KR20110010522A - User interface method using drag action and terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A user interface method and a terminal thereof for utilizing a drag motion of a touch input unit are provided to divide existing drag motions into the motion of respectively different input signals according to the strength or the time of the drag. CONSTITUTION: A touch input unit(20) generates drag information according to the strength or the time of the drag. A control unit(30) inputs the drag information according to the touch input unit. The control unit executes a command corresponding to the inputted drag information. The control unit recognizes the drag information according to the strength or the time of the drag.

Description

USER INTERFACE METHOD USING DRAG ACTION AND TERMINAL}

The present invention relates to a user interface method and a terminal, and more particularly, even when the same drag operation is performed in appearance, the drag information according to at least one of short and long, strong and time of the drag is recognized as different input signals to perform the operation. It relates to a user interface method and a terminal using a drag operation.

Typically, a user operates a terminal or inputs information necessary for the terminal by using an input device such as a keypad, a touch screen, a joystick, or a scroll wheel provided in the terminal.

In particular, in recent years, mounting of a touch screen capable of performing functions of a display unit and an input unit in a portable terminal has been expanded. The user executes an application of the mobile terminal through a touch of the touch screen and performs a necessary function. For example, an application program may be executed by touching an icon displayed on a touch screen of a terminal or a menu bar. Therefore, in terms of execution of an application program, the touch screen method provides convenience to a user as compared to a conventional keypad method.

However, the conventional touch input through the touch screen is limited to the input method because the finger touches or drags a specific area of the touch screen shortly or twice. As a result, the user is inconvenient to perform various functions of the terminal through the touch screen.

Furthermore, at the present time when the touch input through the touch screen is increasing, the limited input method as described above may cause inconvenience to the user since it is impossible for the user to perform various inputs.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a user interface method and a terminal using a drag operation that can provide a new input method through the touch input unit.

Another object of the present invention is a user interface method and a terminal using a drag operation for performing the operation by recognizing the drag information according to at least one of long and short, strong and time of the drag as a different input signal even if the same drag operation is performed in appearance. To provide.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a terminal including a touch input unit and a control unit. When the touch input unit is dragged, the touch input unit generates drag information according to at least one of long and short, strength and time of the drag. The controller receives the drag information through the touch input unit and determines and executes a command corresponding to the input drag information.

In the terminal according to the present invention, the control unit recognizes the drag information as different input signals according to at least one of long and short, strong and time of the drag included in the drag information.

In the terminal according to the present invention, the drag information includes drag basic information having direction information of the drag and coordinate information of a start point and an end point of the drag. In this case, the controller may execute the command by using the drag basic information as a weight for at least one of long, short, and long periods of the drag.

The terminal according to the present invention further comprises a memory for storing a command corresponding to each of the drag information. In this case, the controller may extract and determine a command corresponding to the input drag information from the memory.

In the terminal according to the present invention, the touch input unit includes at least one of a touch panel, a touch pad, and a touch sensor of the touch screen.

The present invention also provides a user interface method of a terminal having a touch input unit. When the touch input unit is dragged by a user's touch, the drag input unit generates drag information according to at least one of long and short periods, strength and time of the drag, and inputs it to the controller. And an input step, a determining step of the control unit determining a command corresponding to the input drag information, and an execution step of the control unit executing the determined command.

In the user interface method according to the present invention, the storage step of the control unit performed before the input step, the command corresponding to the drag information that is differently recognized according to at least one of the short and long, strong and time of the drag in the memory storage step It may further include.

In the user interface method according to the present invention, the executing may further include outputting, by the controller, at least one of an execution result according to the determined command to at least one of an image, a voice, and a vibration.

According to the present invention, even if the terminal performs the same drag operation in appearance, the user performs the operation by dividing the drag information according to at least one of long, short, weak and time of the drag into different input signals. You can operate various functions of.

As such, by dividing the existing drag operation into different input signals according to the length, strength and weakness of the drag, various inputs are possible on the terminal even without a separate input device, and the user operates various functions of the terminal with only a drag input. It is convenient to be able to do it.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the same elements in the figures are denoted by the same reference numerals wherever possible. In the following description and the annexed drawings, detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the terminal 100 according to the present embodiment is a terminal having a touch input unit 20. The terminal 100 may perform a function according to a touch or drag signal input through the touch input unit 20. The terminal 100 includes a mobile communication terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable multimedia player (PMP), a notebook computer, a mobile broadcast receiver, a digital camera, and the like.

The terminal 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes a communication interface unit 12, a display unit 14, a key input unit 16, a memory 18, a touch input unit 20, and a controller 30.

