Mobile communication apparatus recognizing rotary state and retrieving conserved information and its method

The present invention relates to a mobile communication device and its communication method, and more particularly to a mobile communication device and its communication method capable of recognizing a rotation state by using a geomagnetic sensor and searching stored data according to the rotation state.

With the development of electronic technology, various portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, and laptop computers have been developed and spread. In particular, in the case of mobile phones, which have the highest penetration rate, the photo-shooting function, video-shooting function, mobile Internet function, etc. are more diverse than the old models. Furthermore, as the amount of data to be stored increases, the memory capacity also increases, and various techniques for retrieving the stored data have become available.

In the data search, the most typical method is a method using button keys, and the user can search the stored data by using the installed number buttons, direction buttons, and the like. In this case, it is possible to search more conveniently by using the grouping and shortening buttons, and recently, a method of searching the desired data by voice recognition technology has appeared. In particular, in the case of mobile phones, products that apply technology that connects to phone numbers stored using voice recognition technology have become widespread for several years. In addition, touch screen technology tends to be used in the case of PDAs.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram when the button 12 is used to search for a telephone number stored in the mobile phone 10. When the user operates the buttons 12 such as the number keys and arrow keys provided on the mobile phone 10 and selects the "Search by phone number" menu, "Search by name" and "Search by number" as shown in Fig. 1. , "Search by abbreviated number", "Search by group" and other lower menus are displayed on the screen 11. When "Search by Group" is selected from the lower menu, various group lists such as family, friends, work, and relatives saved in advance by the user are displayed, and the phone numbers belonging to each group are searched. it can.

When searching for a telephone number using buttons in this way, each menu and lower menus have a tree structure, so there are many items to be selected each time, and it takes a long time to search. Furthermore, there is a problem that it is difficult to search even for people who are not accustomed to key operations such as elderly people and children, and foreigners who do not understand the national language.

On the other hand, the technology of saving frequently used numbers as abbreviated numbers and then entering the abbreviated number to connect to the phone number is already widespread, but in this case, there is a problem that the abbreviated number must always be memorized. is there.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram when searching for a telephone number using voice recognition technology. The voice recognition technology refers to a technology in which when a specific name corresponding to each telephone number is pronounced, the mobile phone 10 recognizes the name and connects the line to the corresponding telephone number.

However, in the voice recognition process, it may not be possible to accurately search for the information desired by the user due to noise from the surroundings, pronunciation problems, and the like. For this reason, recently, there is a mechanism in which the user can select after extracting all the telephone numbers having similar saved titles, but this method is also troublesome and has a problem that it takes time.

<p> The present invention has been devised to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication device capable of recognizing a rotational state and retrieving stored data, and a method thereof. There is.</p>

