MOBILE TERMINAL AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING OPERATION OF THE MOBILE TERMINAL

• US 20110252362A1
• Filed: 04/12/2011
• Published: 10/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: LEE, Jinhyung, CHO, Seonhwi, KANG, Yeonjoo
• Granted Patent: US 9,081,496 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/784
• 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 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A mobile terminal and a method of controlling the operation of the mobile terminal are provided. The method of one embodiment includes displaying an electronic document on a display module; responsive to detecting a scroll command, scrolling the electronic document in a particular direction at a particular speed; and changing a speed of scrolling the electronic document upon encountering a scroll limit during the scrolling of the electronic document. Therefore, it is possible to set a scroll limit in an electronic document and thus to automatically slow down or stop the scrolling of the electronic document upon encountering the scroll limit.

Claims

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

displaying an electronic document on a display module of the mobile terminal;

responsive to detecting a scroll command, scrolling the electronic document on the display module in a particular direction at a particular speed corresponding to the scroll command; and

changing a scrolling speed of the electronic document upon encountering a scroll limit while scrolling the electronic document.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a beginning portion of the electronic document next to an end portion of the electronic document when the scrolling of the electronic document reaches the end portion of the electronic document.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting the scroll limit as one of

a scroll limit between pages of the electronic document,

a scroll limit at a position in the electronic document selected in accordance with a user command,

a scroll limit between entries of the electronic document starting with different letters, and

a scroll limit at an end of the electronic document.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of changing the scrolling speed of the electronic document comprises:

decreasing the scrolling speed of the electronic document upon encountering the scroll limit, and

if the scrolling speed of the electronic document is lowered below a reference speed, stopping the scrolling of the electronic document.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a screen effect or a haptic effect when scrolling past the scroll limit.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying, on the display module, an indicator corresponding to a location of a currently displayed portion of the electronic document or an indicator of a predefined item in the currently displayed portion of the electronic document.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the scroll command is at least one of a touch-and-flick, a touch-and-drag, and a proximity touch on the display module.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

realigning the electronic document around the scroll limit upon encountering the scroll limit.

9. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a display module; and

a controller operatively connected to the display module and configured to

display an electronic document on the display module,

detect a scroll command,

scroll the electronic document on the display module in a particular direction at a particular speed corresponding to the scroll command, and

change a scrolling speed of the electronic document upon encountering a scroll limit while scrolling the electronic document.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to set the scroll limit as one of

a scroll limit between pages of the electronic document,

a scroll limit at a position in the electronic document selected in accordance with a user command,

a scroll limit between entries of the electronic document starting with different letters, and

a scroll limit at an end of the electronic document.

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

displaying an electronic document on a display module of the mobile terminal;

responsive to detecting a scroll command, scrolling the electronic document on the display module in a first direction;

displaying a beginning portion of the electronic document next to an end portion of the electronic document upon encountering an end of the electronic document during the scrolling of the electronic document in the first direction; and

if the scroll command is no longer detected, scrolling the electronic document in a second direction different from the first direction so that the beginning portion of the electronic document is no longer displayed on the display module.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the scroll command is at least one of a touch-and-flick, a touch-and-drag, and a proximity touch on the display module.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein a speed of scrolling the electronic document in the second direction is proportional to a distance by which the electronic document has been dragged in connection with the scroll command.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

if the electronic document has been dragged, in connection with the scroll command, in the first direction by more than a predefined distance, continuing to scroll the electronic document in the first direction.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

upon encountering the beginning portion of the electronic document during the scrolling of the electronic document in the second direction, displaying the end portion of the electronic document next to the beginning portion of the electronic document; and

if the scroll command is no longer detected, scrolling the electronic document back in the first direction so that the end portion of the electronic document is no longer displayed on the display module.

16. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a display module; and

a controller operatively connected to the display module and configured to

display an electronic document on the display module,

detect a scroll command,

if the scroll command is detected, scroll the electronic document in a first direction in response to the scroll command,

display a beginning portion of the electronic document next to an end portion of the electronic document upon encountering an end of the electronic document during the scrolling of the electronic document in the first direction, and

if the scroll command is no longer detected, scroll the electronic document in a second direction different from the first direction so that the beginning portion of the electronic document is removed from the display module.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 16, wherein the scroll command is at least one of a touch-and-flick, a touch-and-drag, and a proximity touch on the display module.

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

displaying an electronic document on a display module of the mobile terminal;

responsive to detecting a scroll command, scrolling the electronic document in a first direction; and

upon encountering a predefined item during the scrolling of the electronic document, realigning the electronic document around the predefined item by scrolling the electronic document in a second direction different from the first direction.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

if a touch on the predefined item is detected, displaying an information window relevant to the predefined item over the electronic document.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

if a touch-and-drag on a boundary of the information window is detected, changing a size of the information window.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

if a touch on a hyperlink object in the information window is detected, displaying information relevant to the hyperlink object in the information window.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

if a touch outside of the information window is detected, removing the information window from the display module.

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

if a touch is detected on a part of the electronic document other than the predefined item, scrolling the electronic document back in the first direction.

24. A mobile terminal. comprising:

a display module; and

a controller operatively connected to the display module and configured to

display an electronic document,

detect a scroll command,

if the scroll command is detected, scroll the electronic document in a first direction in response to the scroll command, and

upon encountering a predefined item during the scrolling of the electronic document, realign the electronic document around the predefined item by scrolling the electronic document in a second direction different from the first direction.

25. The mobile terminal of claim 24, wherein the controller is configured to

detect a touch on the predefined item, and

in response to the detected touch on the predefined item, display an information window relevant to the predefined item over the electronic document.