KR100803140B1 - Mobile terminal having short path interface and the method using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable terminal having a shortcut path interface and a method for shortening the path thereof. In particular, a user can quickly access a menu screen frequently used by a user. The present invention includes a function key for providing a shortcut path for moving to a specific menu of the terminal when the portable terminal is input together with at least one numeric key.

Terminal, Portable, Interface, Shortcut, Function Key.

Description

A mobile terminal having a short path interface and a method for shortening the path {Mobile terminal having short path interface and the method using the same}

1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a portable terminal having a short-path interface of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a path shortening method of a portable terminal.

3 is a schematic diagram showing a combination according to the input (press) of a function key and a numeric key of the present invention.

<Brief description of the main parts of the drawing>

10: case 20: screen

30: function key 40: keypad

41: numeric keys

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable terminal, and more particularly, to a portable terminal having a shortcut path interface for quickly accessing a menu screen frequently used by a user, and a method for shortening the path.

Today, due to remarkable developments in the field of information and communication technology, the information and communication environment is undergoing a drastic change, in particular, the use of mobile communication, which is easy to carry, is rapidly increasing, and accordingly, the demand for mobile communication terminals is also increasing.

In addition, new functions have been added to the mobile communication terminal to provide convenience of use, and research on the mobile terminal has been continuously conducted.

In the case of a mobile communication terminal, a number of functions are being compounded, and the configuration items of the menu are further increased and complicated. Up to now, technologies are generally menus using a tree structure. When an initial menu access button is pressed, detailed items are organized by category.

Recently, a new method of selecting the menu may be a method of registering an icon at a specific location for a menu that is frequently used by using a bookmark method or a new shortcut menu. However, such menus can also be cumbersome or complicated.

Normally, the menu access itself is accessed by using the "menu button", "up, down, left and right" and "select" buttons to open a menu item, which is a generalized trend and difficult to find specificity.

Such a menu approach requires a lot of steps for a user to click a button to access a corresponding service even though the structure of the menu is easily understood and found.

In general, mobile phone services frequently used by users are often limited to a few or ten. In other words, items related to the terminal setting other than the frequently used service or items related to the additional service are not frequently used.

Therefore, you need an interface that provides quick access to menus that users frequently use.

The present invention is to solve the problems as described above, in the personal portable mobile communication terminal, by setting a shortcut path to a function frequently used by the user, the shortcut path to quickly access the function if necessary A mobile terminal having an interface and a method for shortening the path thereof are provided.

In order to achieve the above technical problem of the present invention, the present invention provides a function key for providing a shortcut path for moving to a specific menu of the terminal when the portable terminal is input with at least one numeric key. It is achieved by including.

As another aspect for achieving the technical problem of the present invention, the present invention, the function key is provided on one side of the terminal; When the function key and the at least one numeric key are input together, it is achieved by including a shortcut moving unit for moving to a specific menu of the terminal.

On the other hand, in the case of storing the specific shortcut path, when the function key and at least one numeric key are input when a specific menu is displayed on the screen of the terminal, the combination of the function key and the numeric key may be a shortcut path. It is desirable to be stored as.

In still another aspect, there is provided a short-path method for a portable terminal, comprising: a first step of determining whether a function key of the terminal is input; Determining whether the state of the terminal is in a main menu; In a state of the main menu, determining whether a numeric key is input while the function key input is maintained; And a fourth step of moving to a specific menu defined by the function key and the number key when the number key is input.

In the second step, when the state of the terminal is in a detailed menu, determining whether a numeric key is input while the function key input is maintained; When the numeric key is input, it is preferable to further include step 4-1 of setting the function key and the numeric key as a shortcut key of the detailed menu.

The determining of whether the numeric key is input while the function key input is maintained may be performed by determining the presence of a time point at which one of the function key and the numeric key changes from the first level to the second level. have.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The portable terminal having the short-path interface of the present invention can be a portable telephone as shown in FIG. 1 or various portable mobile communication devices such as a PDA.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described taking a mobile phone as an example.

On one side of the case 10 of the portable telephone shown in FIG. 1, the telephone easily moves to a specific function or a specific menu, and provides a function key for providing a shortcut path for displaying the specific function or menu on the screen 20. 30 is located.

As shown in the figure, the function key 30 can be provided on the side of the case 10 so that the user can easily input the key when the user grabs the telephone.

The input of such a key may mainly be a method of pressing the function key 30 protruding to the outside, but other methods such as a touch method or a position movement method may be used.

The function key 30 is combined with the numeric key 41 installed on the keypad 40, and when the function key 30 and the numeric key 41 are input together, the function key 30 moves to a corresponding menu along a preset shortcut path. Do it.

The numeric key 41 may typically include an asterisk key and a sharp key.

In this way, a logic for performing a role of a function key may be added to an easily accessible key of an external button of the portable telephone, or a separate function key 30 may be configured.

That is, such a function key 30 can be used as a key that can provide a function of moving to a shortcut path only when a button that was originally performed as another function is combined with a number.

For example, if you press one of the external button keys (or may be several) and the numeric key "1" to control the volume of the handset, you can move directly to the message inbox.

Of course, the user wants to move this path.

The combination of these keys is possible for a total of 12 of the function keys 30 and the numeric keys (0 to 9, *, #) of the keypad 40, and up to 24 if the function keys 30 are two. In addition, for the convenience of the user, it is also possible to have all the external keys have a function as the function key 30.

As such, the function keys 30 are separately configured, and in the case of two function keys 30, the function keys 30 may be installed at opposite sides of the case 10 so that the two function keys 30 may be easily pressed at the same time.

In addition, when the state of the phone is in the detailed menu, when the function key 30 and the numeric key 41 are input in combination, it is set as a shortcut to move to the shortcut menu.