<p> In order to achieve the above object, the mobile communication device according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a main body and a geomagnetic sensor that detects the rotation angle at which the main body rotates with reference to an axis in the vertical direction with respect to the ground surface. , The main memory in which the image data corresponding to the rotation angle is stored, the display unit that displays the image data on the screen, and the changed rotation when the rotation angle detected by the geomagnetic sensor changes. It includes a control unit that controls the display unit so that image data corresponding to the angle is extracted from the main memory and displayed on the screen.</p><p> In this case, the main memory can add and record a telephone number corresponding to the image data. Preferably, the mobile communication device receives a call connection request signal via the key input unit for receiving an external signal and the key input unit with predetermined image data displayed on the screen. It can further include a communication module that dials the telephone number corresponding to the image data.</p><p> More preferably, the communication module can be configured to automatically dial a telephone number corresponding to the image data when the image data is displayed on the screen for a predetermined time.</p><p> On the other hand, when the selection signal for selecting the rotation recognition mode is input via the key input unit, the control unit displays all the image data recorded in the main memory at the edge of the screen in the corresponding rotation angle direction. The display unit can be controlled so as to be displayed on the unit.</p><p> In this case, it is preferable to display the image data corresponding to the rotation angle detected by the geomagnetic sensor in the center of the screen among all the image data recorded in the main memory.</p><p> The geomagnetic sensor used as one embodiment of the present invention includes a geomagnetic detection module having X-axis and Y-axis fluxgates orthogonal to each other and detecting an electric signal corresponding to the geomagnetism from each fluxgate. A signal processing unit that converts electrical signals detected from the X-axis and Y-axis fluxgates into predetermined X-axis and Y-axis output values and outputs them, and the X-axis and Y-axis output values within their respective predetermined ranges. After normalizing to the value of, it is preferable to include a geomagnetic calculation unit that calculates the rotation angle from the normalized X-axis and Y-axis output values.</p><p> On the other hand, the information retrieval method in the mobile communication device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is (a) a step of detecting the rotation angle of the mobile communication device with reference to an axis in the vertical direction with respect to the ground surface. (b) A step of extracting image data corresponding to the rotation angle, (c) a step of displaying the image data on the screen, and (d) corresponding to the changed rotation angle when the rotation angle changes. The step of extracting the image data to be performed and displaying it on the screen is included.</p><p> Preferably, the step of receiving the call connection request signal with the predetermined image data displayed on the screen and the step of dialing the telephone number corresponding to the image data can be further included.</p><p> More preferably, when the state in which the predetermined image data is displayed on the screen continues for a predetermined time, the step of automatically dialing the telephone number corresponding to the image data can be further included.</p><p> In step (c), all the saved image data is displayed at the edge of the screen in the corresponding rotation angle direction, and the image data corresponding to the rotation angle of the mobile communication device is displayed in the center of the screen. It is possible to do.</p><p> Further, in step (a), the rotation angle can be detected by using a biaxial fluxgate sensor. In step (a), the step of detecting the electric signal corresponding to the geomagnetism from the two-axis flux gate and the electric signal detected from the two-axis flux gate are detected in the predetermined X-axis and Y, respectively. A step of converting and outputting to an axis output value, a step of normalizing the X-axis and Y-axis output values to values in their respective predetermined ranges, and the step of normalizing the normalized X-axis and Y-axis output values to the above-mentioned It is preferable to include a step of calculating the rotation angle.</p>

<p> According to the present invention, the stored data can be searched by rotating the mobile communication device. In particular, when searching for a telephone number stored in a mobile phone, a call can be easily connected by displaying an image corresponding to the stored telephone number on the screen while rotating the mobile phone by a predetermined angle.</p>

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mobile communication device 200 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. According to the figure, the mobile communication device 200 includes a geomagnetic sensor 100, a control unit 210, a key input unit 220, a main memory 230, a display unit 240, and a communication module 250.

The key input unit 220 includes buttons such as numeric keys and direction keys, and plays a role of transmitting an input signal by a user's button operation to the control unit 210. The geomagnetic sensor 100 means a device that measures the strength and direction of geomagnetism that cannot be felt by humans and detects it as a predetermined output value. The geomagnetic sensor 100 built into the mobile communication device 200 serves to detect the surrounding geomagnetism and measure the degree of rotation of the mobile communication device 200 itself. That is, the main body of the mobile communication device 200 measures the rotation angle rotated with respect to the axis in the vertical direction with respect to the ground surface and transmits it to the control unit 210. The angle of rotation is 0 ° on the north side and is measured clockwise.

The control unit 210 confirms the degree of rotation transmitted from the geomagnetic sensor 100, that is, the angle of rotation, and extracts the corresponding information from the main memory 230. Therefore, the rotation angle in a predetermined range and the information corresponding to the rotation angle are recorded in the main memory 230 in advance. In this case, the information recorded in the main memory 230 can be not only the telephone number but also the target image of the telephone number. On the other hand, the error range of the rotation angle can be considered in consideration of the sensitivity of the geomagnetic sensor 100. For example, when the error range is set to about ± 5 °, the control unit 210 recognizes that if the rotation angle in the range of -5 ° to 5 ° is extracted from the geomagnetic sensor 100, it recognizes that it points to 0 °, and 6 ° to 15 If the angle of rotation in the ° range is extracted, it is recognized as pointing to 10 °. The error range can be arbitrarily set by the manufacturer or the user.

