Patent Application
20110016390
This application claims priority from and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0064240, filed on Jul. 14, 2009, which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to a mobile terminal that displays menu information according to a touch signal, and more specifically, to a mobile terminal that displays menu information according to a touch signal that is dragged on a touch screen.
2. Discussion of the Background
As a part of mobile communications technology, mobile terminals have been developed as devices for providing various services such as games, message transmission/reception, Internet search, wireless data communications, electronic organizers, digital cameras, and video phone calls, in addition to general phone calls.
Recently, attempts to adopt a graphic user interface (GUI) similar to that used in a personal computer (PC) or a touch panel to a mobile terminal have been made.
A mobile terminal having a touch function may include a touch panel as a user interface instead of a keypad. In this case, a user command may be input to the touch panel to cause the touch panel to generate a voltage signal or a current signal at a position touched by a touch pen or a finger. Such a touch panel may receive input information more conveniently.
However, the existing touch panel simply replaces the functions of a keypad in a mobile terminal, so that the mobile terminal performs only a function of recognizing keystroke-type commands inputted by the user through a touch pen or a finger. In addition, various applications for improving user's convenience have not been proposed yet.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a mobile terminal that receives a touch signal and displays menu information on a trace of the touch signal.
Additional features of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention discloses a mobile terminal including: a memory unit to store menu information; a touch screen including a touch panel, the is touch screen to display the menu information; and a controller to control the touch screen to display at least a portion of the menu information on a trace according to a dragged input signal corresponding to the trace.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for displaying menu information on a display. The method includes storing menu information including a menu item and a plurality of sub-menu items corresponding to the menu item, receiving a dragged input signal on the display, the dragged input signal beginning at a start point, and displaying the sub-menu items on a trace corresponding to the dragged input signal, the menu item arranged at the start point.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.
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The invention is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure is thorough, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, the shape, size, and relative sizes of regions may be exaggerated for clarity. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote like elements.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of this disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Furthermore, the use of the terms a, an, etc. do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising”, or “includes” and/or “including” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, regions, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, regions, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure, and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
Referring to
The memory unit 110 stores menu information. The menu information may is include information on main menus, sub-menus, and items. The main menu, the sub-menu, and the item are category names for classifying the menu information into categories. Generally, one or more sub-menus may belong to a single main menu, and one or more items may belong to a single sub-menu. The memory unit 110 may include a recording medium such as flash memory, hard disk, multimedia card micro memory, card type memory, random access memory (RAM), static random access memory (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable read-only memory (EEPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), magnetic random access memory (MRAM), magnetic disk, optical disk.
The memory unit 110 may store information on the frequency of use of menu information used by a user. In addition, the memory unit 110 may store the order of priority of the menu information according to user settings set in advance by the user. Furthermore, the memory unit 110 may store a preference folder including the menu information more frequently used by the user according to user settings set in advance of the user. The preference folder is a folder in which menus with higher preference may be collected so that the user may more easily access the corresponding menus. The memory unit 110 may store an image that defines a menu display form according to a drag form of an arbitrary shape. The image may be used to designate the drag form which can be representatively inputted and to arrange the menu information when the designated drag form is inputted. In addition, the memory unit 110 may store a trace displayed according to an input signal dragged across the touch screen 120 and the menu information. Specifically, the memory unit 110 may store an operation performed when the mobile terminal 100 receives a manipulation signal and executes an arbitrary application, and may store the operation state of the mobile terminal 100 at predetermined periods.
The touch screen 120 includes a touch panel and displays the menu information of is the memory unit 110 according to an input signal. Specifically, the sensor of the touch screen 120, which senses a touch operation, has a mutual layer structure and thus may function as an output device and an input device. The touch sensor may be in the form of touch film, touch sheet, touch pad, and the like. The touch sensor may receive an external signal by converting a change in pressure exerted onto the surface of the touch screen, electrical capacity generated at a particular site, or the like into an electrical input signal. The touch screen 120 may receive a user's command and display information on the basis of a control signal generated by the controller 140.
In addition, the touch screen 120 may further have an extended virtual area. The extended virtual area is an area larger than the area displayed on the display screen of the mobile terminal 100, and is provided in consideration of the limitation to the size of the screen that can be configured in the mobile terminal. That is, because of the extended size, the extended virtual area may contain more contents than the screen that can be configured in the mobile terminal 100 and the user may view the virtual area which is initially not shown on the display screen by horizontally or vertically scrolling the area displayed on the mobile terminal 100.
The sensing unit 130 may include a proximity sensing unit 131 and a motion sensing unit 132. The proximity sensing unit 131 may detect a nearby object around the touch screen 120 using an electromagnetic force or infrared rays without mechanical contact. Thus, the proximity sensing unit 131 may receive a user's command without contact. The motion sensing unit 132 detects the motion of the mobile terminal and generates a detection signal about the motion. Specifically, the motion sensing unit 132 may generate a detection signal by detecting the motion of the mobile terminal 100 according to a rotation angle, a position, acceleration, or the like.
