Mobile terminal and method for moving a cursor and executing a menu function using a navigation key

• US 8,106,883 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2006
• Issued: 01/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Ahn, Hyun Ju
• Primary Examiner(s): Lao, Lun-Yi
• Assistant Examiner(s): MERKOULOVA, OLGA VLADIMIROVNA
• Application Number:
  US11/548,258
• Publication Number:
  US 20080084388A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,939 Days
• Field of Search: 345/157, 345/158, 345/156, 345/167, 345/160, 345/168, 345/163, 345/166, 345/418, 455/575.1, 455/566, 455/151.2, 455/456.6, 455/550.1, 455/152.1, 712/321, 372/39
• US Class Current: 345/158
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/042 by opto-electronic means
• 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 and method for moving a cursor and executing a menu function in respons to operations of a navigation key by the user are disclosed. The mobile terminal includes an optical sensor navigation key installed in the mobile terminal, wherein the navigation key senses a direction of movement and speed of movement of an object that contacts the navigation key and outputs signals based on the sensed speed and direction, and a controller configured to control an operation of the mobile terminal in response to the signals from the optical sensor navigation key. The optical sensor navigation key, which is a new type of user interface, is provided so that the user can operate the mobile terminal simply, conveniently and precisely.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:

an optical sensor navigation key adapted to sense a movement direction and a movement speed user contact and generate signals according to the sensed movement direction and the sensed movement speed;

an input unit;

a display; and

a controller adapted to control a function of the mobile terminal in response to the signals generated by the optical sensor navigation key, wherein the controller is further adapted to;

cause displaying of at least one menu item and a cursor on the display;

cause moving of the displayed cursor toward a location proximate to a specific menu item of the displayed at least one menu item responsive to receiving user input via the input unit;

detect the user contact relative to the optical sensor navigation key;

activate the optical sensor navigation key after the user contact to the optical sensor navigation key is detected and the cursor is moved to the specific menu item,

deactivate the optical sensor navigation key if the user contact to the optical sensor navigation key is not detected within a threshold amount of time after the optical sensor navigation key is activated,

determine whether the sensed movement direction is a pre-defined first direction or a pre-defined second direction when the cursor is positioned at the displayed at least one menu item, determine whether the sensed movement speed is greater than a reference value with respect to the pre-defined first direction if the sensed movement direction is the pre-defined first direction, enter an upper menu of the displayed at least one menu item at which the cursor is positioned if the sensed movement speed is greater than the reference value with respect to the pre-defined first direction,

cause displaying of the upper menu on the display screen, determine whether the sensed movement speed is greater than the reference value with respect to the pre-defined second direction if the sensed movement direction is the pre-defined second direction and the predetermined pre-defined second direction is opposite to the pre-defined first direction,

enter a lower menu of the displayed at least one menu item at which the cursor is positioned if the sensed movement speed is greater than the reference value with respect to the pre-defined second direction, and cause displaying of the lower menu on the display, and wherein the sensed movement speed is an amount of movement per second by the cursor from a first pixel position to a second pixel position on the display.

2. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the optical sensor navigation key comprises:

an optical signal recognizer adapted to optically recognize a movement of the user contact; and

an optical signal output unit adapted to receive an indication of the recognized movement from the optical signal recognizer, convert the indication into an electrical signal indicative of the recognized movement and output the electrical signal to the controller.

3. The mobile terminal according to claim 2, wherein the optical signal recognizer comprises:

a contact window adapted to make contact with the user contact;

a light emitting diode adapted to generate light and emit the generated light through the contact window;

an optical lens adapted to focus light reflected from the user contact; and

an optical signal reader adapted to generate the indication of the recognized movement using the focused light.

4. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the cursor moves in one of an up, down, right, left, or diagonal direction in response to the signals generated by the activated optical sensor navigation key.

5. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further adapted to control movement of the cursor on the display, the movement controlled according to a style of the displayed at least one menu item and in response to the signals generated by the activated optical sensor navigation key.

6. The mobile terminal according to claim 5, wherein the controller is further adapted to move the cursor in the same direction as the sensed movement direction if the style is a grid style.

7. The mobile terminal according to claim 5, wherein the controller is further adapted to move the cursor in one of an up, down, right or left direction according to the sensed movement direction if the style is a list style.

8. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further adapted to execute a function corresponding to an icon in the displayed upper menu or the displayed lower menu if the user contact to the optical sensor navigation key is detected more than a pre-defined number of times when the cursor is positioned on the icon.

9. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the optical sensor navigation key is located at a navigation key position of the input unit.

10. A method for controlling a function of a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

displaying at least one menu item and a cursor;

moving the displayed cursor toward a location proximate to a specific menu item of the displayed at least one menu item responsive to receiving user input;

detecting user contact to an optical sensor navigation key of the mobile terminal;

activating the optical sensor navigation key after the user contact to the optical sensor navigation key is detected and the cursor is moved to the specific menu item;

deactivating the optical sensor navigation key if the object user contact to the optical sensor navigation key is not detected for a threshold amount of time after the optical sensor navigation key is activated;

sensing a movement direction and a movement speed of the detected user contact to the optical sensor navigation key;

generating signals according to the sensed movement direction and sensed movement speed; and

controlling a function of the mobile terminal in response to the generated signals,

wherein controlling the function of the mobile terminal comprises;

determining whether the sensed movement direction is a pre-defined defined first direction or a pre-defined second direction when the cursor is positioned at the displayed at least one menu item,

determining whether the sensed movement speed is greater than a reference value with respect to the pre-defined first direction if the sensed movement direction is the pre-defined first direction,

entering an upper menu of the displayed at least one menu item at which the cursor is positioned if the sensed movement speed is greater than the reference value with respect to the pre-defined first direction, displaying the upper menu on the display screen of the display unit, determining whether the sensed movement speed is greater than the reference value with respect to the pre-defined second direction if the sensed movement direction is the pre-defined second direction and the pre-defined second direction is opposite to the pre-defined first direction,

entering a lower menu of the displayed at least one menu item at which the cursor is positioned if the sensed movement speed is greater than the reference value with respect to the pre-defined second direction, displaying the lower menu, and wherein the sensed movement speed is an amount of movement per second by the cursor from a first pixel position to a second pixel position.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein controlling the function of the mobile terminal further comprises moving the cursor on the display in one of an up, down, right, left, or diagonal direction.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein controlling the function of the mobile terminal further comprises moving the cursor according to a style of the displayed at least one menu item.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein controlling the function of the mobile terminal further comprises moving the cursor in the same direction as the sensed movement direction if the style is a grid style.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein controlling the function of the mobile terminal further comprises moving the cursor in one of an up, down, right or left direction according to the sensed movement direction if the style is a list style.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein controlling the function of the mobile terminal further comprises executing the function corresponding to an icon in the displayed upper menu or the displayed lower menu if the user contact to the optical sensor navigation key is detected more than a pre-defined number of times when the cursor is positioned on the icon.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein sensing the movement direction and the movement speed comprises:

emitting a generated light;

focusing the generated light reflected from the user contact; and

generating an indication of a recognized movement of the detected user contact using the focused light.