JP2004112327A - Portable telephone - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable telephone capable of input operations by voice display instead of screen display. <P>SOLUTION: The portable telephone is provided with an input operation part 28 including an operation part for switching from the screen display to the voice display and vice versa, and a voice synthesis part 27 for guidance for a function to display on a screen display part 25 and for selecting functions or for converting screen display data such as electronic mails to voices. After switching to the voice display by the input operation part 28 in a start-up state of a prescribed function, the voice signals from the voice synthesis part 27 are outputted from a speaker 29 as voice guidance or reading-aloud of a mail text. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a mobile phone, and more particularly, to a mobile phone having an enhanced display function (guidance function) of the mobile phone.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The conventional mobile phone is premised on that most of the functions are activated and operated by some kind of input operation performed by the user while viewing the display screen.
[0003]
In addition, a display method is used in which a menu item group is displayed on the video display screen at the top, bottom, left and right of the video of the communication partner and eight directions around the communication destination, and the user wants to recognize and select the menu items displayed at the top, bottom, left, and right. By recognizing only the direction in which the menu exists, it is not necessary to look at the menu item group anymore when actually selecting the push button. 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a handy communication terminal capable of selecting a target menu item by a blind operation simply by pushing a key of a direction push button (see Patent Document 1, for example, paragraph 0015).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-9-325876 [Problems to be Solved by the Invention]
In a conventional mobile phone, it is necessary to perform an input operation while viewing the display screen. Therefore, the user needs to perform an operation while viewing the display screen outdoors or in a car. However, in an extremely bright environment such as outdoors in fine weather, the brightness of the display screen may be relatively low and it may be difficult to view the display screen. Further, the operation while viewing the display screen of the mobile phone may be dangerous depending on the usage environment. In addition, depending on the situation, it may happen that bother others.
[0005]
In addition, in the above-described handy communication terminal that enables the blind operation of the menu item, in a method of displaying a menu item such as a pop-up or a pull-down, a continuous area of a display image to be processed is hidden or narrowed by displaying the menu item. Therefore, the menu items are displayed in eight directions from the center of the display screen or the like, and in recognizing the direction in which the menu items exist, the display screen is also viewed (paragraph 0034). FIG. 1 also shows that a guide voice corresponding to a menu item instructed by voice information for a menu item is output with respect to a car navigation system. This is also based on visual observation of a display screen similar to the above (paragraph 0032), A user input operation when new selection, as appropriate, has a drawback in that not capable of switching the guide voice.
[0006]
Further, in the above-described mobile phones, it is difficult to see the display screen during a call, so that an operation for activating and operating a function such as an e-mail other than the call cannot be appropriately performed.
(Purpose)
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile phone capable of performing an input operation by voice display in addition to screen display when a predetermined function desired by a user is activated.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A mobile phone according to the present invention includes an input operation unit including an operation unit for switching between screen display and voice display, a display data holding unit for holding screen display data to be displayed on a screen when a predetermined function is activated, A voice synthesis unit that converts at least a part of the voice into a voice, and detects an operation of switching to voice display by the operation unit in an activated state of the predetermined function, and converts at least a part of screen display data into a voice signal by the voice synthesis unit. A mobile phone, comprising: a control unit for converting and controlling audio output, and capable of switching between a display screen and audio display. Further, after switching to the audio display, the control unit converts at least a part of the screen display data relating to the lower function into an audio signal by selecting the hierarchical lower function by the input operation unit, and outputs the audio guidance. It is characterized by performing.
[0008]
Further, the predetermined function of the present invention is characterized in that it is a menu function, or the predetermined function is an e-mail function, after switching to the voice display, the control unit, the title of the received mail, voice display of the sender, And controlling the voice output of the mail message by selecting the mail message by the input operation unit, or the predetermined function is a call function, and the control unit switches to a voice display, receives an e-mail, Controlling the voice output of the received mail title, the voice output of the sender and the voice output of the mail text by selecting the mail text by the input operation unit, and the control unit puts the call on hold when the voice output related to the received mail is output It is characterized by controlling.
Further, in the above inventions, the control unit stops screen display after switching to audio display.
(Action)
By reading out at least a part of the screen display data of various functions such as menus and e-mails, it is possible to output voice guidance and voice mail instead of visual display on the display screen, without having to look at the screen It enables input operations such as menu selection and confirmation of the mobile phone, confirmation of the contents of mail, and the like.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
An embodiment of a mobile phone according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.