The control unit 210 can display the information extracted from the main memory 230 on the screen via the display unit 240. That is, if the target image of the telephone number is extracted, the image is displayed on the screen. Since recent mobile phones are equipped with a camera, the image taken by directly shooting the subject can be used as the target image. Alternatively, the manufacturer of the mobile communication device 200 can define the target image in advance and utilize the image.

On the other hand, when the user inputs a call button via the key input unit 220, the control unit 210 controls the communication module 250 and dials the telephone number stored in the main memory 230. In this case, even if the user does not press another call button, the operation of automatically trying to make a telephone connection is performed when the current state is maintained for a predetermined time.

On the other hand, FIGS. 4 and 5 are schematic views showing an example of a screen display state when a telephone number is searched by the rotation recognition method on the mobile phone 200, respectively. When the user operates the key input unit 220 and selects the "rotation recognition mode" menu from the menu, the control unit 210 displays all the image data stored in the main memory 230 on the screen 241 as shown in FIG. Display above. In this case, the north is set to 0 °, and each image data is arranged at predetermined intervals in consideration of the sensitivity of the geomagnetic sensor 100. Figure 4 displays each image at 0 °, 10 °, 20, .. 340 °, and 350 ° intervals with respect to true north, with an error range of approximately ± 5 °. That is, the image of "home" is placed at 0 °, the image of "mother" is placed at 10 °, and the image of "office" is placed at ..350 °. As a result, the entire stored data is displayed on one screen, and the user can select the desired target by rotating the mobile phone 200. When the user rotates the mobile phone 200, the image selected according to the degree of rotation is displayed in the center of the screen 241 and the title and telephone number are displayed at the lower end of the image.

On the other hand, in FIG. 5, only the image corresponding to the current rotation angle is displayed on the screen 241. That is, since the size of the screen 241 of the mobile phone 200 is smaller than that of a notebook computer or PDA, it is difficult to display all the stored data as an image on one screen. Therefore, only the image corresponding to the current rotation state can be displayed. According to the figure, since the mobile phone 200 currently placed in the horizontal state is facing north, the rotation angle is 0 °, and the "home" image corresponding to 0 ° is displayed on the screen 241. .. In this case, a title or telephone number for explaining the image may be added to the lower end of the "home" image. When the mobile phone 200 is rotated to the right by about 10 ° in this state, a new "mother" image corresponding to the rotation is displayed on the screen 241. The user continuously rotates the mobile phone 200 until the target to be called is selected, and when the desired target is displayed, the user operates the key input unit 220 to try the telephone connection.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, it is also possible to measure the degree of rotation by using a tilt sensor (tilt measurement sensor), an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, or the like instead of the geomagnetic sensor 100.

FIG. 6 is an embodiment of the geomagnetic sensor used in the mobile communication device 200 shown in FIG. 3, and is a block showing the configuration of a fluxgate type geomagnetic sensor 100 that measures the degree of rotation using a two-axis fluxgate. It is a figure. A flux gate type geomagnetic sensor uses a high magnetic permeability material such as permalloy as a magnetic core, and applies an excitation magnetic field through a drive coil around the magnetic core, depending on the magnetic saturation and non-linear magnetic characteristics of the magnetic core. Refers to a device that measures the size and direction of an external magnetic field by measuring the second-order harmonic component proportional to the external magnetic field generated. The current azimuth is detected by measuring the size and direction of the external magnetic field, which makes it possible to measure the degree of rotation. According to the figure, the geomagnetic sensor 100 includes a drive signal generation unit 110, a geomagnetic detection module 120, a signal processing unit 130, a geomagnetic calculation unit 140, and a memory 150.

