Mobile functional icon use in operational area in touch panel devices

• US 8,370,762 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2009
• Issued: 02/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Abbott, Martin Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Kieu
• Assistant Examiner(s): Durkin, James T
• Application Number:
  US12/421,934
• Publication Number:
  US 20100262928A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,397 Days
• Field of Search: 715/801, 715/864, 715/769, 715/702, 715/835, 715/863, 345/173, 455/566, 709/204
• US Class Current: 715/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27475 using interactive graphical means or pictorial representations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72433 for voice messaging, e.g. dictaphones for answering incoming calls H04M1/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 for playing music files
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/16 including more than one display unit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera constructional features concerning the integration of cameras in portable phones H04M1/0264

Abstract

The mobile terminal, configured to execute a variety of functions, has a touch panel display and circuitry for controlling the touch panel display and responding to touching of the touch panel display. The touch panel display is configured to display a number of functional icons, each of which is associated with one of the functions of the mobile terminal. When the circuitry detects an icon being dragged into a first region which is a designated area of the touch panel display and tapped or released by a user, the mobile terminal executes the function with which the icon is associated. Further, when a destination icon associated with contact information is displayed and the circuitry detects that an icon is dragged and overlapped with the destination icon, the mobile terminal executes the function with which the icon is associated with respect to the contact information.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal configured to execute a plurality of functions, comprising:

a touch panel display; and

circuitry configured to control the touch panel display and to respond to touching of the touch panel display, wherein;

the circuitry configures the touch panel display to display;

a plurality of functional icons, each of which is associated with one or more of the plurality of functions that are actions the mobile terminal is configured to perform, at least one of the plurality of functions including a phone function, the plurality of functional icons being displayed in a functional icon palette;

a plurality of incoming event icons, each of which is associated with an incoming event triggered by an incident other than user input and with one of the plurality of functions, the plurality of incoming event icons being displayed in an incoming event icon palette separate from the functional icon palette; and

a destination icon, and

the mobile terminal is configured such that;

upon the circuitry detecting when one of the functional icons is dragged from the functional icon palette into a first region which is a designated area of the touch panel display and, without overlapping with any icon, is tapped or released by a user on the touch panel display, the mobile terminal executes a first function with which the one of the functional icons is associated, and

upon the circuitry detecting when the one of the functional icons is dragged from the functional icon palette and overlapped with the destination icon within the first region on the touch panel display, the mobile terminal executes a second function with which the one of the functional icons is associated.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of functional icons are grouped into a plurality of functional icon groups,

the circuitry further configures the touch panel display to display a switching icon, and

the switching icon is associated with a function of changing the functional icon groups to be displayed on the touch panel display.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein:

the destination icon is associated with contact information.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein:

the contact information with which the destination icon is associated includes a telephone number, an e-mail address, an instant message screen name, a web site address or a social networking site address.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 4, wherein:

the phone function is a dialing function and the contact information with which the destination icon is associated includes a telephone number, and

when the circuitry detects that the one of the functional icons is dragged and overlapped with the destination icon within the first region on the touch panel display, the mobile terminal makes a phone call to the telephone number.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 4, wherein:

one of the functional icons is associated with one of a text message creation function, an e-mail message creation function and an instant message creation function, and the contact information with which the destination icon is associated includes a list of contact information, and

when the circuitry detects that the one of the functional icons is dragged and overlapped with the destination icon within the first region on the touch panel display, the mobile terminal displays the list of contact information.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 4, wherein:

one of the functional icons is associated with one of a text message creation function, an e-mail message creation function and an instant message creation function, and the contact information with which the destination icon is associated includes a telephone number capable of receiving a text message, e-mail address or an address for instant message, and

when the circuitry detects that the one of the functional icons is dragged and overlapped with the destination icon within the first region on the touch panel display, the mobile terminal displays a text editor for composing a text message, an e-mail message or an instant message.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein:

the mobile terminal is further configured to notify the user reception of the incoming event upon receiving the incoming event by the mobile terminal,

