HAND-HELD ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20100164882A1
• Filed: 06/05/2009
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: E-TEN Information Systems Company Limited (Acer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: E-TEN Information Systems Company Limited (Acer, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fu, Wen-Chih
• Application Number:
  US12/479,191
• Publication Number:
  US 20100164882A1
• 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

The invention discloses a hand-held electronic device and an operating method thereof. The hand-held electronic device includes a casing, a display module, a virtual keypad module, a sensing module, and a control module. The display module is disposed in the casing. The virtual keypad module is used for generating a virtual keypad capable of being displayed by the display module, wherein the whole area of the virtual keypad is larger than the area of the display module for displaying the virtual keypad. The sensing module is used for sensing an operation performed by a user on the casing or the display module to generate a sensing result. The control module is used for receiving the sensing result from the sensing module and controlling the display module to display a part of the virtual keypad according to the sensing result.

Claims

1. A hand-held electronic device, comprising:

a casing;

a display module, disposed in the casing;

a virtual keypad module, for generating a virtual keypad capable of being displayed by the display module, a whole area of the virtual keypad module being larger than a area of the display module for displaying the virtual keypad;

a sensing module, for sensing an operation performed by a user on the casing or the display module to generate a sensing result; and

a control module, for receiving the sensing result from the sensing module and controlling the display module to display a corresponding part of the virtual keypad according to the sensing result.

2. The hand-held electronic device of claim 1, wherein the sensing result generated by the sensing module represents a motion which is produced by the casing due to an action performed by the user on the casing.

3. The hand-held electronic device of claim 2, wherein the sensing result represents a movement direction of the casing.

4. The hand-held electronic device of claim 3, wherein the movement direction represents at least one of a moving direction and a rotating direction.

5. The hand-held electronic device of claim 1, wherein the sensing result represents a movement range of the casing.

6. The hand-held electronic device of claim 5, wherein the movement range represents at least one of a moving distance and a rotating angle.

7. The hand-held electronic device of claim 1, wherein the sensing module is a touch sensor disposed on the display module, and the operation is a drag on the touch sensor.

8. An operating method of a hand-held electronic device, the hand-held electronic device comprising a casing and a display module disposed in the casing, the operating method comprising steps of:

displaying a virtual keypad through the display module, a whole area of the virtual keypad module being larger than an area of the display module for displaying the virtual keypad;

sensing an operation performed by a user on the casing or the display module to generate a sensing result; and

controlling the display module to display a corresponding part of the virtual keypad according to the sensing result.

9. The operating method of claim 8, wherein the sensing result represents a motion which is produced by the casing due to an action performed by the user on the casing.

10. The operating method of claim 9, wherein the sensing result represents a movement direction of the casing.

11. The operating method of claim 10, wherein the movement direction represents at least one of a moving direction and a rotating direction.

12. The operating method of claim 8, wherein the sensing result represents a movement range of the casing.

13. The operating method of claim 12, wherein the movement range represents at least one of a moving distance and a rotating angle.

14. The operating method of claim 8, wherein the operation is a drag on the display module.

15. A method of displaying a virtual input interface on a display module disposed in a casing, comprising steps of:

generating the virtual input interface, a whole area of the virtual input interface being larger than an area of the display module for displaying the virtual input interface; and

according to an operation performed by a user, displaying a part of the virtual input interface selectively for the user to input.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the operation is a movement of the casing or a finger drag on the display module.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the virtual input interface is a virtual keypad.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of displaying the part of the virtual input interface is performed by:

sensing the operation performed by the user to generate a sensing result; and

displaying the part of the virtual input interface according to the sensing result.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the sensing result represents a movement direction of the casing.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the sensing result represents a movement range of the casing.