This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. ยง119(a) to a Korean Patent Application filed on Jun. 11, 2013 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office and assigned Serial No. 10-2013-0066291, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a call in a portable terminal, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for controlling an incoming call in a portable terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to the development of information communication and semiconductor technologies, for example, functions of portable terminals have become increasingly diverse. In particular, portable terminals may provide various functions such as a voice recording function, a wireless headset connecting function, a memo writing, and a speaker call function during a call.
However, the above-described call functions are selected after the portable terminal has already started performing the call. For example, when an incoming call is received, a desired call function is selected after performing the normal call mode when the incoming call is generated. Therefore, when a user desires to perform the call function in a specific call mode, the user must execute the call function first, and then perform additional operation such as an icon selection and a menu tree entry in order to change the call mode into the user's desired specific call mode. Therefore, a conventional call service method cannot be performed in the desired specific call mode at the time the call is started. In addition, it may be difficult for the user to perform additional operations to change to the desired call mode according to a call environment of user operating the portable terminal.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made to address at least the above problems, and to provide at least the advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for performing a user's desired call mode at a call start time point without changing a call mode through a plurality of key inputs.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method for controlling a call mode in a portable terminal is provided. The method includes displaying a call mode selection screen at a time an incoming call is detected; recognizing the call mode which is selected from the call mode selection screen; and servicing the incoming call in the selected call mode.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for controlling a call mode in a portable terminal is provided. The apparatus includes a wireless communication unit configured to detect a generation of an incoming call; a display unit configured to display a call mode selection screen according to the detected generation of the incoming call; a touch panel configured to detect a touch generated on the call mode selection screen; a controller configured to determine whether the detected touch selects a specific call mode and requests a command to start a call, and further configured to starts the call in the selected call mode when the touch is determined to select the specific call mode and request the command to start the call; and a storage unit configured to store a program that starts the call in the selected specific call mode according to the touch.
The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. Detailed descriptions of well-known functions and structures incorporated herein may be omitted to avoid obscuring the subject matter of the present invention.
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The display unit 110 may be an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display or an Active Matrix Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) display, and provides various visual information such as a menu, input data, and function setting information of the portable terminal to the user. The display unit 110 displays an incoming notification screen that includes a call mode selection menu to the user at the time of the incoming call generation. The call mode selection menu is an icon-type menu used to configure various call modes supported by the portable terminal. The display unit 110 may also display the call mode selected from the call mode selection menu on the screen. Furthermore, when a call is performed in a specific call mode (e.g., a memo mode, a keypad display mode, etc.), the display unit 110 may display a screen corresponding to the call mode.
The touch panel 120 is a device that detects a user's touch input. The touch panel 120 may operate in a capacitive overlay method, a resistive overlay method, and an infrared beam method, etc. In addition to, or as an alternative, to the above-listed examples, other methods that may detect a contact or a pressure of an object may be configured with the touch panel 120, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. The touch panel 120 is able to detect both a user's touch input, and a location where the touch is generated. In addition, the touch panel 120 may additionally include an electromagnetic induction-type touch panel that detects only a touch input of a specific touch apparatus. The touch panel 120 according to an embodiment of the present invention detects various touch inputs including a user's touch gesture input to select the call mode and as well as an input to execute the call function. The call mode being selected at this time may be the call mode that is indicated at a location on a screen corresponding to a starting point of the user's touch gesture. In addition, a drag and a long touch lasting for a certain period of time may be included in the touch gesture that initiates execution of the call function. Further, when the call function is performed in a specific call mode (e.g., a memo mode, etc.)that requests additional touch input, the touch panel 120 may detect the additional touch input from a user's body or touch tools, such as the specific touch apparatus described above.
The storage unit 130 stores a program and data that are used during operation of the portable terminal. According to an embodiment of the present invention, an application program controlling the start a call, in a call mode selected by the user, is also stored in the storage unit 130. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage unit 130 also stores commands and data that are necessary to display the call mode selection menu on the screen. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage unit 130 also stores data related to configuration of the call mode selection menu and data related to gesture settings for starting a call.
The wireless communication unit 140 performs wireless communication functions of the portable terminal. The wireless communication unit 140 may include, for example, a Radio Frequency (RF) transmission unit that performs up-conversion and amplification of a frequency of a transmitted signal, and a radio frequency reception unit that performs low noise amplification and down-conversion of a received signal. The wireless communication unit 140 may include a mobile communication module, such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) or a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) communication module, a digital broadcasting module, such as a Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) or a Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) module, a wireless internet communication module, such as a Wife or Wireless Broadband (Wibro) module, and a short distance communication module, such as a Near Field Communication (NFC) or a Bluetooth module. The wireless communication unit 140 detects incoming calls received by the portable terminal. The wireless communication unit 140 may also support the call function performance through the short distance communication module, when the call function is performed in a specific corresponding call mode (e.g., a wireless headset connection function). The wireless communication unit 140 also performs overall wireless communication functions.