The drive signal generation unit 110 generates and outputs a drive signal for driving the geomagnetic detection module 120. As the drive signal, a pulse wave and an inverted pulse wave can generally be used. That is, the drive signal generation unit 110 includes the pulse generator (not shown), the pulse limiting unit 111, and the pulse amplification unit 112, so that the pulse limiting unit 111 controls the pulse generated and output from the pulse generator. After selectively switching according to the signal, the pulse amplification unit 112 amplifies and inverting and amplifies the output. An and gate can be used as the pulse limiting unit 111, and a pulse output from the pulse generator is output by a control signal applied to one end of the and gate.

The pulse amplification unit 112 uses several amplifiers and an inversion device to generate two pulse signals whose phases are opposite to each other with respect to the pulse output via the pulse limiting unit 111. The geomagnetic detection module 120 Apply to.

On the other hand, when the drive signal is applied from the drive signal generation unit 110, the geomagnetism detection module 120 outputs a predetermined electrical signal corresponding to the geomagnetism. As shown in FIG. 6, the X-axis and Y-axis fluxgates 121 and 123 are arranged so that the two magnetic cores having a square ring shape are oriented in the two directions of the X-axis and the Y-axis, respectively. Has been done. A drive coil and a detection coil are wound around each of the magnetic cores. As a result, when a drive pulse is applied to each drive coil, magnetism is generated in the X-axis and Y-axis fluxgates 121 and 123, and the induced electromotive force due to this is detected via the detection coil.

The signal processing unit 130 converts the induced electromotive force detected from the X-axis and Y-axis fluxgates 121 and 123 into a predetermined digital value through a certain processing process, and then outputs the signal. In detail, the signal processing unit 130 includes a chopping circuit unit 131, a first amplification unit 132, a filter 133, a second amplification unit 134, and an A / D converter (Converter) 135. The electrical signals induced in the X-axis and Y-axis fluxgates output from the geomagnetic detection module 120 are chopped by controlling several switches built in the chopping circuit unit 131. The chopped electrical signal is differentially amplified by the first amplification unit 132, filtering only a certain range of signals through the filter 133, and then finally amplified by the second amplification unit 134. The amplified signal is converted to a digital voltage value by the A / D converter 135 and output.

On the other hand, the geomagnetic calculation unit 140 performs a normalization process of mapping the actual output value output from the signal processing unit 130 within a predetermined range. Therefore, the manufacturer of the geomagnetic sensor 100 outputs the output values of the X-axis and Y-axis fluxgates 121 and 123 while rotating the geomagnetic sensor 100 at least once in the horizontal state in advance. When the measurement is completed, the maximum value and the minimum value of the measured output values are selected and recorded in the memory 150.

The geomagnetic calculation unit 140 performs normalization by substituting the maximum and minimum values recorded in the memory 150 and the X-axis and Y-axis output values detected by the signal detection unit 130 into the following equation 1.

<maths num="1"><img file="JP2005295560A_D0001.tif" /></maths> Note that X and Y are the output values of the X-axis and Y-axis fluxgates 121 and 123, respectively, Xn and Yn are the normalized values of X and Y, respectively, Xmax and Xmin are the maximum and minimum values of X, respectively, and Ymax and Ymin. Indicates the maximum and minimum values of Y, respectively. The geomagnetic calculation unit 140 calculates Xbias, Xscale, Ybias and Yscale by substituting Xmax, Xmin, Ymax and Ymin measured in advance and recorded in the memory 150 into the number 1, and then again calculates Xn and Yn based on this. To do.

FIG. 7 is a graph of the X-axis and Y-axis output values normalized by the geomagnetic calculation unit 140. According to the figure, the output value of the X-axis is shown in the cos function graph 701, and the output value of the Y-axis is shown in the sin function graph 702.

The geomagnetic calculation unit 140 calculates the rotation angle based on the X-axis and Y-axis output values. That is, the angle of rotation ψ is tan^-1It is displayed as (Y-axis output value / X-axis output value). According to the figure, the tan function graph 703 expressed as Y-axis output value / X-axis output value is also shown.

