Electronic device and processing program thereof

• US 20090011751A1
• Filed: 04/24/2008
• Published: 01/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Innovations Ltd Hong Kong (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications Company Limited (NEC Corporation)
• Inventors: Goto, Yoshihiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,929,920 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/418
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0245 using open/close detection

Abstract

In a cellular phone 10, when a CPU 100 detects that a style of the housing is changed to an “open style” or a “view style”, the CPU 100 executes function menu display processing. In the function menu display processing, the CPU 100 automatically selects candidates of function names that are suitable for the current style detected under a predetermined determination condition, and after displaying them in the menu, provides voice guidance thereof. Accordingly, a user does not need to examine which function is suitable for the style. As a result, operability after the style of the housing is changed is enhanced.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a detection means for detecting a style which indicates a usage pattern based on a housing structure of the device;

a storage means for storing a determination condition based on which candidates of functions to be used are selected for each style among a plurality of functions provided in the device; and

a reporting means for, when the style detected by the detection means is changed, reporting candidates of functions to be selected based on the style detected and on the determination condition stored in the storage means.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the function is an application program that is executed by the device.

3. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a selecting means for selecting any of the functions from the candidates of functions reported by the reporting means; and

an activating means for activating the function selected by the selecting means.

4. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising stopping means for stopping the report by the reporting means after a certain period of time has passed.

5. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the storage means stores candidates of functions associated with the style indicating a usage pattern based on a housing structure of the device as the determination condition, and the reporting means, when the style detected by the detection means is changed, reports candidates of functions selected in accordance with the candidates of functions stored as the determination condition in the storage means corresponding to the detected style.

6. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the storage means stores candidates of functions to which priorities are given associated with the style indicating a usage pattern based on a housing structure of the device as the determination condition, and

the reporting means, when the style detected by the detection means is changed, reports candidates of functions selected in accordance with the priorities of the candidates of functions stored as the determination condition in the storage means corresponding to the detected style.

7. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the priorities are information which indicate a priority order specified by a user.

8. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the priorities are information which indicates the priority order given to the applicable function based on information on time at which the function was activated in the past.

9. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the priorities are information which indicates the priority order given to the applicable function based on information on number of times the function was activated in the past.

10. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the storage means stores candidates of functions associated with information on time and the style indicating a usage pattern based on a housing structure of the device as the determination condition, and

the reporting means, when the style detected by the detection means is changed, reports candidates of functions selected in accordance with the information on time associated with the candidates of functions stored as the determination condition in the storage means corresponding to the detected style.

11. The electronic device according to claim 10, wherein the information on time is information indicating time specified by a user.

12. The electronic device according to claim 10, wherein the information on time is information which includes time at which the function was activated in the past.

13. An electronic device comprising:

a detection means for detecting a style which indicates a usage pattern based on a housing structure of the device;

a storage means for storing a first function name assigned to each style and candidates of a second function to be used under the function having the first function name;

a first activating means for, when the style detected by the detection means is changed, reading out the first function name assigned to the detected style from the storage means, and activating the function having the first function name;

a reporting means for reading out and reporting the candidates of the second function used under the first function activated by the first activating means from the storage means; and

a second activating means for selecting and activating any of the candidates of the second function reported by the reporting means.

14. A computer-readable storage medium having a program of an electronic device stored thereon that is executable by a computer, comprising:

detecting processing for detecting a style which indicates a usage pattern based on a housing structure of the device; and

reporting processing for, when the style detected by the detection means is changed, reporting candidates of a function to be selected based on the style selected and on a determination condition stored in advance under which candidates of a function to be used are selected for each style among a plurality of functions provided in the device.

15. A computer-readable storage medium having a program of an electronic device stored thereon that is executable by a computer, comprising:

detecting processing for detecting a style which indicates a usage pattern based on a housing structure of the device;

first activating processing for storing a first function name assigned to each style and candidates of a second function to be used under the function having the first function name, and, when the style detected by the detecting processing is changed, reading out the first function name assigned to the detected style from the storage means, and activating the function having the first function name;

reporting processing for reading out and reporting the candidates of the second function to be used under the first function activated by the first activating processing from the storage means; and

second activating processing for selecting and activating any of candidates of the second function reported by the reporting processing.