The controller 150 controls overall operations of the portable terminal and signal flows between internal components of the portable terminal, and also performs data processing functions for processing data. The controller 150 controls the display of an incoming call notification screen that includes a call mode selection menu on the display unit 110 upon detecting an incoming call received through the wireless communication unit 140, and may also control output of an image and/or a sound according to the incoming call. The controller 150 recognizes commands corresponding to the call mode selection of a user and further corresponding to a start of the call, received through the touch panel 120, in a state in which the incoming call notification screen is displayed. The controller 150 also services the incoming call in the corresponding call mode by detecting the call mode selection according to the output of the touch panel 120. The call mode selection menu displayed on the incoming call notification screen may include options to select a normal mode, a received sound blocking mode, a speaker mode, a recording mode, a wireless headset connection mode, a memo mode, a transmitted sound blocking mode, and a keypad display mode, etc.
The normal mode is a mode in which calls to another party are performed by using a microphone and a receiver that is normally designated in a portable terminal. Further, the received sound blocking mode is a function that deactivates a receiver function. Through this mode, the portable terminal blocks the other party's voice that would otherwise be heard through the receiver in the portable terminal. In addition, the speaker mode is a function that outputs the other party's voice to a speaker instead of the receiver when the call is connected. Therefore, in the speaker mode, the user is able to hear the other party's voice much louder than when in the normal mode. In addition, the recording mode provides a function for recording the call audio. At this time, the recorded call audio may be stored in the storage unit 130 of the portable terminal as a type of audio file. In addition, the wireless headset connecting mode refers to a mode where the call function is performed through the wireless headset that is connected by using the short distance wireless communication such as a Bluetooth, etc. When executing the wireless headset connecting mode, the controller 150 of the portable terminal searches for and connects a wireless headset based on a list or setting information regarding a connectable wireless headset device. In this mode, the user is able perform the call through use of the headset call mode even though a headset calling mode was not previously set. When the wireless headset connecting mode is executed through the above mentioned wireless headset connecting procedure, the functions of the microphone and the receiver mounted on the portable terminal are replaced by the functions of the microphone and the receiver of the wireless headset, respectively. Accordingly, in the wireless headset connecting mode, a user is able to perform the call function through the wireless headset during the call. The memo mode is a mode supporting use of memo function while the call function is performed. When the call is performed in the memo mode, the controller 150 controls display of, for example, a memo display window and a keypad on the display unit 110, as well as a memo input through the touch pad 120. The transmitted sound blocking mode is a mode in which the microphone function is deactivated while the call function is performed. Depending on the user's situations at the time a phone call is received, the user may want to completely block the transmission of sound at the time point of receiving the call, but activate the microphone function at a later time. The keypad display mode is a mode in which the keypad is displayed on the display unit 110 while the call function is being performed.
The controller 150 may verify the call mode selected through the starting point of the touch gesture detected in the touch panel 120. In addition, the controller 150 may verify the touch gesture detected in the touch panel 120, and may determine whether the gesture is also a command to start the call. The controller 150 starts the call function when the detected touch gesture is a request to start the call. The controller 150 is also able recognize whether a touch input requesting a call mode change is received while the call function is performed, and performs the call function while changing the current call mode into the call mode corresponding to the touch input.
The controller 150 also controls various operations related to the normal function of the portable terminal.
Hereinafter, a procedure of performing the call function by selecting the call mode in the portable terminal according to various embodiments of the present invention is described with reference to
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When an input of a user's touch gesture to select the call mode and to start the call is recognized at operation 215, the controller 150 performs the call function in the selected call mode at step 217. The selected specific call mode can be canceled and changed while the call function is performed. When an input requesting the call termination is detected through the touch panel 120 at step 219, the controller 150 terminates the procedure of
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A portable terminal according to the various embodiments of the present invention display an incoming call notification and icons each corresponding to a respective incoming call mode on the screen when an incoming call is detected, and may provide a corresponding call mode when a displayed call mode icon is selected.
Accordingly, the portable terminal simultaneously performs a selection of a call mode and a call connection, and therefore, a user is able to more easily perform a call that is suitable to a purpose or situation of the call.
Although certain embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail hereinabove, it should be clearly understood that many variations and modifications of the basic inventive concepts herein taught which may appear to those skilled in the present art will still fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2013-0066291 | Jun 2013 | KR | national |