Patent Abstract:
A multi-functional portable information terminal is equipped with a display and makes it possible to reuse the information held by a given function for another function. The portable information terminal comprises image range specifying part for specifying a given selected object within a given application windows displayed on a display panel. The terminal also comprises a copy part for copying the image of the selected object to display the copied image in floating on the display panel. The terminal further comprises a pasting part for pasting the selected object displayed in a floating manner onto another application window changed by the operation of a spectrum dial on the display panel.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a multi-functional portable information terminal equipped with a display.  
           [0003]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0004]    Recently, portable information terminals such as portable telephones have become widespread and have been equipped with a variety of functions such as services for connecting to the Internet.  
           [0005]    These portable information terminals are adapted to allow the reception of e-mail and information, such as on shopping or food, according to the services of the Internet to appear on the display equipped on the terminal to serve the user.  
           [0006]    Along with the aforementioned multi-functions of the portable information terminal, the user has often desired to process the information received with a given function of the portable information terminal in order to reuse the resulting information on another function.  
           [0007]    It can be predicted that these requirements will increasingly grow when the IMT-2000 is implemented which provides a high-speed transmission 200 times faster than the present portable telephones and which is being employed as the worldwide standard scheme for next generation portable telephones.  
           [0008]    However, the conventional portable information terminal only allows the received information of various types to appear on the display, but never allows the information to be processed for reuse.  
         OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    The present invention has been developed to meet the requirements of the user for the aforementioned portable information terminals.  
           [0010]    That is, it is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-functional portable information terminal, equipped with a display, which allows information held by a given function to be reused by another function.  
           [0011]    To achieve the aforementioned object, the present invention provides a portable information terminal equipped with a plurality of application programs, a display part, and an operating part for displaying an application window on the display part. According to a first aspect of the present invention, the portable information terminal comprises an image range specifying part for specifying an image within a given range in a given application window displayed in said display portion. The terminal also comprises a copying part for copying the image within the range specified by the image range specifying part and for allowing the copied image to remain displayed on the display portion even when the application window displayed on the display portion is changed by said operation portion. The terminal further comprises a pasting part for pasting the image within the specified range, remaining displayed on the display portion by the copying part, onto a window of a changed other application displayed on the display portion.  
           [0012]    The portable information terminal according to the first aspect is equipped with application programs for executing a plurality of functions. Each window corresponding to each of the applications is adapted to be displayed on the display portion through the operation of the operation portion.  
           [0013]    Suppose an image that is desirably used in another application is contained within the application window being displayed on the display portion. In this case, in the application window, the desired image is specified to identify the copied range with image range specifying part.  
           [0014]    Incidentally, the aforementioned image conceptually contains characters.  
           [0015]    Then, the desired image specified by the image range specifying part is copied with the copying part, and the copied image is-stored in the display portion.  
           [0016]    The copied image will remain displayed on the display portion as it is even when the application window displayed on the display portion is changed through the operation of the operation portion.  
           [0017]    Then, another application window where the copied image is desirably reused is displayed on the display portion. Here, the pasting part pastes the copied image that remains displayed in the display portion onto the window of the other application displayed in the display portion.  
           [0018]    As described above, according to the aforementioned first aspect, the multi-functional portable information terminal makes it possible to easily reuse the information held by a given function in another function. For example, it is made possible to facilitate operation of sending a part of the image, which has been received on the Internet, by affixing the part of the image to e-mail.  
           [0019]    To achieve the aforementioned object, in addition to the arrangement according to the first aspect of the present invention, the portable information terminal according to a second aspect of the present invention further comprises an image reversing part for reversing the image specified by said image range specifying part. The image reversing part allows the image specified by the image range specifying part to be a highlighted display in the window, thereby making it possible to identify easily the specified image among the other images and characters within the same window.  
           [0020]    To achieve the aforementioned object, in addition to the arrangement according to the first aspect of the present invention, the portable information terminal according to a third aspect of the present invention further comprises a display form changing part for displaying the image copied by said copying part in such a manner as to seemingly float over the window displayed on the display portion. The copying part copies the image and then the display form changing part allows the copied image to be displayed by it being floated over the application window. This prevents the window in the display portion from being mixed up and becoming unsightly upon changing the application window displayed on the display portion.  
