Terminal Device and Control Program Thereof

• US 20100107069A1
• Filed: 09/22/2009
• Published: 04/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Innovations Ltd Hong Kong (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications Company Limited (NEC Corporation)
• Inventors: Shiga, Akio
• Granted Patent: US 9,032,313 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/702
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0241 using relative motion of the body parts to change the operational status of the telephone set, e.g. switching on/off, answering incoming call
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 for playing music files

Abstract

In a mobile phone, even when an audio-related function is running in background processing in parallel with a function running in the main processing (foreground processing) where operations by the main operating section have been assigned to the function running in the main processing, the control section operates the audio-related function based on a user operation detected by the touch screen, the imaging section, the sound collecting section, or the housing movement detecting section.

Claims

1. A terminal device including a display section and an operating section, which is capable of running a plurality of functions including an audio-related function in parallel, comprising:

an operation detecting means for detecting a user operation;

a storage means for storing the user operation detected by the operation detecting means in association with an operation related to the audio-related function;

an operation state judging means for judging whether or not the audio-related function is running in background processing in parallel with a function running in foreground processing; and

a controlling means for, when the operating state judging means judges that the audio-related function is running in the background processing, assigning an operation by the operating section to the function running in the foreground processing while assigning the user operation detected by the operation detecting means to the audio-related function, and performing, when the operation detecting means detects a user operation, control such that the operation related to the audio-related function stored in the storage means in association with the user operation is performed.

2. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein when the operation state judging means judges that the audio-related function is running in the background processing, the controlling means assigns display by the display section and operations by the operating section to the function running in the foreground processing.

3. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the operation detecting means detects, as a user operation, a coordinate input operation in which a coordinate position on the display section is inputted.

4. The terminal device according to claim 3, further comprising:

an operating section status judging means for judging whether or not the operating section is in a usable state;

wherein when the operating section status judging means judges that the operating section is not in the usable state, the controlling means assigns a coordinate input operation detected by the operation detecting means to the function running in the foreground processing regardless of whether or not the operation state judging means judges that the audio-related function is running in the background processing.

5. The terminal device according to claim 4, wherein when the operating section status judging means judges, in a situation where an operating screen used for a function running in foreground processing has been provided in a portion of the display section, that the operating section is not in usable state, the controlling means assigns a coordinate input operation detected by the operation detecting means which is performed on the operating screen to the function running in the foreground processing, and assigns a coordinate input operation detected by the operation detecting means which is performed on another portion of the display section to the audio-related function running in the background processing.

6. The terminal device according to claim 3, wherein the operation detecting means detects a touch operation performed on a touch screen including the display section and a coordinate position detecting section as a user operation, and the controlling means assigns the touch operation performed on the touch screen to the audio-related function.

7. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the operation detecting means analyzes a taken image of a user, and detects the analysis result as a user operation.

8. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the operation detecting means recognizes collected voice from a user, and detects the recognition result as a user operation.

9. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein when a device main body is swung, the operation detecting means detects the swing operation as a user operation.

10. A computer-readable storage medium having a program stored thereon that is executable by a computer to perform a process comprising:

parallel processing for processing a plurality of functions including an audio-related function in parallel;

operation detection processing for detecting a user operation;

storage processing for storing and managing the detected user operation in association with an operation related to the audio-related function;

operation state judgment processing for judging whether or not the audio-related function is running in background processing in parallel with a function running in a foreground process; and

control processing for, when the audio-related function is judged to be running in the background processing, assigning an operation by an operating section to the function running in the foreground process while assigning the detected user operation to the audio-related function, and performing, when a user operation is detected, control such that the operation related to the audio-related function stored in association with the user operation is performed.