Mobile terminal device, and program used in mobile terminal device

• US 20070063989A1
• Filed: 09/15/2006
• Published: 03/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Toshiyuki, Inamura, Hiroshi, Azami, Toshihiro, Tomimori, Takeshi, Kawamata, Takenori, Fukuda, Keisaku
• Granted Patent: US 8,532,711 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0233 Character input methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0489 using dedicated keyboard keys or combinations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0279 Improving the user comfort or ergonomics
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2745 using static electronic memories, e.g. chips
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72466 with selection means, e.g. keys, having functions defined by the mode or the status of the device

Abstract

A mobile terminal device, which is provided with the plurality of keys, includes: a touch detection interface for detecting that a user has touched a key; a press detection interface for detecting that the user has pressed the key; a controller for switching the mode in response to whether or not the user has touched a side key, in order to execute a first function assigned to the key in a case where the key is pressed by the user in a “shift mode,” and to execute a second function assigned to the key in a case where the key is pressed by the user in a “normal mode”; and a display unit for displaying an explanation on the first function assigned to the key in a case where it is detected in the “shift mode” that the user has touched the key.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal device provided with a plurality of keys, comprising:

a touch detector configured to detect touching any of the keys by a user;

a press detector configured to detect pressing any of the keys by the user;

a mode switcher configured to switch a mode to a first mode in a case where the user touches a certain key, which is one of the keys, and to switch the mode to a second mode in a case where the user does not touch the certain key;

a function executor configured to execute a first function assigned to an input key, which is a key different from the certain key, in a case where the press detector detects in the first mode that the user has pressed the input key, and to execute a second function assigned to the input key in a case where the press detector detects in the second mode that the user has pressed the input key; and

an output unit configured to output an explanation on the first function assigned to the input key in a case where the touch detector detects in the first mode that the user has touched the input key.

2. The mobile terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the output unit outputs an explanation on the second function assigned to the input key in a case where the touch detector detects in the second mode that the user has touched the input key.

3. The mobile terminal device according to claim 1, wherein even if the detected status has been changed from the touching the certain key by the user to the not touching the certain key, the mode switcher keeps the first mode for a certain time period without switching the mode from the first mode to the second mode.

4. The mobile terminal device according to claim 1, wherein in a case where the detected state has been changed from touching the certain key by the user to touching the input key by the user sequentially, the mode switcher keeps the. first mode without switching the mode from the first mode to the second mode until when the user does not touch any one of the input keys, even if the user has not touched the certain key.

5. A program used in a mobile terminal device provided with a plurality of keys, the program causing the mobile terminal device to execute the steps of:

detecting touching any of the keys by a user;

detecting pressing any of the keys by the user;

switching a mode to a first mode in a case where the user touches a certain key, which is one of the keys, and switching the mode to a second mode in a case where the user does not touch the certain key;

executing a first function assigned to an input key, which is a key different from the certain key, in a case where it is detected in the first mode that the user has pressed the input key, and executing a second function assigned to the input key in a case where it is detected in the second mode that the user has pressed the input key; and

outputting an explanation on the first function assigned to the input key in a case where it is detected in the first mode that the user has touched the input key.