The present invention relates to a terminal device having a configuration in which two terminals, or a master device and a slave device, can be unified or separated from each other.
A hitherto available terminal device of this type having a configuration that enables unification and separation of two terminals is described in; for instance, Patent Literature 1.
Patent Literature 1: JP-A-2003-8736
However, under the related art technique, combination of a master terminal with a slave terminal results in an increase in the size of the terminal device.
Accordingly, a structure, such as a structure for inserting a slave device into a master device, is conceivable to miniaturize the terminal device. However, in the case of such a structure, since the slave device is included in the master device, a problem occurred at this time is that the slave device cannot be operated while the slave device is inserted in the master device.
In order to solve the problem, the present invention aims at providing a compact, highly convenient terminal device while enabling removal attachment of a plurality of terminals.
A terminal device of the present invention includes:
a first terminal having a touch panel and
a second terminal having a display screen,
wherein the second terminal can be accommodated in the first terminal;
the touch panel is positioned immediately above the display screen while the second terminal remains accommodated in the first terminal; and
the second terminal displays a touch panel manipulation screen on the display screen when the second terminal is accommodated in the first terminal, and the first terminal transmits to the second terminal input information entered by way of the touch panel.
As a result, the slave device can be readily operated while accommodated in the master device.
The present invention can provide a compact, highly convenient terminal device and a method of controlling a terminal system while enabling removal attachment of a plurality of terminals.
Embodiments of the present invention are hereunder described by reference to the drawings.
A master terminal 20 that is a first terminal is presumed to be a foldable mobile terminal. The master terminal 20 is equipped with a large screen display section 27 provided on a surface of an upper enclosure; and a key manipulation section (QWERTY key) 25, a touch pad/click device 26 that are all provided on a surface of a lower enclosure. A slave terminal 10 that is a second terminal is accommodated in the lower enclosure of the master terminal 20. In the present embodiment, the slave terminal 10 is inserted into the master terminal 20 from below. However, accommodation of the slave terminal is not limited to this structure. Any structure is fine, so long as the slave terminal is accommodated in the master terminal 20.
A unification/separation detection section 11 and a unification/separation detection section 21 detect whether or not the slave terminal 10 is accommodated in the master terminal 20 (whether or not they are unified). The unification/separation detection section 11 and the unification/separation detection section 21 are disposed where they are physically connected together. Limitations are not necessarily imposed on a location where the unification/separation detection section 11 is placed. The essential requirement for the location is that the unification/separation detection section 11 be placed at any of an upper surface, a lower surface, and side surfaces of the slave terminal 10 and physically connected to the unification/separation detection section 21 of the master terminal 20, to thus form a unified structure.
In
The slave terminal 10 has a short range wireless communication section 12, and the master terminal 20 has a short range wireless communication section 22. The short range wireless communication section 12 and the short range wireless communication section 22 conceivably include infrared communication, a wireless LAN, Bluetooth (Registered Trademark), and the like.
Further, the slave terminal 10 has the unification/separation detection section 11, the short range wireless communication section (Bluetooth (Registered Trademark)) 12, the display section (LCD) 13, a control section 14, and a key manipulation section 15.
When the slave terminal 10 is in a separated state, the display section (LCD) 13 displays, in step S11, a normal menu display screen, such as that indicated by an example display of the slave terminal shown in
By means of foregoing operation, there can be provided a unitable/separable terminal device that has a structure and a method of enabling control of linked communication between the master terminal and the slave terminal.
When the master device and the slave device are unified into the cellular phone, the display of the slave device is thereby automatically switched to the touch panel manipulation screen. Thus, input information about the touch panel can be output from the master device to the slave device. While the slave device is accommodated in the master device, the slave device can be operated without being detached from the master device. Further, the slave device is operated by means of the touch panel, whereby the slave device can be intuitively operated. Moreover, since the slave device does not need to be provided with a touch panel, the slave device can be miniaturized, so that it becomes easy to accommodate the slave device in the master device.
Although the compact touch panel 23 is equipped with a transparent window, any window is allowable, so long as the window makes presence of the display section 13 visible.
Further, it is also possible to detect whether or not the slave terminal 10 is accommodated in the master terminal 20 by employing infrared sensing, an illuminance sensor, or the like, for the unification/separation detection section 11 and the unification/separation detection section 21.
Furthermore, the unification/separation detection section 11 and the unification/separation detection section 21 may also be a single section. In this case, a result of detection of unification/separation can also be reported to another terminal by means of the short range wireless communication section 12 or 22.