The communication interface unit 12 performs a wired or wireless communication function of the terminal 100. The communication interface 12 performing a wireless communication function includes an RF (Radio Frequency) transmitter (not shown) for upconverting and amplifying a frequency of a transmitted signal, and an RF receiver for low noise amplifying and downconverting a received signal. (Not shown) and the like.

The display unit 14 displays information stored in the memory 18 including various function menus executed in the terminal 100. The display unit 14 may display an execution result according to a touch or a drag through the touch input unit 20 under the control of the controller 30 as an image. As the display unit 14, a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a touch screen may be used. In the present exemplary embodiment, the touch screen including the touch input unit 20 as the display unit 14 is illustrated. The user input input through touch or dragging of the display unit 14 may be sensed by the touch input unit 20.

The key input unit 16 includes a key for receiving numbers and letters and a key for setting various functions to receive a selection signal from a user. The key input unit 16 according to the present exemplary embodiment may receive a user input for determining whether to receive a touch input or a drag input through the touch input unit 20. For example, assuming that the terminal 100 capable of user input through the touch input unit 20 has a lock function such that the terminal 100 cannot receive the input, the user locks by inputting a predetermined key to the key input unit 16. The function may be released and a user input may be enabled through the touch input unit 20.

The memory 18 stores a program necessary for controlling the operation of the terminal 100 and data generated during execution of the program, and includes one or more volatile memory devices and nonvolatile memory devices. The memory 18 stores an execution program for implementing a user interface according to dragging through the touch input unit 20. The memory 18 stores commands corresponding to drag information input through the touch input unit 20, respectively.

The touch input unit 20 detects an input signal according to a user's touch or drag, generates touch information or drag information, and outputs the touch information or drag information to the controller 30. The touch input unit 20 generates drag information according to at least one of long, short, and long periods of dragging. In this case, the touch input unit 20 includes at least one of a touch panel, a touch pad, and a touch sensor of the touch screen. The touch input unit 20 according to the present embodiment has been described as an example implemented as a touch panel of a touch screen.

The touch input unit 20 receives an input from a user through the display unit 14 implemented as a touch screen method. The touch input unit 20 receives a user input of touching or dragging the display unit 14. The user input through the touch input unit 20 is largely divided into a drag input and a touch input. The user input is input through an input device available to the display unit 14 such as a user's finger, a stylus pen, or the like. When a user input is continuously sensed by the display unit 14 over a time or moving distance previously stored in the memory 18, it is referred to as a 'drag input'. Unlike the drag input, the touch input refers to an input detected by the display unit 14 at a time or moving distance previously stored in the memory 18, and is referred to as 'touch input' when the display unit 20 is touched once or twice. This is called.

When the user applies a drag operation to the display unit 14 using a finger or the like, the touch input unit 20 according to the present exemplary embodiment may generate drag information according to the operation and transmit the drag information to the controller 30. To this end, the touch input unit 20 may include at least one sensor (not shown) capable of detecting a user's drag input. The sensor for detecting the drag input may include, for example, a pressure sensor for detecting pressure, an optical sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a capacitance sensor for measuring a change in capacitance when the user's finger, or the like is in contact with or in proximity. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these sensors can sense not only drag input but also touch input.

The touch input unit 20 generates drag information according to at least one of long, weak, and time of the drag according to the drag input. That is, even if the same drag operation is performed in appearance, the touch input unit 20 generates different drag information according to at least one of long, short, and time of the drag, and transmits the different drag information to the control unit 30. ) May recognize each drag operation as a different input signal. Of course, the drag information includes drag basic information such as direction information of the drag and coordinate information of start and end points of the drag.

The controller 30 controls the overall operation of the terminal 100. The controller 30 controls the operation of the terminal 100 according to the drag input. When the drag information according to the drag input of the user is transmitted from the touch input unit 20, the controller 30 determines a command corresponding to the drag information. The controller 30 executes the determined command and outputs the same through the display unit 14. In this case, the controller 30 extracts and determines a command corresponding to the input drag information from the memory 18.

When executing the command according to the input drag information, the controller 30 executes the command using at least one of the length, strength, and time of the drag as the weight of the drag basic information included in the drag information, Individual instructions may be executed according to at least one of strength and time.

For example, Table 1 below shows the strength and weakness of the drag, and the command according to each level. The memory 18 may store the following Table 1 by the controller 30.

Drag
Strength Command lowness General video shift middle Fast video movement height Video rotation

Taking Table 1 as an example, the drag information includes the strength and weakness information of the drag corresponding to the strength and weakness of the drag. In this case, the strength of the drag may be determined according to the pressure applied to the touch input unit 20 when the drag is applied.

