Mobile terminal and method for protecting against mistaken dialing

• US 9,531,856 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2014
• Issued: 12/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huizhou TCL Mobile Communication Company Limited (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Huizhou TCL Mobile Communication Company Limited (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Li, Cansong
• Primary Examiner(s): Wendell, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US14/648,472
• Publication Number:
  US 20150358449A1
• Time in Patent Office: 949 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/67 by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10

Abstract

A mobile terminal and a mistaken dialing preventing method thereof are provided. The mistaken dialing preventing method is based on a mobile terminal comprising a distance sensor and a touch screen, and comprises: when the touch screen is not locked and is displaying a dial plate icon, activating the distance sensor to detect whether there is an obstruction within an effective distance above the touch screen; if there is an obstruction, then detecting by the distance sensor a current distance between the obstruction and the touch screen of the mobile terminal; and if the current distance is smaller than a preset critical distance threshold, then controlling the touch screen to not display the dial plate icon and deactivating the distance sensor by the mobile terminal. In this way, the present disclosure can automatically deactivate the call program of the smartphone to absolutely prevent mistaken dialing with a very satisfactory effect.

Claims

1. A method for protecting against mistaken dialing of a mobile terminal by an inadvertent keystroke, the mobile terminal comprising a distance sensor and a touch screen, the method comprising the following steps of:

when the touch screen is not locked and is displaying a dial plate icon, activating the distance sensor to detect whether there is an obstruction within an effective distance above the touch screen;

when there is an obstruction, then detecting by the distance sensor a current distance between the obstruction and the touch screen of the mobile terminal; and

when the current distance is smaller than a preset critical distance threshold, then controlling the touch screen to not display the dial plate icon and deactivating the distance sensor by the mobile terminal, wherein the mobile terminal controls the touch screen to keep activated but not display the dial plate icon, and the preset critical distance threshold is 3 mm.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the following step of:

when the distance sensor detects that there is not an obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen, then detecting whether the dial plate icon is displayed on the touch screen, and when the dial plate icon is not displayed, then switching off the distance sensor.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the following step of:

when the distance sensor detects that there is not an obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen, then detecting whether the dial plate icon is displayed on the touch screen, and when the dial plate icon is displayed, then controlling the distance sensor to keep activated.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the distance sensor emits infrared light pulses and determines whether there is the obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen of the mobile terminal by the following steps:

when the distance sensor detects reflected infrared light pulses, then it is determined that there is the obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen of the mobile terminal;

when the distance sensor does not detect reflected infrared light pulses, then it is determined that there is no obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen of the mobile terminal.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the infrared light pulses emitted by the distance sensor are further utilized to calculate the distance between the obstruction and the touch screen of the mobile terminal when it is determined that there is the obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen of the mobile terminal.

6. A method for protecting against mistaken dialing of a mobile terminal by an inadvertent keystroke, the mobile terminal comprising a distance sensor and a touch screen, the method comprising the following steps of:

when the touch screen is not locked and is displaying a dial plate icon, activating the distance sensor to detect whether there is an obstruction within an effective distance above the touch screen;

when there is an obstruction, then detecting by the distance sensor a current distance between the obstruction and the touch screen of the mobile terminal; and

when the current distance is smaller than a preset critical distance threshold, then controlling the touch screen to not display the dial plate icon and switching off the distance sensor by the mobile terminal;

wherein the step of controlling the touch screen to not display the dial plate icon by the mobile terminal comprises the following steps of;

controlling by the mobile terminal the touch screen to keep activated but not display the dial plate icon.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the following step of:

when the distance sensor detects that there is not an obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen, then detecting whether the dial plate icon is displayed on the touch screen, and when the dial plate icon is not displayed, then switching off the distance sensor.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising the following step of:

when the distance sensor detects that there is not an obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen, then detecting whether the dial plate icon is displayed on the touch screen, and when the dial plate icon is displayed, then controlling the distance sensor to keep activated.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the distance sensor emits infrared light pulses and determines whether there is the obstruction within an effective distance above the touch screen of the mobile terminal by the following steps:

when the distance sensor detects reflected infrared light pulses, then it is determined that there is the obstruction within an effective distance above the touch screen of the mobile terminal;

when the distance sensor does nut detect reflected infrared light pulses, then it is determined that there is no obstruction within an effective distance above the touch screen of the mobile terminal.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the infrared light pulses emitted by the distance sensor are further utilized to calculate the distance between the obstruction and the touch screen of the mobile terminal when it is determined that there is the obstruction within an effective distance above the touch screen of the mobile terminal.

11. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a touch screen;

a distance sensor, configured to detect whether there is an obstruction within an effective distance above the touch screen when the touch screen is not locked and is displaying a dial plate icon; and

a processor;

when the distance sensor detects that there is an obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen, a current distance between the obstruction and the touch screen of the mobile terminal is obtained through the detection of the distance sensor; and

the current distance is smaller than a preset critical distance threshold, the processor controls the touch screen to not display the dial plate icon and switches off the distance sensor;

wherein the processor controls the touch screen to keep activated but not display the dial plate icon.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 11, further comprising a non-transitory program storage medium, the non-transitory program storage medium stores a controlling unit, a determining unit and a detecting unit;

when the distance sensor detects that there is not the obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen, then the detecting unit detects whether the dial plate icon is displayed on the touch screen, and when the dial plate icon is not displayed, then the controlling unit switches off the distance sensor.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 11, further comprising a non-transitory program storage medium, the non-transitory program storage medium stores a controlling unit, a determining unit and a detecting unit;

when the distance sensor detects that there is not the obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen, then the detecting unit detects whether the dial plate icon is displayed on the touch screen, and when the dial plate icon is displayed, then the controlling unit controls the distance sensor to keep activated.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the preset critical distance threshold is 3 mm.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 11, further comprising a non-transitory program storage medium, the non-transitory program storage medium stores a controlling unit and a determining unit;

wherein the controlling unit is configured to control the distance sensor to be activated to detect whether there is the obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen;

the determining unit is configured to determine whether the current distance is smaller than the preset critical distance threshold, when the current distance is smaller than the preset critical distance threshold, the controlling unit controls the touch screen to not display the dial plate icon and switches off the distance sensor.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the distance sensor is an infrared distance sensor, it emits infrared light pulses to determine there is the obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen of the mobile terminal when the distance sensor detects reflected infrared light pulses;

and there isn'"'"'t the obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen of the mobile terminal when the distance sensor does not detect reflected infrared light pulses.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 16, wherein the distance sensor emits infrared light pulses to calculate the distance between the obstruction and the touch screen of the mobile terminal when it is determined that there is the obstruction within the effective distance above the touch screen of the mobile terminal.