KR20060008454A - Method for controling keypad led in mobile communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for individually controlling the LEDs in a mobile communication terminal comprising a control unit for outputting a signal for individually controlling the LEDs and LEDs for lighting the buttons of the keypad, the predetermined item selection Flashing the currently lit LEDs, reading and displaying result data of the selected item, checking key values corresponding to the result data, and LEDs for the identified key values. Outputting a control signal to turn on. As such, the present invention has an advantage of effectively inducing a user's menu selection as well as a visual effect.

Keypad, Steady, LED, Individual Control, GPIO

Description

METHOD FOR CONTROLING KEYPAD LED IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL}             

1 is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 illustrates an apparatus for individually controlling keypad LEDs in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for lighting buttons corresponding to each of menu items displayed in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart of a playing game using the keypad LED individual control in the mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a method for controlling a keypad LED (Light Emitting Diode) in a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly to a method for individually controlling the LEDs mapped to each of the buttons of the keypad.

Mobile communication terminals are rapidly spreading due to the convenience of portability, and thus service providers (terminal manufacturers) are competitively developing terminals having more special functions to secure a large number of users. For example, a mobile communication terminal provides various functions such as a phone book, a game, a scheduler, a short message, the internet, an e-mail, an electronic calculator, and the like. Doing.

In general, the keypad (KEY PAD) provided in the mobile communication terminal is a number button of 0-9, menu button (menu), cancel button (clear), confirmation button, call button (TALK), end button (END) And a plurality of function buttons such as an internet access button and navigation buttons (▲ / ▼ / ◀ / ▶). The keypad 108 also includes a plurality of LEDs that are mapped one-to-one with the buttons. Here, the paired button and the LED are configured in one button case. The button case is treated with transparent numerals and the remaining portions are opaque so that the LED light is emitted through the transparent portion when the internal LED is emitted. Thus, the user can easily recognize the buttons even in the dark.

In the prior art, when a user inputs any one of the buttons, the LEDs are turned on simultaneously and blink at the same time if no button input is detected for a predetermined time. As such, since the keypad LEDs are uniformly lit and blinking, the keypad LEDs cannot meet the desire of the user to own a more differentiated terminal, and there is a problem in applying to various applications. For example, lighting the buttons corresponding to each of the menu items displayed in the menu selection mode may visually differentiate and induce the user's menu selection more effectively.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for individually controlling LEDs mapped to each of buttons of a keypad in a mobile communication terminal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for lighting buttons corresponding to each of the menu items displayed when the menu selection mode is performed in the mobile communication terminal.

Still another object of the present invention is to use a function of independently controlling keypad LEDs in a mobile communication terminal in various applications such as games.

According to the present invention for achieving the above object, in the mobile communication terminal consisting of a control unit for outputting a signal for controlling the LED and LEDs for individually lighting the buttons of the keypad, for controlling the LEDs individually The method may further include: blinking LEDs that are currently turned on, selecting a predetermined item, reading and displaying result data of the selected item, checking key values corresponding to the result data; And outputting a control signal to light LEDs for key values.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In describing the present invention, when it is determined that the detailed description of the related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Hereinafter, the present invention will describe a technique for individually controlling LEDs mapped to each of buttons of a keypad in a mobile communication terminal. Meanwhile, in the following description, "button lighting" is used in the same meaning as LED lighting mapped to a button.

1 is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, the mobile communication terminal includes a cellular phone, a personal communication system (PCS), a personal data assistant (PDA), an international mobile communication-2000 (IMT2000) terminal, and the like. The following description will be described with the general configuration of the above examples.

Referring to FIG. 1, a control unit (MPU: Micro-processor unit) 100 controls the overall operation of the mobile communication terminal. For example, it performs processing and control for voice calls and data communications, and processes functions for individually controlling the LEDs mapped to each of the buttons of the keypad in addition to the conventional functions. Therefore, in the following description, description of the processing and control of the conventional control unit 100 will be omitted.

