Mobile terminal and method for operating the mobile terminal

• US 8,935,637 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2011
• Issued: 01/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Cheegook, Kim, Jungwhan, Kwak, Haengchul, Lim, Gukchan
• Primary Examiner(s): Chu, David H
• Application Number:
  US13/155,277
• Publication Number:
  US 20110304648A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,316 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 715/863
• 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 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1636 Sensing arrangement for detection of a tap gesture on the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/014 Force feedback applied to GUI
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0414 using force sensing means to determine a position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0254 detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A mobile terminal and a method for operating the mobile terminal are provided. The method senses touch of the mobile terminal in a predetermined mode and senses movement of the mobile terminal upon determining that the mobile terminal has been gripped based on the touch and then changes the mode of the mobile terminal according to the predetermined mode and the movement of the mobile terminal. This method enhances user convenience since it is possible to change the mode of the mobile terminal through movement of the mobile terminal while the mobile terminal is gripped.

Claims

1. A method for operating a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

sensing, by a touch sensor of the mobile terminal, touch of the mobile terminal in a sleep mode;

changing a mode of the mobile terminal from the sleep mode to an active mode when a first threshold time elapses after the mobile terminal has been gripped by a user touching the mobile terminal that is in the sleep mode, a motion sensor of the mobile terminal being activated;

sensing, by the activated motion sensor, movement of the gripped mobile terminal;

determining that a current mode is a first mode and changing the mode of the mobile terminal from the first mode to a second mode according to the first mode and the sensed movement when the sensed movement corresponds to a specific type of movement stored in a memory of the mobile terminal; and

deactivating the motion sensor when the mobile terminal has been ungripped,

wherein the specific type of movement of the mobile terminal, resulting in the change of the mode from the first mode to the second mode, is pre-set by;

receiving a first input for selecting the first mode;

receiving a second input for selecting the second mode;

detecting the specific type of movement of the mobile terminal to be associated with the selected first mode and second mode, the specific type of movement generated by actual movement of the mobile terminal and sensed by the motion sensor; and

storing, in the memory, the specific type of movement of the mobile terminal associated with the mode change from the first mode to the second mode such that the mode change is performed in response to a movement corresponding to the specific type of movement.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein gripping the mobile terminal comprises touching at least one side surface of the mobile terminal.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising changing the mode of the mobile terminal back to the sleep mode when a second threshold time elapses without occurrence of any event while the mobile terminal is gripped.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the first mode is a standby mode and the second mode is a camera mode; and

the sensed movement of the mobile terminal includes rotation of the mobile terminal from a first direction to a second direction.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the first mode is a call connecting mode and the second mode is a connected call mode; and

the sensed movement of the mobile terminal includes rotation of the mobile terminal from a first direction to a second direction.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the first mode is a message creation mode and the second mode is a standby mode,

the sensed movement of the mobile terminal includes rotation of the mobile terminal from a first direction to a second direction; and

a message created in the message creation mode is transmitted to an external device before the mode of the mobile terminal is changed from the message creation mode to the standby mode.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the first mode is a standby mode and the second mode is an augmented reality mode; and

the sensed movement of the mobile terminal includes rotation of the mobile terminal by 360 degrees.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the first mode is an application execution mode and the second mode is a standby mode;

the sensed movement of the mobile terminal includes a rotation of the mobile terminal from a first direction to a second direction; and

an application executed during the application execution mode is terminated before the mode of the mobile terminal is changed from the application execution mode to the standby mode.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising changing a current function performed by the mobile terminal to a different function upon determining that the mobile terminal has been gripped.

10. A mobile terminal comprising:

a main body;

a touch sensor configured to sense touch of the main body in a sleep mode;

a motion sensor configured to sense movement of the main body;

a memory configured to store information; and

a controller configured to;

change a mode of the mobile terminal from the sleep mode to an active mode when a first threshold time elapses after the mobile terminal has been gripped by a user touching the mobile terminal that is in the sleep mode, the motion sensor being activated to sense the movement of the main body;

determine that a current mode is a first mode and change the mode of the mobile terminal from the first mode to a second mode according to the first mode and the sensed movements when the sensed movement corresponds to a specific type of movement stored in the memory; and

deactivate the motion sensor when the mobile terminal has been ungripped,

wherein the controller is further configured to pre-set the specific type of movement of the mobile terminal, resulting in change from the first mode to the second mode, by;

recognizing a first input for selecting the first mode;

recognizing a second input for selecting the second mode;

detecting the specific type of movement of the mobile terminal to be associated with the selected first mode and second mode, the specific type of movement generated by actual movement of the mobile terminal and sensed by the motion sensor; and

storing, in the memory, the specific type of movement of the mobile terminal associated with the mode change from the first mode to the second mode such that the mode change is performed in response to a movement corresponding to the specific type of movement.

11. The mobile terminal according to claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to determine that the main body has been gripped upon receiving a sensing result from the touch sensor, the sensing result indicating that the touch has been received at at least one side surface of the main body.

12. The mobile terminal according to claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to change the mode of the mobile terminal back to the sleep mode when a second threshold time elapses without occurrence of any event while the mobile terminal is gripped.

13. The mobile terminal according to claim 10, wherein:

the first mode is a standby mode and the second mode is a camera mode; and

the movement sensed by the motion sensor includes rotation of the mobile terminal from a first direction to a second direction.

14. The mobile terminal according to claim 10, wherein:

the first mode is a standby mode and the second mode is an augmented reality mode; and

the movement sensed by the motion sensor includes rotation of the mobile terminal by 360 degrees.

15. The mobile terminal according to claim 10, wherein the touch sensor comprises a capacitive sensor.

16. The mobile terminal according to claim 15, wherein the main body includes a first key connected to a transmitting terminal of the capacitive sensor and a second key connected to a receiving terminal of the capacitive sensor.

17. The mobile terminal according to claim 10, further comprising a speaker, a microphone, and a display, wherein:

the first mode is a call connecting mode entered upon receiving a call signal from an external device and the display displays a screen corresponding to the call connecting mode;

the second mode is a connected call mode in which an audio signal received from the external device is output through the speaker and an audio signal received via the microphone is transmitted to the external device; and

no user input, except for the movement of the main body, is received to change the mode from the first mode to the second mode.