Mobile terminal having touch sensor-equipped input device and control method thereof

• US 8,565,828 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2009
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Jun-Hee, Cho, Seong-Yoon, Lim, Sang-Yeon, Kim, Jae-Keun, Kim, Hoi-Chul
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Fayyaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Paul P
• Application Number:
  US12/482,052
• Publication Number:
  US 20100099463A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,595 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/566, 455/575.1, 455/575.3, 455/575.4, 340/7.55, 340/686.1, 345/102, 345/156, 345/168, 345/169, 345/173, 345/174, 345/179, 379/90.1, 379/433.07, 379/403.11, 715/702, 715/763, 715/858
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1624 with sliding enclosures, e.g. sliding keyboard or display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1662 Details related to the integrated keyboard
• 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 3/0233 Character input methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0235 Slidable or telescopic telephones, i.e. with a relative translation movement of the body parts; Telephones using a combination of translation and other relative motions of the body parts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0245 using open/close detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/23 Construction or mounting of dials or of equivalent devices; Means for facilitating the use thereof by improving visibility H04M1/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041

Abstract

A mobile terminal having a touch sensor-equipped input device and its control method are disclosed. The mobile terminal includes: a user input unit in which a keypad-printed layer and a touch sensor overlap with each other; and a controller that controls an operation mode of the user input unit in a touch pad and/or a touch keypad mode according to whether or not a cursor is in use.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

a physical keypad that includes a first portion and a second portion;

a detector;

a display screen; and

a controller to control the display screen to;

display a virtual keypad emulating the physical keypad that includes the first portion and the second portion on the display screen when the detector detects that the mobile terminal is in a closed state, wherein both the first portion and the second portion of the physical keypad are inaccessible during the closed state of the mobile terminal; and

convert the virtual keypad to emulate only the second portion of the physical keypad on the display screen when the detector detects that the mobile terminal is in a partially open state where the first portion of the physical keypad is accessible but the second portion of the physical keypad is inaccessible, wherein the first portion of the physical keypad and the virtual keypad emulating the second portion of the physical keypad are simultaneously activated during the partially open state of the mobile terminal.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the physical keypad comprises a plurality of characters.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the plurality of characters comprises at least one of a number, a letter, or a symbol.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the detector detects a sliding state of the mobile terminal to determine whether the mobile terminal is in the closed state, the partially open state, or an open state.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the physical keypad comprises at least one row of touch keys, and the second portion of the physical keypad comprises at least one row of touch keys.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to remove the virtual keypad from the display screen when the detector detects that the mobile terminal is in an open state.

7. A method of a mobile terminal, comprising:

displaying a virtual keypad emulating a physical keypad of the mobile terminal that includes a first portion and a second portion on a display screen of the mobile terminal when the mobile terminal is in a closed state, wherein both the first portion and the second portion of the physical keypad are inaccessible during the closed state of the mobile terminal; and

converting the virtual keypad to emulate only the second portion of the physical keypad on the display screen when the mobile terminal is in a partially open state where only the first portion of the physical keypad is accessible, wherein the first portion of the physical keypad and the virtual keypad emulating the second portion of the physical keypad are simultaneously activated during the partially open state of the mobile terminal.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the physical keypad comprises a plurality of characters.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of characters comprises at least one of a number, a letter, or a symbol.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the detector detects a sliding state of the mobile terminal to determine whether the mobile terminal is in the closed state, the partially open state, or an open state.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the first portion of the physical keypad comprises at least one row of touch keys, and the second portion of the physical keypad comprises at least one row of touch keys.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the controller is further configured to remove the virtual keypad from the display screen when the detector detects that the mobile terminal is in an open state.