Portable information terminal device

• US 7,460,108 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2004
• Issued: 12/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Socionext Inc.
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Tamura, Sou
• Primary Examiner(s): Awad; Amr
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sherman; Stephen G
• Application Number:
  US11/008,144
• Publication Number:
  US 20050140574A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,453 Days
• Field of Search: 345168-169, 345/156, 455/556.1, 455/556, 455/561
• US Class Current: 345/169
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/162 changing, e.g. reversing, the face orientation of the screen with a two degrees of freedom mechanism, e.g. for folding into tablet PC like position or orienting towards the direction opposite to the user to show to a second user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1624 with sliding enclosures, e.g. sliding keyboard or display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1637 Details related to the display arrangement, including those related to the mounting of the display in the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1647 including at least an additional display G06F1/1692 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1677 for detecting open or closed state or particular intermediate positions assumed by movable parts of the enclosure, e.g. detection of display lid position with respect to main body in a laptop, detection of opening of the cover of battery compartment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1431 using a single graphics controller
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/14 Solving problems related to the presentation of information to be displayed

Abstract

In the portable information terminal device 1a, when a second display portion 9 is flipped over to the front of the portable information terminal device 1a, a first display portion 3 and the second display portion 9 are visible from a user at the same time. The display layouts of the first display portion 3 and the second display portion 9 are switched automatically in accordance with the visibility status of the respective display screens. The display layouts are also switched automatically in response to a change in information to be displayed. Therefore, a plurality of information items can be displayed in an appropriate layout that is easy to grasp to the user.

Claims

1. A portable information terminal device for receiving and displaying a plurality of information items, comprising:

a receiving portion for receiving the plurality of information items,

a first display portion for displaying at least one received information item using its display screen,

a second display portion for displaying at least one received information item using a display screen different from the display screen of the first display portion,

a video control portion for setting a layout in which the information items are displayed in the first display portion and the second display portion, based on a predetermined condition by which the information items received by the receiving portion are allocated to the first display portion or the second display portion, and

a display state determining portion for determining whether the first display portion and the second display portion are in a first state in which the display screen of the first display portion and the display screen of the second display portion are visible at the same time from the same direction, or are in a second state in which only the display screen of the first display portion is visible from that direction, wherein

a predetermined operation can change between the first state and the second state, and

the video control portion performs setting in such a manner that;

when the display state determining portion determines that the first display portion and the second display portion are in the first state, a layout is set in which the information items received by the receiving portion are allocated to and displayed in the first display portion and the second display portion, based on the predetermined condition, and

when the display state determining portion determines that the first display portion and the second display portion are in the second state, a layout is set in which all of the information items received by the receiving portion are displayed in the first display portion.

2. The portable information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the video control portion performs setting in such a manner that:

when a single information item is allocated to either one of the first display portion and the second display portion, a single display layout is set in which only the information item is displayed exclusively on the entire display screen of the either one of the first display portion and the second display portion, and

when a plurality of information items are allocated to either one of the first display portion and the second display portion, a plural display layout is set in which the information items are displayed by sharing the display screen of the either one of the first display portion and the second display portion.

3. The portable information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein

the display screen of the first display portion is provided on a surface of a housing in the first state and the second state,

the display screen of the second display portion is provided on the surface of the housing in the first state and is provided facing a back face side of the housing by closing a support member for supporting the display screen to the back face side of the housing in the second state.

4. The portable information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein

the display screen of the first display portion is provided on a surface of a housing in the first state and the second state,

the display screen of the second display portion is provided on the surface of the housing in the first state and is provided facing a back face side of the housing by turning over a support member for supporting the display screen about a predetermined rotation shaft and then moving the support member to the back face side of the housing in the second state.

5. The portable information terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising a storing portion for storing a display information list describing an instruction to allocate the information items that can be received by the receiving portion to the first display portion or the second display portion for each information item as the predetermined condition,

wherein the video control portion sets a layout in which the information items received by the receiving portion are allocated to and displayed in the first display portion and the second display portion, based on the instruction described in the display information list stored in the storing portion, when the display state determining portion determines that the first display portion and the second display portion are in the first state.

6. The portable information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the information items received by the receiving portion include at least broadcasting data including at least one of video signals, audio signals, and text information,

the portable information terminal device further comprising an input/output control portion for outputting the video signals and the text information from the broadcasting data received by the receiving portion to the video control portion,

wherein the video control portion sets a layout in which at least the video signals and the text information that are output from the input/output control portion are displayed in the first display portion and the second display portion, based on the predetermined condition.

7. The portable information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the information items received by the receiving portion include at least broadcasting data including at least one of video signals of MPEG format, audio signals, and text information of,

when the receiving portion has received the broadcasting data, a transport stream representing the broadcasting data is output,

the portable information terminal device further comprising an input/output control portion for outputting video data and audio data by performing transport decoding and video/audio decoding with respect to the transport stream that is output from the receiving portion,

wherein the video control portion sets a layout in which at least the video data that is output from the input/output control portion is displayed in the first display portion and the second display portion, based on the predetermined condition.

8. The portable information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the first display portion and the second display portion are configured by different display systems from each other.

9. The portable information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the first display portion and the second display portion are configured by a display system selected from the group consisting of LCD (liquid crystal display), organic EL (electroluminescent) and electric paper, and by different display systems from each other.