Portable terminal and method for displaying touch keypad thereof

• US 8,519,961 B2
• Filed: 07/16/2008
• Issued: 08/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jeon, Jin Young, Yang, Hui Chul, Lee, Min Kyung, Hong, Nho Kyung, Jong, In Won
• Primary Examiner(s): Yang, Kwang-Su
• Application Number:
  US12/174,100
• Publication Number:
  US 20090058815A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,868 Days
• Field of Search: 345/169
• US Class Current: 345/169
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1613 for portable computers cooling arrangements therefor G06F1/203; constructional details or arrangements for pocket calculators, electronic agendas or books G06F15/0216; constructional details of portable telephone sets: with several bodies H04M1/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• 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

A portable terminal and a method for displaying a touch keypad thereof are disclosed. The portable terminal includes a controller to determine whether a display screen is in a portrait mode in response to a text input request, and a touch screen to split a touch keypad into a left-hand keypad and a right-hand keypad and display one of the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad above the other, according to the control of the controller, when the display screen is in the portrait mode. The method includes determining whether a display screen is in a portrait mode in response to a text input request, and splitting a touch keypad into a left-hand keypad and a right-hand keypad and displaying one of the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad above the other when the display screen is in the portrait mode.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a touch keypad on a touch screen of a portable terminal, comprising:

determining whether the touch screen is in a portrait mode in response to a user input;

splitting the touch keypad displayed on the touch screen into a left-hand keypad and a right-hand keypad when the touch screen is in the portrait mode and displaying, on the touch screen, one of the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad above the other; and

joining the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad when the portrait mode is changed to a landscape mode and displaying, on the touch screen, the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad side by side with each other,

wherein said splitting the touch keypad into the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad and said displaying, on the touch screen, one of the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad above the other is performed when the landscape mode is changed to the portrait mode.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

switching positions of the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad with each other in response to a switch request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the touch screen is in the landscape mode when the touch screen is not in the portrait mode; and

joining the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad when the touch screen is in the landscape mode and displaying, on the touch screen, the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad side by side with each other.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the touch keypad comprises a QWERTY format keypad.

5. A portable terminal, comprising:

a controller for determining whether a touch screen is in a portrait mode in response to a user input, and splitting a touch keypad displayed on the touch screen into a left-hand keypad and a right-hand keypad when the touch screen is in the portrait mode; and

a touch screen for displaying one of the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad above the other, according to the control of the controller,

wherein the controller controls to join the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad when the portrait mode is changed to a landscape mode and display, on the touch screen, the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad side by side with each other, and

wherein the controller splits the touch keypad displayed on the touch screen into the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad and displays one of the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad above the other when the landscape mode is changed to the portrait mode.

6. The portable terminal of claim 5, wherein the controller switches positions between the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad with each other in response to a switch request.

7. The portable terminal of claim 6, wherein the controller determines whether the touch screen is in the landscape mode when the touch screen is not in the portrait mode, and controls to join the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad when the touch screen is in the landscape mode and to display, on the touch screen, the left-hand keypad and the right-hand keypad side by side with each other.

8. The portable terminal of claim 7, wherein the touch keypad comprises a QWERTY format keypad.