USER TERMINAL DEVICE FOR SUPPORTING USER INTERACTION AND METHODS THEREOF

• US 20150015513A1
• Filed: 07/11/2014
• Published: 01/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: KWAK, Ji-yeon, KIM, Yun-kyung, LEE, Yong-yeon, KIM, Hyun-jin, YOON, Yeo-jun, KUMAR, Nipun, SEO, Joon-kyu
• Granted Patent: US 9,823,756 B2
• 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 1/1637 Details related to the display arrangement, including those related to the mounting of the display in the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1652 the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04102 Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04103 Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04108 Touchless 2D- digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface without distance measurement in the Z direction
• 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 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• 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 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 : for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 : Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 : Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 : Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 : using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 : for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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 2330/022 : in absence of operation, e.g. no data being entered during a predetermined time
• 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: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 : in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A method of controlling a user terminal device including a touch screen divided into a main area and at least one sub area. The touch screen includes a first surface including the main area, a second surface extending from the first surface and including the at least one sub area, and wherein the second surface is curved or bent with respect to a plane of the first surface is provided. The method includes performing an unlocking operation to activate the user terminal device, in response to a first pinch gesture being input on the at least one sub area while the user terminal device is locked; and performing a locking operation to inactivate the user terminal device, in response to a second pinch gesture being input on the at least one sub area, while the user terminal device is unlocked.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a user terminal device including a touch screen divided into a main area and at least one sub area, wherein the touch screen includes a first surface including the main area, a second surface extending from the first surface and including the at least one sub area, and wherein the second surface is curved or bent with respect to a plane of the first surface, the method comprising:

performing an unlocking operation to activate the user terminal device, in response to a first pinch gesture being input on the at least one sub area while the user terminal device is locked; and

performing a locking operation to inactivate the user terminal device, in response to a second pinch gesture being input on the at least one sub area, while the user terminal device is unlocked.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first pinch gesture is a pinch-out gesture that expands an interval between initially touched points, and wherein the second pinch gesture is a pinch-in gesture that narrows the interval between the initially touched points.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the performing the unlocking operation comprises activating a partial area of the main area, wherein the partial area has a size that corresponds to the at least one sub area in which the first pinch gesture is input.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising displaying at least one object on the partial area of the main area that is activated, in response to the partial area of the main area being activated.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising executing different applications according to the size of the partial area, in response to the partial area of the main area being activated.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the performing the locking operation comprises inactivating a partial area of the main area, wherein the partial area has a size that corresponds to the at least one sub area in which the second pinch gesture is input.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising displaying at least one object on a remaining area other than the partial area of the main area, in response to the partial area of the main area being inactivated.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising performing a controlling operation which corresponds to a user gesture, in response to the user gesture being input at a boundary area where the main area and the at least one sub area meet.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising performing different controlling operations according to a detected user gesture, in response to one of the gestures being detected from among a first user gesture scrolling along a boundary area where the main area and s the at least one sub area meet, a second user gesture that touches the boundary area and moves the touched point toward the main area, and a third user gesture that touches the boundary area and moves the touched area toward the at least one sub area.

10. A user terminal device comprising:

a touch screen divided into a main area and at least one sub area, wherein the touch screen includes a first surface including the main area, a second surface extending from the first surface and including the at least one sub area, and wherein the second surface is curved or bent with respect to a plane of the first surface; and

a controller configured to, in response to a first pinch gesture being input on the at least one sub area while the user terminal device is locked, perform an unlocking operation to activate the user terminal device, and in response to a second pinch gesture being input on the at least one sub area while the user terminal device is unlocked, perform a locking operation to inactivate the user terminal device.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the first pinch gesture is a pinch-out gesture that expands an interval between initially touched points, and wherein the second pinch gesture is a pinch-in gesture that narrows the interval between the initially touched points.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to activate a partial area of the main area, wherein the partial area has a size that corresponds to the at least one sub area in which the first pinch gesture is input.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the controller is configured to, in response to the partial area of the main area being activated, display at least one object on the partial area.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the controller is configured to, in response to the partial area of the main area being activated, execute different applications according to the size of the partial area.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to inactivate a partial area of the main area, wherein the partial area has a size that corresponds to the at least one sub area in which the second pinch gesture is input.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to, in response to the partial area of the main area being inactivated, display at least one object on a remaining area other than the partial area of the main area.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to, in response to a user gesture being input at a boundary area where the main area and the at least one sub area meet, perform a controlling operation which corresponds to the detected user gesture.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to perform different controlling operations according to a detected user gesture, in response to one of the gestures being detected from among a first user gesture scrolling along a boundary area where the at least one sub area and the main area meet, a second user gesture that touches the boundary area and moves the touched point toward the main area, and a third user gesture that touches the boundary area and moves the touched area toward the at least one sub area.

19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the touch screen includes a boundary area where the first surface that includes the main area and the second surface that includes the at least one sub area meet and form an obtuse angle.

20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the main area of the bent touch screen is disposed on a front surface of the user terminal device, and wherein the at least one sub area is disposed on at least one planar area from among a first side, a second side, and a back surface of the user terminal device.

21. A user terminal device comprising:

a bent touch screen comprising a first surface and a second surface extending from the first surface, wherein the second surface is bent or curved with respect to a plane of the first surface;

a main area configured to display primary content;

a sub area configured to display secondary content;

a controller configured to define the main area and the sub area on the first surface and the second surface and selectively operate the main area and the sub area based on at least one of user input, sensor input, and user terminal device information.

22. The user terminal device of claim 21, wherein the user input is one of at least a touch, a multi-touch, a voice input, an eye gaze location, a movement of the user terminal device, a gesture, and a pose.

23. The user terminal device of claim 21, wherein the sensor input is one of at least an image input, an audio input, and a movement input.

24. The user terminal device of claim 21, wherein the user terminal device information is one of at least GPS information, internal device information, locally stored application information, application information provided from an external source, locally stored content, and content provided from the external source.

25. A method of operating a user terminal device, the method comprising:

providing a bent touch screen comprising a first surface and a second surface extending from the first surface, wherein the second surface is bent or curved with respect to a plane of the first surface;

providing a main area configured to display primary content;

providing a sub area configured to display secondary content;

defining the main area and the sub area on the first surface and the second surface based on at least one of user input, sensor input, and user terminal device information; and

selectively operating the main area and the sub area based on at least one of user input, sensor input, and user terminal device information.