MOBILE TERMINAL EQUIPPED WITH FLEXIBLE DISPLAY AND CONTROLLING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20100056223A1
• Filed: 07/28/2009
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Jung, Sang Won, Seo, Kyung Jin, Bong, Byung Ean, CHOI, Kil Soo, Lee, Kyung Ju, Kim, Yeong Seok, Baek, Dae Hyun, Jung, Kwang Suh
• Granted Patent: US 8,543,166 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1601 Constructional details related to the housing of computer displays, e.g. of CRT monitors, of flat displays constructional details related to flat displays integrated in a portable computer, e.g. laptop, handheld computer G06F1/1637; constructional details related to television receivers H04N5/64
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1615 with several enclosures having relative motions, each enclosure supporting at least one I/O or computing function constructional details of portable telephones comprising a plurality of mechanically joined movable body parts H04M1/0206
• 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 1/1652 the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0407 Resolution change, inclusive of the use of different resolutions for different screen areas
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0464 Positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/02 Flexible displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0268 including a flexible display panel
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2747 Scrolling on a display
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 for playing music files
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion

Abstract

The present invention relates to a mobile terminal equipped with flexible display. The controller changes a screen displayed on the flexible display or controls the operation according to a bent part of the flexible display.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a mobile terminal equipped with a flexible display, the method comprising:

detecting that a part of display region of the flexible display is bent; and

changing a screen displayed on the display region according to a detected bend characteristic.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of changing comprises:

changing at least one of a moving direction of content on the screen, a scrolling direction of content on the screen, a type of content on the screen and a playing direction of content on the screen according to the detected bend characteristic.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of changing comprises:

increasing or decreasing at least one of an audio volume, an audio or video play speed, a text scrolling speed, and an image shifting speed of the screen according to the detected bent characteristic.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of changing comprises:

deleting content displayed on the bent part of the display region when the bend is detected.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

copying the deleted content when the bend is detected.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting that the bent part of display region is unbent; and

expanding content from a non-bent part of the display region to cover at least a part of the bent part of the display region.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of changing comprises:

adjusting at least one of a volume, a size, a brightness, and a contrast of the screen according to the bend characteristic.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of changing comprises:

adjusting at least one of moving speed and scrolling speed of the screen according to the bend characteristic.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the screen displayed on the display region when the bend is detected.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of changing comprises:

changing at least one of a theme, a color or a form of text, and a type of language on the screen according to the detected bent characteristic.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting sound corresponding to the screen when the bend is detected.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting a haptic effect corresponding to the screen when the bend is detected.

13. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a flexible display configured to display a screen;

a sensing unit configured to determine that a part of display region of the flexible display is bent;

a controller configured to change the screen displayed on the display region according to a detected bend characteristic.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the bend characteristic is at least one of a detected bent area, bend direction, bend area, bending speed, bend angle and bend duration.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to change at least one of a moving direction of content on the screen, a scrolling direction of content on the screen, a type of content on the screen and a playing direction of content on the screen according to the detected bend characteristic.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to increase or decrease at least one of an audio volume, an audio or video play speed, a text scrolling speed, and an image shifting speed of the screen according to the detected bent characteristic

17. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to delete, copy or store content displayed on the flexible display according to the bend characteristic.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to change at least one of a theme, a color or a form of text, and a type of language on the screen according to the bend characteristic.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 13, further comprising,

a sound output module configured to output a sound according to the bend characteristic;

and

a haptic module configured to output haptic effect according to the bend characteristic.