(Description of configuration)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an external configuration of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention. The mobile phone according to the present embodiment has an input operation having various keys capable of selecting and confirming a predetermined function using a screen display unit 11, a speaker 12, a microphone 13, a direction key for moving a cursor, a dial, an enter key, and the like. The unit 14 includes a built-in circuit 15 including software for realizing a mode by screen display (screen display mode) and a mode of voice display (voice display mode) in addition to various functions including a call function of a mobile phone. You.
[0010]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a basic block configuration of the mobile phone according to the present embodiment. The mobile phone according to the present embodiment includes an antenna 21, a transmission / reception unit 22, a control unit 23, a storage unit 24, a screen display unit 25, a voice synthesis unit 27, an input operation unit 28, a function display data unit 26, a speaker 29, and a microphone 30. Consists of
[0011]
The function of each unit of the mobile phone according to the present embodiment will be described.
The antenna 21 and the transmission / reception unit 22 have a function of performing voice communication, electronic mail, web information, and other data communication and communication control between the mobile phone and the base station.
[0012]
The storage unit 24 stores necessary programs for realizing the functions of the mobile phone according to the present embodiment, and stores various databases such as a menu function, code data (data) such as text data, a telephone directory, and a schedule. Has functions.
[0013]
The function display data section 26 has a function of holding display data including guidance relating to the various functions of the mobile phone, e-mail and the like.
[0014]
The screen display unit 25 is an LCD display panel or the like that visually displays screen display data held in the function display data unit 26 in the screen display mode, and displays various functions of the mobile phone, displays communication contents and the like. It has a function to display guidance at the time of operation.
[0015]
The microphone 30 and the speaker 29 have a voice conversion function for transmitting and receiving during a call in a normal voice communication. In particular, the speaker 29 is used for guidance of various functions in a voice display mode which is a feature of the present embodiment. It is also used for voice display.
[0016]
The voice synthesis unit 27 has a function of inputting the display data extracted by the control unit 23, converting the display data into a voice signal, and outputting the voice signal. For example, a function of inputting screen display data relating to menus and other various functions from the control unit 23, converting the data into an audio signal and outputting the same, items such as a title, sender, etc., which are screen display data of an e-mail, and a code of an e-mail text It has a function of converting data into an audio signal and outputting it.
[0017]
The input operation unit 28 selects various functions such as input of a telephone number, outgoing call, incoming call, on / off hook, selection of various menus, setting and display operations, addition of characters to display data on the screen display unit 25, An operation unit (operation keys and the like) that controls a switching operation function to a sound display mode in which sound is displayed instead of screen display, which is a feature of the present embodiment, in addition to the normal control functions of the mobile phone such as correction. ), An operation unit such as a cursor key or a dial for selecting a desired portion on the screen display and selecting a predetermined function according to the voice display.
[0018]
The control unit 23 detects an operation by the operation unit of the input operation unit 28 as long as there is a matter for guiding the user's operation or a display matter by the user's operation even when any function of the mobile phone is activated, A control function for controlling the switching of the mobile phone to various functional states based on the detection result, for example, a switching function for switching to the audio display mode instead of the screen display mode by the screen display unit 25 under the control of the input operation unit 28, A switching function between a voice display mode and a screen display mode, a data transfer function between the respective blocks, for example, a storage unit 24 of received code data and the like, a transfer function to a function display data unit 26, a storage unit 24, a function display Analyzing the data in the data section 26, selecting a data section to be converted to voice output, and transferring the data section to the voice synthesis section 27 Having ability, transfer function for transferring data function display data section 26 on the screen display unit 25, a function of performing various kinds of processing.
[0019]
(First Embodiment)
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flowchart of the first embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment operates the function based on a voice display instead of a screen display from a normal screen display mode in which the function is operated based on a display screen in a state where a predetermined function is activated in use of a mobile phone. The processing when switching to the audio display mode is shown. For convenience of explanation, the hierarchy of the predetermined function is shown as a two-stage example.
[0020]
When the predetermined function A is activated in the screen display mode (s1), the control unit 23 detects a switching operation to the voice display mode, such as pressing of a specific key or button of the input operation unit 28 by the user (s2). Switching to the audio display mode and stopping the screen display relating to the operation of the function A, and outputting (speaking) a sound indicating the audio display mode from the speaker 29 (s3).
[0021]
After the audio display in the audio display mode, the control unit 23 performs lower-level functions (lower-level functions) a1, a2,... , An input operation by the user (an operation of the input operation unit similar to the operation of selecting any of the lower functions a1, a2,..., An on the display screen with the cursor key or the dial while watching the display screen) (S4, s8,..., S12).