           [0021]    To achieve the aforementioned object, in addition to the arrangement according to the first aspect of the present invention, the portable information terminal according to a fourth aspect of the present invention further comprises window display part for allowing an operation of said operation portion to display a plurality of application windows one after the other on the display portion in a sliding manner. This makes it possible for the user to change the application window displayed on the display portion in an analog manner.  
           [0022]    To achieve the aforementioned object, in addition to the arrangement according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the portable information terminal according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that said window display part displays a plurality of application windows in background colors different from each other. This makes it possible for the user to easily identify the type of the executable application by the background color of the window displayed on the display portion.  
           [0023]    To achieve the aforementioned object, in addition to the arrangement according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the portable information terminal according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that said operation portion allows a dial to be rotated to slide a plurality of application windows and thus display the application windows successively on the display portion. This makes it possible to provide an increase analog sense to the user upon changing the application window displayed on the display portion. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0024]    [0024]FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating a portable telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention, with the open/close cover being closed.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating the portable telephone of the present invention with the open/close cover being opened.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the control portion of the portable telephone of the present invention.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 4 is an explanatory view illustrating an arrangement of application windows according to the embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIGS. 5A to  5 F are explanatory views illustrating examples of application windows according to the embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 6 is an explanatory conceptual view illustrating the display form of application windows according to the embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 7 is an explanatory conceptual view illustrating the form of application windows according to the embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 8 is an explanatory view illustrating the concept of the arrangement of the input edit window of each application according to the embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the main routine of the window display control to be performed by the control portion according to the embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a viewer mode subroutine of an application to be executed in the main routine of FIG. 9.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the window operation subroutine in the viewer mode subroutine of FIG. 10.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the copy and paste subroutine of the window operation subroutine of FIG. 11.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 13 is an explanatory view illustrating the form of a window during the copy and paste operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 14 is an explanatory view illustrating the form of a window during the copy and paste operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 15 is an explanatory view illustrating the form of a window during the copy and paste operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 16 is an explanatory view illustrating the form of a window during the copy and paste operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 17 is an explanatory view illustrating the form of a window during the copy and paste operation according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0041]    Now, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0042]    Incidentally, it is to be understood that the words in the images express a concept which also includes the window of characters in the following explanations.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating a portable telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating a form of the portable telephone when operated.  
         [0044]    Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a portable telephone  10  has a display panel  12  arranged at the central portion of the surface of a main body casing  11 , and an open/close cover  13  disposed at the lower portion of the display panel  12 .  
         [0045]    The open/close cover  13  is rotatably attached vertically at the upper end portion thereof to the main body casing  11  by means of an axle  13 A, which is parallel to the lower end rim of the display panel  12 .  
         [0046]    In addition, there is provided a control panel  14  on the portion to be covered with the open/close cover  13  of the main body casing  11 . As shown in FIG. 2, on the surface of the control panel  14 , there are arranged first operation keys K 1  such as telephone Number input keys and function keys. Moreover, on the reverse side of the open/close cover  13  (which is the front side when the cover is opened), there are arranged second operation keys K 2 .  
         [0047]    There is provided a CCD camera  18  on the upper right portion of the main body casing  11  as shown in the figures. There is also provided a spectrum dial  19  on the left such as for switching the display windows of the display panel  12 .  
         [0048]    [0048]FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the control portion of the portable telephone  10 .  
         [0049]    Referring to FIG. 3, an antenna  20  attached to the main body casing  11  of the portable telephone  10  is successively connected with a transceiver circuit  21 , a data processing circuit  22 , and a high-speed processing microprocessor or a digital signal processor (DSP)  23 . Here, the data processing circuit  22  performs clock control on the image and audio signals received by the transceiver circuit  21  and serves as an interface to a CPU, described later.  
         [0050]    The DSP  23  is connected with an audio codec  24 . The audio codec  24  is connected with a microphone  25  and a ringer  26 . In addition, the audio codec  24  is connected with a loudspeaker  29  via a modulation transmitter circuit  27  and a demodulation receiver circuit  28 .  
         [0051]    The data processing circuit  22  and the DSP  23  are connected to the CPU  30 .  
