Mobile terminal and program

• US 9,112,994 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2008
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamada, Eiju, Yamada, Kazuhiro, Kamiya, Dai, Onda, Yasushi, Kano, Izua, Murakami, Keiichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Edouard, Patrick
• Assistant Examiner(s): GENACK, MATTHEW W
• Application Number:
  US12/670,135
• Publication Number:
  US 20100285786A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,581 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.2, 455/414.1, 455/422.1, 455/435.1, 455/435.2, 455/466
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2746 Sorting, e.g. according to history or frequency of use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver

Abstract

The environment around mobile phone handset 10 is judged according to the number of other mobile phone handsets present near mobile phone handset 10 and the registration status of the nearby telephones. Then, the display sequence of function names on a function selection screen is changed according to the environment. As a result, functions deemed likely to be selected by the user based on the environment surrounding mobile phone handset 10 may be displayed at positions where they may be selected with fewer operations. In this way, the number of operations required of the user for selecting any of multiple functions may be reduced.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal being a first mobile terminal and comprising:

a display control unit that displays, on a display, a function selection screen on which a plurality of function names are arranged in accordance with a given sequence;

a selection operation unit that accepts an operation for selecting any of the function names arranged on the function selection screen;

an implementation unit that implements the function with the name selected through the operation accepted by the selection operation unit;

a detection unit that detects another mobile terminal present within a given distance from a position of the first mobile terminal; and

a determination unit that determines an environment class of the mobile terminal according to a detection result of the detection unit, the determined environment class is selected from a plurality of environment classes defined in advance, the determination unit further determines an arrangement of function names in a sequence for display, wherein a function name corresponding to the determined environment class is arranged at a first position in the sequence and is selectable by fewer selection steps than required for selection of function names not at the first position in the sequence,

wherein the plurality of environment classes are classes to which environments are assigned, an environment based on a number of other mobile terminals present within the given distance from the position of the first mobile terminal.

2. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein:

the detection unit determines the number of other mobile terminals present within the given distance from the position of the first mobile terminal; and

the determination unit determines the arrangement of function names in a sequence depending on the number of other mobile terminals determined by the detection unit.

3. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, further comprising an identification information memory that stores identification information assigned to the detected other mobile terminal, wherein:

the detection unit determines the identification information assigned to the detected other mobile terminals present within the given distance from the position of the first mobile terminal; and

the determination unit determines the arrangement of the sequence differently for a case in which the identification information determined by the detection unit matches the information stored in the identification information memory, and a case in which the identification information determined by the detection unit does not match the information stored in the identification information memory.

4. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein:

the determination unit further comprises;

an environment definition memory that stores information detected by the detection unit and the environment assigned to each of a plurality of environment classes defined in advance as environments of the first mobile terminal;

a function memory that stores function identification information assigned to each of the functions and the environment classes;

an environment specification unit that specifies the environment class that is associated with the information detected by the detection unit and stored in the environment definition memory; and

a function specification unit that specifies function identification information that is associated with the environment class specified by the environment specification unit and stored in the function memory, and

determines the sequence to arrange the function name assigned to the function identification information specified by the function specification unit at a position where the function name is selectable by use of fewer operation selection steps than are required to be used for selection of other of the function names.

5. The mobile terminal according to claim 4, wherein, if the environment specification unit specifies a plurality of environment classes, the determination unit specifies an order of precedence for each of the plurality of environment classes according to a weighting assigned to each of the plurality of environment classes, and determines the sequence according to the specified order of precedence.

6. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, further comprising:

a modification operation unit that accepts operations for modifying the sequence determined by the determination unit; and

a modified-content memory that stores content modified through the operations accepted by the modification operation unit, wherein

the determination unit determines the arrangement of the function names in the sequence according to the content stored in the modified-content memory.

7. The mobile terminal according to claim 4, further comprising:

an acquisition unit that acquires a program describing steps for implementing the function using the implementation unit along with the content stored in the environment definition memory or the function memory; and

an update unit that updates the content stored in the environment definition memory or the function memory according to the content described in the program acquired by the acquisition unit.

8. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a reception unit that, when function identification information assigned to the function is transmitted from another mobile terminal detected by the detection unit, receives the function identification information, wherein

the determination unit determines the arrangement of the function names in the sequence and the function identification information received by the reception unit is assigned a first position in the sequence and-is selectable by fewer selection steps than required for selection of function names not at the first position in the sequence.

9. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a user identification unit that identifies a user using the mobile terminal, wherein

the determination unit determines the arrangement of the function names in the sequence for the user identified by the user identification unit.

10. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, further comprising an area specification unit that specifies an area in which the first mobile terminal is located, wherein

the determination unit determines the arrangement of the function names in the sequence for each area specified by the area specification unit.

12. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the function name corresponding to the determined environment class is arranged at an uppermost position of a list, and another function name is arranged at a position lower than the uppermost position of the list.

11. A non-transitory electronic storage medium containing a program to cause a computer to operate:

a display control unit that displays a function selection screen on which a plurality of function names are arranged in accordance with a given sequence, and that is used to select any of a plurality of function names;

a detection unit that detects another mobile terminal present within a given distance from the position of the computer; and

a determination unit that determines an environment class of the mobile terminal according to a detection result of the detection unit, the determined environment class is selected from a plurality of environment classes defined in advance, the determination unit further determines an arrangement of function names in a sequence for display, wherein a function name corresponding to the determined environment class is arranged at a first position in the sequence and is selectable by fewer selection steps than required for selection of function names not at the first position in the sequence,

wherein the plurality of environment classes are classes to which environments are assigned, an environment based on a number of other mobile terminals present within the given distance from the position of the first mobile terminal.

13. The non-transitory electronic storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the function name corresponding to the determined environment class is arranged at an uppermost position of a list, and another function name is arranged at a position lower than the uppermost position of the list.