Method and apparatus for inputting function of mobile terminal using user's grip posture while holding mobile terminal

• US 20070002016A1
• Filed: 06/29/2006
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Chang, Wook, Park, Joon-ah, Cho, Sung-jung, Lee, Hyun-jeong, Kim, Kee-eung
• Granted Patent: US 8,055,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/157
• 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 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• 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 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00

Abstract

An apparatus for and a method of inputting a function of a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone, in which a grip posture of a user who holds the mobile terminal is recognized and a function corresponding to the recognized grip posture is detected. The method includes: recognizing a grip posture of a user who uses the mobile terminal; detecting a function corresponding to the recognized grip posture; and performing the detected function. Accordingly, by considering user'"'"'s grip postures formed when performing the functions of a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone, specific functions are respectively matched to a plurality of grip postures, a grip posture of a user who is holding the mobile terminal is recognized, and a function corresponding to the recognized grip posture is automatically performed without any operation such as an additional key input operation. Therefore, a complex input unit or input method is not required even when diverse functions are provided by the mobile terminal, and the user can easily and conveniently use the mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A method of inputting a function of a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

recognizing a grip posture of a user gripping the mobile terminal; and

detecting a function corresponding to the recognized grip posture.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the recognizing a grip posture comprises:

receiving output signals from a plurality of touch sensors on the mobile terminal; and

recognizing the grip posture using the output signals from the touch sensors.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of touch sensors are arranged on a surface of the mobile terminal at regular intervals.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the surface of the mobile terminal is divided into a plurality of portions, and the plurality of touch sensors are arranged in each of the portions at different intervals according to how frequently the user touches each portion when the user grips the mobile terminal.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of portions of the mobile terminal include a front side, a rear side, an upper portion, a bottom portion, a left side and a right side.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the recognizing the grip posture using the output signals comprises:

dividing the surface of the mobile terminal into a plurality of portions;

detecting whether the user touches each portion of the mobile terminal using the sensor output signals; and

determining the user'"'"'s grip posture using the detection result for each portion of the mobile terminal.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the recognizing the grip posture using the output signals comprises:

dividing the surface of the mobile terminal into a plurality of portions;

detecting whether the user touches each portion of the mobile terminal and which portion of a user'"'"'s hand contacts each portion of the mobile terminal using the sensor output signals; and

determining the user'"'"'s grip posture based on the detection result for each portion and which portion of the user'"'"'s hand contacts each portion of the mobile terminal.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the recognizing the grip posture using the output signals comprises:

dividing the surface of the mobile terminal into a plurality of portions;

detecting at least one of a number of contact points, a contact width, and a distance between adjacent contact points in each portion of the mobile terminal using the sensor output signals; and

determining the user'"'"'s grip posture using at least one of the detected number of contact points, the contact width, and the distance between adjacent contact points in each portion of the mobile terminal.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein, in the recognizing the grip posture using the output signals, the user'"'"'s grip posture is recognized from the output signals by using one of an artificial neuron network, a template matching, a hidden Markov model, and a support vector machine (SVM).

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the recognizing the grip posture comprises:

dividing the surface of the mobile terminal into a plurality of portions;

detecting at least one of the number of contact points, a contact width, and a distance between adjacent contact points in each portion of the mobile terminal; and

determining the user'"'"'s grip posture using at least one of the detected number of contact points, the contact width, and the distance between adjacent contact points in each portion of the mobile terminal.

11. The method of claims 8, wherein the plurality of portions of the mobile terminal include a front side, a rear side, an upper portion, a bottom portion, a left side and a right side.

12. The method of claims 9, wherein the plurality of portions of the mobile terminal include a front side, a rear side, an upper portion, a bottom portion, a left side and a right side.

