Apparatus and method for displaying menus in a portable terminal

• US 20050257170A1
• Filed: 04/07/2005
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Hyun-Soo, Bae, Jae-Hyoung, Ra, Eun-Chul, Cho, Byoung-Ho, Bae, In-Gu
• Granted Patent: US 8,914,747 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/825
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A menu displaying apparatus and method in a portable terminal are provided. In the menu displaying apparatus, a select image buffer stores select images, and an unselect image buffer stores unselect images. A controller reads a select image for a selected menu from the select image buffer, displays the select image together with a title text of the selected menu at a predetermined position in a menu region, reads unselect menu images for unselected menus from the unselect image buffer, and displays the unselect menu images together with title texts of the unselected menus at predetermined positions in the menu region.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a grid menu in a portable terminal having a select image buffer for storing select images and an unselect image buffer for storing unselect images, comprising the steps of:

determining a selected menu in a menu displaying mode;

reading a select image for the selected menu from the select image buffer, displaying the select image at a predetermined position in a menu region, and displaying a title text of the selected menu in a title region; and

reading unselect menu images for unselected menus from the unselect image buffer and displaying the unselect menu images at predetermined positions in the menu region.

2. The grid menu displaying method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying a background image stored in a back-scenery buffer in the menu region, the mobile terminal further including the back-scenery buffer for storing the background image.

3. The grid menu displaying method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying a title image stored in a title buffer in the menu region, the mobile terminal further including the title buffer for storing the title image.

4. The grid menu displaying method of claim 1, wherein the title text displaying step comprises the step of displaying the title text in a font type, size and color set by a user.

5. The grid menu displaying method of claim 1, further comprising the step of registering select images and unselect images for menus, wherein the registering step comprises the steps of:

setting the coordinates of grid menus at which unselect images are to be displayed when the grid menus are not selected, registering an image selected from among the displayed images as an unselect image at a predetermined position for each grid menu, and registering the unselect images in the unselect image buffer; and

setting the coordinates of the grid menus at which select images are to be displayed when the grid menus are selected, registering an image selected among displayed images as a select image at a predetermined position for each grid menu, and registering the select images in the select image buffer.

6. The grid menu displaying method of claim 5, further comprising the step of registering an image selected from displayed images during setting of a background image as a background image in the back-scenery buffer.

7. The grid menu displaying method of claim 5, further comprising the step of registering an image selected from images displayed during setting of a title background image in the back-scenery buffer.

8. A method for displaying a scroll menu in a portable terminal having a select image buffer for storing select images and an unselect image buffer for storing unselect images, comprising the steps of:

determining a selected menu in a menu displaying mode;

reading a select image for the selected menu from the select image buffer, and displaying the select image together with a title text of the selected menu at a predetermined position in a menu region; and

reading unselect menu images for unselected menus from the unselect image buffer and displaying the unselect menu images together with title texts of the unselected menus at predetermined positions in the menu region.

9. A page menu displaying method in a portable terminal having a select image buffer for storing select images of a first size and an unselect image buffer for storing unselect images of a second size smaller than the first size, comprising the steps of:

determining a selected menu in a menu displaying mode;

reading a select image for the selected menu from the select image buffer and displaying the select image together with a title text of the selected menu at a predetermined position in a menu region; and

reading unselect images for unselected menus from the unselect image buffer and displaying the unselect images together with title texts of the unselected menus at predetermined positions in the menu region.

10. A method of setting grid menus in a portable terminal, comprising the steps of:

determining the number of menus to be displayed on a display in a grid menu setting mode;

prompting to set a background image and registering an image selected during background image setting as the background image;

guiding to set a title image and registering an image selected during title image setting as the title image; and

prompting to set select and unselect images, repeatedly registering a user-selected image as a select image at a focused menu position when a select image setting mode is selected, and repeatedly registering a user-selected image as an unselect image at a focused menu position when an unselect image setting mode is selected.

11. A method of setting scroll menus in a portable terminal, comprising the steps of:

determining the number of menus to be displayed on a display in a scroll menu setting mode;

prompting to set a background image and registering an image selected during background image setting as the background image;

prompting to set select and unselect images;

setting a font for a title text of a selected menu and repeatedly registering a user-selected image as a select image at a focused menu position, if a select image setting mode is selected; and

setting a font for title texts of unselected menus and repeatedly registering a user-selected image as an unselect image at a focused menu position, if an unselect image setting mode is selected.

12. A method of setting page menus in a portable terminal, comprising the steps of:

prompting to set a background image and registering an image selected during background image setting as the background image;

prompting to set select and unselect images;

setting a font for a title text of a selected menu and repeatedly registering a user-selected image as a select image at a focused menu position, if a select image setting mode is selected; and

setting a font for title texts of unselected menus and repeatedly registering a user-selected image as an unselect image at a focused menu position, if an unselect image setting mode is selected.

13. A menu displaying apparatus in a portable terminal, comprising:

a select image buffer for storing select images;

an unselect image buffer for storing unselect images; and

a controller for reading a select image for a selected menu from the select image buffer, displaying the select image together with a title text of the selected menu at a predetermined position in a menu region, reading unselect menu images for unselected menus from the unselect image buffer, and displaying the unselect menu images together with title texts of the unselected menus at predetermined positions in the menu region.

14. The menu displaying apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a back-scenery buffer for storing a background image to be displayed in the menu region, wherein the controller displays the background image in the menu region.

15. The menu displaying apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a title buffer for storing a title image, wherein the controller displays the title image in the menu region.

16. The menu displaying apparatus of claim 15, wherein a title text in the title buffer is displayed in a font type, size and color set by a user.

17. The menu displaying apparatus of claim 13, wherein in a scroll menu displaying mode, the controller reads unselect images for the unselected menus from the unselect image buffer and displays the unselect images together with title texts of the unselected menus at predetermined positions in the menu region.

18. The menu displaying apparatus of claim 13, wherein the select image buffer stores select images of a first size, the unselect image buffer stores unselect images of a second size smaller than the first size, and the controller reads a select image for the selected menu from the select image buffer, displays the select image together with a title text of the selected menu at a predetermined position in the menu region, reads unselect images for the unselected menus from the unselect image buffer, and displays the unselect images together with title texts of the unselected menus at predetermined positions in the menu region.