MOBILE TERMINAL HAVING SPEAKER CONTROL AND METHOD OF USE

• US 20070291961A1
• Filed: 06/11/2007
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Shin, Min-Chul
• Granted Patent: US 8,060,160 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/111
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0233 Including a rotatable display body part
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/03 Constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. telephone hand-sets
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/035 Improving the acoustic characteristics by means of constructional features of the housing, e.g. ribs, walls, resonating chambers or cavities
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/345 for loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/15 Transducers incorporated in visual displaying devices, e.g. televisions, computer displays, laptops

Abstract

An apparatus and method for speaker control in a mobile terminal is provided. The mobile terminal includes a first body having first and second key input units, and a second body having a display unit and swingably connected in at least one of a clockwise and counterclockwise rotation, such that the display can be positioned in a vertical direction in a closed state and in a horizontal direction in an open state, and at least two sound emission holes are formed on an upper surface of the second body for outputting sounds from at least two speakers, based on the open and closed state.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal having speaker control, comprising:

a first body comprising a first key input unit and a second key input unit;

a second body swingably connected to the first body and comprising a display unit positioned in one of a vertical direction in a closed state and a horizontal direction in an open state,

wherein at least two sound emission holes are formed on the second body.

2. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the second body further comprises at least two speakers for outputting sound emitted through the at least two sound emission holes.

3. The terminal of claim 2, further comprising a first speaker positioned at an upper end of the display unit that is operated when the display is in the closed state, and a second speaker positioned at one side of the display unit that is operated when the display is in the open state.

4. The terminal of claim 3, wherein the first speaker is mounted at a rear side of a first sound emission hole formed at the upper end of the display unit and the second speaker is mounted at a corner portion of the display unit.

5. The terminal of claim 4, wherein the second body further comprises a sound guiding part guiding sound generated from the second speaker to a second sound emission hole.

6. The terminal of claim 5, wherein the sound guiding part comprises:

a sound path formed at an inner surface of the second body; and

a sealing member hermetically sealing the sound path to prevent leakage of sound passing through the sound path.

7. The terminal of claim 6, wherein the sound path is formed at an edge of the inner surface of an upper case of the second body.

8. The terminal of claim 7, wherein the sound path comprises a display support rib for supporting the display unit, and a space formed between the support rib and a separation wall extending from the edge of the upper case of the second body.

9. The terminal of claim 4, wherein the second body further comprises a mounting part allowing the second speaker to be mounted on the corner portion.

10. The terminal of claim 5, wherein the sound guiding part is formed as a combination of a first rib protruding from an inner surface of the upper case of the second body and a second rib protruding from an inner surface of a lower case of the second body.

11. The terminal of claim 1, wherein when in the closed state, an entire bottom surface of the second body is in parallel contact with an upper surface of the first body, and when in the open state, a portion of the bottom surface of the second body is in perpendicular contact with the upper surface of the first body.

12. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the second body further comprises:

a single speaker; and

a sound guiding part guiding sound generated from the single speaker to the at least two sound emission holes.

13. A mobile terminal having speaker control, comprising:

a display unit displaying an image in one of a vertical and horizontal orientation;

a first speaker unit mounted on an upper end portion of the display unit;

a second speaker unit mounted on at least one side of the display unit; and

a controller outputting sounds through the first speaker unit when the image is displayed in the vertical orientation, and outputting sounds through the second speaker unit when the image is displayed in the horizontal orientation.

14. The terminal of claim 13, wherein the second speaker unit comprises at least two speakers mounted at opposing side portions of the display unit.

15. The terminal of claim 14, wherein when the image is displayed in the horizontal orientation on the display unit, the controller outputs surround sound via the at least two speakers.

16. The terminal of claim 13, wherein when reproducing multimedia data is requested, the controller outputs surround sound via the first speaker unit and second speaker unit.

17. The terminal of claim 13, wherein when the image is displayed in the horizontal orientation on the display unit, the controller outputs a main sound via the first speaker unit and a base sound via the second speaker unit.

18. A speaker control method in a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

detecting whether an image is displayed in one of a horizontal and vertical orientation on a display unit;

outputting sound via a first speaker when a call connection is attempted upon detecting that an image is displayed in the vertical orientation on the display unit; and

outputting the sound via a second speaker if a call connection is attempted upon detecting that an image is displayed in the horizontal orientation on the display unit.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising outputting sound via the first speaker and the second speaker when reproducing of multimedia data is requested, wherein the multimedia data is displayed in one of the vertical and horizontal orientation on the display unit.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising outputting a main sound via the first speaker and a base sound via the second speaker when the image is displayed in the horizontal orientation and reproducing of multimedia data is requested.