Apparatus and method for controlling mobile terminal user interface execution

• US 9,060,068 B2
• Filed: 08/08/2008
• Issued: 06/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Hyun-jeong, Park, Joon-ah, Chang, Wook
• Primary Examiner(s): Yang, Kwang-Su
• Application Number:
  US12/222,451
• Publication Number:
  US 20090201260A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,503 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173, 345/174
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041

Abstract

A mobile terminal control apparatus and method is disclosed. The mobile terminal control apparatus includes a plurality of touch sensors formed on a rear of the mobile terminal, a touch recognition unit recognizing a touch of a finger sensed by the plurality of touch sensors and displaying a user interface on a front screen of the mobile terminal according to the recognized touch of the finger, and an execution unit recognizing a change in the touch of the finger, and executing the displayed user interface on the basis of the result of the recognition. The mobile terminal may control user interfaces of a mobile terminal without fingers overlapping a screen of the mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal control apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of touch sensors on a rear of the mobile terminal;

a touch recognition unit recognizing a touch of one or more fingers sensed by at least one of the plurality of touch sensors and displaying a respective user interface on a front screen on a front of the mobile terminal according to a location of the recognized touch of the one or more fingers, so as to match a location of the displayed respective user interface on the front screen to the location of the recognized touch of the one or more fingers; and

an execution unit recognizing a respective change in the touch of the one or more fingers and executing the displayed respective user interface on a basis of a result of the recognition of the respective change in the touch of the one or more fingers,

wherein, when all user interfaces cannot be displayed on the front screen of the mobile terminal, the touch recognition unit additionally displays a sub user interface or a movable user interface on the front screen of the mobile terminal, and recognizes a change in touches of user fingers on the rear of the mobile terminal matched to one or more locations of the sub user interface or movable user interface.

2. The mobile terminal control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the recognizing of the respective change in the touch of the one or more fingers includes a change in a touch of a finger in an area of the at least one touch sensor touched by the finger, a change in strength of touch pressure applied by the finger, or a change in a touch operation.

3. The mobile terminal control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the execution unit recognizes a signal sensed by the at least one touch sensor and executes the displayed respective user interface according to a recognized change in an area of the plurality of touch sensors from which the signal is sensed.

4. The mobile terminal control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the execution unit executes the displayed respective user interface when a strength of respective touch pressures applied by the one or more fingers exceeds a predetermined value.

5. The mobile terminal control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the execution unit corrects a location of a respective change in the touch of the one or more fingers and executes the displayed respective user interface according to a result of the correction of the location of the respective change in the touch of the one or more fingers.

6. The mobile terminal control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the touch recognition unit displays the respective user interface on respective areas of the front screen of the mobile terminal that correspond to areas of the plurality of touch sensors touched by the one or more fingers.

7. The mobile terminal control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the touch recognition unit displays a guide line, corresponding to a recognized shape of the one or more fingers, on the front screen of the mobile terminal.

8. The mobile terminal control apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a storage unit storing the respective user interface according to a use frequency of the respective user interface, wherein the touch recognition unit displays on the front screen of the mobile terminal the respective user interface stored in the storage unit according to the use frequency.

9. The mobile terminal control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of touch sensors are on the rear and lateral sides of the mobile terminal.

10. The mobile terminal control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of touch sensors are arranged in a grid format.

11. The mobile terminal control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the displayed respective user interface represents one of a menu, a key, number data, character data, or image data, which can be displayed on the front screen.

12. The mobile terminal control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the displayed respective user interface represents one or more user interfaces for controlling a respective function of an application that is currently being executed, with results of the application execution being displayed on the front screen with the displayed respective user interface.

