Electronic device for inputting user command 3-dimensionally and method for employing the same

• US 20060279554A1
• Filed: 05/31/2006
• Published: 12/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kweon, Ji-hyeon, Park, Se-hyun, Kim, Jae-won, Shin, Chang-beom
• Granted Patent: US 8,259,077 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

An electronic device for 3-dimensionally inputting a user command and a method employing the same are provided. The electronic device includes a touch pad sensing a 3-dimensional interface and a controller controlling a GUI (graphical user interface) in response to the 3-dimensional interface sensed by the touch pad. Thus, a user command can be 3-dimensionally input so as to harmonize a 3-dimensional varying method of a 3-dimensional GUI with a 3-dimensional input manipulation of a user.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a touch pad sensing a 3-dimensional interface; and

a controller controlling a GUI (graphical user interface) in response to the 3-dimensional interface sensed by the touch pad.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the touch pad senses interfaces on a first, a second, and a third axis input by a user, and the controller deciphers the interfaces on the first, second, and third axis sensed by the touch pad as a first, a second, and a third user command, respectively, and controls the GUI based on the deciphered results.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the first user command is a user command related to a fourth axis direction on a GUI picture, the second user command is a user command related to a fifth axis direction on the GUI picture, and the third user command is a user command related to a sixth axis direction on the GUI picture.

4. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein:

the interface on the first axis is sensed in at least one of an upper area and a lower area of the touch pad;

the interface on the second axis is sensed in at least one of a left area and a right area of the touch pad; and

the interface on the third axis is sensed in at least one of the upper area, lower area, left area, and right area of the touch pad.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the touch pad comprises an outer part and an inner part forming a slope.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the touch pad comprises at least one of a ring shape, a circular shape, a square ring shape, a square shape, a C shape, and an L shape.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the touch pad senses a point touched by the user, and the controller deciphers a type of a user command based on the touched point sensed by the touch pad.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, comprising a touchable point displaying information as to a user command input through a touch of the touchable point.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, comprising a touchable point displaying information as to a user command input through a touch of the touchable point around the touchable point.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a main display positioned outside the touch pad and displaying information as to a user command input through a touch of a touchable point.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein a position of the information as to the user command on the main display visually corresponds to a position of a touchable point on the touch pad touched to input the user command.

12. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising an auxiliary display displaying information as to a user command.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the information as to the user command is displayed at a point on the auxiliary display adjacent to a point on a touch pad touched to input the user command.

14. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a manipulation button positioned inside the touch pad and sensing an input of a user,

wherein the controller deciphers the input of the user sensed by the manipulation button as a user command.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the manipulation button comprises at least one button sensing pressing performed by a user.

16. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising an auxiliary display positioned inside the touch pad, displaying information as to a user command that can be input, and inputting a user command displayed through a touch.

17. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a light emitter including at least one light emitting device provided in the touch pad.

18. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the controller controls the light emitting device to emit light corresponding to a 3-dimensional interface sensed by the touch pad.

19. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the touch pad senses interfaces in a first, a second, and a third direction input by a user, and the controller controls the light emitting device to emit light so that the light moves along the first, second, and third directions of the interfaces sensed by the touch pad.

20. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the touch pad senses interfaces on a first, a second, and a third axis input by a user, and the controller controls the light emitting device to vary a brightness of light in response to the interfaces on the first, second, and third axes sensed by the touch pad.

21. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the touch pad senses a point touched by a user, and the controller controls the light emitting device to emit light at a minimum of one of the touched point sensed by the touch pad and around the touched point.

22. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the controller controls the light emitting device to vary a quantity of light emission in correspondence to a force of a touch of the user.

23. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the controller controls the light emitting device to emit light corresponding to an operation state of the electronic device.

24. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the light emitting device displays information indicating areas in which a user is able to input interfaces on a first, a second, and a third axis, in each of the areas.

25. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a main display positioned outside the touch pad and displaying information as to a user command input through a touch of a touchable point,

wherein a color of the information as to the user command displayed on the main display is equal to a color of a touchable point displayed by the light emitting device.

26. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller controls a size of an image to be displayed to vary the size of the image in response to the 3-dimensional interface sensed by the touch pad.

27. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller controls a number of images to be displayed to vary the number of images in response to the 3-dimensional interface sensed by the touch pad.

28. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein if a plurality of windows performing different tasks are disposed in a multilayer structure, the controller controls a window to move to another layer so as to display the window on the another layer in response to the 3-dimensional interface sensed by the touch pad.

29. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller controls one of upper and lower menus of a menu item to display the one in response to the 3-dimensional interface sensed by the touch pad.

30. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller controls an execution picture of a menu item indicated by a pointer to display the execution picture inside the pointer in response to the 3-dimensional interface sensed by the touch pad.

31. A UI (user interface) method comprising:

sensing a 3-dimensional interface; and

controlling a GUI in response to the sensed 3-dimensional interface.

32. The UI method of claim 31, wherein interfaces on a first, a second, and a third axis input by a user are sensed, the interfaces on the first, second, and third axes are respectively deciphered as a first, a second, and a third user command, and the GUI is controlled based on the deciphered results.

33. The UI method of claim 32, wherein the first user command is a user command related to a fourth axis direction on a GUI picture, the second user command is a user command related to a fifth axis direction on the GUI picture, and the third user command is a user command related to a sixth axis direction on the GUI picture.

34. An electronic device comprising:

an input unit sensing at least one interface in a first, a second, and a third direction; and

a controller controlling a GUI in response to the interfaces sensed by the input unit.

35. A UI method comprising:

sensing at least one of an interface in a first, a second, and a third direction; and

controlling a GUI in response to the sensed interfaces.

36. An electronic device comprising:

an input unit sensing a 3-dimensional interface; and

a controller controlling contents displayed on a display in response to the 3-dimensional interface sensed by the input unit.

37. A UI method comprising:

sensing a 3-dimensional interface; and

controlling displayed contents in response to the sensed 3-dimensional interface.

38. An input unit comprising:

a touch pad sensing a 3-dimensional interface input by a user,

wherein the 3-dimensional interface sensed by the touch pad is transmitted to a device controlling an electronic device.

39. An electronic device comprising:

an input unit sensing interfaces in first and second directions; and

a controller controlling contents displayed on a display in response to the interfaces sensed by the input unit.

40. An electronic device comprising:

an input unit sensing an interface input by a user; and

a controller deciphering a type of a user command in response to the interface sensed by the input unit.

41. An electronic device comprising:

an input unit comprising at least two areas sensing an interface input by a user,

wherein a type of the interface sensed by the at least two areas of the input unit is determined depending on a direction along which an image is displayed on a display.