If the intensity of the drag included in the drag information is low while the image is displayed on the display unit 14, the controller 30 may find out from Table 1 that the command corresponding to the drag information is 'normal image movement'. . Accordingly, the controller 30 may control the display unit 14 to move and display the image in proportion to the drag length in the drag direction.

If the strength or weakness of the drag included in the drag information is medium, the controller 30 may find out from Table 1 that the command corresponding to the drag information is 'fast image movement'. Accordingly, the controller 30 controls the display unit 14 to move and display the image in the drag direction, but adds a weight corresponding to the strength of the drag to the drag length to move the display farther or faster than the normal image movement. Can be.

If the strength of the drag included in the drag information is high, the controller 30 may find out from Table 1 that the command corresponding to the drag information is 'image rotation'. Therefore, the controller 30 controls the display unit 14 to rotate and display the image by 90 degrees.

Meanwhile, in Table 1, the strength and weakness of the drag are divided and displayed in three stages. However, the strength and weakness of the drag may be divided into three or more levels.

In addition, the length or length of the drag may be set to distinguish the drag information in the same manner as the strength or weakness of the drag.

Also, Table 1 exemplifies an image display method based on drag information, but is not limited thereto. That is, various functions that can be executed in the terminal 100 may be applied to, for example, a function of canceling a selection of an icon, a phone number, or the like, or stopping an operation that was performed before a drag input.

In addition, the controller 30 according to the present exemplary embodiment may determine whether the user input transmitted through the touch input unit 20 is a drag input. The controller 30 is an input that is continuously sensed for more than a time previously stored in the memory 18 or when the user input through the touch input unit 20 moves more than a distance previously stored in the memory 18 from a specific point to another point. In this case, it may be determined that the corresponding user input is a drag input.

If the determination result is not the drag input, the controller 30 may determine whether the user input is a touch input. In this case, it is assumed that the memory 18 has previously stored a command corresponding to each touch input. If at least one command corresponding to the user input is previously stored in the memory 18, the controller 30 determines that the user input is a touch input. Accordingly, the controller 30 performs an operation according to a command corresponding to the touch input.

As described above, even if the terminal 100 performs the same drag operation in appearance, the terminal 100 divides the drag information according to at least one of short and long, strong and time of the drag into different input signals to perform the operation. Various functions of the terminal 100 may be operated through a drag operation through the touch input unit 20.

The user interface method using the drag operation of the terminal 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 as follows. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a user interface method using a drag operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In this case, the terminal 100 stores a command corresponding to the drag information in the memory 18. The command according to the drag information may be stored in the memory 18 in a default form or set by a user.

The following describes the command setting step by the user. The command corresponding to the drag information may be set and stored in the memory 18 before the step S42. That is, in the command input mode according to the drag information, the user inputs a drag corresponding to a command to be set through the touch input unit 20, and then drag information input differently according to at least one of long and short, strong and time of the input drag. When the command corresponding to the command is selected, the controller 30 associates the selected command with the input drag information and stores the same command in the memory 18.

The command setting step may be performed before the step S42 or may not be performed when the command is stored in the memory 18.

First, in step S42, the touch input unit 20 receives a user input from the user. Subsequently, in step S44, the controller 30 determines whether the user input received from the touch input unit 20 is a drag input or a touch input.

 In the case where the determination result in step S44 is a drag input, in step S46, the touch input unit 20 generates drag information under the control of the controller 30. That is, the touch input unit 20 generates the drag information according to at least one of long and short, strong and time of the drag. The touch input unit 20 transmits the generated drag information to the control unit 30. In this case, the drag information may include basic drag information.

Next, in step S48, the controller 30 determines a command corresponding to the input drag information. That is, the controller 30 refers to the memory 18 to extract and determine a command corresponding to the drag information. The controller 30 recognizes the drag information as different input signals according to at least one of short, long, and weak times of the drag included in the drag information. Therefore, even if the same drag operation is performed in appearance, the touch input unit 20 generates different drag information according to at least one of short and long, strong and time of the drag, and transmits the different drag information to the control unit 30. Each drag operation can be recognized as a different input signal.

In operation S54, the controller 30 controls the terminal 100 to perform an operation according to the determined command. In this case, the command may be a command related to performance of an application program that can be performed by the terminal 100. For example, the command may be camera shooting, image editing or a call or message transmission through a phone book. That is, when dragging slowly, the controller 30 moves the focus slowly, and when dragging quickly, the controller 30 may move the focus quickly. Alternatively, when the strength is given at a specific point during the drag operation, the controller 30 may perform a call or a message transmission to the specific phone number in focus.

If the user input is not a drag input as a result of the determination in step S44, the controller 30 determines the user input as a touch input in step S50.