         [0052]    In addition, the CPU  30  is connected with the display panel  12  via a LCD driver  31 , the CCD camera  18  via a signal processing circuit  32 , and an open/close detection sensor  33  which is attached to the open/close portion of the open/close cover  13  to detect the opened or closed status of the open/close cover  13 . The CPU  30  is also connected with a touch panel  34  attached to the display panel  12 . Via an external I/F  36 , connected to the CPU  30  is a connector  35  which is connected to a personal computer or the like and through which various data is communicated to and from the personal computer or the like. The CPU  30  is also connected with a SRAM  37  in which various personal data are stored such as abbreviated telephone numbers to be inputted by the user. The CPU  30  is further connected with a ROM  38  in which various control programs for the portable telephone are stored. The CPU  30  is also connected with the spectrum dial  19 , and the first operation keys K 1  and the second operation keys K 2 , which contain various operation keys such as function keys and a ten-key pad for use in inputting telephone numbers.  
         [0053]    The control portion of the portable telephone  10  allows the transceiver circuit  21  to receive a radio wave through the antenna  20 . Then, the data processing circuit  22  separates the radio waves into an image signal and an audio signal. While being subjected to clock control, the image signal is outputted to the CPU  30  and the audio signal is outputted to the DSP  23  each in accordance with a command from the CPU  30 .  
         [0054]    The audio signal inputted to the DSP  23  is subjected to audio processing in the DSP  23  and then inputted to the audio codec  24  for D/A conversion. Then, the resulting signal is outputted to the loudspeaker  29  via the modulation transmitter circuit  27  and the demodulation receiver circuit  28  as well as to the ringer  26 .  
         [0055]    On the other hand, the audio signal inputted from the microphone  25  is subjected to A/D conversion in the audio codec  24 . Then, the resulting signal is transmitted from the antenna  20  via the DSP  23 , the data processing circuit  22 , and the transceiver circuit  21 .  
         [0056]    The CPU  30  allows the various control programs of the portable telephone stored in the ROM  38  to control the operation of the data processing circuit  22 , the DSP  23 , the LCD driver  31  and the like.  
         [0057]    That is, in accordance with an operation signal from the first operation keys K 1  or the second operation keys K 2 , the CPU  30  will read a control program corresponding to the operation signal from the ROM  38 . Then, in accordance with the control program that has been read, the CPU  30  will output image data of an operation window to the LCD driver  31  to allow the display panel  12  to display the operation window. In addition, the CPU  30  controls the operation of the data processing circuit  22  and the DSP  23 , reads data from or writes data to the SRAM  37 , and communicates data with the personal computer or the like to which the connector  35  is connected.  
         [0058]    Furthermore, when a display window has been switched over to a new window through the spectrum dial  19 , the CPU  30  reads corresponding image data read from the ROM  38  and then outputs the resulting data to the LCD driver  31 , thereby allowing the new window to appear on the display panel  12 .  
         [0059]    Furthermore, upon picking-up of an image by means of the CCD camera  18 , the CPU  30  will receive the image signal which is sent from the CCD camera  18  and processed in the signal processing circuit  32 . Then, the CPU  30  outputs the image signal to the LCD driver  31 , thereby allowing the resulting image to appear on the display panel  12 .  
         [0060]    In this example, the portable telephone  10  is equipped with six applications: telephone, what&#39;s-new, mail, Web, music/image, and PIM (Personal Information Manager) applications. As shown in FIG. 4, successively displayed on the display panel  12  through the operation of the spectrum dial  19  are a telephone window A, a what&#39;s-new window B, a mail window C, a Web window D, a music/image window E, and a PIM window F, corresponding to each of the applications.  
         [0061]    [0061]FIG. 5A shows an example of the telephone window A to be displayed on the display panel  12 , FIG. 5B shows an example of the what&#39;s-new window B, FIG. 5C shows an example of the mail window C, and FIG. 5D shows an example of the Web window D. FIG. 5E shows an example of the music/image window E and FIG. 5F shows an example of the PIM window F.  
         [0062]    [0062]FIG. 6 is a conceptual view illustrating the window image of each of the application windows A to F to be displayed on the display panel  12 .  
