MOBILE DEVICE HAVING TOUCH SCREEN AND METHOD FOR SETTING VIRTUAL KEYPAD THEREOF

• US 20100020031A1
• Filed: 06/24/2009
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Yun, Sung Hm, Hwang, Yong Duk
• Application Number:
  US12/491,154
• Publication Number:
  US 20100020031A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 device and a method for setting a virtual keypad on a touch screen of the mobile device are provided. The mobile device includes a memory for storing virtual keypads with different sizes, a touch screen for detecting a touch thereon and displaying a least one of the virtual keypads, and a control unit for determining a size of a touch detected region, for selecting the virtual keypad composed of keys including sizes corresponding to the determined size of the touch detected region, for controlling the touch screen to display the selected virtual keypad and for storing the displayed virtual keypad in the memory unit.

Claims

1. A method for setting a virtual keypad on a touch screen of a mobile device, the method comprising:

in a keypad setting mode, determining whether a touch is detected on the touch screen;

if the touch is detected, determining a size of a touch detected region;

displaying a virtual keypad composed of keys including sizes corresponding to the determined size of the touch detected region; and

storing the displayed virtual keypad.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of whether the touch is detected comprises:

displaying at least one size scan window on the touch screen; and

determining whether the touch is detected from the size scan window.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

acquiring coordinates on boundaries of the touch detected region; and

determining the size of the touch detected region based on the acquired coordinates.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

comparing the acquired coordinates with coordinates of the size scan window; and

determining the size of the touch detected region.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the displaying of the size scan window includes displaying a plurality of size scan windows comprising the same central points.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining of the size of the touch detected region is based on the size scan window.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving the central point of the touch detected region; and

redisplaying the size scan window based on the central point.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of whether the touch is detected comprises:

displaying at least two candidate keys comprising different sizes on the touch screen; and

determining at least one selected candidate key.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining of the size of the touch detected region comprises determining the size of the selected candidate key.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual keypad comprises virtual keys used for entry of letters and numbers, or graphical objects arranged for selecting menu items.

11. A mobile device comprising:

a memory unit for storing virtual keypads with different sizes;

a touch screen for detecting a touch thereon and displaying at least one of the virtual keypads; and

a control unit for determining a size of a touch detected region in a keypad setting mode, for selecting the virtual keypad composed of keys including sizes corresponding to the determined size of the touch detected region, for controlling the touch screen to display the selected virtual keypad, and for storing the displayed virtual keypad.

12. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the control unit controls the touch screen to display at least one size scan window and determines whether the touch is detected from the size scan window.

13. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the control unit acquires coordinates on boundaries of the touch detected region and determines the size of the touch detected region based on the acquired coordinates.

14. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the control unit compares the acquired coordinates with coordinates of the size scan window and determines the size of the touch detected region.

15. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the control unit controls the touch screen to display a plurality of size scan windows comprising the same central points.

16. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the control unit determines the size of the touch detected region based on the size scan window.

17. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the control unit receives the central point of the touch detected region, and redisplays the size scan window based on the central point.

18. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the control unit controls the touch screen to display at least two candidate keys comprising different sizes, determines at least one selected candidate key, and determines the size of the selected candidate key.

19. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the virtual keypad comprises virtual keys used for entry of letters and numbers, or graphical objects arranged for selecting menu items.