MOBILE TERMINAL HAVING TOUCH SCREEN AND TOUCH-BASED KEY INPUT METHOD FOR THE SAME

• US 20100001968A1
• Filed: 07/01/2009
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: LEE, Sung Chan
• Application Number:
  US12/496,174
• Publication Number:
  US 20100001968A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• 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

A mobile terminal having a touch screen and a touch-based key input method for the same are disclosed. The touch-based key input method includes steps of checking an input scheme supported by a selected application, reading a stored key information set when the supported input scheme is a keypad-based one, mapping key information to one or more areas of the touch screen using the read key information set, detecting a touch on one of the areas during execution of the selected application, determining a key mapped to the touched area, and performing an operation corresponding to the determined key.

Claims

1. A touch-based key input method for a mobile terminal having a touch screen, the method comprising:

checking, when an application is selected, an input scheme supported by the selected application;

reading, when the supported input scheme is a keypad-based input scheme, a stored key information set;

mapping key information to one or more areas of the touch screen using the read key information set;

detecting a touch on one of the areas during execution of the selected application;

determining a key mapped to the touched area; and

performing an operation corresponding to the determined key.

2. The touch-based key input method of claim 1, wherein reading a stored key information set comprises:

identifying an orientation of the mobile terminal; and

reading a stored key information set corresponding to the identified orientation.

3. The touch-based key input method of claim 1, wherein mapping key information to one or more areas comprises displaying icons corresponding to the key information at the one or more areas.

4. The touch-based key input method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a change in an orientation of the mobile terminal during execution of the selected application;

reading a second key information set corresponding to the changed orientation; and

mapping key information to the one or more areas of the touch screen using the read second key information set.

5. The touch-based key input method of claim 1, wherein reading a stored key information set comprises:

demarcating the touch screen to display details of the selected application on a first display field of the touch screen and to arrange the one or more areas in a second display field of the touch screen; and

reading the stored key information set corresponding to the arrangement of the one or more areas.

6. The touch-based key input method of claim 5, wherein detecting a touch on one of the one or more areas comprises detecting the touch on the second display field.

7. The touch-based key input method of claim 1, wherein the application is one of a game application, a document composition application, and an Internet application.

8. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a touch screen to display application details and to sense a touch;

a storage unit to store applications and key information sets comprising mappings of key areas of the touch screen to key information; and

a control unit configured to;

check, when an application is selected, an input scheme supported by the selected application;

read, when the supported input scheme is a keypad-based input scheme, a key information set of the key information sets;

map the key information to the key areas of the touch screen using the read key information set;

determine, upon detection of the touch of a key area of the touch screen, a key mapped to the touched key area; and

perform an operation corresponding to the determined key.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the control unit identifies an orientation of the mobile terminal and reads a key information set corresponding to the identified orientation from the storage unit.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the control unit instructs the touch screen to display icons corresponding to the key information associated with the key areas.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the control unit detects, during execution of the selected application, a change in an orientation of the mobile terminal, reads, upon detection of the change in the orientation, a second key information set corresponding to the changed orientation, and maps second key information to the key areas of the touch screen utilizing the read second key information set.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the control unit demarcates the touch screen to display details of the selected application in a first display field of the touch screen and to arrange the key areas in a second display field of the touch screen, and reads the key information set corresponding to the arrangement of the key areas from the storage unit.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the control unit displays the key areas on the second display field, and detects the touch on the second display field.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the selected application is one of a game application, a document composition application, and an Internet application.