13. The method of claims 10, wherein the plurality of portions of the mobile terminal include a front side, a rear side, an upper portion, a bottom portion, a left side and a right side.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the grip posture includes at least one of a right hand/horizontal grip, a right hand/horizontal grip, a both hands/horizontal grip, a both hands/vertical grip, a left hand/horizontal grip, and a left hand/vertical grip.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the function corresponding to the recognized grip posture is a phone call function when the recognized grip posture is a right hand/vertical grip.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the function corresponding to the recognized grip posture is a text input function when the recognized grip posture is a both hands/vertical grip.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the function corresponding to the recognized grip posture is a photography function when the recognized grip posture is a right hand/horizontal grip.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the function corresponding to the recognized grip posture is a game function when the recognized grip posture is a both hands/horizontal grip.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting a function comprises detecting one of plural functions corresponding to the recognized grip posture based on at least one of a key input and a current function of the mobile terminal.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising, when at least two functions correspond to the recognized grip posture:

displaying the functions; and

receiving a function that the user wants to perform among the displayed functions.

21. A computer readable recording medium storing a program for executing the method of claim 1.

22. A function input apparatus included in a mobile terminal, the apparatus comprising:

a grip posture recognition unit recognizing a grip posture of a user gripping the mobile terminal; and

a function detection unit detecting a function corresponding to the recognized grip posture.

23. The function input apparatus of claim 22, wherein the grip posture recognition unit comprises a plurality of touch sensors, and recognizes the user'"'"'s grip posture using output signals of the touch sensors.

24. The function input apparatus of claim 23, wherein the plurality of touch sensors are arranged on the surface of the mobile terminal at regular intervals.

25. The function input apparatus of claim 23, wherein the surface of the mobile terminal is divided into a plurality of portions, and the plurality of touch sensors are arranged on each of the portions at different intervals according to how frequently the user touches each portion when the user grips the mobile terminal.

26. The function input apparatus of claim 25, wherein the plurality of portions of the mobile terminal include a front side, a rear side, an upper portion, a bottom portion, a left side and a right side.

27. The function input apparatus of claim 22, wherein the grip posture recognition unit comprises:

a contact detection unit detecting whether the user contacts individual portions into which the surface of the mobile terminal is divided; and

a grip posture determining unit determining the user'"'"'s grip posture using the detection result for each portion.

28. The function input apparatus of claim 27, wherein the contact detection unit detects whether the user contacts each portion of the mobile terminal and which portion of a user'"'"'s hand contacts each portion of the mobile terminal, and the grip posture determining unit determines the user'"'"'s grip posture using the contacted portions of the mobile terminal and the detected portion of the user'"'"'s hand.

29. The function input apparatus of claim 27, wherein the contact detection unit detects at least one of the number of contact points, a contact width, and a distance between adjacent contact points in each portion, and the grip posture determining unit determines the user'"'"'s grip posture using at least one of the detected number of contact points, the contact width, and the distance between adjacent contact points at each portion.

30. The function input apparatus of claim 22, wherein the grip posture recognition unit recognizes the user'"'"'s grip posture using one of an artificial neuron network, a template matching, a hidden Markov model, and a support vector machine (SVM).

31. The function input apparatus of claim 22, wherein the grip posture includes at least one of a right hand/horizontal grip, a right hand/vertical grip, a both hands/horizontal grip, a both hands/vertical grip, a left hand/horizontal grip, and a left hand/vertical grip.

32. The function input apparatus of claim 22, wherein the function detection unit receives a key input from a user, determines a current function of the mobile terminal, and detects one of plural functions corresponding to the recognized grip posture based on at least one of the key input and the current function of the mobile terminal.

33. The function input apparatus of claim 22, further comprising:

a display unit displaying information to a user; and

a user input unit receiving an input from a user,

wherein, when two or more functions corresponds to the recognized grip posture, the display unit displays the functions corresponding to the recognized grip posture and the user input unit receives a function that the user wants to perform among the displayed functions.

34. A function input apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

a sensor unit having a plurality of touch sensors individually detecting a user'"'"'s contact with the mobile terminal, the detected contact defining a detected grip posture;

a grip posture recognition unit recognizing a grip posture based on the detected grip posture from the sensor unit; and

a function detection unit detecting a function corresponding to the recognized grip posture.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising a function performing unit performing the detected function.

36. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the grip posture recognition unit comprises:

a characteristic extraction unit extracting characteristic data of a detected grip posture; and

a memory search unit searching a memory and outputting as the recognized grip posture a grip posture which is defined in characteristic data stored in the memory that corresponds to the characteristic data of detected grip posture.