JP2004302186A - Personal digital assistant - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a personal digital assistant capable of preventing a furtive glance of sentences, images, etc., which are the user's private information even if others peep into a display. <P>SOLUTION: The personal digital assistant is so constituted that a user verification screen indicating the contents corresponding to operation and a privacy protection screen permitting peeping by the others without any problem are displayed in superposition in a lenticular display 7. As a result, even if the others peep into the display, the others cannot view the user verification screen (the privacy protection screen is visible to the others) unless the others peep into the display at the same line of vision and angle as those of the user. The furtive glance of the sentences, images, etc., which are the user's private information can thus be prevented. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a portable information terminal having a function of preventing a person from peeking at a sentence of a mail or the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A conventional mobile information terminal such as a mobile phone displays outgoing mail and received mail on a display in response to a user's operation. However, in a place where many people gather (for example, a crowded train), the display content of the display is reduced. It may be seen by others (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-101101 A (paragraph number [0032], FIG. 10)
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Conventional portable information terminals are configured as described above, so for example, sent mail and received mail are displayed on the display, but in places where many people gather, the display contents of the display can be seen by others. There is a problem that it is difficult to protect the privacy of the user.
[0005]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and portable information capable of preventing eavesdropping of texts, images, and the like, which are private information of a user, even if another person looks into the display. The aim is to get a terminal.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The portable information terminal according to the present invention is configured to multiplexly display a user confirmation screen indicating the contents corresponding to the operation and a privacy protection screen which does not cause any trouble even if viewed by another person.
[0007]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a portable information terminal according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the first embodiment, a description will be given of a case where the portable information terminal is a mobile phone. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be, for example, a PDA or a mobile PC.
In FIG. 1, a key input unit 1 corresponds to a numeric keypad, a menu key, or the like of a mobile phone, and is used, for example, when requesting protection of privacy or requesting display of mail. The screen format storage unit 2 occupies a part of the memory built in the mobile phone, and a user confirmation screen showing contents corresponding to various operations (the privacy of the user confirmation screen may be violated if viewed by others. Screens, such as outgoing mail creation screens, received mail display screens, schedule display screens, photo display screens, and free memo screens). It also stores standard screen format data of a privacy protection screen (for example, a screen on which general flowers and landscapes are displayed and personal information of the user is not displayed) which does not cause any trouble.
The data storage unit 3 occupies a part of a memory built in the mobile phone, and stores registration data for a telephone directory, received mail, and the like.
[0008]
Upon receiving a display request of the received mail from, for example, the key input unit 1, the confirmation screen generation unit 4 receives the screen format data of the received mail display screen (user confirmation screen) stored in the screen format storage unit 2 and the data storage unit 3. The received mail display screen is generated in accordance with the received data of the received mail stored in. The protection screen generation unit 5 generates a user confirmation screen according to standard screen format data of the privacy protection screen stored in the screen format storage unit 2.
The screen format storage unit 2, the data storage unit 3, and the confirmation screen generation unit 4 constitute a confirmation screen generation unit, and the screen format storage unit 2, the data storage unit 3, and the protection screen generation unit 5 constitute a protection screen generation unit. Have been.
[0009]
The multiplex display control unit 6 multiplexes the received mail display screen generated by the confirmation screen generation unit 4 and the privacy protection screen generated by the protection screen generation unit 5 on the lenticular display 7. In the lenticular display 7, a pixel group constituting a scanning line of a user confirmation screen and a pixel group constituting a scanning line for displaying a privacy protection screen are alternately arranged, and the user confirmation screen or A lenticular lens that allows any of the privacy protection screens to be viewed is mounted on the scan line. Note that the multiple display control unit 6 and the lenticular display unit 7 constitute multiple display means.
Here, the hardware for realizing the confirmation screen generation unit 4, the protection screen generation unit 5, and the multiple display control unit 6 may be realized by, for example, a dedicated LSI. A program for realizing the functions of the screen generation unit 5 and the multiple display control unit 6 may be prepared, and the CPU of a mobile phone (not shown) may execute the program.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing contents of the mobile phone.
[0010]
Next, the operation will be described.
When the user operates the key input unit 1 and selects, for example, the display of the received mail (step ST1), the confirmation screen generation unit 4 displays the screen format data of the received mail display screen stored in the screen format storage unit 2 with the screen format data. The received mail display screen (user confirmation screen) as shown in FIG. 3A is generated with reference to the received data of the received mail stored in the data storage unit 3 (step ST2).
[0011]
Further, the protection screen generation unit 5 generates a privacy protection screen as shown in FIG. 3B with reference to standard screen format data of the privacy protection screen stored in the screen format storage unit 2 ( Step ST3). However, the privacy protection screen of FIG. 3 (b) only displays general flowers and time information, and does not display the user's private information. There is no risk of being infringed. The time information is obtained from a clock (not shown).
[0012]
When the confirmation screen generator 4 generates the received mail display screen and the protection screen generator 5 generates the privacy protection screen, the multiplex display controller 6 displays the received mail display screen and the privacy protection screen on the lenticular display 7. Multiple display is performed (step ST4).
