Apparatus and method for controlling operation of mobile terminal

• US 9,733,757 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2015
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Chang, Wook, Park, Joon-Ah, Lee, Hyun-Jeong
• Primary Examiner(s): Merkoulova, Olga
• Application Number:
  US14/922,431
• Publication Number:
  US 20160048262A1
• Time in Patent Office: 659 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1615 with several enclosures having relative motions, each enclosure supporting at least one I/O or computing function constructional details of portable telephones comprising a plurality of mechanically joined movable body parts H04M1/0206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1652 the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable
• 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 2203/04102 Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04111 Cross over in capacitive digitiser, i.e. details of structures for connecting electrodes of the sensing pattern where the connections cross each other, e.g. bridge structures comprising an insulating layer, or vias through substrate
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04804 Transparency, e.g. transparent or translucent windows
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• 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 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0414 using force sensing means to determine a position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/36 using liquid crystals

Abstract

A method of controlling the operation of a mobile terminal is provided. By dynamically selecting or setting a specific function of a mobile terminal according to a change in pressure or contact areas sensed by a plurality of touch sensors which cover the mobile terminal, a user can easily select or set a specific function of the mobile terminal according to his or her intention, and easily recognize information displayed on a screen of the mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A mobile phone comprising:

at least one first sensor configured to detect a first pressure on a first surface of the mobile phone;

at least one second sensor configured to detect a second pressure on a second surface of the mobile phone, the second surface being opposite to the first surface;

a display; and

a controller electrically coupled with the display, the at least one first sensor, and the at least one second sensor, the controller configured to,

determine at least one first capacitance value corresponding to the detected first pressure,

determine at least one second capacitance value corresponding to the detected second pressure, and

perform a function from among a plurality of functions based on the at least one first capacitance value and the at least one second capacitance value.

2. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to,

identify a specific function from among the plurality of functions based on whether each of the at least one first capacitance value and the at least one second capacitance value is greater than a corresponding threshold, and

perform the specific function.

3. A mobile phone, comprising:

a display;

a plurality of touch sensors configured to sense a plurality of pressure values of a user input on respective portions of the display; and

at least one processor configured to, recognize a function from among a plurality of functions of the mobile phone, the function being a function corresponding to at least one pressure value, from among the plurality of sensed pressure values, sensed by at least one of the plurality of touch sensors; and

operate the function.

4. The mobile phone of claim 3, wherein the plurality of touch sensors are a plurality of pressure touch sensors, which sense pressure applied to an outer surface portion of the mobile phone, or a plurality of capacitive touch sensors, capacitances of which change according to pressure applied to the outer surface portion of the mobile phone.

5. The mobile phone of claim 3, wherein the respective portions comprise a front surface portion of the mobile phone and a rear surface portion of the mobile phone.

6. The mobile phone of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor comprises,

a storage configured to store information about the plurality of functions, the plurality of functions corresponding to a plurality of pressure value patterns, respectively, each of the plurality of pressure value patterns being a pattern of a set of at least one pressure value due to pressure to be collectively applied on the mobile phone, and

a function recognizer configured to search for information about the function corresponding to the plurality of sensed pressure values in the storage, and provide found information about the function to the controller.

7. The mobile phone of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to recognize the function from among the plurality of functions based on a determination as to whether a pattern of the plurality of sensed pressure values indicates that the mobile phone is being bent.

8. The mobile phone of claim 7, further comprising:

a user interface configured to display a page, and

wherein the mobile phone is configured to control the page displayed by the user interface to be reduced based on a result of the determination.

9. The mobile phone of claim 7, wherein the mobile phone is configured to determine whether the mobile phone is bent inward or outward based on an ordering of at least some of the plurality of sensed pressure values.