Mobile communication terminal including rotary key and method of controlling operation thereof

• US 8,600,445 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2007
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Park, Jun Serk
• Primary Examiner(s): Pan, Yuwen
• Assistant Examiner(s): AYOTUNDE, AYODEJI O
• Application Number:
  US11/735,366
• Publication Number:
  US 20080004084A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,426 Days
• Field of Search: 455/566
• US Class Current: 455/566
• 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 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/233 including a pointing device, e.g. roller key, track ball, rocker switch or joystick constructional details of pointing devices per se G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/236 including keys on side or rear faces
• 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 1/72472 wherein the items are sorted according to specific criteria, e.g. frequency of use

Abstract

A mobile communication terminal including an input unit configured to generate at least a first signal when selected, a display unit configured to display a plurality of menus related to an operation of the mobile terminal, and a controller configured to display an independent menu on the display unit based on the generated first signal. Further, the independent menu includes at least one menu from the plurality of menus related to the operation of the mobile terminal that is displayed on the display unit independently of an application being executed on the mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a display unit configured to display status indicator information in a first display portion of the display unit;

a rotary key configured to receive at least one of a pressed input and a rotated input; and

a controller configured to execute a first application and control the display unit to display information corresponding to the executing first application in a second display portion of the display unit, to control the display unit to display an independent menu in the second display portion regardless of a current operation state of the mobile terminal if a first rotating signal is received through the rotary key while the first application is being executed, and to scroll through the displayed independent menu if a second rotating signal is received continuously through the rotary key after the first rotating signal is received,

wherein the controller highlights each menu of the independent menu when scrolled through,

wherein the independent menu is displayed independently of the first application currently being executed on the mobile terminal,

wherein the independent menu is a set of menus preset by a user of the mobile terminal, and at least one menu included in the independent menu corresponds to operational functions frequently performed by the user,

wherein the controller is further configured to count a time period being from when a menu selected from the independent menu is highlighted, to execute a second application corresponding to the highlighted menu when the counted time period is greater than a predetermined time period, and to display information corresponding to the executing second application in the second display portion, and

wherein the controller is configured to display a menu for asking a user of the mobile terminal whether to execute or finish a storing operation if data storage is required in the executing first application before the independent menu is displayed in response to the first rotating signal.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the plurality of menus include at least one of a phone operation on the mobile terminal, an email operation on the mobile terminal, a voice message on the mobile terminal and a calendar on the mobile terminal.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to highlight a corresponding menu among the plurality of menus when the corresponding menu is selected.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the plurality of menus include five menus.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the plurality of menus include a maximum of five menus.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein when the second application is executed in the full screen mode, the plurality of menus are not displayed on the display unit.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein when the plurality of menus are first displayed, the controller only displays four menus among the plurality of menus along with the executed first application.

6. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a display unit configured to display status indicator information in a first display portion of the display;

a controller configured to execute a first application on the mobile terminal and to control the display unit to display information corresponding to the first application executing on the mobile terminal in a second display portion of the display unit; and

a rotary key configured to receive at least one of a pressed input and a rotated input while the first application is executed on the mobile terminal,

wherein the controller is further configured to control the display unit to display an independent menu related to an operational function of the mobile terminal upon the rotary key receiving a first rotating signal while the first application is being executed, to hide the information displayed corresponding to the first application executing on the mobile terminal without changing the information displayed corresponding to the first application executing on the mobile terminal, and to scroll the displayed independent menu when a second rotating signal is received continuously through the rotary key after the first rotating signal is received,

wherein the controller highlights each menu of the independent menu when scrolled through,

wherein the independent menu is a set of menus preset by a user of the mobile terminal, and at least one menu included in the independent menu corresponds to operational functions frequently performed by the user,

wherein the least one menu included in the independent menu is updated based on a number of times of operational functions that have been executed by the user during a predetermined time, and

wherein the controller is further configured to count a time period being from when a menu selected from the independent menu is highlighted, to execute a second application corresponding to the highlighted menu when the counted time period is greater than a predetermined time period, and to display information corresponding to the executing second application in the second display portion, and

wherein the controller is further configured to display a menu for asking a user of the mobile terminal whether to execute or finish a storing operation if data storage is required in the executing first application before the independent menu is displayed in response to the first rotating signal.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein the plurality of menus include at least one of a phone operation on the mobile terminal, an email operation on the mobile terminal, a voice message on the mobile terminal and a calendar on the mobile terminal.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein the controller is further configured to highlight a corresponding menu among the plurality of menus when the corresponding menu is selected.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein the plurality of menus include four menus.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein when the second application is executed in the full screen mode, the plurality of menus are not displayed on the display unit.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein when the plurality of menus are first displayed, the controller only displays four menus among the plurality of menus along with the executed first application.