Here, as shown in FIG. 4, the lenticular display 7 has a group of pixels forming scanning lines for displaying a user confirmation screen and a group of pixels forming scanning lines for displaying a privacy protection screen alternately arranged. In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, a lenticular lens that enables the user to view either the received mail display screen (user confirmation screen) or the privacy protection screen according to the viewing angle with respect to the display is positioned above the scanning line. It is placed on. Therefore, the received mail display screen can be viewed from the line of sight direction A, but the privacy protection screen cannot be viewed. The privacy protection screen can be viewed from the line of sight direction B, but the received mail display screen cannot be viewed.
[0013]
The details of the lenticular display 7 are disclosed in JP-A-6-236152.
Thus, in the examples of FIGS. 4 and 5, if the display of the mobile phone is tilted slightly to the right, the received mail display screen can be viewed, and if the display of the mobile phone is tilted slightly to the left, the privacy protection screen is displayed. Can be visually recognized.
[0014]
However, if the relative position of the pixel group and the lenticular lens forming the scanning line is changed, the viewing angle of the received mail display screen (user confirmation screen) or the privacy protection screen with respect to the display can be appropriately changed. Therefore, when the display is facing the front, only the received mail display screen can be viewed, and when the display is tilted, only the privacy protection screen can be viewed.
Further, if the pixel groups forming the scanning lines for displaying the user confirmation screen and the pixel groups forming the scanning lines for displaying the privacy protection screen are alternately arranged in the vertical direction of the display, the user can carry the mobile phone. By tilting the phone display up or down, either the received mail display screen or the privacy protection screen can be viewed.
[0015]
As is clear from the above, according to the first embodiment, the user confirmation screen indicating the contents corresponding to the operation and the privacy protection screen that does not cause any trouble to be seen by others are multiplexed on the lenticular display 7. Therefore, even if the display is viewed by another person, the user confirmation screen cannot be viewed unless the other person looks at the same viewing angle as the user (others can see the privacy protection screen). This has the effect of preventing eavesdropping on sentences, images, etc., which are private information.
[0016]
In the first embodiment, the received mail display screen is a user confirmation screen. However, the screen is limited to the received mail display screen as long as privacy may be infringed if viewed by another person. Instead, for example, a user confirmation screen may be a sent mail creation screen, a schedule display screen, a photo display screen, a free memo screen, or the like.
The privacy protection screen may be any screen other than the above-described user confirmation screen, and may be any screen such as a standby screen, an animation, a pseudo menu, or a dummy image. In other words, the privacy protection screen is a screen that displays an image that is not related to the current operation.
[0017]
Embodiment 2 FIG.
In the first embodiment, the multiplex display control unit 6 displays the received mail display screen (user confirmation screen) and the privacy protection screen on the lenticular display 7 in a multiplex manner, but the user operates the key input unit 1 By doing so, the user confirmation screen and the privacy protection screen are multiplexed and displayed on the lenticular display 7 only when the user requests privacy protection, and when the privacy protection request is released, the received mail display screen is displayed. Only the (user confirmation screen) may be displayed. That is, the multiplex display control unit 6 responds to the key input signal from the key input unit 1 to change the user confirmation screen display scan line and the privacy protection screen display scan line of the lenticular display 7 to the user confirmation screen. An image signal may be output. In this case, both the user confirmation screen and the privacy protection screen become the received mail display screen (see FIGS. 6A and 6B).
This allows the user confirmation screen to be viewed from any gaze angle if the privacy protection request is canceled when there is no fear that others will be looking into the screen or when the screen is viewed with friends or the like. This has the effect of increasing the visibility of the screen.
[0018]
Embodiment 3 FIG.
In the first and second embodiments, the case where the image to be viewed is switched when the viewing angle in the horizontal direction with respect to the display changes is described. However, the image to be viewed is switched when the viewing angle in the vertical direction with respect to the display changes. It may be. Specifically, when the lenticular display 7 is used, a pixel group forming a scanning line for displaying a user confirmation screen and a pixel group forming a scanning line for displaying a privacy protection screen are displayed on the side of the display. In addition to being alternately arranged in the direction (see FIG. 4), a pixel group forming a scanning line for displaying a user confirmation screen and a pixel group forming a scanning line for displaying a privacy protection screen are arranged in the vertical direction of the display. Are also arranged alternately.
[0019]
Then, when the user selects the mode (1) in which the image to be viewed is switched when the horizontal line-of-sight angle changes, as in the first and second embodiments, the display is alternately arranged in the horizontal direction of the display. The image signals of the user confirmation screen and the privacy protection screen are output to a pixel group constituting a scanning line for displaying a user confirmation screen and a pixel group constituting a scanning line for displaying a privacy protection screen, respectively.
[0020]
Conversely, when the user selects the mode (2) in which the image to be viewed is changed when the user changes the vertical line-of-sight angle, the scanning lines for displaying the user confirmation screen alternately arranged in the vertical direction of the display are configured. The image signal of the user confirmation screen and the image signal of the privacy protection screen are output to the pixel group that performs the operation and the pixel group that configures the scanning line for displaying the privacy protection screen.