The process is summarized as follows.

1. Move to the menu item you frequently find.

2. Press the external function key in the menu.

3. Hold down the function key and press the number key.

4. Press the function keys and numeric keys on the usual screen to move to the saved menu.

5. Unless combined with numeric keys, external function keys perform their intended purpose.

The portable telephones released to date have a clamshell, a bar, a swing, and a slide, and these portable telephones have external function keys that users can easily press buttons.

By using key combinations for these external function keys, the menus can be easily accessed.

Such a process of moving or setting the shortcut path is performed through a shortcut moving unit (not shown) of the portable telephone, and such a shortcut moving unit may use a CPU or a microcomputer that performs the main functions of the portable telephone. .

2 illustrates a flow chart in which the role of the key is divided according to the position of the user menu of the present invention.

That is, when the external function key is pressed (S1), it is determined whether or not the user enters a menu for providing a current service or whether the main menu is in a state (S2).

At this time, in the case of the main menu state or in a state other than the detailed menu state, the numeric keys are input (S3), and when the numeric keys and the function keys are combined, they move to the location of the stored menu service (S4). ), When the numeric keys are not combined, the original functions assigned to the function keys are performed (S5).

If the state of the mobile phone is in the (Detail) menu state, if there is no combination of numeric keys, there is no change, but when the numeric keys are combined with the function keys (S3-1), the position of the contents of the menu is pressed. The combination of keys is stored as a shortcut path (shortcut key) (S4-1).

In addition, when the shortcut key of the mobile phone is pressed, there is no screen switching, and it is combined with the numeric keys to check the shortcut and move to the menu. You can do that.

In FIG. 3, five combinations of function keys and numeric keys are shown.

As shown in the figure, the value of the two keys of the function key and the numeric key is at the first level, for example, at the high level (pressed state), either one of the function key and the numeric key is at the second level, for example, low level. It is preferable that the time of switching to the short path progression (shortening function) is executed.

That is, in the case 1 of FIG. 3, the shortening function is not executed, but in the case of case 2 to case 5, the shortening function may be executed.

In case2 of FIG. 3, the function key is switched to the low level while the shortcut key is maintained at the high level, and the shortcut key is executed. In contrast, in case3 and case4, the numeric keys are moved to the low level while the function key is maintained at the high level. The switch is executed and the shortcut function is executed.

In addition, the case 5 shows a case where the shortcut key and the numeric key are simultaneously switched to the low level, and in this case, the shortcut function may be executed.

As such, when the two keys of the function key and the numeric key are not pressed at the same time, a process corresponding to the original purpose of the function key is performed. In this case, the numeric key displays the corresponding number on the screen.

Determination of whether these keys are simultaneously inputted also determines whether the values of the two keys are at a first level, for example a high level (pressed state), either one of a function key and a numeric key is a second level, for example low. It may be determined whether or not a time point for switching to a level exists.

The above embodiment is an example for explaining the technical idea of the present invention in detail, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, various modifications are possible, and various embodiments of the technical idea are all protected by the present invention. It belongs to the scope.

As described above, the present invention sets up a short path to a function frequently used by a user in a personal portable mobile communication terminal, so that the user can quickly access the corresponding function when necessary, thereby accessing a function frequently used by the user. At this time, it is possible to use the corresponding function without going through all the paths connected to the function, and by allowing the user to set such a short path, there is an effect of increasing the convenience of the portable terminal.

Claims (15)

In a portable terminal, Function key for providing a shortcut path to a specific menu of the terminal when input with at least one numeric key Including, The function key is a portable terminal having a shortcut path interface, characterized in that installed on one side of the portable terminal. delete The portable terminal of claim 1, wherein the numeric key comprises an asterisk (*) key and a shop (#) key. The portable terminal of claim 1, wherein the function keys are two. The portable terminal of claim 4, wherein the two function keys are provided on opposite sides of the terminal. In a portable terminal, A function key installed at one side of the terminal; When the function key and at least one numeric key is input together, a portable terminal having a shortcut path interface, characterized in that it comprises a shortcut moving unit for moving to a specific menu of the terminal. The method of claim 6, wherein the function key, When used alone, a portable terminal having a short-path interface, characterized in that it is used for the unique function of the terminal. The portable terminal of claim 6, wherein the shortcut moving unit comprises a function of storing a specific shortcut path in the specific menu. The method of claim 8, wherein the storing of the specific shortcut path, When the function key and at least one numeric key is input when a specific menu is displayed on the screen of the terminal, the combination of the function key and the numeric key is stored in the numeric key as a shortcut path. Portable terminal having a. In the short path method of a portable terminal, Determining whether a function key of the terminal is input; Determining whether the state of the terminal is in a main menu; In a state of the main menu, determining whether a common time exists between the input of the function key and the input of the numeric key; And a fourth step of moving to a specific menu defined by the function key and the number key when the number key is input. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein in the second step, when the state of the terminal is in a detailed menu, determining whether a common time exists between the input of the function key and the input of the numeric key; And a step 4-1 of setting the function key and the numeric key as a shortcut key of the detailed menu when the numeric key is input. The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein the determining of whether a common time exists between the input of the function key and the input of the numeric key is performed. The path of the portable terminal, characterized in that the presence of the time when the other level is changed from the first level to the second level in the situation where one of the function key and the numeric key is maintained at the first level. Shortening method. The method of claim 10, wherein in the third step, when the numeric key is not input, another function assigned to the function key is performed. The method of claim 10, wherein the on-screen message is displayed during the delay time of moving to the specific menu of the fourth step. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the time point for moving to the specific menu of the fourth step is different from the first level when the level of any one of the function key and the numeric key is maintained as the first level. A path shortening method for a portable terminal, characterized in that it is a time point changed to two levels.

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