Method for allocating/arranging keys on touch-screen, and mobile terminal for use of the same

• US 8,059,100 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2006
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Tae Hun, Cheon, Jee Young, Lee, Sang Hyuok, Park, Yeon Woo
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, MY CHAU T
• Application Number:
  US11/561,272
• Publication Number:
  US 20070109276A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,824 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/168, 345/169, 345/172, 345/173, 178/18.01, 178/18.03, 341/20, 341/22, 341/23, 455/566
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 method for allocating/arranging keys on a touch-screen and a mobile terminal for the same are disclosed. The method for allocating at least one key on a touch-screen includes establishing a plurality of sensing zones on the touch-screen, wherein sizes of the plurality of sensing zones change in sequential order according to a key-arrangement direction, and allocating the at least one key to at least one of the plurality of sensing zones.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

a storage unit for storing data associated with a plurality of sensing-zones;

a touch screen configured to display a plurality of keys associated with the plurality of sensing-zones, such that each of the plurality of keys is associated with a different sensing-zone;

a controller for associating the plurality of keys to the plurality of sensing-zones;

a sensing-zone mode setup unit for establishing a sensing-zone mode and for adjusting the size and dimension of each of the plurality of sensing-zones according to the established sensing-zone mode such that at least two of the sensing-zones are different in size;

a key assignment unit for generating a key assignment signal for associating a key from the plurality of keys to a sensing-zone from the plurality of sensing-zones;

a rotation detection unit for detecting a rotation of the touch-screen, wherein the controller adjusts a direction of the plurality of sensing-zones according to the detected rotation of the touch-screen; and

a frequency measurement unit for measuring a use frequency for each of the plurality of keys,

wherein the controller associates a key having a higher use frequency to a larger sensing-zone, and the plurality of sensing-zones are arranged in order of greatest size to least size according to the established sensing zone mode.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein at least one key of the plurality of keys is displayed as an icon.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the key assignment unit generates the key assignment signal in response to at least a user generated key assignment action, a pre-set key according to a sensing-zone, or a key assignment action generated by the mobile terminal.

4. A method of arranging keys on a touch screen of a mobile communication terminal, the method comprising:

associating a key displayed on the touch screen with one of a plurality of touch zones,

wherein at least two of the plurality of touch zones have a different dimension in comparison to each other; and

arranging the plurality of touch zones in order of greatest to least dimension in a selected direction in response to a user selection.