According to the third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, mode (1) is selected when another person is next, and mode (2) is selected when another person is on the opposite side. If selected, privacy protection can be further enhanced.
[0021]
Embodiment 4 FIG.
In the first embodiment, the multiplex display control unit 6 displays the received mail display screen (user confirmation screen) and the privacy protection screen on the lenticular display 7 in a multiplex manner. Instead of the display 7, as shown in FIG. 8, a display including a backlight 11, a dot matrix optical shutter 12, a microlens array 13, and a display LCD 14 may be used.
[0022]
For example, when the multiplex display control unit 6 displays the received mail display screen on the display of FIG. 8, as shown in FIG. 9, among the optical shutters 12 a to 12 h constituting the dot matrix optical shutter 12, only arbitrary optical shutters are provided. Is opened (in the example of FIG. 9, the optical shutter 12g is opened and the other optical shutters are closed), and when the image signal of the received mail display screen is output, the image signal is refracted by the microlens array 13. To proceed in a predetermined direction. Further, since the respective optical shutters 12a to 12h are arranged at different positions, the directions of refraction of image signals passed by the respective optical shutters 12a to 12h in the microlens array 13 are different.
[0023]
Therefore, the multiplex display control unit 6 selects, for example, an arbitrary optical shutter in response to the operation of the key input unit 1 by the user and outputs an image signal of the received mail display screen. Can be changed freely.
Similarly, if an arbitrary optical shutter is selected and an image signal of the privacy protection screen is output, the line of sight of the privacy protection screen can be freely changed.
According to the fourth embodiment, the multiple display control unit 6 is configured to change the line-of-sight angle at which the user confirmation screen and the privacy protection screen can be viewed. For example, the line-of-sight angle is changed according to the position where another person exists. The angle can be changed, and the effect of further enhancing the protection of privacy is achieved.
In the fourth embodiment, the multiplex display is shown on the display of FIG. 8, but any other multiplex display may be used.
[0024]
Embodiment 5 FIG.
In the fourth embodiment described above, the multiple display control unit 6 changes the line-of-sight direction of the received mail display screen in accordance with the operation of the key input unit 1 by the user. The image processing of the video is performed to detect the presence position of the person, and as shown in FIG. 10, the multiple display control unit 6 changes the line-of-sight angle at which the received mail display screen (user confirmation screen) can be viewed. May be matched to the direction in which
Thereby, there is an effect that the user can visually recognize the received mail display screen (user confirmation screen) without performing a special operation by the user.
[0025]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, since the user confirmation screen indicating the content corresponding to the operation and the privacy protection screen which does not cause any trouble even if seen by another person are configured to be displayed in a multiplex manner, the display is displayed to another person. Even if someone looks in, the user confirmation screen cannot be seen unless another person looks in at the same line-of-sight angle as the user. This has the effect of preventing eavesdropping on sentences and images, which are the user's private information. is there.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a portable information terminal according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing contents of the mobile phone.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a received mail display screen (user confirmation screen) and a privacy protection screen.
FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an internal configuration of a lenticular display.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a lenticular display.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a received mail display screen (user confirmation screen).
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing mode switching.
FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing the internal configuration of the display.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a change in a line-of-sight direction.
FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a change in a line-of-sight angle.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 key input unit, 2 screen format storage unit (confirmation screen generation unit, protection screen generation unit), 3 data storage unit (confirmation screen generation unit, protection screen generation unit), 4 confirmation screen generation unit (confirmation screen generation unit), 5 protection screen generation unit (protection screen generation means), 6 multiple display control unit (multiple display means), 7 lenticular display (multiple display means).

Claims (6)

Confirmation screen generation means for generating a user confirmation screen showing the contents corresponding to the operation, protection screen generation means for generating a privacy protection screen that does not cause any trouble even if seen by others, and user generated by the confirmation screen generation means A portable information terminal comprising: a confirmation screen; and a multiplex display means for multiplexing the privacy protection screen generated by the protection screen generation means. 2. The multiplex display means displays a user confirmation screen and a privacy protection screen in multiplex upon receiving a privacy protection request, and displays only the user confirmation screen when the privacy protection request is released. Mobile information terminal. 2. The portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the multiplex display means enables a user confirmation screen or a privacy protection screen to be visually recognized in accordance with a viewing angle with respect to the display. The multiple display means has a mode in which the image of the viewing target is switched when the viewing angle in the horizontal direction with respect to the display changes, and a mode in which the image of the viewing target is switched when the viewing angle in the vertical direction with respect to the display changes. The portable information terminal according to claim 3, wherein: 4. The portable information terminal according to claim 3, wherein the multiplex display means performs a line-of-sight angle changing process that enables the user confirmation screen and the privacy protection screen to be visually recognized. 6. The portable information terminal according to claim 5, wherein the multiplex display means detects a position where the person exists, and adjusts a line of sight angle at which the user confirmation screen can be visually recognized to a direction where the person exists.

Images