Meanwhile, tan^-1 The function value has a range of 0 ° to 90 ° in the first quadrant, ± 90 ° in the second and third quadrants, and -90 ° to 0 ° in the fourth quadrant. Has a range value of. As a result, the geomagnetic calculation unit 140 calculates the rotation angle based on the following equation 2 in order to represent the entire range of 0 ° to 360 °.

Quadrant 1: Rotation angle = tan^-1 (Y / X) 2nd and 3rd quadrants: angle of rotation = 180 ° + tan^-1 (Y / X) 4th quadrant: angle of rotation = 360 ° + tan^-1 (Y / X) In this formula 2, X and Y are the output values of the X-axis and Y-axis, respectively.

The rotation angle calculated by the geomagnetic calculation unit 140 is input to the control unit 210. As described above, the control unit 210 extracts the information corresponding to the rotation angle and the telephone number from the main memory 230, displays the corresponding image on the screen 241 via the display unit 240, and uses the communication module 250 to correspond. Make a call to your phone number.

On the other hand, according to a further embodiment of the present invention, the geomagnetic sensor 100 uses various sensors such as a magnetic resistance sensor, a magnetic impedance sensor, and a hall sensor. Measure the degree of rotation.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a method of searching for a telephone number according to a rotation state in the mobile communication device 200 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. According to the figure, the user first operates the key input unit 220 to select the "rotation recognition mode" menu from the menus (S810).

When the "Rotation recognition mode" menu is selected, the geomagnetic sensor 100 detects a predetermined output value from the X-axis fluxgate and the Y-axis fluxgate, and calculates the rotation angle by performing normalization (S820). As described above, the geomagnetic sensor 100 normalizes based on Equation 1 and calculates the angle of rotation between 0 ° and 360 ° based on Equation 2.

The control unit 210 extracts the image information corresponding to the calculated rotation angle from the main memory 230 and displays it on the screen 241 (S830). If the user further rotates the mobile communication device 200 and the rotation state changes (S840), the continuously changing rotation angle is calculated and the image displayed on the screen 241 is changed.

On the other hand, when the user inputs the "send" button while the specific image is displayed on the current screen 241 (S850), the control unit 210 calls the telephone number corresponding to the displayed image. To control the communication module 250 (S870).

In this case, it can also be operated to automatically make a call when a predetermined time elapses without the user pressing another "call" button (S860). This allows the user to call the desired phone number without another key operation.

Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described above with reference to the drawings, the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes the invention described in the claims. It extends to the equivalent.

The present invention can be used in mobile communication devices such as mobile phones and PDAs that store a plurality of telephone numbers and then search for the stored telephone numbers to make a call.

<figref num="1">It is a schematic diagram which showed an example of the telephone number search method in the conventional mobile phone.</figref><figref num="2">It is a schematic diagram which showed the method of searching a telephone number by using the voice recognition technology in a conventional mobile phone.</figref><figref num="3">It is a block diagram which showed the structure of the mobile communication apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="4">It is a schematic diagram which showed an example of the screen display state of the mobile communication device which concerns on 1 Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="5">It is a schematic diagram which showed the other example of the screen display state of the mobile communication apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="6">It is a block diagram which showed the structure of the fluxgate sensor used as a geomagnetic sensor in the mobile communication equipment of FIG.</figref><figref num="7">It is a graph which showed the output value of each axis of the fluxgate sensor shown in FIG.</figref><figref num="8">It is a flowchart for demonstrating the method of recognizing the rotation state and searching a telephone number in the mobile communication device which concerns on embodiment of this invention.</figref>

Code description

100 Geomagnetic sensor 110 Drive signal generation unit 120 Geomagnetic detection unit 130 Signal processing unit 140 Geomagnetic calculation unit 150 Memory 210 Control unit 220 Key input unit 230 Main memory 240 Display unit 250 Communication module