when the circuitry detects one of the incoming event icons, which is associated with the incoming event received by the mobile terminal, being dragged from the incoming event icon palette into the first region and released by the user, the mobile terminal executes a third function with which the one of the incoming event icons is associated, and

the incoming events include at least one of receiving an incoming call, receiving a text message, receiving an e-mail and receiving an instant message.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein:

a user interface relating to the first function or the second function with which the one of the functional icons is associated is displayed on a second region which is a designated area of the touch panel display.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein:

the touch panel display comprises a first touch panel display and a second touch panel display, and

the first touch panel display includes the first region and the second touch panel display includes the second region.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the circuitry further configures the touch panel display to display a termination region associated with a function of terminating a function being executed by the mobile terminal.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal is a cellular phone.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to output a control signal for the touch panel display to an external display configured to be connected to the mobile terminal so that the user operate the mobile terminal on the external display.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the plurality of functional icons is associated with one or more sub-functions executed by the mobile terminal,

the sub-functions are configured to be provided with an order of priority to be executed by the mobile terminal, the priority being set by the user, and

upon executing the first or function or the second function associated with the at least one of the plurality of functional icons, the sub-functions are provided according to the order of priority.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

receive an application program executable on the mobile terminal as one of the plurality of functions, and

when the application program is installed in the mobile terminal, display a new functional icon associated with the application program on the touch panel display.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of functional icons are inactive unless dragged into the first region.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein no functional icon is initially displayed in the first region prior to the dragging of any functional icon into the first region.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal executes the first function, when the circuitry detects the one of the functional icons being dragged into the first region and, without overlapping with any icon, tapped by the user on the touch panel display.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configures the touch panel display to display the one of the plurality of functional icons in the first region even after start of the execution of the associated function.

20. The mobile terminal of claim 19, wherein:

the circuitry further configures the touch panel display to display a termination region, and

when the circuitry detects the one functional icon being displayed in the first region being dragged onto the termination region, the mobile terminal terminates the execution of the associated function and removes the one functional icon from the first region.

21. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein:

the circuitry further configures the touch panel display to display a termination region associated with a function of terminating a function being executed by the mobile terminal, and

when the circuitry detects one of the functional icons of which function is being executed being dragged onto the termination region, the mobile terminal terminates the function associated with the one of the functional icons and being executed.

22. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal executes the second function in response to the circuitry detecting that the one of the functional icons is overlapped with the destination icon within the first region and tapped by the user on the touch panel display.

23. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the destination icon specifies the manner in which the first function is to be executed.

24. A mobile terminal configured to execute a plurality of functions, comprising:

a touch panel display; and

circuitry configured to control the touch panel display and to respond to touching of the touch panel display, wherein;

the circuitry configures the touch panel display to display;

a plurality of functional icons, each of which is associated with one or more of the plurality of functions that are actions the mobile terminal is configured to perform, at least one of the plurality of functions including a phone function, the plurality of functional icons being displayed in a functional icon palette;

a plurality of incoming event icons, each of which is associated with an incoming event triggered by an incident other than user input and with one of the plurality of functions, the plurality of incoming event icons being displayed in an incoming event icon palette separate from the functional icon palette;

a destination icon associated with one of contact information including an e-mail address, a web site address, a social networking site address and any contact information capable of receiving electronic data; and

a content icon associated with one of text data, image data, sound data and program data stored in the mobile terminal,

when the circuitry detects that the destination icon overlaps with the content icon on the touch panel display, the mobile terminal sends the one of text data, image data, sound data and program data with which the content icon is associated to the one of an e-mail address, a web site address, a social networking site address and any contact information capable of receiving electronic data with which the destination icon is associated, and

the destination icon and the content icon are displayed in a first region which is a designated area of the touch panel display, and the destination icon is displayed in the first region by user initiation.

