Method and system for providing background contents of virtual key input device

• US 9,329,777 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2011
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Neopad Inc.
• Original Assignee: Neopad Inc.
• Inventors: Chung, Hee Sung
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Phi
• Assistant Examiner(s): BEARD, CHARLES LLOYD
• Application Number:
  US13/386,393
• Publication Number:
  US 20120274658A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,678 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 providing a background image to a virtual key input device for display on an information communication terminal thereof supporting a touch user interface (TUI). The method includes receiving, via the information communication terminal, a selection of settings by a user for a virtual key input unit, generating the virtual key input unit using the selected settings, the virtual key input unit being transparent, receiving, via the information communication terminal, a selection of background contents by the user for the virtual key input unit, and generating a background skin based on the selected background contents, and combining the transparent virtual key input unit and the background skin.

Claims

1. A method for providing contents to a user by using background contents of a virtual key input device on a display screen of an information communication terminal including a hardware processor, the method comprised of ordered steps executed by the processor via user input, configured to:

access a menu of a user interface of the information communication terminal;

select a virtual key input unit from a list of virtual key input units within the user interface of the information communication terminal, wherein a language for the virtual key input unit is selected from a plurality of languages, a key input method of a character layout is selected from a plurality of key input methods for the virtual key input unit, and a dimensional layout shape and arrangement structure of the virtual key input unit is selected from a plurality of dimensional layout shape and arrangement structures, such that each of the virtual key input units corresponding to a different type of a keypad;

generate a transparent skin key input unit having boundary lines for dividing character and function keys in the transparent skin key input unit based on the selected virtual key input unit;

respond to the user'"'"'s selection of the background contents for the selected virtual key input unit on the display screen, by selecting within the user interface background contents for the selected virtual key input unit from a background contents database which stores background contents for the virtual key input units,

selecting the background contents database within the user interface which includes selection of one of a contents database of background contents for personal use and a contents database of background contents for business use, and

selecting within the user interface a background skin of the selected virtual key input unit based on the selected background contents according to the dimensional layout shape and arrangement structure of the selected virtual key input unit;

combine the generated background skin and the generated transparent skin key input unit; and

generate a combined skin of the background skin and the transparent skin key input unit and displaying by the processor, the combined skin on the display screen of the information communication terminal.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

processing background contents using a media processor of the information communication terminal;

generating a background skin for the processed background contents; and

storing the generated background skin in a background skin database.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the background contents for personal use comprises photographs, pictures, or animations.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting the background contents comprises selecting the background contents from the contents database of background contents for business use and,

wherein the method further comprises storing the background skin of the selected background contents in a business background skin database for the background contents for business use.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the background contents for business use comprises advertisement, education, or PR contents which are represented as multimedia contents including photographs, pictures, or animations.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the contents database of the background contents for personal use and the contents database of the background contents for business use contains, for each record, attributes including a name, a production date, resolution, and a size of the contents of the record.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising controlling, by the user, a use environment of the virtual key input unit of the user.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the controlling of the use environment of the virtual key input unit comprises selecting, by the user, whether to utilize the virtual key input unit for personal use or to open the virtual key input unit for business use.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting the background contents and the generating the background skin comprises:

searching the background contents from the background contents database;

displaying the searched background contents on the display screen of the information communication terminal and selecting the background content for the virtual key input unit; and

generating the background skin of the virtual key input unit using the selected background contents according to physical characteristics of the information communication terminal.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the generating the background skin according to the physical characteristics includes:

standardizing the background contents according to a size of the virtual key input unit; and

adjusting a resolution of the background contents according to a display resolution of the information communication terminal.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the combining the transparent skin key input unit and the background skin comprises:

loading the background skin on an area of the display screen of the information communication terminal; and

loading the transparent skin key input unit of the virtual key input unit on the area of the display screen of the information communication terminal.

12. A system for providing contents to a user by using background contents of a virtual key input device on a display screen of an information communication terminal including a hardware processor configured to access a menu of a user interface of the information communication terminal, the system comprising:

a background contents database configured to store background contents for virtual key input units of the information communication terminal, wherein the background contents database comprises a personal background contents database configured to store personal background contents and a business background contents database configured to store business background contents;

a transparent skin key input unit database configured to store transparent skin key input units of the virtual key input units of the information communication terminal;

a transparent skin input unit generator controlled by the processor and configured to select a virtual key input unit from a list of the virtual key input units within the user interface of the information communication terminal, wherein a language for the virtual key input unit is selected from a plurality of languages, a key input method of a character layout is selected from a plurality of key input methods for the virtual key input unit, and a dimensional layout shape and arrangement structure of the virtual key input unit is selected from a plurality of dimensional layout shape and arrangement structures, such that each of the virtual key input units corresponding to a different type of a keypad, and to generate a transparent skin key input unit having boundary lines for dividing character and function keys in the transparent skin key input unit based on the selected virtual key input unit;

a background skin generator controlled by the processor and configured to select within the user interface background contents for the selected virtual key input unit from the background contents database, and to select within the user interface a background skin of the selected virtual key input unit based on the selected background contents according to the dimensional layout shape and arrangement structure of the selected virtual key input unit in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the background contents for the selected virtual key input unit on the display screen, wherein the processor is configured to select within the user interface one of the personal background contents database and a business background contents database; and

a skin combiner controlled by the processor and configured to combine the generated transparent virtual key input unit and the generated background skin, to generate a combined skin of the transparent skin key input unit and the background skin, and to display the combined skin on the display screen of the information communication terminal.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the background skin generator standardizes the selected background contents according to a size of the virtual key input unit, and adjusts a resolution of the background contents according to a resolution of the information communication terminal.

14. The system according to claim 12, wherein each of the personal background contents and the business background contents comprises photographs, pictures, or animations.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the skin combiner is further configured to load the background skin on an area of the display screen of the information communication terminal and to load the transparent skin input unit on the area of the display screen of the information communication terminal.