MOBILE TERMINAL AND KEYPAD DISPLAYING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20100004029A1
• Filed: 04/30/2009
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: KIM, Han-Su
• Granted Patent: US 8,170,620 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1624 with sliding enclosures, e.g. sliding keyboard or display
• 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 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

A mobile terminal including a display configured to display a first keypad in a first display portion and to display information input using the first keypad in a second display portion, a sensing unit configured to detect a touch and drag action on the first keypad displayed in the first display portion, and a controller configured to change the first keypad displayed in the first display portion to a second keypad that is different from the first keypad when the detected touch and drag action is determined to be more than a predetermined distance.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

a display configured to display a first keypad in a first display portion and to display information input using the first keypad in a second display portion;

a sensing unit configured to detect a touch and drag action on the first keypad displayed in the first display portion; and

a controller configured to change the first keypad displayed in the first display portion to a second keypad that is different from the first keypad when the detected touch and drag action is determined to be more than a predetermined distance.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the touch and drag action includes at least one of a) a contact or tactile touch input on the first keypad and b) a proximity touch input on the first keypad.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display to display keypad indicators indicating a type of the second keypad.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the first keypad includes language characters in a first language and the second keypad includes at least one of language characters in a second language different than the first language, numbers and symbols.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to enter an input mode allowing the first keypad to be changed into the second keypad only when the detected touch and drag action includes a touching action on the first keypad that is longer than a predetermined amount of time.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the sensing unit is further configured to detect a touch action on the information displayed in the second display portion, and the controller is further configured to change the first keypad into the second keypad based on a type of the information included in the detected touch action.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 7, wherein when the type of information includes character information, the second keypad includes a character keypad, and when the type of information includes number information, the second keypad includes a number keypad, and when the type of information includes symbol information, the second keypad includes a symbol keypad.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display to display a multi-key that can be selected to display a plurality of second keypads that can be displayed in the second display portion.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein the controller is further configured to change the first keypad into the second keypad to correspond with a selected one of the plurality of second keypads.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 4, wherein the controller is further configured to determine a corresponding displayed keypad indicator is being selected when a direction of the detected touch and drag action is towards the corresponding displayed keypad indicator, and to change the first keypad into the second keypad corresponding to the displayed keypad indicator when the corresponding displayed keypad indicator is determined to be selected.

11. A method of controlling a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

displaying a first keypad in a first display portion of a display and displaying information input using the first keypad in a second display portion of the display;

detecting a touch and drag action on the first keypad displayed in the first display portion; and

changing, via controller, the first keypad displayed in the first display portion to a second keypad that is different from the first keypad when the detected touch and drag action is determined to be more than a predetermined distance.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the touch and drag action includes at least one of a) a contact or tactile touch input on the first keypad and b) a proximity touch input on the first keypad.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

displaying keypad indicators indicating a type of the second keypad.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the first keypad includes language characters in a first language and the second keypad includes at least one of language characters in a second language different than the first language, numbers and symbols.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

entering an input mode allowing the first keypad to be changed into the second keypad only when the detected touch and drag action includes a touching action on the first keypad that is longer than a predetermined amount of time.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising;

detecting a touch action on the information displayed in the second display portion, and

changing the first keypad into the second keypad based on a type of the information included in the detected touch action.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein when the type of information includes character information, the second keypad includes a character keypad, and when the type of information includes number information, the second keypad includes a number keypad, and when the type of information includes symbol information, the second keypad includes a symbol keypad.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

displaying a multi-key that can be selected to display a plurality of second keypads that can be displayed in the second display portion.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

changing the first keypad into the second keypad to correspond with a selected one of the plurality of second keypads.

14. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining a corresponding displayed keypad indicator is being selected when a direction of the detected touch and drag action is towards the corresponding displayed keypad indicator; and

changing the first keypad into the second keypad corresponding to the displayed keypad indicator when the corresponding displayed keypad indicator is determined to be selected.