25. A method for operating a mobile terminal comprising a touch panel display, comprising steps of:

displaying, on the touch panel display;

a plurality of functional icons, each of which is associated with one or more of the plurality of functions that are actions the mobile terminal is configured to perform, at least one of the plurality of functions including a phone function, the plurality of functional icons being displayed in a functional icon palette;

a destination icon; and

a plurality of incoming event icons, each of which is associated with an incoming event triggered by an incident other than user input and with one of the plurality of functions, the plurality of incoming event icons being displayed in an incoming event icon palette separate from the functional icon palette;

upon detecting touching of the touch panel display in such a manner that one of the functional icons is dragged from the functional icon palette into a first region which is a designated area of the touch panel display and, without overlapping with any icon, is tapped or released by a user on the touch panel display, executing a first function with which the one of the functional icons is associated; and

upon detecting touching of the touch panel display in such a manner that the one of the functional icons is dragged from the functional icon palette and overlapped with the destination icon within the first region on the touch panel display, executing a second function with which the one of the functional icons is associated.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein:

the plurality of functional icons are grouped into a plurality of functional icon groups,

the method further comprises a step of displaying a switching icon, the switching icon being associated with a function of changing the functional icon groups to be displayed on the touch panel display.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of outputting a control signal for the touch panel display to an external display configured to be connected to the mobile terminal so that the user operates the mobile terminal on the external display.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein:

at least one of the plurality of functional icons is associated with one or more sub-functions executed by the mobile terminal,

the sub-functions are configured to be provided with an order of priority to be executed by the mobile terminal, the priority being set by the user, and

upon executing the first function or the second function associated with the at least one of the plurality of functional icons, the sub-functions are provided according to the order of priority.

29. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving an application program executable on the mobile terminal as one of the plurality of functions, and

when the application program is installed in the mobile terminal, displaying a new functional icon associated with the application program on the touch panel display.

30. The method of claim 25, the method further comprising steps of:

notifying the user reception of one of the incoming events upon receiving the one of the incoming event;

detecting the touching of the touch panel display in such a manner that one of the incoming event icons, which is associated with the one of the incoming events received by the mobile terminal, is dragged from the incoming icon palette into the first area by the user on the touch panel display; and

responsive to the touching, executing the function with which the one of the incoming event icons is associated,

wherein the events include at least one of receiving an incoming call, receiving a text message, receiving an e-mail and receiving an instant message.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein:

the plurality of functional icons are inactive unless dragged into the first region.

32. A method for operating a mobile terminal comprising a touch panel display, comprising steps of:

displaying a plurality of functional icons, each of which is associated with one of the plurality of functions, on the touch panel display, at least one of the plurality of functions including a phone function, the plurality of functional icons being displayed in a functional icon palette;

displaying a destination icon associated with contact information;

displaying a plurality of incoming event icons, each of which is associated with an incoming event triggered by an incident other than user input and with one of the plurality of functions, the plurality of incoming event icons being displayed in an incoming event icon palette separate from the functional icon palette;

detecting touching of the touch panel display in such a manner that one of the functional icons is dragged from the functional icon palette and overlapped with the destination icon on the touch panel display; and

responsive to the detecting, executing the function with which the one of the functional icons is associated with respect to the contact information, wherein;

at least one of the plurality of functional icons is associated with one or more sub-functions executed by the mobile terminal,

the sub-functions are configured to be provided with an order of priority to be executed by the mobile terminal, the priority being set by user'"'"'s preference, and

upon executing the function associated with the at least one of the plurality of functional icons, the sub-functions are provided according to the order of priority.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein:

the contact information with which the destination icon is associated includes a telephone number, an e-mail address, an instant message screen name, a web site address or a social networking site address.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein:

the phone function is a dialing function and the contact information with which the destination icon is associated includes a telephone number, and

the step of executing the function comprises making a phone call to the telephone number.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein:

one of the functional icons is associated with one of a text message creation function, an e-mail message creation function and an instant message creation function and the contact information with which the destination icon is associated includes a list of contact information, and

the step of executing the function comprises displaying the list of contact information.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein:

one of the functional icons is associated with one of a text message creation function, an e-mail message creation function and an instant message creation function, and the contact information with which the destination icon is associated includes a telephone number capable of receiving text message, an e-mail address or an address for instant message, and

the step of executing the function comprises displaying a text editor for composing a text message, an e-mail message or an instant message.

