MOBILE TERMINAL AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF

• US 20100079395A1
• Filed: 09/25/2009
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: KIM, Kyung Jin, PARK, Min Su, PARK, Yong Man, JO, Hang Ah, CHUN, Jee Young, PARK, Sae Kyu, HWANG, Jung Ah, KIM, Ji Hyun
• Granted Patent: US 8,780,054 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/011 Emotion or mood input determined on the basis of sensed human body parameters such as pulse, heart rate or beat, temperature of skin, facial expressions, iris, voice pitch, brain activity patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0414 using force sensing means to determine a position
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T

Abstract

A control method of a mobile terminal is disclosed. The control method of a mobile terminal includes: acquiring a pressure signal through a pressure sensing module for sensing a change in pressure applied to at least one part of the body in at least two degrees; and generating an event for changing a display state of a display unit through a control signal to be matched to the pressure signal. Emotional quality can be improved by changing a display state of a display unit in response to a change in pressure applied to the body.

Claims

1. A control method of a mobile terminal comprising:

acquiring a pressure signal through a pressure sensing module for sensing a change in pressure applied to at least one part of a body in at least two degrees; and

generating an event for changing a display state of a display unit through a control signal to be matched to the pressure signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the event is started from an area adjacent to a position where the pressure signal is generated.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the event includes an operation for changing the color displayed on some area of the display unit in response to the control signal.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the operation for changing the color comprises changing at least one of the type of the color and an increase and decrease of the some area.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the event includes an operation for changing the brightness of the display unit in response to the control signal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the event includes an operation for distorting the image displayed on the display unit in response to the control signal.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the degree of distortion of the image is in inverse proportion to the distance to the position where the pressure signal is generated.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the pressure signal contains change information of the position to which the pressure is applied, and the event includes an operation for scrolling through the image displayed on the display unit in response to the control signal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the change information contains information of at least one of the pressure movement speed and the pressure movement direction, and at least one of the scroll speed and the scroll direction is determined in response to the change information.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the scrolling operation enables the scroll speed to be increased in proportion to the distance between a reference position where the scrolling is not performed and the position where the pressure signal is generated.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the scrolling operation enables the scroll speed to be increased in proportion to the intensity of pressure.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the pressure sensing module comprises a plurality of pressure sensing elements provided consecutively along the lateral surface of the body.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising lighting the illuminators adjacent to the position where the pressure signal is generated.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the pressure sensing module is configured to sense the pressure by substantially linearly dividing the pressure.

15. A mobile terminal comprising:

a pressure sensing module configured to sense a change in pressure applied to at least one part of the body in at least two degrees to generate a pressure signal, wherein the pressure sensing module is provided at least one surface of the body;

a control unit configured to generate a control signal to be matched to each function of the mobile terminal in response to the pressure signal; and

a reaction module configured to be operated by the control signal.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the matched control signal is configured to be matched according to different pressure signal patterns for different individual pressures.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the pressure sensing module is configured to be provided on the lateral surface of the body.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the pressure sensing module comprises a plurality of pressure sensing elements provided consecutively along the lateral surface.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 18, wherein the pressure sensing elements are either hall sensors or touch sensors.

20. The mobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the reaction module is configured to be provided at least one of the edges constituting the front, lateral, and rear surfaces of the body and the edge constituting the front surface.

21. The mobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the reaction module comprises a light emitting module including at least one illuminator that flickers in response to the control signal.

22. The mobile terminal of claim 21, wherein the control signal is configured to enable the illuminator positioned adjacent to the pressure sensing module where the pressure signal is generated to be lighted.

23. The mobile terminal of claim 21, wherein at least one of the illuminators are configured to be lighted to indicate a part to which pressure has to be applied.

24. The mobile terminal of claim 15, further comprising a protection cover enclosing the pressure sensing module, and formed of a material that is deformable within a given range so as to transmit the pressure to the pressure sensing module.

25. The mobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the pressure sensing module is configured to sense the pressure by substantially linearly dividing the pressure.