DISPLAY MODE SWITCHING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MOBILE TERMINAL

• US 20130120276A1
• Filed: 01/04/2013
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: KIM, Byoung Ju, Um, Tae Won, Kim, Tae Kyung
• Granted Patent: US 10,503,397 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/02 Input arrangements using manually operated switches, e.g. using keyboards or dials
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0492 Change of orientation of the displayed image, e.g. upside-down, mirrored
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/145 related to small screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/38 with means for controlling the display position
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0202 Portable telephone sets, e.g. cordless phones, mobile phones or bar type handsets constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. of speakers or microphones H04M1/03
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0233 Including a rotatable display body part
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0245 using open/close detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041

Abstract

The present application relates to a display mode switching device and method for a portable electronic device. In particular, the present application relates to a portable electronic device that can switch display modes of an integrated display and input device to facilitate composition of a text message by switching between a portrait mode and a landscape mode. A portable electronic device may use a display mode switching method in which a posture of the portable electronic device can be checked, and a display mode can be selected based on the posture. A portrait-mode text messaging composition window with a portrait-mode key map and a landscape-mode text messaging composition window with a landscape-mode key map can be displayed in the selected display mode.

Claims

1. A display method of an electronic device, comprising:

detecting a motion of the electronic device;

setting a first mode or a second mode according to the detected motion;

displaying an input region for a virtual key pad comprising a plurality of virtual keys and an output region for characters input via the virtual key pad on a single display screen according to the set mode; and

displaying the characters and the virtual key pad differently in the first mode from the second mode,

wherein one of the differences between displaying in the first mode and displaying in the second mode is a font size of the characters.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the characters and the virtual key pad further comprises:

displaying a position or arrangement of at least one of the plurality of virtual keys in the virtual key pad and a type of the virtual key pad on the single display screen differently in the first mode from the second mode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the characters and the virtual key pad comprises:

displaying a virtual key in the first mode in a larger size than a size of the virtual key in the second mode.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the characters and the virtual key pad comprises:

increasing a number of virtual keys of the virtual key pad or enlarging the size of the virtual key pad in response to switching from the first mode to the second mode; and

decreasing the number of virtual keys of the virtual key pad or downsizing the size of the virtual key pad in response to switching from the second mode to the first mode.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the font size of the character in the first mode is a larger than the font size of the characters in the second mode.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the characters smaller than previously-displayed characters in response to switching from the first mode to the second mode; and

displaying the characters larger than previously-displayed characters in response to switching from the second mode to the first mode.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adjusting a position of line breaks of the characters displayed in the output region in response to switching between the first mode and the second mode.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a size for at least one of a virtual key configuring the virtual key pad and the characters displayed on the single display screen in response to the setting of at the first mode or the second mode.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

measuring, via a sensor, a value corresponding to the motion of the electronic device; and

comparing the measured value with a threshold value,

wherein the setting of the first mode or the second mode is based on the comparison.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing, according to the set mode, one or more of;

resizing characters;

resizing at least one of the plurality of virtual keys;

resizing the virtual key pad;

adjusting a length of a character string per line; and

adjusting a number of lines per screen.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein setting the first mode or the second mode comprises:

receiving, via the input region, a request to switch between the first mode and the second mode.

25. The method claim 1, further comprising:

executing an application program,

wherein the input region and the output region of the first mode and the second mode are associated with the application program.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving a request to execute the application program,

wherein the setting of the first mode or the second mode is in response to the request to execute the application program.

29. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

switching from the first mode to the second mode; and

displaying, in association with switching from the first mode to the second mode, the virtual key pad differently and another virtual key pad.

12. An electronic device, comprising:

a mode detector to detect a motion of the electric device;

a display unit to display an input region for a virtual key pad comprising a plurality of virtual keys and an output region to display characters input via the virtual key pad on a single display screen; and

a control unit configured to set the electronic device in a first mode or a second mode according to the detected motion and to control the display unit to display the characters and the virtual key pad differently in the first mode from the second mode,

wherein the display unit is configured to display at least one of a font size of the characters and the virtual key pad differently in the first mode from the second mode.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the control unit is further configured to control the display unit to display at least one of the plurality of virtual keys in the virtual key pad and a type of the virtual key pad on the single display screen differently in the first mode from the second mode.

14. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the control unit is further configured to control the display unit to display a size of a virtual key in the first mode to be larger than a size of the virtual key in the second mode.

15. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the control unit is further configured to:

increase a number of virtual keys of the virtual key pad or enlarge the size of the virtual key pad in response to the first mode being switched to the second mode; and

decrease the number of virtual keys of the virtual key pad or downsize the size of the virtual key pad in response to the second mode being switched to the first mode.

16. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the display unit is further configured to display the characters in the first mode in a size larger than a size of the characters in the second mode.

17. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the display unit is further configured to:

display the characters in a smaller size than a size of previously-displayed characters in response to the first mode being switched to the second mode; and

display the characters in a larger size than the size of the previously-displayed characters in response to the second mode being switched to the first mode.

18. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the control unit is further configured to:

adjust a position of line breaks of the characters displayed in the output region in response to switching between the first mode and the second mode.

19. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the control unit is further configured to determine a size for at least one of a virtual key configuring the virtual key pad and the characters displayed on the single display screen in response to the setting of the first mode or the second mode.

20. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the mode detector comprises a motion detecting sensor configured to measure a value corresponding to the motion of the electronic device, and the control unit is further configured to compare the measured value with a threshold value, wherein the setting of the first mode or the second mode is based on the comparison.

21. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the control unit is configured to perform, according to the set mode, one or more of:

resizing characters;

resizing at least one of the plurality of virtual keys;

resizing the virtual key pad;

adjusting a length of a character string per line; and

adjusting a number of lines per screen.

22. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the mode detector is further configured to receive, via the input region, a request to switch between the first mode and to the second mode.

27. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the control unit is further configured to:

execute an application program,

wherein the input region and the output region of the first mode and the second mode are s associated with the application program.

28. The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the control unit is further configured to:

receive a request to execute the application program,

wherein the setting of the first mode or the second mode is in response to the request to execute the application program.

30. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the control unit is further configured to:

effectuate a switch from the first mode to the second mode; and

control the display unit to display, in association with the effectuation of the switch from the first mode to the second mode, the virtual key pad differently and another virtual key pad.

23. A computer-readable storage unit comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method of responding to an event via a mobile device, the method comprising:

setting a first mode or a second mode according to a motion of the electronic device;

displaying an input region for a virtual key pad comprising a plurality of virtual keys and an output region for characters input via the virtual key pad on a single display screen according to the set mode; and

displaying the characters and the virtual key pad differently in the first mode from the second mode,

wherein one of the differences between displaying in the first mode and displaying in the second mode is a font size of the characters.

24. A portable electronic device, comprising:

a mode detector to detect a motion of the portable electronic device;

a display unit to display a single display screen comprising;

an input region configured to display a virtual key pad; and

an output region configured to display characters input via the virtual key pad;

a control unit to;

set the portable electronic device in a portrait mode or a landscape mode according to the detected motion,

control the display unit to display the characters and the virtual key pad in the landscape mode or the portrait mode according to the set mode, and

control the display unit to display a font size of the characters and the virtual key pad differently in the first mode from the second mode,

wherein the mode detector comprises a sensor configured to measure a value corresponding to the motion, and the control unit is configured to determine that the portable electronic device is in the landscape mode or the portrait mode based on a comparison of the value with a threshold value.