Operating method and apparatus for a portable electronic device

• US 20070247433A1
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Published: 10/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Inventec Appliances Corporation (Inventec Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Inventec Appliances Corporation (Inventec Corporation)
• Inventors: Li, Kai-Wu
• Application Number:
  US11/647,465
• Publication Number:
  US 20070247433A1
• 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 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• 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 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041

Abstract

An operating method and apparatus are applied to a portable electronic device for performing plural touch operating modes and a press operating mode. In this method, the portable electronic device is first to determine whether the touch keypad is touched or not. Then, it is determined whether the metal dome is pressed or not. If the resilient metal dome under the touch keypad is pressed, the press operating mode is entered. Otherwise, one of the plural touch operating modes is entered and a touch locus of user touching is detected.

Claims

1. An operating method of performing plural operating modes for a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device comprising a touch keypad and a resilient metal dome, the plural operating modes having plural first operating modes and a second operating mode, the method comprising the steps of:

determining whether the touch keypad is touched or not;

when the touch keypad is touched, determining whether the resilient metal dome is pressed or not;

when the metal dome is pressed, performing the second operating mode; and

when the metal dome is not pressed, performing one of the plural first operating modes and detecting a touch locus according to a user touching position.

2. The operating method of claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is a smart mobile phone.

3. The operating method of claim 1, wherein the second operating mode comprises a press operating mode, the press operating mode including pressing the keys of the touch keypad and performing a function corresponding to the pressed keys.

4. The operating method of claim 1, wherein the plural first operating modes comprise a slide navigation mode, a multimedia operating mode, a handwriting mode and a mouse operating mode, the slide navigation mode including sliding and searching a position information on the touch pad with one hand or one finger, the multimedia operating mode including sliding and browsing multimedia functions on the touch pad with one hand or one finger, and the sliding distance of the multimedia operating mode is longer than the sliding distance of the slide navigation mode.

5. An operating method of performing plural operating modes for a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device comprising a touch keypad and a resilient metal dome, the plural operating modes having plural first operating modes and a second operating mode, the operating method comprising the steps of:

entering a predetermined mode;

determining whether the predetermined mode is one of the plural first operating modes;

when the predetermined mode is one of the plural first operating modes,

detecting a first position where a touch operation is made by a user;

detecting a second position where the touch operation is finished by the user;

determining whether the first position is equal to the second position or not;

when the first position is equal to the second position, determining whether the first position is pressed to enter the press operating mode;

when the first position is not equal to the second position, figuring out a sliding direction from the first position to the second position;

displaying a pointer on a screen according to the sliding direction;

when the predetermined mode is the second operating mode,

detecting whether a press operation is executed or not;

when the press operation is executed, determining a press region corresponding to the press operation; and

performing a corresponding function according to the press region.

6. The operating method of claim 5, wherein the plural first operating modes comprises a multimedia operating mode, and the multimedia operating mode comprises:

determining whether the touch keypad is touched;

detecting a starting contact position and a terminal contact position of the touch operation respectively;

calculating a slide angle and a slide direction according to the starting contact position and the terminal contact position; and

displaying a browsing operation corresponding to the slide angle and the slide direction.

7. The operating method of claim 5, wherein the process of entering a predetermined mode is manually set by the user.

8. The operating method of claim 5, wherein the process of entering a predetermined mode is preset by the user.

9. The operating method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined mode is a mode that has the highest utility rate.

10. The operating method of claim 5, wherein the portable electronic device is a mobile phone.

11. The operating method of claim 6, wherein the plural first operating modes comprises a slide navigation mode, and the slide navigation mode comprises:

determining whether the touch keypad is touched;

detecting a first position which is a first contact point that the user contacts the touch keypad;

detecting a second position which is a last contact point that the user contacts the touch keypad;

determining whether the first position is equal to the second position;

When the first position is not equal to the second position, figuring out a sliding direction from the first position to the second position; and

displaying a pointer on a screen according to the sliding direction.

12. The operating method of claim 11, wherein the plural first operating modes comprises a slide navigation mode, a multimedia operating mode, a handwriting mode and a mouse operating mode.

13. An apparatus for performing plural operating modes on a portable electronic device, the plural operating modes having plural first operating modes and a second operating mode, the apparatus comprising:

a touch keypad electrically connected to the portable electronic device;

a press keypad having a resilient metal dome electrically connected to the portable electronic device, and the press keypad disposed under the touch keypad; and

a pointer displayed on a screen;

wherein when the touch keypad is touched, the plural first operating mode is performed, and when the press keypad is pressed, the second operating mode is performed.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein when the touch keypad is touched, a starting contact position and a terminal contact position of the touch operation are detected sequentially, a slide angle and a slide direction are calculated according to the starting contact position and the terminal contact position, and the pointer is moved on the screen corresponding to the slide angle and the slide direction.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein when the press keypad is pressed, a press region is determined, and a corresponding function is performed according to the press region.