Mobile terminal

• US 9,651,989 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2014
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Yongsin, Kim, Jihwan, Chun, Sinae, Lee, Doyoung, Kim, Jongho
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Kent
• Assistant Examiner(s): Edwards, Mark
• Application Number:
  US14/474,671
• Publication Number:
  US 20150261376A1
• Time in Patent Office: 987 Days
• 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 1/1652 the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04809 Textured surface identifying touch areas, e.g. overlay structure for a virtual keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0487 using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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

Provided is a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal including: a body including a front surface, a side surface and a rear surface, a touch screen including a first region that is disposed on the front surface and formed to have a first curvature and a second region that is disposed on the side surface and extending from the first region and formed to have a second curvature, a sensing unit configured to sense a touch input applied to the touch screen; and a control unit configured to: display on the first region of the touch screen at least a portion of an execution screen of an application, detect a touch input applied to the execution screen, and display on an interface region located between the first region and the second region at least a portion of a graphic object associated with control of an execution screen.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a body including a front surface, side surfaces and a rear surface;

a touch screen including;

a first region disposed on the front surface and formed to have a first curvature;

second regions disposed on the side surfaces and extending from the first region, and each second region formed to have a second curvature; and

boundary regions, each boundary region located between an edge of the first region and an edge of one of the second regions and formed to have a peak;

a sensing unit configured to sense a touch input applied to the touch screen; and

a control unit configured to;

display on the first region of the touch screen at least a portion of an execution screen of an application;

detect a touch input applied to the execution screen;

display a bar associated with control of the execution screen on one of the boundary regions when the touch input is detected, wherein the bar is formed to enable a drag touch input to be input along the peak in a longitudinal direction of one of the boundary regions for stability dragging;

detect the drag touch input applied to the bar;

ignore the drag touch input applied to the first and second regions and output an alarm when the drag touch input applied to the bar is dragged to the first region or one of the second regions within a preset range;

move the bar and display the bar on another boundary region when the drag touch input applied to the bar is dragged to the first region or the second region beyond the preset range; and

change the execution screen to a screen corresponding to an extent of dragging of the drag touch input applied to the bar in response to the detected drag touch input.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the control unit changes the execution screen output to the touch screen in response to the drag touch input applied to the bar is moved from one position in the bar to another position.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the bar includes information indicating a position of the execution screen output to the touch screen, and

wherein the control unit is further configured to:

control an output range of the execution screen depending on the extent of the drag touch input applied to the bar.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the sensing unit is formed to further sense an inclination of the touch screen, and

wherein the control unit is further configured to:

display a first bar formed to enable dragging to be input in a horizontal direction to the boundary region in response to the fact that the touch screen is inclined to be a horizontal viewing mode; and

display a second bar formed to enable dragging to be input in a vertical direction to the boundary region in response to the fact that the touch screen is inclined to be a vertical viewing mode.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the first region having the first curvature is a plane area, the second regions having the second curvature are curved areas, and the peak of the boundary regions has the first curvature and the second curvature.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the sensing unit is configured such that the drag touch input applied to the bar is also able to be sensed with respect to an edge area of the first region adjacent to one of the boundary regions and an edge area of one of the second regions adjacent to the boundary regions.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein, when the boundary regions are partitioned into a plurality of areas having different curvatures, the control unit performs control such that the bar is output to a position or area in which the first or second curvature is first changed.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein, when the boundary regions are partitioned into a plurality of areas having different curvatures, the control unit performs control such that the bar is output to a boundary position or area having the greatest curvature or change extent in the curvature.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein, when at least a part of the bar is output to one of the boundary regions while icons of a plurality of applications are output to one of the second regions, the control unit differently changes a method of a touch input for executing functions corresponding to the icons of the plurality of applications.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the control unit performs control such that visual information corresponding to moving of the drag touch input applied to the bar is output to one of the second regions.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 10, wherein the visual information is output to a position opposite to a moving direction of the drag touch input in one of the second regions, and

wherein, when a touch input is applied to the output visual information, the control unit performs control such that a screen corresponding to visual information to which the touch input is applied is output to the first region.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the touch screen is a flexible display that is bendable so that at least one of the first and second curvatures is changed by an external force, and

wherein the control unit performs control such that the bar is moved to a boundary position or area having the greatest change extent in the curvature due to the external force in response to bending of the flexible touch screen due to the external force.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein, when the drag touch input applied to the bar leaves the bar by a criterion range or more and is moved to one position of the first region or one of the second regions, the control unit performs control such that the alarm is output.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the bar includes a first portion sensing the drag touch input and a second portion different from the first portion, and

wherein the control unit outputs the first portion to one of the boundary regions and outputs the second portion to an edge area of the first region adjacent to one of the boundary regions or an edge area of one of the second regions adjacent to the boundary regions.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein, when a touch input is sensed with respect to one area of the execution screen while at least a part of the execution screen is output to extend to the boundary regions and the second regions in addition to the first region, the control unit performs control such that a part of an execution screen that has been displayed to the boundary region and the second region is output only to the first region.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein, when at least a part of the execution screen is output to extend to one of the boundary regions and one of the second regions in addition to the first region, the control unit changes a shape of the bar output to one of the boundary regions depending on an attribute in a background screen of the execution screen.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 4, wherein, when first and second objects associated with control of the execution screen are output at the same time, the control unit outputs at least a part of the first bar to one of the boundary regions and outputs the second bar to any one of the first region and the second regions.