37. A method for operating a mobile terminal comprising a touch panel display, comprising steps of:

displaying a plurality of functional icons, each of which is associated with one or more of the plurality of functions that are actions the mobile terminal is configured to perform, at least one of the plurality of functions including a phone function, the plurality of functional icons being displayed in a functional icon palette;

displaying a plurality of incoming event icons, each of which is associated with an incoming event triggered by an incident other than user input and with one of the plurality of functions, the plurality of incoming event icons being displayed in an incoming event icon palette separate from the functional icon palette;

displaying a destination icon associated with contact information including an e-mail address, a web site address, a social networking site address and any destination information capable of receiving electronic data on the touch panel display;

displaying a content icon associated with one of text data, image data, sound data and program data stored in the mobile terminal on the touch panel display; and

detecting touching of the touch panel display in such a manner as to move one of the icons so that the destination icon overlaps with the content icon; and

responsive to the detecting, sending the one of text data, image data, sound data and program data with which the content icon is associated to the one of an e-mail address, a web site address, a social networking site address and any destination information capable of receiving electronic data with which the destination icon is associated,

wherein the destination icon and the content icon are displayed in a first region which is a designated area of the touch panel display, and the destination icon is displayed in the first region by user initiation.

38. The method of claim 37, the method further comprising:

a user interface relating to the function with which the one of the functional icons is associated is displayed on a second region which is a designated area of the touch panel display.

39. The method of claim 37, the method further comprising displaying a termination region associated with a function of terminating a function being executed by the mobile terminal.

40. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a non-transitory and tangible machine readable storage medium; and

programming instructions embodied in the medium for execution by a programmable controller of a mobile terminal having a touch panel display, wherein execution of the programming instructions by the programmable controller causes the mobile terminal to execute tasks comprising;

displaying on the touch panel display;

a plurality of functional icons, each of the functional icons being associated with one of the plurality of functions that are actions the mobile terminal is configured to perform, at least one of the plurality of functions including a phone function, the plurality of functional icons being displayed in a functional icon palette;

a destination icon; and

a plurality of incoming event icons, each of which is associated with an incoming event triggered by an incident other than user input and with one of the plurality of functions, the plurality of incoming event icons being displayed in an incoming event icon palette separate from the functional icon palette;

upon detecting touching of the touch panel display in such a manner that one of the functional icons is dragged from the functional icon palette into a first region which is a designated area of the touch panel display and, without overlapping with any icon, is tapped or released by a user, executing a first function with which the one of the functional icons is associated; and

upon detecting touching of the touch panel display in such a manner that the one of the functional icons is dragged from the functional icon palette and overlapped with the destination icon within the first region on the touch panel display, executing a second function with which the one of the functional icons is associated.

41. The article of manufacture of claim 40, wherein:

the plurality of functional icons are grouped into a plurality of functional icon groups, and

the tasks further comprise;

displaying a switching icon, the switching icon being associated with a function of changing the functional icon groups to be displayed on the touch panel display.

42. The article of manufacture of claim 40, further comprising the step of outputting a control signal for the touch panel display to an external display configured to be connected to the mobile terminal so that the user operate the mobile terminal on the external display.

43. The article of manufacture of claim 40, wherein:

at least one of the plurality of functional icons is associated with one or more sub-functions executed by the mobile terminal,

the sub-functions are configured to be provided with an order of priority to be executed by the mobile terminal, the priority being set by the user, and

upon executing the first function or the second function associated with the at least one of the plurality of functional icons, the sub-functions are provided according to the order of priority.

44. The article of manufacture of claim 40, further comprising:

receiving an application program executable on the mobile terminal as one of the plurality of functions, and

when the application program is installed in the mobile terminal, displaying a new functional icon associated with the application program on the touch panel display.