A substantial structure of a unified terminal device of the second embodiment of the present invention is common to
When the unification/separation detection section 11 and the unification/separation detection section 21 respectively detect whether or not the slave terminal 10 and the master terminal 20 are unified and when detection results show that the unification/separation detection section 11 and the unification/separation detection section 21 are in a unified state, the slave terminal 10 is controlled by way of the short range wireless communication section (Bluetooth (Registered Trademark)) 22 under control of the control section 24 of the master terminal 20. The display section 13 is brought into a “Display ON” state by means of the control information received by way of the short range wireless communication section (Bluetooth (Registered Trademark)) 12 and under of the control section 14 of the slave terminal 10, whereupon the display automatically switches to a touch panel menu display screen for unification, such as that represented by an example display of the slave terminal shown in
When No is rendered as to continued unification in step S24, the unification/separation detection section 11 and the control section 14 determines that the slave terminal 10 is in a separated state. The screen automatically switches to the normal menu display screen, such as that represented by the example display of the slave terminal shown in
When Yes is rendered in relation to continued unification in step S24, the control section 14 of the slave terminal 10 determines whether or not switching has been made to master control by means of information about coordinates of a point on the compact touch panel 23 pressed through finger manipulations (step S29). When No is rendered in step S29, a return to processing pertaining to step S22 is made. When Yes is rendered in step S29, the display section 13 is brought into an off display state or a background color without a menu display under control of the control section 14 of the slave terminal 10. A display switch is reported from the slave terminal 10 to the master terminal 20 by way of communication between the short range wireless communication section (Bluetooth (Registered Trademark)) 12 and the short range wireless communication section (Bluetooth (Registered Trademark)) 22. Under control of the control section 24, the large screen display section 27 of the master terminal 20 is brought into a “display On” state, thereby switching the compact touch panel 23 such that the touch panel can operate as a device for controlling and clicking the cursor of the large screen of the master terminal (step S30). Next, information about coordinates of a point on the compact touch panel 23 of the master terminal 20 pressed through finger manipulations is acquired, and controlling and clicking of the cursor on the large screen display section 27 are performed under control of the control section 24 (step S31). By means of information about coordinates of a point on the compact touch panel 23 pressed through finger manipulations and controlling and clicking of the cursor on the large screen display section 27 of the master terminal 20 performed under control of the control section 24, the control section 24 of the master terminal 20 determines whether or not switching the compact touch panel 23 from manipulation of the master device large screen to the touch panel menu display screen for the display section 13 has been selected (step S32). When No is rendered in step S32, a return to processing pertaining to step S31 is made. When Yes is rendered in step S32, the slave terminal 10 is controlled by way of the short range wireless communication section (Bluetooth (Registered Trademark)) 22 under control of the control section 24 of the master terminal 20, thereby making a return to processing pertaining to S21.
Even a configuration in which the master device does not have any touch pad and any large screen touch panel for operating the master device, a compact touch panel can be switched from a touch panel manipulation screen for operating the slave device to a device which also doubles as a device for controlling and clicking a cursor for manipulating a large screen of the master device.
Although the present invention has been described in detail and with reference to specific embodiments, diverse modifications or corrections may be made by those of skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-045158 filed on Mar. 2, 2010, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a terminal device having a structure that enables unification and separation of a slave terminal having a display screen to and from a master terminal and is useful for an application for operating the slave device independently from the master device in a unified state.
10 SLAVE TERMINAL
11 UNIFICATION/SEPARATION DETECTION SECTION
12 SHORT RANGE WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SECTION (Bluetooth (REGISTERED TRADEMARK))
13 DISPLAY SECTION (LCD)
14 CONTROL SECTION
15 KEY MANIPULATION SECTION
16 MOBILE COMMUNICATION WIRELESS SECTION
17 SIGNAL PROCESSING SECTION
18 VOICE INTERFACE
20 MASTER TERMINAL
21 UNIFICATION/SEPARATION DETECTION SECTION
22 SHORT RANGE WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SECTION (Bluetooth (REGISTERED TRADEMARK))
23 COMPACT TOUCH PANEL
24 CONTROL SECTION
25 KEY MANIPULATION SECTION
26 TOUCH PAD/CLICK DEVICE
27 LARGE SCREEN DISPLAY SECTION
28 LARGE SCREEN TOUCH PANEL
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2011/001228 | 3/2/2011 | WO | 00 | 8/31/2012 |