Mobile terminal having rotating input device

• US 8,005,506 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2008
• Issued: 08/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Ju-Hyun, Choi, Kyoo-Sung
• Primary Examiner(s): WASHINGTON, ERIKA ALISE
• Application Number:
  US12/014,585
• Publication Number:
  US 20080171572A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,316 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/556.1
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 11/043 Protective lens closures or lens caps built into cameras
• 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 1/169 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 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/233 including a pointing device, e.g. roller key, track ball, rocker switch or joystick constructional details of pointing devices per se G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons

Abstract

A mobile terminal includes a display located on a front side of the terminal and an input device located on a rear side of the terminal and having a rotatable wheel.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a body comprising a front side and an opposing rear side;

a display located on the front side; and

an input device located on the rear side and comprising a rotatable wheel,

wherein the input device is configured to receive user input responsive to rotation of the wheel, and wherein a plane of the rotation is parallel to a surface of the rear side.

2. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the body is a unitary structure.

3. The terminal of claim 1, further comprising:

an aperture formed within the rotatable wheel and sized to cooperate with a lens and an associated camera.

4. The terminal of claim 3, wherein the aperture is positioned at a center of the rotatable wheel.

5. The terminal of claim 3, further comprising:

a lens opening and closing unit to open and close the lens of the camera.

6. The terminal of claim 5, wherein the lens opening and closing unit comprises:

a fixed plate having a through hole to expose the lens;

a rotatable rotary plate positioned at a lower side of the fixed plate and having a through hole to expose the lens; and

a lens cover positioned at an upper side of the fixed plate and connected to the rotary plate to open and close the through hole formed at the fixed plate in response to rotation of the rotary plate.

7. The terminal of claim 6, wherein the lens cover comprises:

a first portion rotating around a first shaft at a first point of the fixed plate; and

a second portion rotating around a second shaft at a second point of the fixed plate,

wherein the first portion and the second portion rotate and contact each other to close the through hole and rotate and separate from each other to open the through hole.

8. The terminal of claim 6, further comprising:

a first elastic member that provides elastic force to return the rotating wheel to its initial set position when the rotating wheel is rotated; and

a sensor that recognizes a rotational direction of the rotating wheel.

9. The terminal of claim 8, further comprising:

a second elastic member provided between the fixed plate and the rotary plate, and providing elastic force to make the rotary plate return to its initial set position when the rotary plate is rotated.

10. The terminal of claim 9, wherein the second elastic member is a coil spring one end portion of which is connected to the fixed plate and the other end portion of which is connected to the rotary plate.

11. The terminal of claim 8, wherein the sensor is a Hall sensor that senses a change in a magnetic field of a magnet provided at the rotating wheel according to rotation of the rotating wheel.

12. The terminal of claim 8, further comprising:

a frame provided within the terminal and on which the wheel is mounted.

13. The terminal of claim 12, further comprising:

at least one signal terminal provided at a lower side of the frame that selects a particular mode of the terminal; and

a pressing protrusion provided at an upper side of the signal terminal that moves down when the wheel is pressed in order to operate the signal terminal.

14. The terminal of claim 13, wherein the pressing protrusion is protrusively formed on a rear surface of the support plate and further comprising:

a support plate provided at the lower side of the frame that supports the frame.

15. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the wheel is rotatable in a rotational range which is less than 180 degrees.

16. The terminal of claim 1, further comprising:

a switch positioned below the wheel, wherein pressing down the switch causes an input.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein a plurality of icons is displayed on the display and one of the plurality of icons is selected in response to the user input.

18. The terminal of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one protrusion configured to selectively contact the wheel to restrict the rotation of the wheel within predetermined angles.

19. The terminal of claim 1, further comprising:

a controller configured to repeatedly perform a specific function when the rotation of the wheel is maintained.

20. The terminal of claim 19, wherein the controller repeatedly performs the specific function when the rotation is maintained for a threshold time period.

21. The terminal of claim 20, wherein the specific function is one of a zooming function, a scrolling function, or an audio volume controlling function.

22. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a body comprising a front side and an opposing rear side;

a display unit located on the front side of the body;

an input unit comprising a rotatable wheel located at the rear side; and

a camera unit comprising an aperture,

wherein the input unit and the camera unit are located such that the aperture is positioned at a center of the rotatable wheel.

23. The mobile terminal of claim 22, further comprising:

a lens opening and closing unit positioned at the center of the wheel to open and close a lens of the camera.