         [0063]    That is, the display windows A to F are conceptually each assigned to each of the six regions which are provided by radially dividing a disc T with its center at the spectrum dial  19 , the display windows A to F being arranged as shown in FIG. 4. A rotational operation of the spectrum dial  19  allows the disc T to rotate about the spectrum dial  19 , causing the display windows A to F on the disc T to appear successively on the display panel  12 .  
         [0064]    Incidentally, each of the regions divided radially on the disc T is provided with its own color, whereby each of the windows A to F is displayed on the display panel  12  in a different background color from any one of the other regions.  
         [0065]    In addition, each of the display windows A to F is provided spatially with contents Aa to Fa corresponding to each application as conceptually expressed in FIG. 7.  
         [0066]    Furthermore, each of the applications is provided with each input edit window A′ to F′, which is to be displayed through a mode change in place of the windows A to F as shown in FIG. 8.  
         [0067]    A program stored in the ROM  38  of the control portion (refer to FIG. 3) organizes the display form of the windows A to F and the input edit window A′ to F′ on the display panel  12 , and the contents Aa to Fa each corresponding to each of the applications.  
         [0068]    The portable telephone  10  stores a copy &amp; paste program, described later, in the ROM  38  of the control portion for copying and pasting data between the windows A to F of the applications.  
         [0069]    Now, the operation procedure of each of the applications equipped in the portable telephone  10  will be explained with the flowcharts of FIGS.  9  to  12 .  
         [0070]    [0070]FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the main routine for the mode change (the selection of an application) of the portable telephone  10 .  
         [0071]    Referring to FIG. 9, the CPU  30  (refer to FIG. 3) determines if control is in the input edit mode (step a 1 ). If control is not in the input edit mode, it is then determined if the spectrum dial  19  has been operated and a link buffer has been set to the application that is to be selected through the operation of the spectrum dial  19  (step a 2 ).  
         [0072]    In the step a 2 , if the spectrum dial  19  has been operated, the mode is switched over to the application that has been selected by the operation of the spectrum dial  19 . In addition, if the link buffer has been set to the selected application, the buffer link is cleared (step a 3 ).  
         [0073]    Then, control proceeds to the viewer mode subroutine of each application (step a 4 ).  
         [0074]    In the step a 2 , if the spectrum dial  19  has not been operated, control proceeds to the subroutine of step a 4  in the viewer mode of the application that has been selected in the previous operation.  
         [0075]    On the other hand, in step a 1 , if control is in the input edit mode, control proceeds to the subroutine in the input edit mode of the application that has been selected in the previous operation (step a 5 ).  
         [0076]    Then, it is determined if the exit key has been inputted (step a 6 ). If the exit key has not been inputted, control repeats the procedure from the aforementioned step al. If the exit key has been inputted, control exits the viewer mode or the input edit mode of the selected application.  
         [0077]    [0077]FIG. 10 shows the viewer mode subroutine of the selected application to be executed in step a 4  in the aforementioned main routine.  
         [0078]    Incidentally, FIG. 10 shows as an example the subroutine where the viewer mode (mode B) of the what&#39;s-new application is selected.  
         [0079]    Referring to FIG. 10, after the what&#39;s-new application has been selected, the CPU  30  determines if up-date data is available (step b 1 ). If up-date data is available, the CPU  30  allows the what&#39;s-new window B to appear on the display panel  12  (refer to FIG. 1) in accordance with the up-date data (step b 2 ). If no up-date data is available, the CPU  30  allows the what&#39;s-new window B to appear on the display panel  12  in accordance with the most recent data (step b 3 ).  
         [0080]    Then, it is determined if window keys k (refer to FIG. 5B) for performing various operations displayed on the what&#39;s-new window B have been operated (step b 4 ). If a window key k has been operated, control proceeds to the window operation subroutine of the what&#39;s-new window B (step b 5 ).  
         [0081]    If a window key k has not been operated in step b 4 , control returns to repeat the aforementioned procedures.  
         [0082]    [0082]FIG. 11 shows the window operation subroutine of the what&#39;s-new window B in step b 5  of FIG. 10.  
         [0083]    Referring to FIG. 11, first, it is determined if a window key k has been operated to select a given object (e.g., an image of the T-shirt of FIG. 5B) in the what&#39;s-new window B displayed on the display panel  12  (step c 1 ). If the window key k has been operated to select the object, control proceeds to the copy &amp; paste subroutine (step c 2 ).  
