Gesture based unlocking of a mobile terminal

• US 8,756,511 B2
• Filed: 01/03/2012
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Daesung, Park, Minsoo, Lee, Seungeun, Park, Kihyun, Kim, Sangsoo, Heo, Jeongyun, Ham, Jihye
• Primary Examiner(s): Chow, Doon
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, LE V
• Application Number:
  US13/342,737
• Publication Number:
  US 20130174094A1
• Time in Patent Office: 896 Days
• Field of Search: 715/863, 715/741
• US Class Current: 715/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A method, system, and device for controlling a mobile device with a touch screen are disclosed. According to one embodiment, the mobile terminal includes a touch screen and a controller configured to display a uniform image of a first enclosure and an unlock image of a second enclosure bounded by the uniform image of the first enclosure on the touch screen in response to detection of a contact on the touch screen while the mobile terminal is in a lock state. The controller is further configured to enlarge the unlock image of the second enclosure in accordance with movement of the contact away from an initial position of the contact while the contact on the touch screen is maintained, and to unlock the mobile terminal in response to a release of the contact when the unlock image of the second enclosure is enlarged to reach or exceed the uniform image of the first enclosure.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a touch screen; and

a controller configured to;

display a uniform image of a first enclosure and an unlock image of a second enclosure bounded by the uniform image of the first enclosure on the touch screen in response to detection of a touch input on the touch screen while the mobile terminal is in a lock state, wherein the uniform image of the first enclosure and the unlock image of the second enclosure are not displayed prior to detection of the touch input but appear on the touch screen only after the detection of the touch input on the touch screen;

enlarge the unlock image of the second enclosure in response to movement of the touch input away from an initial position of the touch input, wherein the unlock image of the second enclosure is continually enlarged while the movement of the touch input away from the initial position of the touch input is maintained; and

unlock the mobile terminal in response to a release of the touch input when the unlock image of the second enclosure is resized to reach or exceed a boundary of the uniform image of the first enclosure.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the unlock image of the second enclosure is first formed to surround the initial position of the touch input.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the uniform image of the first enclosure takes a shape similar to a shape of the unlock image of the second enclosure.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the unlock image of the second enclosure is a circle, and the uniform image of the first enclosure is a circle concentrically enclosing the unlock image of the second enclosure.

5. A method of controlling a mobile terminal with a touch screen, the method comprising:

displaying a uniform image of a first enclosure and an unlock image of a second enclosure bounded by the uniform image of the first enclosure on the touch screen in response to detection of a touch input on the touch screen while the mobile terminal is in a lock state, wherein the uniform image of the first enclosure and the unlock image of the second enclosure are not displayed prior to the detection of the touch input but appear on the touch screen only after the detection of the touch input on the touch screen;

enlarging the unlock image of the second enclosure in response to movement of the touch input away from an initial position of the touch input, wherein the unlock image of the second enclosure is continually enlarged while the movement of touch input away from the initial position of the touch input is maintained; and

unlocking the mobile terminal in response to a release of the touch input when the unlock image of the second enclosure is resized to reach or exceed a boundary of the uniform image of the first enclosure.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising displaying a set of shortcut icons at a bottom area of the touch screen.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the touch screen is divided into a first area, a second area, and a third area with the third area substantially covering a region whose length is a width of the touch screen and whose width is set to include the set of shortcut icons, the second area covering a region whose length is the width of the touch screen and whose width extending from a top end of the third area toward an upper end of the touch screen by a radius of the uniform image of the first enclosure, and the first area covering a region whose length is the width of the touch screen and whose width starting from a top end of the second area to the upper end of the touch screen.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the unlocking the mobile terminal comprises displaying an unlock state image of the touch screen if the initial position of the touch input belongs to the first area.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the unlocking the mobile terminal further comprises executing a shortcut icon if the movement of the touch input leads to a selection of the shortcut icon upon the releasing of the touch input.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising displaying a background screen within the unlock image of the second enclosure in response to detection of the movement of the touch input heading to the shortcut icon.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the background screen is a representative image of the shortcut icon, a last saved image of data associated with the shortcut icon, or an updated image of the data.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the unlocking the mobile terminal comprises displaying an unlock state image of the touch screen without executing a shortcut icon even if the movement of the touch input leads to a selection of the shortcut icon upon the releasing of the touch input if the initial position of the touch input belongs to the second area.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying a background screen of a home screen or a last visited screen of the mobile terminal within the unlock image of the second disclosure during the movement of the touch input.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising dimming the set of shortcut icons in response to the touch input on the touch screen.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the unlocking the mobile terminal comprises executing a shortcut icon without displaying an unlock state image of the touch screen upon the releasing of the touch input if the initial position of the touch input belongs to the third area.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein an optical intensity of remaining ones of the set of shortcut icons decreases in response to the selection of the shortcut icon.

17. The method of claim 5, wherein the displaying the uniform image of the first enclosure and the unlock image of the second enclosure is preceded by displaying of a lock image on the touch screen.

18. The method of claim 5, further comprising contracting the unlock image of the second enclosure to its original size if the releasing of the touch input takes place within the uniform image of the first enclosure.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising presenting a visual cue for the unlocking of the mobile terminal subsequent to the contracting of the unlock image of the second enclosure.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer comprising a touch screen, cause the computer to:

display a uniform image of a first enclosure and an unlock image of a second enclosure bounded by the uniform image of the first enclosure on the touch screen in response to detection of a touch input on the touch screen while the computer is in a lock state, wherein the uniform image of the first enclosure and the unlock image of the second enclosure are not displayed prior to the detection of the touch input but appear on the touch screen only after the detection of the touch input on the touch screen;

enlarge the unlock image of the second enclosure in response to movement of the touch input away from an initial position of the touch input, wherein the unlock image of the second enclosure is continually enlarged while the movement of the touch input away from the initial position of the touch input is maintained; and

unlock the computer in response to a release of the touch input when the unlock image of the second enclosure is resized to reach or exceeds a boundary of the uniform image of the first enclosure.