The program memory 102 stores a program for controlling the overall operation of the mobile communication terminal. The program memory 102 may use a flash memory. The data memory 104 temporarily stores data generated during the operation of the mobile communication terminal. The data memory 104 may use a random access memory (RAM). The nonvolatile memory 106 stores telephone numbers and system parameters registered to perform functions such as speed dialing. The nonvolatile memory 106 may use an EEPROM.

Key pad 108 is a number buttons of 0-9, menu button (menu), cancel button (clear), OK button, call button (TALK), end button (END), Internet access button, navigation And a plurality of function buttons such as buttons (▲ / ▼ / ◀ / ▶), and provide button input data corresponding to a button pressed by the user to the controller 100. The keypad 108 also includes a plurality of LEDs that are mapped one-to-one with the buttons. Here, one pair of buttons and LEDs are configured in one button case. The button case is treated with transparent numerals and the remaining portions are opaque so that the LED light is emitted through the transparent portion when the internal LED is emitted. According to the present invention, the plurality of LEDs are individually turned on and flashed under the control of the controller 100. Since a configuration thereof will be described later with reference to FIG. 2, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.                     

The display 110 displays status information generated during the operation of the mobile communication terminal, a limited number of characters, a large amount of video and still images, and the like. The display unit 110 may use a liquid crystal display (LCD).

The codec (Coder-Decoder) 112 connected to the control unit 100 and the microphone 114 and the speaker 116 connected to the codec 112 are voice input / output blocks used for phone calls and voice recording. . The codec 112 converts the PCM data provided from the controller 100 into an analog voice signal and transmits the same through the speaker 116 and converts the voice signal received through the microphone 114 into PCM data. Provided to the controller 100.

In addition, the RF unit (Radio Frequency unit) (120) is the frequency of the radio frequency signal received via the antenna 118 is provided to the baseband processing unit 122 by lowering the frequency, the baseband signal from the baseband processing unit 122 The frequency is raised and transmitted through the antenna 118. The baseband processor 122 processes a baseband signal transmitted and received between the RF unit 120 and the controller 100. For example, in case of transmission, channel coding and spreading of data to be transmitted are performed, and in case of reception, despreading and channel decoding of a received signal are performed. .

2 shows an apparatus for individually controlling keypad LEDs according to an embodiment of the invention. As shown, the keypad LED control apparatus according to the present invention comprises a control unit 100, a plurality of LEDs 200 and a plurality of buttons 202 mapped one-to-one with the plurality of LEDs. . Herein, the controller 100 includes a plurality of General Purpose Input Outputs (GPIOs) as a modem chip (eg, MSM). In order to control the LEDs 200, one GPIO is connected to each LED. Accordingly, the controller 100 may individually control the plurality of LEDs 200 through a general purpose input output (GPIO). In this case, when the GPIO bit is set high, the corresponding LED is turned on. When the GPIO bit is set low, the corresponding LED blinks. In general, since the number of buttons is mostly 32 or less in a mobile communication terminal, all 32-bit GPIOs can be independently controlled.

For example, if you want to turn on button 2, set port (GPIO xx + 2) to high. This causes the second LED to light up and the light of the LED is emitted through the transparent processing portion (number) of button 2, so the user perceives that button 2 is lit. To flash the LED, set the (GPIO xx + 2) port low. Since the GPIO can be arbitrarily set in software (S / W), when the GPIO is set according to the number of buttons, the keypad LEDs can be freely controlled.

Then, a specific operation according to the present invention will be described here.

3 illustrates a procedure for lighting buttons corresponding to each of the menu items displayed in the mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.                     

Referring to FIG. 3, first, in step 301, the controller 100 determines whether a menu item is selected by a user's button manipulation. In this case, when the selection of the menu item is detected, the controller 100 proceeds to step 303 and blinks keypad LEDs (buttons) that are currently turned on.

After flashing the keypad LEDs, the controller 100 reads lower menu items corresponding to the selected menu item in step 305. In operation 307, the controller 100 displays the read lower menu items on a display window.

After displaying the submenu items, the controller 100 checks key (or button) values for selecting the submenu items in step 309. In operation 311, the controller 100 turns on the keypad LEDs corresponding to the key values.