[0022]
For example, when the user selects the function a1 for a predetermined (short) time by operating the cursor keys or the like of the input operation unit 28, the control unit 23 detects this (s4), and displays the screen display data of the function display data unit 26. Is analyzed, a necessary data portion is extracted and output to the voice synthesis unit 27. The voice synthesis unit 27 converts the input data portion into a voice signal and outputs the voice signal to the speaker 29, thereby displaying the voice of the function a1. Is performed (s5). When the user responds to this voice display and confirms the selection or performs an operation (decision) necessary for executing the function a1 from the input operation unit 28 (s6), the control unit 23 detects this and performs the function a1. Is set or activated (s7).
[0023]
In step s6, if the user does not perform the operation such as the determination, the process returns to the step of selecting lower functions a1, a2,..., An (s4, s8,. When any of..., An is selected for a predetermined short time, the control unit 23 performs the voice display s8,..., S12 of the selected function a2,. ,..., S14, setting and activation of the functions a2,. When the setting and activation are completed, the voice display mode is terminated and the display returns to the screen display mode (s16).
[0024]
In the above embodiment, the function hierarchy is described as having two levels. However, the number of hierarchical levels corresponding to the type of the function is displayed for the normal mobile phone function options. For example, in the step (s6 or s7) for confirming lower functions a1, a2,..., An in the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, options of lower functions similar to the steps (s4, s8,. By adopting a configuration such as insertion, it is possible to operate the functions of three or more levels.
[0025]
According to the operation described above, the user switches the activated function or the like from the screen display mode to the voice display mode according to the environment or the like at the time of using the mobile phone, and operates the input operation unit 28 so as to respond to voice. This makes it possible to set the function or activate and execute the function as appropriate.
(Second embodiment)
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration according to the second embodiment of this invention. In the present embodiment, the function display data unit 26 has a function of holding screen display data for displaying transmitted and received mails by item such as a title and mail text in addition to screen display data of various functions. When the transmission / reception unit 22 receives the data of the e-mail, the control unit 23 transfers the received data of the e-mail to the function display data unit 26 and causes the function display data unit 26 to hold the data. The function display data section 26 stores e-mail display data for each item as e-mail display data to be displayed on the display screen. Typical items of data for normal screen display are title, sender, mail text data (text data), and the like, and are stored corresponding to the display on the screen display unit 25.
[0026]
When the user operates the operation unit to switch to the audio display mode while the electronic mail information is displayed on the display screen, the control unit 23 detects an instruction to switch to the audio display mode, and performs the audio display mode. A message indicating the mode is output from the speaker 29 by voice. The control unit 23 sends data such as a reception number (received mail number) to the voice synthesis unit 27 for the received mail displayed on the display screen, converts the data into a voice signal, and outputs the voice signal from the speaker 29.
[0027]
When the user confirms the voice display operation, the control unit 23 selects and outputs mail data such as a title and a sender from the function display data unit 26, and the voice synthesis unit 27 converts the data into a voice signal. , The control unit 23 outputs an audio signal from the speaker 29. When the user further specifies the mail text of the mail using, for example, a cursor key or a dial, the control unit 23 selects and outputs data of the mail text to be displayed on the display screen from the function display data unit 26 and outputs the voice data. The data is transferred to the combining unit 27. The voice synthesizing unit 27 converts the mail text data into a voice signal and outputs the voice signal, and the control unit 23 outputs the voice from the speaker 29.
[0028]
(Third embodiment)
The configuration of the third embodiment of the present invention is the same as that of the block configuration shown in FIG. 4, and configures a mobile phone that outputs an e-mail received during a call in voice display mode. In the present embodiment, an electronic mail is set to be received in the voice display mode while the mobile phone is waiting for an incoming call or during a call.
[0029]
When an e-mail is received during a call after this setting, the control unit 23 transfers the received data from the transmission / reception unit 22 to the function display data unit 26, and displays the title, sender, and text of the mail for screen display. First, the display data of the received mail in the function display data unit 26 is transferred to the voice synthesizing unit 27 to synthesize a voice indicating that the e-mail has been received, and the user is notified by the speaker 29, The display data held for each item in the function display data unit 26 is transferred to the voice synthesizing unit 27 to synthesize voice, and the sender and title of the mail are notified by the speaker. In this case, after the title is notified by voice, the user can also operate the input operation unit 28 to notify the mail text. When notifying the data about the mail by voice, the telephone during the call can be put on hold as necessary.
