User terminal device for supporting user interaction and methods thereof

• US 9,823,756 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2014
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kwak, Ji-yeon, Kim, Yun-kyung, Lee, Yong-yeon, Kim, Hyun-jin, Yoon, Yeo-jun, Kumar, Nipun, Seo, Joon-kyu
• Primary Examiner(s): McLoone, Peter D
• Application Number:
  US14/329,310
• Publication Number:
  US 20150015513A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,229 Days
• 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 1/1637 Details related to the display arrangement, including those related to the mounting of the display in the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1652 the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04102 Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04103 Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04108 Touchless 2D- 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 without distance measurement in the Z direction
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 : for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 : Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 : Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 : Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 : using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 : for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/022 : in absence of operation, e.g. no data being entered during a predetermined time
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 : Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 : in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A method of controlling a user terminal device including a touch screen divided into a main area and at least one sub area. The touch screen includes a first surface including the main area, a second surface extending from the first surface and including the at least one sub area, and wherein the second surface is curved or bent with respect to a plane of the first surface is provided. The method includes performing an unlocking operation to activate the user terminal device, in response to a first pinch gesture being input on the at least one sub area while the user terminal device is locked; and performing a locking operation to inactivate the user terminal device, in response to a second pinch gesture being input on the at least one sub area, while the user terminal device is unlocked.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a user terminal device including a touch screen divided into a main surface area, a first curved surface area extended from a first side of the main surface area and a second curved surface area extended from a second side of the main surface area, the method comprising:

receiving a first touch input on the first curved surface area and a second touch input on the second curved surface area, at least one of the first touch input and the second touch input being a drag gesture which at least one touch point contacted to a corresponding one of the first curved surface area and the second curved surface area moves along the corresponding one of the first curved surface area and the second curved surface area;

providing a portion of a home screen on the touch screen in response to the first touch input and the second touch input,

wherein the portion of the home screen corresponds to an area defined by a start of the drag gesture, an end of the drag gesture, and another of the at least one of the first touch input and the second touch input.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising displaying at least one object on the portion of the home screen, in response to the portion of the home screen being provided.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising executing different applications according to a size of the portion of the home screen, in response to the portion of the home screen being provided.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising displaying at least one object on a remaining area other than the portion of the home screen, in response to the portion of the home screen being provided.

5. A user terminal device comprising:

a touch screen divided into a main surface area, a first curved surface area extended from a first side of the main surface area and a second curved surface area extended from a second side of the main surface area; and

a controller configured to receive a first touch input on the first curved surface area and a second touch input on the second curved surface area, at least one of the first touch input and the second touch input being a drag gesture which at least one touch point contacted to a corresponding one of the first curved surface area and the second curved surface area moves along the corresponding one of the first curved surface area and the second curved surface area, and control providing a portion of a home screen on the touch screen in response to the first touch input and the second touch input,

wherein the portion of the home screen corresponds to an area defined by a start of the drag gesture, an end of the drag gesture, and another of the at least one of the first touch input and the second touch input.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to, in response to the portion of the home screen being provided, display at least one object on the portion of the home screen.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to, in response to the portion of the home screen being provided, execute different applications according to the size of the portion of the home screen.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to, in response to the portion of the home screen being provided, display at least one object on a remaining area other than the portion of the home screen.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the touch screen includes a boundary area where the main surface area and at least one of the first curved surface area and the second curved surface area meet and form an obtuse angle.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the main surface area of the touch screen is disposed on a front surface of the user terminal device, and

wherein the at least one of the first curved surface area and the second curved surface area is disposed on at least one planar area from among a first side, a second side, and a back surface of the user terminal device.

11. A user terminal device comprising:

a bent touch screen comprising a main surface area, a first curved surface area extended from a first side of the main surface area and a second curved surface area extended from a second side of the main surface area, wherein at least one of the first curved surface area and the second curved surface area is bent or curved with respect to a plane of the main surface area;

a controller configured to receive a first touch input on the first curved surface area and a second touch input on the second curved surface area, at least one of the first touch input and the second touch input being a drag gesture which at least one touch point contacted to a corresponding one of the first curved surface area and the second curved surface area moves along the corresponding one of the first curved surface area and the second curved surface area, and control providing a portion of a home screen on the bent touch screen in response to the first touch input and the second touch input,

wherein the portion of the home screen corresponds to an area defined by a start of the drag gesture, an end of the drag gesture, and another of the at least one of the first touch input and the second touch input.

12. A method of operating a user terminal device, the method comprising:

providing a bent touch screen comprising a main surface area, a first curved surface area extended from a first side of the main surface area and a second curved surface area extended from a second side of the main surface area, wherein at least one of the first curved surface area and the second curved surface area is bent or curved with respect to a plane of the main surface area;

receiving a first touch input on the first curved surface area and a second touch input on the second curved surface area, at least one of the first touch input and the second touch input being a drag gesture which at least one touch point contacted to a corresponding one of the first curved surface area and the second curved surface area moves along the corresponding one of the first curved surface area and the second curved surface area; and

providing a portion of a home screen on the bent touch screen in response to the first touch input and the second touch input,

wherein the portion of the home screen corresponds to an area defined by a start of the drag gesture, an end of the drag gesture, and another of the at least one of the first touch input and the second touch input.