The controller 140 may control the overall operations of the mobile terminal 100. For example, the controller 140 may perform controlling and processing associated with phone calls, data communications, video phone calls, and the like. The controller 140 may control the display of menu information stored in the memory unit 110 on the touch screen 120 along the trace of the dragged input signal on the touch screen 120 in response to the dragged input signal of the user. The trace of the dragged input signal displayed on the input display unit 120 may be processed to be transparent or be displayed to be recognizable by the user. The controller 140 may receive the input signal through the touch screen 120, the sensing unit 130, or a manipulation unit (not shown in the figure).
In addition, if the dragged input signal passes a reference point set in advance, the controller 140 may display the menu information corresponding to the reference point. The reference points may be set in advance such that the positions are suitably distributed to display all or part of the sub-menus that belong to the selected menu in consideration of the number of pieces of the menu information, and the menu information corresponding to the reference point is displayed if the dragged input signal passes through the distributed position. The menu information may include sub-menus that belong to the main menu corresponding to a point where the dragged input signal of the user begins. Accordingly, the controller 140 may control the sequential display of sub-menus on the trace of the dragged input signal. The controller 140 may display the menu information in the order of the frequency of use, or may display the menu information in the order of priority, which may be set by the user, by using the information of the memory unit 110. In addition, the controller 140 may control the touch screen 120 to display a menu shortcut icon for a more direct access to a selected menu on the display screen in a standby state of the mobile terminal 100. The menu shortcut icon is an icon set to be able to more is directly access the menu displayed. Specifically, according to the setting of the user, the main menu icons for the main menus more frequently used by the user are displayed on the display screen in the standby state of the mobile terminal 100 such that the user may more directly access the desired menus through the main menu icons. In addition, under control of the controller 140, only the menu information more frequently used by the user may be displayed on the trace by using the information in the preference folder stored in the memory unit 110.
The controller 140 may execute an animation effect to the menu information so as to be displayed on the trace of the dragged input signal. Examples of the animation effect may include zooming in to the menu information corresponding to a point where the dragged input signal passes from among the plural pieces of the menu information which are sequentially displayed, and zooming out from the pieces of menu information which are previously displayed, displaying in color the menu information corresponding to a point where the dragged input signal passes from among the plural pieces of the menu information which are sequentially displayed, displaying in grey the pieces of the menu information which are previously displayed, displaying in the uppermost layer in a 3D manner of the touch screen the menu information corresponding to a point where the dragged input signal passes from among the plural pieces of the menu information which are sequentially displayed in the 3D manner, and retreating from and displaying in the lower layer in the 3D manner, the pieces of the menu information which are previously displayed, and the like. The plurality of pieces of menu information displayed as described above may include main menus, sub-menus, and pieces of item information. In addition, various types of animation effect may be applied for more easy recognition of the pieces of menu information.
The controller 140 may control the touch screen to display the menu information is in various manners in consideration of the limitation to the size of the display screen of the mobile terminal. Specifically, the controller 140 may control the touch screen to sequentially display the pieces of the menu information corresponding to the display reference number according to the dragged input signal on the trace of the dragged input signal while updating. The display reference number is a reference number for displaying only the menu information corresponding to a predetermined reference number on the touch screen 120 and, if the reference number is exceeded, displaying the new menu information while removing the menu information that is previously displayed. As described above, when the pieces of the menu information are sequentially displayed while updating, there may be a case where the user wants to return to the previous menu. Therefore, connection icons that can move to the previous trace or the subsequent trace may be displayed on both sides of the updated trace. The connection icon is an icon for extending the trace to a trace that is not shown.
In addition, the controller 140 may control the touch screen to display function icons that can perform a function of editing the menu activated on the touch screen 120 while displaying the menu information. The function icon may include various icons according to applications, such as, a selection icon to select the corresponding menu information, a switch icon to access an upper menu of the corresponding menu information, and a delete icon to delete the corresponding menu information.
In addition, the controller 140 may control the touch screen to display the menu information in various forms. For example, when the form of the dragged input signal corresponds to a drag form stored in the memory unit 110, the controller 140 may control the touch screen to arrange the menu information according to the image definition based on the corresponding drag form. The controller 140 may provide a correction function for the input is signal to determine a dragged input signal generated within a reference error range as the dragged input signal corresponding to the shape of the trace set in advance, thereby displaying various pieces of the menu information according to the shape of trace set in advance. In addition, the controller 140 may control the touch screen to display the menu information on the trace of the dragged input signal at every time point when the dragged input signal of the user is released.
The controller 140 may provide various edit functions for the trace and the menu information which are already displayed. Specifically, when the dragged input signal passes a fixed point which may be arbitrarily set, the controller 140 may fix the trace and the menu information displayed on the trace to the displayed position, and the trace may be deformed or relocated according to a manipulation input signal of the user. For example, if the user touches a point of the trace and drags the trace, the shape of the trace may be changed in response to the dragged input signal of the user. The controller 140 may control the touch screen to display a form changing point for inputting a form changing signal for the trace when the trace and the menu information are fixed. The fixed point may be set to an arbitrary point on the touch screen 120 or generated such as when all of the menu information is displayed according to the selection of the user. For another example, if the user touches and drags menu information not on the trace, the position of the menu information may be moved according to the dragged input signal of the user. According to the dragged input signal of the user, the position of the menu information itself may be moved, or a new icon copied from the menu information may be moved. The copied new icons may be subsequently displayed on the display screen of the mobile terminal even if the trace and the menu information are deleted. The moved or copied menu information may be moved again to the trace in the manner described above.