45. The article of manufacture of claim 40, wherein:

the plurality of functional icons are inactive unless dragged into the first region.

46. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a non-transitory and tangible machine readable storage medium; and

programming instructions embodied in the medium for execution by a programmable controller of a mobile terminal having a touch panel display, wherein execution of the programming instructions by the programmable controller causes the mobile terminal to execute tasks comprising;

displaying a plurality of functional icons on the touch panel display, each of the functional icons being associated with one of the plurality of functions, at least one of the plurality of functions including a phone function, the plurality of functional icons being displayed in a functional icon palette;

displaying a plurality of incoming event icons, each of which is associated with an incoming event triggered by an incident other than user input and with one of the plurality of functions, the plurality of incoming event icons being displayed in an incoming event icon palette separate from the functional icon palette;

displaying a destination icon associated with contact information;

detecting touching of the touch panel display in such a manner that the one of the plurality of functional icons is dragged and overlapped with the destination icon; and

responsive to the detecting, executing the function with which the one of the functional icons is associated with respect to the contact information, wherein;

at least one of the plurality of functional icons is associated with one or more sub-functions executed by the mobile terminal,

the sub-functions are configured to be provided with an order of priority to be executed by the mobile terminal, the priority being set by user'"'"'s preference, and

upon executing the function associated with the at least one of the plurality of functional icons, the sub-functions are provided according to the order of priority.

47. The article of manufacture of claim 46, wherein:

the contact information with which the destination icon is associated includes a telephone number, an e-mail address, an instant message screen name, and a web site address or a social networking site address.

48. The article of manufacture of claim 47, wherein:

the phone function is a dialing function and the contact information with which the destination icon is associated includes a telephone number, and

the executing the function comprises making a phone call to the telephone number.

49. The article of manufacture of claim 47, wherein:

one of the functional icons is associated with one of a text message creation function, an e-mail message creation function and an instant message creation function and the contact information with which the destination icon is associated includes a list of contact information, and

the executing the function comprises displaying the list of contact information.

50. The article of manufacture of claim 47, wherein:

one of the functional icons is associated with one of a text message creation function, an e-mail message creation function and an instant message creation function and the contact information with which the destination icon is associated includes a telephone number capable of receiving text message, an e-mail address or an address for instant message, and

the executing the function comprises displaying a text editor for composing a text message, an e-mail message or an instant message.

51. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a non-transitory and tangible machine readable storage medium; and

programming instructions embodied in the medium for execution by a programmable controller of a mobile terminal having a touch panel display, wherein execution of the programming instructions by the programmable controller causes the mobile terminal to execute tasks comprising;

displaying a plurality of functional icons on the touch panel display, each of the functional icons being associated with one of the plurality of functions, at least one of the plurality of functions including a phone function, the plurality of functional icons being displayed in a functional icon palette;

displaying a plurality of incoming event icons, each of which is associated with an incoming event triggered by an incident other than user input and with one of the plurality of functions, the plurality of incoming event icons being displayed in an incoming event icon palette separate from the functional icon palette;

displaying a destination icon associated with contact information including an e-mail address, a web site address, a social networking site address and any destination information capable of receiving electronic data on the touch panel display;

displaying a content icon associated with one of text data, image data, sound data and program data stored in the mobile terminal on the touch panel display; and

detecting touching of the touch panel display in such a manner that the destination icon overlaps with the content icon; and

responsive to the detecting, sending the one of text data, image data, sound data and program data with which the content icon is associated to the one of an e-mail address, a web site address, a social networking site address and any destination information capable of receiving electronic data with which the destination icon is associated,

wherein the destination icon and the content icon are displayed in a first region which is a designated area of the touch panel display, and the destination icon is displayed in the first region by user initiation.

52. The article of manufacturer of claim 51, the tasks further comprising:

a user interface relating to the function with which the one of the functional icons is associated is displayed on the second region.

53. The article of manufacturer of claim 51, the tasks further comprising

displaying a termination region associated with a function of terminating a function being executed by the mobile terminal.