Portable terminal having display buttons and method of inputting functions using display buttons

• US 20060221059A1
• Filed: 03/31/2006
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Seong-woon, Hong, Sun-gi, Chang, Wook, Bang, Won-chul, Choi, Chang-kyu, Shim, Jung-hyun, Kwon, Soon-joo
• Application Number:
  US11/393,894
• Publication Number:
  US 20060221059A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/169
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/165 the additional display being small, e.g. for presenting status information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1671 Special purpose buttons or auxiliary keyboards, e.g. retractable mini keypads, keypads or buttons that remain accessible at closed laptop G06F1/1666 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0238 Programmable keyboards key guide holders G06F3/0224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2219/002 replaceable; adaptable
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2219/046 above switch site
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/23 Construction or mounting of dials or of equivalent devices; Means for facilitating the use thereof by improving visibility H04M1/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72466 with selection means, e.g. keys, having functions defined by the mode or the status of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera constructional features concerning the integration of cameras in portable phones H04M1/0264

Abstract

A portable terminal having display buttons for displaying images corresponding to specific functions through keys pressed by a user, and a method of inputting functions of the portable terminal using the display buttons. The portable terminal includes: a controller which receives signals corresponding to a user key pressed from the plurality of input buttons and outputs image data to be displayed on each of the plurality of input buttons using the received signals; and a plurality of buttons for inputting a key from a user and outputting a signal corresponding to the key pressed, and for receiving the image data from the controller and displaying the received image data. Accordingly, by using the display buttons for displaying variable images corresponding to specific functions as well as an essential function of inputting keys from a user when a specific function is input in the portable terminal such as a cell phone, a plurality of functions can be input with only a limited number of buttons, providing speed and convenience to the user for function input.

Claims

1. A portable terminal having a plurality of input buttons, the portable terminal comprising:

a controller receiving a signal corresponding to a user key input from each of pressed ones of the plurality of input buttons and outputting image data to be displayed on each of the plurality of input buttons based on the received signals; and

a plurality of buttons receiving a key input and outputting a signal corresponding to the key input, receiving the image data from the controller, and displaying the received image data.

2. The portable terminal of claim 1, wherein each button comprises:

a keypad the location of which changes when the button is pushed;

a signal generator located below the keypad and generating a key-press signal in response to a location change of the keypad; and

a display module located below the signal generator, receiving the image data from the controller, and displaying the received image data.

3. The portable terminal of claim 1, wherein each button comprises:

a keypad the location of which changes when the button is pushed;

a display module located below the keypad, receiving the image data from the controller, and displaying the received image data; and

a signal generator located below the display module and generating a key-press signal in response to a location change of the keypad.

4. The portable terminal of claim 2, wherein the key-press signal comprises a button identification signal corresponding to the button and a button state signal containing information regarding whether the button is pressed.

5. The portable terminal of claim 3, wherein the key-press signal comprises a button identification signal corresponding to the button and a button state signal containing information regarding whether the button is pressed.

6. The portable terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises a plurality of processors each corresponding to a different one of the plurality of buttons,

wherein each of the plurality of processors receives signals of the plurality of buttons and generates image data to be displayed on a corresponding button.

7. The portable terminal of claim 1, wherein the plurality of buttons comprise a single display module receiving, from the controller, image data to be displayed on the plurality of buttons, and displaying the image data.

8. The portable terminal of claim 1, further comprising a memory storing image data to be displayed on the plurality of buttons.

9. The portable terminal of claim 8, wherein the controller receives key-press signals from the pressed ones of the plurality of input buttons, reads image data corresponding to the received key-press signals from the memory, and outputs to the input buttons image data to be displayed on the plurality of input buttons.

10. A method of inputting a function to be performed, through a plurality of buttons of a portable terminal, the method comprising:

displaying a plurality of images corresponding to a plurality of top-level functions which are performable by the portable terminal, on the buttons;

receiving an input selection of one of the top-level functions using a button;

displaying images corresponding to lower level functions belonging to the selected top-level function, on the buttons; and

receiving an input selection of one of the lower level functions using a button.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the top-level functions comprise at least one of a phone call function, a short message function, a camera function, a still image reproduction function, a video reproduction function, a phone book function, an MP3 function, an electronic diary function, a recording/answering function, a device setting function, a Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) channel guide function, an electronic dictionary function, a file viewing function, and a game function.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, in the displaying images corresponding to lower level functions, when the phone call function is selected, the buttons display images corresponding to integers from 0 to 9, “

call start,” and

“

call end.”

13. The method of claim 11, wherein, in the displaying images corresponding to lower level functions, when the short message function is selected, the buttons display images corresponding to “

receive,”

“

send,” and

“

e-mail.”

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising, when the short message send function is selected using a button on which an image corresponding to the send function is displayed, the buttons display images corresponding to characters to be input.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein, in the displaying images corresponding to lower level functions, when the camera function is selected, the buttons display images corresponding to “

selection of still image or video,”

“

timer,”

“

flash,”

“

zoom in,”

“

zoom out,” and

“

photographing start.”

16. The method of claim 11, wherein, in the displaying images corresponding to lower level functions, when the image reproduction function is selected, the buttons display images corresponding to categories into which images stored in the portable terminal are classified.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein, in the displaying images corresponding to lower level functions, emoticons are displayed on the buttons.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the emoticons are changeable according to a manipulation of a moving key.

19. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with processing instructions for causing a processor to execute a method of inputting a function to be performed, through a plurality of buttons of a portable terminal, the method comprising:

displaying a plurality of images corresponding to a plurality of top-level functions which are performable by the portable terminal, on the buttons;

receiving an input selection of one of the top-level functions using a button;

displaying images corresponding to lower level functions belonging to the selected top-level function, on the buttons; and

receiving an input selection of one of the lower level functions using a button.

20. A portable terminal having a plurality of input buttons, the portable terminal comprising:

a data transceiver which receives signals corresponding to a key input from the plurality of input buttons and sends the signals to an external device using a wireless network or an Internet, and receives image data to be displayed on the plurality of input buttons from the external device using the wireless network or the Internet; and

a plurality of buttons which receive a key input from a user and output signals corresponding to the key input, receive image data to be displayed from the data transceiver, and display the image data.

21. A portable terminal, comprising:

a plurality of buttons receiving a selection of a function by a press of one of the buttons, each button receiving image data corresponding to selectable function, displaying an image regarding a selectable function based on received the image data, and outputting a signal when pressed; and

a controller receiving the signals and outputting the image data, the image data based on the received signals.

22. A portable terminal, comprising:

a plurality of buttons receiving selections of functions by presses of a button or buttons, each button receiving first image data corresponding to one of a plurality of selectable top-level functions, displaying an image associated with a top-level function based on the received first image data, receiving second image data corresponding to one of a plurality of lower-level functions which are associated with a selected top-level function based on the received second received image data, displaying an image associated with a lower-level function based on the received second image data, and outputting signals when pressed; and

a controller receiving the signals, and outputting the image data, the image data based on the received signals.