Next, in step S52, the controller 30 determines a command corresponding to the touch input. In this case, in step S52, as in step S48, the controller 30 may refer to the memory 18 to determine a command corresponding to the touch input. The controller 30 extracts and determines a command corresponding to the corresponding touch input with reference to the memory 18.

In operation S54, the control unit 30 executes an operation according to the determined command. The controller 30 may output the execution result according to the determined command to the outside so that the user can recognize it. For example, the controller 30 may output the execution result as an image through the display unit 14, output a voice through a speaker (not shown), or output vibration as a vibration motor (not shown).

The user interface method using the drag operation of the terminal 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the screen examples of Table 1 and FIG. 3 as follows. 3 is a diagram illustrating a screen illustrating a user interface using a drag operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, as shown in FIG. 3A, when a user drags from left to right using a finger while the image is displayed on the display unit 14 in the vertical direction, the touch input unit 20 may drag information according to the dragging. Create At this time, the drag information includes the direction information from left to right, the length of the drag according to the coordinate information of the portion at which the drag input is started, the coordinate at which the drag input is finished, and the intensity of the drag.

The controller 30 determines an operation to be performed by the terminal 100 by analyzing drag information. In this case, the controller 30 may change the moving speed or change the display direction of the image displayed on the screen of the display unit 14 depending on the strength of the drag for the same drag operation.

For example, when the strength of the drag input in FIG. 3 (a) is low, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), the controller 30 moves and displays the image displayed on the screen in proportion to the drag length in the drag direction. .

If the intensity of the drag input in FIG. 3 (a) is medium, as shown in FIG. 3 (c), the controller 30 moves and displays the image displayed on the screen in the drag direction, By adding a weight corresponding to the strength and weakness, it can be displayed by moving relatively relative to FIG. 3 (b).

In addition, when the strength of the drag input in FIG. 3 (a) is high, as shown in FIG. 3 (d), the controller 30 rotates and displays the image displayed on the screen by 90 degrees. In this case, when the drag direction is from left to right, the image may be rotated 90 degrees clockwise. On the contrary, when the drag is directed from right to left, the image may be rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise.

As described above, the specification and the drawings have been described with respect to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, although specific terms are used, it is only used in a general sense to easily explain the technical contents of the present invention and to help the understanding of the invention. It is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other modifications based on the technical idea of the present invention can be carried out in addition to the embodiments disclosed herein.

The present invention relates to a user interface method and a terminal using a drag operation, in addition to the method of inputting a user's selection signal by simply touching or dragging the touch input unit, the user may perform the same drag operation even if the user performs the same drag operation. Since the terminals perform operations by recognizing different input signals according to at least one of them, the user may be provided with the convenience of operating the terminal by inputting various signals to the terminal through a drag operation.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a user interface method using a drag operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is an exemplary screen illustrating a user interface utilizing a drag operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the Related Art [0002]

12: communication interface unit 14: display unit

16: key input 18: memory

20: touch input unit 22: control unit

100: terminal

Claims (10)

A touch input unit configured to generate drag information based on at least one of short and long, strong and time of the drag when dragged; A control unit which receives the drag information through the touch input unit and determines and executes a command corresponding to the input drag information; Terminal comprising a. The method of claim 1, wherein the control unit, And recognizing the drag information as different input signals according to at least one of the short and long, the strength, and the time of the drag included in the drag information. The method of claim 1, wherein the drag information, And basic drag information having direction information of the drag and coordinate information of a start point and an end point of the drag. The method of claim 3, wherein the control unit, And executing the command by using the drag basic information as a weight on at least one of long, short, and long periods of the drag. The method according to claim 2 or 4, A memory for storing instructions respectively corresponding to drag information; The terminal further comprises. The method of claim 5, wherein the control unit, And extracting from the memory a command corresponding to the input drag information. The method of claim 1, wherein the touch input unit, A terminal comprising at least one of a touch panel, a touch pad, and a touch sensor of a touch screen. A user interface method of a terminal having a touch input unit, When the touch input unit is dragged by a user's touch, an input step of generating drag information according to at least one of short and long periods, intensity and time of the drag and inputting it to a controller; A determination step of determining, by the controller, a command corresponding to the input drag information; An execution step of the control unit executing the determined command; User interface method using a drag operation, characterized in that it comprises a. The method according to claim 8, which is performed before the input step, A storage step of storing, by the controller, a command corresponding to drag information that is differently recognized according to at least one of long, short, and long periods of the drag in a memory; User interface method using a drag operation, characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 9, wherein the executing step, Outputting, by the control unit, an execution result according to the determined command to at least one of an image, a voice, and a vibration; User interface method using a drag operation, characterized in that it further comprises.

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