As described above, the controller 100 sets the GPIO bits corresponding to the key values high to light the corresponding LEDs. For example, if the submenu items are three, the key values for selecting the submenu items are 1, 2, 3. Therefore, referring back to FIG. 2, the controller 100 sets the (GPIO xx) port, the (GPIO xx + 1) port, and the (GPIO xx + 2) port as high to 1, Light up buttons 2 and 3.

4 is a flowchart of a playing game using the keypad LED individual control in the mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the mobile communication terminal, a function of mapping a keypad and a scale (Fig. FIG. 4 illustrates a game in which the playing function and the keypad LED individual control function are combined, and the game method in which the corresponding buttons are sequentially lighted according to the scale of the playing song and the user presses the illuminated button to obtain a score. .

Referring to FIG. 4, first, in step 401, the controller 100 determines whether a playing game menu is selected by a user's button manipulation. If the playing game menu is not selected, the controller 100 proceeds to step 423 to perform a corresponding mode (eg, a standby mode). If the playing game menu is selected, the controller 100 displays basic setting contents (eg, playing music name, playing instrument, level) for the playing game in step 403 on the display window. In this state, the user can change the setting contents by operating a button.

In the state where the setting contents are displayed, the controller 100 checks whether the "game start" is selected by the user's button manipulation in step 405. In this case, if the game start is selected, the controller 100 displays an initial game screen in step 407.

In operation 409, the controller 100 turns on the corresponding LED (or button) of the keypad based on the playing data of the playing music previously set. At this time, the number of the lit button can be displayed on the screen. At this time, the user inputs the corresponding button while the LED is turned on.                     

In operation 411, the controller 100 checks whether there is a button input. If no button input is detected for a predetermined time (until the next button is turned on), the controller 100 returns to step 409 to light the next LED based on the performance data. If the button input is detected, the controller 100 proceeds to step 413 and transmits a sound corresponding to the button input by the user through the speaker.

In operation 415, the controller 100 determines whether the lit button (the button requesting input) and the button input by the user match. If there is no match, the controller 100 proceeds to step 419. If there is a match, the controller 100 proceeds to step 417 to increase the match counter and then proceeds to step 419. In addition, if there is a match, the number currently displayed on the display window is displayed in a different color so that the user can recognize whether or not the match.

On the other hand, the controller 100 checks whether the end of the game is detected in step 419. If the end of the game is not detected, the control unit 100 returns to step 409 to turn on the next LED based on the playing data to request the user's button input. If the end of the game is detected, the controller 100 proceeds to step 421 and calculates a score based on the match counter (eg, converted into a percentage (%)), displays it on the display window, and then ends.

For example, the selected song is "school bell" and the set of buttons (playing data or musical score) for playing "school bell" is "5-5-6-6-5-5-3 ..." In this case, the buttons constituting the set are sequentially turned on. The lighting time is set differently according to the length of the sound. On the other hand, the user enters a button that is lit to play. In addition, the mobile communication terminal determines whether the button to be lit and the button input by the user match, and converts the number of times matched at the end of the performance as a percentage to display on the screen.

Meanwhile, in the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by those equivalent to the scope of the claims.

As described above, the present invention proposes a function in which the buttons of the keypad are individually turned on and off. This feature can be used in various applications. As described above, you can apply to the game to score points by pressing the illuminated button. In addition, when entering a menu and selecting a submenu, by lighting only buttons corresponding to the submenus, the user may effectively induce a menu selection as well as a visual effect. In addition, when the music is played on the terminal, if the buttons of the keypad are lit and blinked properly, a colorful visual effect can be realized. In addition, when the application software installed in the terminal or downloaded wirelessly uses this function, various effects and functions can be realized.

Claims (1)

In the mobile communication terminal consisting of a control unit for outputting a signal for controlling the LEDs and LEDs for individually lighting the buttons of the keypad, the method for individually controlling the LEDs, When the predetermined item is selected, the process of blinking the currently lit LEDs, Reading and displaying the result data of the selected item; Identifying key values corresponding to the result data; And outputting a control signal to light the LEDs for the identified key values.

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