13. A mobile terminal apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of touch sensors on a rear of a mobile terminal;

a touch recognition unit configured to recognize a touch and location of one or more fingers sensed by at least one of the plurality of touch sensors and then configured to display a respective user interface on a front screen on a front of the mobile terminal at a second location based on the recognized location of the one or more fingers; and

an execution unit configured to recognize a change in the touch of the one or more fingers and configured to execute the displayed respective user interface on a basis of a result of the recognition of the change in the touch of the one or more fingers,

wherein the touch recognition unit sets locations and numbers of user interfaces to be displayed on the front screen based on a determined distribution of touch areas on the rear of the mobile terminal touched by the one or more fingers, and

wherein, when the determined distribution of the touch areas on the rear of the mobile terminal represents that a maximum number of fingers that can simultaneously touch an area on the rear of the mobile terminal is less than a number of available user interfaces to be displayed, user interfaces of the plurality of available user interfaces that are not initially displayed on the front screen are subsequently available to a user through a scrolling operation between the user interfaces by the one or more fingers that touch the rear of the mobile terminal.

14. The mobile terminal apparatus of claim 13, wherein the touch recognition unit is further configured to set a number of the user interfaces to be displayed on the front screen based on a number of fingers recognized by the plurality of touch sensors.

15. The mobile terminal apparatus of claim 14, wherein, when the number of fingers recognized by the plurality of touch sensors changes, the set number of user interfaces to be displayed on the front screen also changes, and

wherein the changed number of fingers recognized by the plurality of touch sensors includes at least one finger.

16. The mobile terminal apparatus of claim 13, wherein the touch recognition unit is further configured to calculate an average value of x-axis coordinates of determined areas of the rear of the mobile terminal on which fingers of the user touch, such that the second location of the displayed respective user interface is based on the calculated average value.

17. The mobile terminal apparatus of claim 13, wherein, in the displaying of the respective user interface on the front screen, the user interfaces are displayed according to a respective use frequency of the respective user interface.

18. The mobile terminal apparatus of claim 13, wherein, in the displaying of the respective user interface on the front screen, the user interfaces are displayed according to respective priorities based on the maximum number of fingers that can simultaneously touch the area of the rear of the mobile terminal.

19. A mobile terminal control method, comprising:

recognizing a touch of one or more fingers sensed by at least one of a plurality of touch sensors on a rear of the mobile terminal;

displaying a respective user interface on a front screen of the mobile terminal according to a location of the recognized touch of the one or more fingers, so as to match a location of the displayed respective user interface on the front screen to the location of the recognized touch of the one or more fingers; and

recognizing a change in the touch of the one or more fingers and executing a displayed user interface based on a result of the recognition of the change in the touch of the one or more fingers,

wherein the displaying of the respective user interface includes simultaneously displaying a plurality of user interfaces on the front screen on the front of the mobile terminal according to recognized touches of a plurality of fingers, and

wherein, when all user interfaces cannot be displayed on the front screen of the mobile terminal, the displaying of the user interface includes additionally displaying a sub user interface or a movable user interface on the front screen of the mobile terminal and the recognizing of the change in the touch of the one or more fingers further includes recognizing a change in the recognized touches on the rear of the mobile terminal matched to one or more locations on the sub user interface or the movable user interface.

20. The mobile terminal control method of claim 19, wherein the recognizing of the change in the touch of the one or more fingers and the executing of the user interface comprises:

recognizing a change in an area of the plurality of touch sensors touched by a finger, a change in strength of touch pressure applied by the finger, or a change in a touch operation, as sensed by the plurality of touch sensors; and

displaying a user interface on an area of the front screen of the mobile terminal matched to the area touched by the finger based on a result of the recognition of the change to the area of the plurality of touch sensors.

21. The mobile terminal control method of claim 19, wherein the displayed respective user interface represents one of a menu, a key, number data, character data, or image data, which can be displayed on the front screen.

22. The mobile terminal control method of claim 19, wherein the displayed respective user interface represents one or more user interfaces for controlling a respective function of an application that is currently being executed, with results of the application execution being displayed on the front screen with the displayed respective user interface.