Mobile terminal having a multifaceted graphical object and method for performing a display switching operation

• US 10,074,345 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2013
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pantech Corporation (Ideahub, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Pantech Incorporated
• Inventors: Park, Sang-Wook, Park, Hyoung-Il, Ahn, Seung-Jin
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Yuehan
• Application Number:
  US13/741,539
• Publication Number:
  US 20130215153A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,065 Days
• Field of Search: 345650
• 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 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• 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 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/363 Graphics controllers

Abstract

A mobile terminal includes a display unit to display a first surface of a multifaceted graphical object, a motion detecting unit to detect a motion of the mobile terminal, and a control unit to switch the displayed first surface to a second surface of the multifaceted graphical object based on the detected motion. A method for switching a display surface of a multifaceted graphical object includes displaying a first surface of the multifaceted graphical object on a mobile terminal, detecting a motion of the mobile terminal, and switching the displayed first surface to a second surface of the multifaceted graphical object based on the detected motion.

Claims

1. A method for switching display surfaces of multifaceted graphical objects, comprising:

assigning a first surface of each of the multifaceted graphical objects to a first object;

assigning a second surface of each of the multifaceted graphical objects to a second object associated with the first object, wherein each second surface is adjacent to, and shares an edge with, a corresponding first surface;

displaying the first surface of each of the multifaceted objects on a mobile terminal;

detecting a motion of the mobile terminal; and

switching the displayed first surface to the second surface of the multifaceted graphical objects, wherein the switching motion from the displayed first surface to the second surface matches with the detected motion, the detected motion being at least one of a tilting motion, flipping motion, and a rotating motion,

wherein the first surface displays a numerical graphical object of a numerical keypad and the second surface displays corresponding identification information of a speed-dial contact.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a portion of the first surface and a portion of the second surface are displayed simultaneously in response to the detected motion.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the switching the displayed first surface to the second surface comprises rotating the multifaceted graphical object.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the switching the displayed first surface to the second surface comprises folding a portion of the multifaceted graphical object to simultaneously display a portion of the first surface and a portion of the second surface.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a display switching mode,

wherein the displayed first surface is switched to the second surface according to the selected display switching mode.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein if the detected motion tilts the mobile terminal to have an angle beyond a reference threshold, the displayed first surface is switched directly to a third surface of the multifaceted graphical object.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the multifaceted graphical object includes a multifaceted key.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the surfaces of the multifaceted graphical object corresponds to at least one speed dial number.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing information corresponding to the first surface in a storage unit.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

switching to an edit screen for editing information corresponding to a selected surface of the multifaceted graphical object if the selected surface detects a first input type.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing an operation corresponding to a selected surface if the selected surface detects a second input type.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

inputting information corresponding to a selected surface if the selected surface detects a first input type.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting information corresponding to a selected surface if the selected surface detects a second input type.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first surface is switched to the second surface when the detected motion corresponds to a first direction.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the second surface is switched to the first surface when another motion of the mobile terminal corresponding to a second direction is detected.

16. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a display unit to display a first surface of each of a plurality of multifaceted graphical objects;

a motion detecting unit to detect a motion of the mobile terminal; and

a display control unit to switch the displayed first surface to a second surface of each of the multifaceted graphical objects, wherein each second surface is adjacent to, and shares an edge with, a corresponding first surface, and the switching motion from the displayed first surface to the second surface matches with the detected motion, the detected motion being at least one of a tilting motion, flipping motion, and a rotating motion, and

wherein the first surface of each of the multifaceted graphical objects is assigned to a first object, and the second surface of each of the multifaceted graphical objects is assigned to a second object associated with the first object,

wherein the first surface displays a numerical graphical object of a numerical keypad and the second surface displays corresponding identification information of a speed-dial contact.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 16, wherein the display control unit switches the displayed first surface to the second surface based on at least one of a direction, speed, intensity, and angle of the detected motion.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 16, wherein the display control unit switches the displayed first surface to the second surface by rotating the multifaceted graphical object such that a portion of the first surface and a portion of the second surface are displayed simultaneously during the rotation.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 16, wherein the display control unit switches the displayed first surface to the second surface by folding a portion of the multifaceted graphical object such that a portion of the first surface and a portion of the second surface are displayed simultaneously.

20. The mobile terminal of claim 16, wherein the multifaceted graphical object is a multifaceted key.

21. A method for switching display surfaces of multifaceted graphical objects, comprising:

assigning a first surface of each of the multifaceted graphical objects to a numerical graphical object of a numerical keypad;

assigning a second surface of each of the multifaceted graphical objects to corresponding identification information of a speed-dial contact, wherein each second surface is adjacent to, and shares an edge with, a corresponding first surface;

displaying the first surface of each of the multifaceted graphical objects on a mobile terminal as the numerical keypad;

detecting a tilting motion of the mobile terminal relative to a current position; and

displaying second surfaces of the multifaceted graphical objects by rotating the multifaceted graphical objects by an angle corresponding to the detected tilting motion.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein displaying the second surfaces comprises switching the displayed first surfaces to the second surfaces of the multifaceted graphical objects when a detected tilt angle is greater than a reference angle.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein displaying the second surfaces comprises simultaneously displaying the first surfaces and the second surfaces of the multifaceted graphical objects when a detected tilt angle is less than a reference angle.