the input. A portable information terminal comprising: a scheduler registration assisting unit having a function of registering periodically repeated data in the scheduler. 2. The function of collectively inputting data that is cyclically repeated includes a plurality of input patterns having different edit patterns for each type of schedule to be input. The portable information terminal described in. 3. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein the scheduler is capable of registering a plurality of schedule data input according to a different editing pattern for each type of schedule that is periodically repeated. Information terminal. 4. The one day data is obtained by the scheduler combining the periodically repeated schedule data registered by the scheduler registration assisting unit and the data registered as the daily action schedule data. The mobile information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the mobile information terminal has a function of displaying as. 5. The scheduler independently schedules the periodically repeated schedule data registered by the scheduler registration assisting means and the data registered as the daily activity schedule data for one day. The mobile information terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which has a function of displaying as data. 6. The scheduler registration assisting means has a function of inputting / outputting the periodically repeated schedule data via an external device or a communication line. The mobile information terminal according to any one.