MOBILE TERMINAL AND CONTROLLING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20100251152A1
• Filed: 03/31/2010
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Hoi Chul, Youn, Je Kwang, Yoon, Young Jung, Kim, Young Wun, Cho, Seong Yoon
• Granted Patent: US 9,395,763 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/765
• 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 1/165 the additional display being small, e.g. for presenting status information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop

Abstract

A mobile terminal and as associated method are provided. The method may include displaying one or more menu items on a first touch unit including a touchscreen and recognizing a rotary touch & drag input at a second touch unit as a particular command based on whether one of the one or more menu items has been touched. Accordingly, even if a minimum number of menu icons for executing diverse functions are displayed on a touchscreen, a prescribed one of the diverse functions may be easily selected and executed.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a first touch device including a touchscreen configured to display one or more menu items;

a second touch device operably coupled to the first touch device and configured to receive a rotary touch &

drag input; and

a controller operably coupled to the first and second touch devices, wherein the controller is configured to recognize the rotary touch &

drag received at the second touch device, and to determine a corresponding command based on whether one of the one or more menu items displayed on the touchscreen is touched.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller scrolls a screen of the touchscreen if the rotary touch &

drag is input while none of the one or more menu items is touched.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the one of the one or more menu items touched on the touchscreen includes submenu items, and when the one of the one or more menu items is touched, the controller displays the submenu items.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein the controller sequentially highlights the submenu items when the rotary touch &

drag is input while the one of the one or more menu items is touched.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 4, wherein the controller selects a highlighted submenu item if at least one of a touch to the first touch device or a touch to the second touch device is released.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller executes an operation related to the one of the one or more menu items when the rotary touch &

drag is input while the one of the more menu items is touched if the one of the one or more menu items does not include any submenu items.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein the operation related to the one of the one or more menu items includes a zoom operation of a screen of the touchscreen.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the second touch device includes a sub-display, wherein the sub-display is configured to display the one of the one or more menu items when the one menu item is touched.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the second touch device comprises a circular touch wheel and the sub-display is positioned within the touch wheel.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 1, the second touch device comprising:

a first transparent body;

a second transparent body; and

a transparent sensor grid positioned between the first and second transparent bodies,

wherein at least one of a character or a numeral is printed on at least one of the first transparent body or the second transparent body.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 10, wherein a plurality of characters and numerals are printed on the at least one of the first transparent body or the second transparent body so as to define key buttons of a touchpad that activate the sensor grid in response to corresponding single point touches, wherein the sensor grid is also configured to receive a rotary touch and drag input.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further comprising:

a first body; and

a second body slidably coupled to the first body by a sliding mechanism, wherein the first and second bodies are configured to be opened/closed relative to each other by the sliding mechanism,

wherein the first touch unit is provided in the first body and the second touch unit is provided in the second body, and wherein the second body is transparent.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 12, further comprising an illumination device provided at an edge of the second body such that when the first and second bodies are in an open position relative to each other, the controller controls the illumination device to emit light.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to execute a prescribed operation in response to a touch gesture of a prescribed type performed on the second touch device.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the second touch device is configured to receive both a simple touch input corresponding to a prescribed character or numeral and a touch gesture corresponding to a prescribed operation.

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

displaying one or more menus on a first touch device;

receiving a touch and drag input at a second touch device; and

executing a command corresponding to the received touch and drag input.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the received touch and drag input is a rotary touch and drag, and wherein executing a command corresponding to the received touch and drag input comprises:

determining whether one of the one or more menu items displayed on the first touch device is touched;

determining a first command corresponding to the received rotary touch and drag input if one of the one or more menu items is touched, and executing the first command; and

determining a second command corresponding to the received rotary touch and drag input if one of the one or more menu items is not touched, and executing the second command.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein executing the first command comprises:

determining that there are no submenu items associated with the one of the one or more menu items; and

executing the one of the one or more menu items.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein executing the first command comprises:

displaying a plurality of submenu items associated with the one of the one or more menu items; and

executing a selected submenu item.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

sequentially highlighting the displayed plurality of submenu items as the rotary touch and drag is input while the one of the one or more menu items is touched; and

selecting a highlighted submenu item for execution when at least one of a touch on the first touch device or a touch on the second touch device is released.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein executing the second command comprises scrolling through the one or more menu items displayed on the first touch device.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the touch and drag input comprises one of a plurality of prescribed gestures corresponding to a plurality of prescribed operations, and wherein executing a command corresponding to the received touch and drag input comprises:

determining a command corresponding to the a gesture input at the second touch device; and

executing the determined command on the first touch device.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein executing the determined command comprises at least one of:

enlarging or reducing a size of an image displayed on the first touch device;

moving the image displayed on the first touch device from one location on the first touch device to another location on the first touch device;

deleting images from or adding images to the image displayed on the first touch device;

replacing the image displayed on the first touch device with a new image;

or

scrolling through the image displayed on the first touch device.

24. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a display configured to display images based on a first coordinate system;

a touch input device configured to receive an input signal based on a second coordinate system; and

a controller configured to map the input signal, received at the touch input device based on the second coordinate system, to the first coordinate system so as to display an image corresponding to the input signal on the display.

25. The mobile terminal of claim 24, wherein the input signal corresponds to an image input as a moving touch and drag on the touch input device based on the second coordinate system, and wherein the controller is configured to magnify, reduce or shift the image input on the touch input device so as to map the image to the first coordinate system and display the image on the display in a magnified, reduced or shifted state, respectively.

26. The mobile terminal of claim 24, wherein the input signal corresponds to an image input as a moving touch and drag on the touch input device based on the second coordinate system, and wherein the controller is configured to change a moving distance or a moving velocity of an image displayed on the display based on the moving touch and drag.

27. The mobile terminal of claim 24, further comprising:

a first body; and

a second body slidably coupled to the first body by a sliding mechanism such that the first and second bodies are opened and closed relative to each other by the sliding mechanism, wherein the display is provided with the first body and the touch input device is provided with the second body, and wherein the touch input device comprises a touchpad formed of a transparent material and the second body is transparent.

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

displaying images based on a first coordinate system;

receiving an input signal based on a second coordinate system; and

mapping the input signal based on the second coordinate system to the first coordinate system so as to alter an image displayed based on the first coordinate system.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the input signal corresponds to an image input as a moving touch and drag based on the second coordinate system, and wherein mapping the input signal based on the second coordinate system to the first coordinate system so as to alter an image displayed based on the first coordinate system comprises magnifying, reducing or shifting an image input as the moving touch and drag so as to map the image to the first coordinate system and display the image in a magnified, reduced or shifted state, respectively.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the input signal corresponds to an image input as a moving touch and drag based on the second coordinate system, and wherein mapping the input signal based on the second coordinate system to the first coordinate system so as to alter an image displayed based on the first coordinate system comprises changing a moving distance or a moving velocity of a displayed image based on the moving touch and drag.