The controller 140 may display the menu information into upper and lower categories classified, and may control the touch screen to display sub-menus that belong to an arbitrary main menu, and items that belong to one sub-menu among the sub-menus. When a drag signal wherein a touch starts is inputted to an arbitrary main menu, the controller 140 may control the touch screen to display the sub-menus that belong to the main menu corresponding to the point where the touch is started. When an arbitrary sub-menu is selected in various manners such as touching or direction switching while the sub-menus are displayed, items of the selected sub-menu may be displayed in a same or similar manner. That is, the controller 140 may control the touch screen to display sub-menus corresponding to a main menu and items corresponding to one sub-menu to be connected in a tree structure. Otherwise, when an arbitrary sub-menu is selected, in order to display items corresponding to the sub-menu in the subsequent operation, the controller 140 may control the touch screen to display items corresponding to the selected sub-menu while displaying a switch icon for switching the screen to a screen displaying a menu of an upper level.
In addition, the controller 140 may receive a selection signal for the menu information displayed in various manners. Specifically, the controller 140 may recognize as the selection signal, a signal inputted at the time when the user releases the drag of input signal, when the user inputs a new touch signal, when the user inputs two touches or a long touch, when a touch has stayed at an arbitrary point for a reference time or longer, when a change in direction occurs with a reference angle or greater, or the like.
When the dragged input signal of the user exceeds a reference length, the controller 140 may allow the trace and the menu information displayed in the state where they are not selected by the user to disappear in the displayed order so as to maintain an average is quantity of the displayed menu information. If the dragged input signal of the user moves backward along the trace on which the menu information has disappeared, the controller 140 may control the touch screen to display again the disappeared menu information in the reverse order.
When the dragged input signal deviates from the reference area displayed on the touch screen 120, the controller 140 may scroll the screen to display the virtual area extended along the direction of the user drag of input signal on the touch screen 120 by using the virtual area of the touch screen 120. For example, if the user inputs a dragged input signal to move to an area to the right of the area displayed on the touch screen 120, the controller 140 may control the touch screen to scroll the area displayed in the mobile terminal 100 to the right to display the virtual area. If the user wants to drag the signal for further movement at the boundary of the extended virtual portion, the controller 140 may provide information indicating that there is no more extended area by executing a warning motion using a warning sound, a warning vibration, a warning message, or the like. In addition, if the user selects an item in the newly displayed extended area, the controller 140 may scroll the display screen of the mobile terminal to place the item at the center of the display screen of the mobile terminal.
The controller 140 may receive a detection signal of the motion sensing unit 132 and arrange and display the menu information displayed on the touch screen 120 on a basis set in advance.
The embodiments described herein may be implemented in a recording medium that can be read and executed by a computer or a similar device using software and hardware in various combinations.
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a illustrates a display screen of the mobile terminal on which sub-menus are displayed for main menus displayed in a line.
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b illustrates a display screen of the mobile terminal on which sub-menus are displayed for main menus displayed in the standby state of the mobile terminal. Referring to
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a is a view illustrating a display screen of the mobile terminal showing a 2D animation effect to zoom in a sub-menu that is displayed.
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b is a view illustrating a display screen of the mobile terminal showing a 3D animation effect to zoom in a sub-menu that is displayed. Referring to
Various types of animation effect based on size, color, and distance may be applied according to the applications of the mobile terminal.
c is a view illustrating a display screen of the mobile terminal in which a sub-menu is displayed according to a release signal of the user. Referring to
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a is a view illustrating a display screen of the mobile terminal in which the sub-menus corresponding to the reference number are sequentially displayed while updating.
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b is a view illustrating a display screen of the mobile terminal in which function icons are displayed for the activated sub-menu. Referring to
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a is a view illustrating a display screen of the mobile terminal displaying main menus, sub-menus, and items together in a tree structure.
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b is a view illustrating a display screen of the mobile terminal displaying main menus, sub-menus, and items together with a switch icon to switch between upper and lower levels. Referring to
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a is a view illustrating a display screen of the mobile terminal for deleting the menu information that is previously displayed according to the release signal.
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b is a view illustrating a display screen of the mobile terminal for displaying the deleted menu information in the reverse order according to a reverse drag of input signal of the user. Referring to
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The configurations and methods of the above-mentioned embodiments are not limitedly applied to the mobile terminal, but the entirety or a combination of parts of the embodiments may be selectively employed to achieve various modifications of the embodiments.
While the exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
In addition, many modifications can be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of this disclosure without departing from the scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that this disclosure not be limited to the particular exemplary embodiments is disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this disclosure, but that this disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2009-0064240 | Jul 2009 | KR | national |