Note that the processing operations of the second and third embodiments can apply the processing flow of the first embodiment, and can be configured by appropriately changing the processing flow.
[0030]
(Other embodiments)
In the embodiment described above, the generation of the voice signal in the voice display mode is performed by the voice synthesis of the voice analysis unit. However, when the text to be voiced is always determined, the function display data unit or the like is set in advance. It is possible to have a configuration in which a phoneme symbol string is provided, and the process of converting a text sentence into a phoneme symbol string is omitted. In addition, the screen display can be configured to be continued even in the audio display mode. For example, the switching from the screen display to the audio display can be performed in a manner in which the screen display is continued and the audio display is performed, and in the audio display, the brightness of the screen display is reduced.
[0031]
As described above, the mobile phone according to the representative embodiment of the present invention switches to the voice display mode in which voice display is performed by pressing a predetermined key in a state where some function is activated. In a normal mobile phone, menu items and the like are displayed on the screen display unit 25. In the mobile phone of the present invention, what function is activated by the speaker 29 is notified by voice. The configuration is such that the display of various functions such as a menu is not performed.
[0032]
For example, when the menu is activated for the first time, the title of the menu is read out, and a cursor key (direction key) or the like is pressed, and the cursor is moved at the current time in the screen display by the same operation as moving the cursor in the screen display. The data corresponding to the hitting item is read out. When reading aloud, the text of each title or menu item is voiced by a voice synthesis function. By pressing the enter key, the item is selected and confirmed, and the operation of the menu and the like is completed.
[0033]
While a mail or a Web site is being displayed, a certain key is pressed to start utterance. At this time, the same as the case of the voice display of the menu function is performed, and the text sentence is converted into voice using the voice synthesis function and output.
[0034]
Further, when it is determined that the e-mail is urgent for the user, the contents of the e-mail can be read aloud by key operation, so that the contents of the e-mail can be immediately confirmed. it can.
[0035]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, when the screen is difficult to see, such as outdoors on a sunny day, when it is desired to check received mail during a call, or when the mobile phone is used in a power saving operation, the operation of the mobile phone can be viewed on the display screen. It is possible to perform by voice display instead of display.
[0036]
Since the present invention is configured such that text data of screen display data relating to various functions, e-mail functions, and the like is converted into voice by a voice synthesis unit (voice synthesis engine) and output as voice, the text data is transmitted every time as in a mail or a Web site. Audio display is possible even for data with different contents.
[0037]
Obviously, when viewing the contents of e-mails and websites, it is necessary to look at the contents. Therefore, there is a danger when outdoors, but it is not necessary to look at the screen by converting to voice. With the configuration in which the sound is transmitted from the speaker (earpiece), it is possible to prevent sound from leaking to the surroundings. Further, a series of operations can be performed only by normal key operations without looking at the display screen.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an external configuration of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a basic block configuration of the mobile phone according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flowchart of the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a block configuration of the second and third embodiments of the present invention;
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 21 antenna 22 transmission / reception unit 23 control unit 24 storage unit 25 screen display unit 26 function display data unit 27 voice synthesis unit 28 input operation unit 29 speaker 30 microphone

Claims (7)

An input operation unit including an operation unit for switching between screen display and audio display, a display data holding unit for holding screen display data to be displayed on the screen when a predetermined function is activated, and converting at least a part of the screen display data into audio A voice synthesizing unit that detects a switching operation to voice display by the operation unit in an activated state of the predetermined function, and converts at least a part of screen display data into a voice signal by the voice synthesizing unit to control voice output. A mobile phone, comprising: a control unit for performing a switching between a display screen and a voice display. The control unit may convert at least a part of the screen display data related to the lower function into an audio signal and perform the audio guidance by selecting the hierarchical lower function by the input operation unit after switching to the audio display. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined function is a menu function. The predetermined function is an e-mail function, and after switching to the voice display, the control unit controls the title of the received mail, the voice display of the sender, and the voice output of the mail text by selecting the mail text by the input operation unit. The mobile phone according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The predetermined function is a call function, and the control unit switches to voice display, and then receives an e-mail, a title of a received mail, a voice output of a sender, and a voice of the mail text by selecting a mail text by the input operation unit. 3. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein output is controlled. 6. The mobile phone according to claim 5, wherein the control unit controls the call to be put on hold when outputting a voice regarding the received mail. The mobile phone according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the control unit stops screen display after switching to voice display.

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