         [0084]    If the window key k has not been operated to select the object, it is determined if the link key of the window keys k has been operated (step c 3 ). If the link key has been operated, the linked mode and the linked data of the what&#39;s-new window B are stored in the link buffer (step c 4 ).  
         [0085]    If the link key has not been operated in step c 3 , it is determined if another function key of the window keys k has been operated (step c 5 ). If a function key has been operated, control proceeds to the subroutine for executing the corresponding function (step c 6 ). If a function key has not been operated, control return to repeat the aforementioned procedures.  
         [0086]    Now, the copy &amp; paste subroutine in step c 2  of the aforementioned window operation subroutine will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 12 and the operation explanatory views illustrating the form of the windows displayed on the display panel  12  shown in FIGS.  13  to  17 .  
         [0087]    With the what&#39;s-new window B appearing on the display panel  12  of the portable telephone  10  as shown in FIG. 13 in the aforementioned subroutine of FIG. 10, suppose a window key k displayed on the window is operated to select the desired object to be copied in the what&#39;s-new window B. In this case, in FIG. 12, the CPU  30  displays the selected object ob in the reverse video as shown in FIG. 14 (step d 1 ).  
         [0088]    Then, it is determined if the copy key k 1  arranged as a window key k has been operated (step d 2 ). If the copy key k 1  has been operated, the selected object ob that has been displayed in the reverse video in step d 1  is floated in the what&#39;s-new window B (step d 3 ).  
         [0089]    The floating means that the selected object ob displayed in the reverse video is so displayed on the display panel  12  such that the user feels that the object is floating over the other display portion of the window.  
         [0090]    Then, the CPU  30  determines if the spectrum dial  19  has been operated (step d 4 ). If the spectrum dial  19  has been operated, the CPU  30  allows the input edit window A′ to F′ of the other modes to be successively displayed to the operation of the spectrum dial  19 , with the selected object ob being displayed in floating on the display panel  12 , thereby performing the mode change (step d 5 ).  
         [0091]    That is, as shown in FIG. 15, suppose the spectrum dial  19  is rotated after the selected object ob is displayed in a floating manner. In this case, on the display panel  12 , with the selected object ob being displayed in floating on the display panel  12 , the background behind the selected object ob is successively changed to the input edit window A′ to F′ shown in FIG. 8 in that order in such a manner that the disc T, described in FIG. 6, is conceptually rotated.  
         [0092]    Accordingly, of the input edit windows A′ to F′, the target input edit window for pasting the selected object ob is displayed on the display panel  12  and the operation of the spectrum dial  19  is stopped. Then, the CPU  30  determines if the selected object ob has been released (step d 6 ). If the selected object ob has not been released, it is then determined if the paste key k 2  arranged as a window key k has been operated (step d 7 ).  
         [0093]    In step d 7 , as shown in FIG. 16, if the paste key k 2  has been operated, the selected object ob is pasted on a given input edit window A′ to F′ (on the mail input edit window C′ in the example shown) of the input edit window A′ to F′, which is displayed behind the selected object ob (step d 8 ).  
         [0094]    Thus, the selected object ob described above is completed. Then, the CPU  30  releases the selected object ob displayed in the reverse video and in a floating manner. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 17, in an selected input edit window A′ to F′ (the mail input edit window C′ in the example shown), the CPU  30  allows the new window A to F (the mail window C in the example shown), to which the selected object ob has been pasted, to be edited (step d 9 ).  
         [0095]    Suppose it is determined in step d 2  that the copy key has not been operated and in step d 10  that the selected object ob has been released. In this case, the selected object ob highlighted in step d 9  and in a floating manner are also released.  
         [0096]    Incidentally, in the foregoing, objects are selected and the keys are operated for input as follows. That is, the user is allowed to touch the position where the object or the key is displayed on the display panel  12 . Then, the CPU  30  detects the position touched by the user by means of the touch panel  34  (refer to FIG. 3) attached to the display panel  12 .  
         [0097]    Incidentally, the subroutine of FIGS.  10  to  12  in the foregoing has been explained referring to the operation in the what&#39;s-new information mode as an example. However, the operation in the other modes can be performed in the same manner.  
         [0098]    This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-185806 which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6