KR20020038849A - Mobile telecommunication terminal having touch pad and menu selection method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A mobile communication terminal having a touch pad and a method for selecting menus using the same are provided to add the touch pad on the mobile communication terminal, so as to easily move on a screen such as menu selection and Internet connection and easily input digits and characters for e-mail or message sending. CONSTITUTION: An antenna(110) receives wireless signals radiated to the air, and radiates wireless signals to the air. A transmitter/receiver(120) processes transmitting signals to be radiated through the antenna(110) and processes the wireless signals received through the antenna(110). A memory(140) stores inherent data, program data and data processed in a terminal. An LCD(Liquid Crystal Display,12) displays menus indicating functions turned to directories. A touch pad(15) provides inputs for selection desired functions through the menus displayed on the LCD(12). And a controller(130) selects one function of the functions to display the selected function on the LCD(12), by responding to an input through the touch pad(15).

Description

MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL WITH TOUCH PAD AND MENU SELECTION METHOD {MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATION TERMINAL HAVING TOUCH PAD AND MENU SELECTION METHOD THEREOF}

The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal and a menu selection method thereof.

In general, a mobile communication terminal such as a cellular phone or a personal communication services (PCS) phone has an appearance as shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, a body of a general mobile communication terminal is shown. 10 is composed of a speaker 11, a Liquid Crystal Display (hereinafter referred to as "LCD") 12, and a flip (or folder) 13.

On the other hand, the mobile communication terminal as shown in FIG. 1 provides various functions for making a call or allowing the user to facilitate convenience during the call. These various functions are displayed on the LCD 12 of the mobile communication terminal in the form of a menu. Therefore, users can select their desired function through the displayed menu. In particular, in order to facilitate the user's function selection operation, various functions of the menu are structured in a directory according to their characteristics.

However, in order to select a desired function on a menu in a mobile communication terminal according to the prior art, it is troublesome to press a selection button or an up / down button one by one. In particular, in recent years, there is a tendency that internet access through mobile communication terminal is frequently used, and it is troublesome to press up / down button every time the screen is moved to search for desired information after accessing the internet through such mobile communication terminal. There is a feeling. In addition, there is a disadvantage that the input of numbers or letters for e-mail or message transmission through a mobile communication terminal is difficult and complicated.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication terminal and a menu selection method thereby enabling a user to select and use a desired function more conveniently.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication terminal and a method therefor for making the Internet connection more convenient.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a mobile communication terminal and a method therefor, which allow a user to easily input a number or a letter for sending an email or a message.

The mobile communication terminal of the present invention for achieving the above objects includes a liquid crystal display for displaying a menu indicating the various directoryed functions, and a touch pad for providing an input for selecting a desired function through the menu displayed on the liquid crystal display. Equipped. The controller selects one of the functions in response to an input through the touch pad and controls the display to be displayed on the liquid crystal display.

1 is a view showing the appearance of a general mobile communication terminal.

2 is a view showing the appearance of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

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

4 is a view showing an example of a menu selection operation by a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION A detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that reference numerals and like elements among the drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals and symbols as much as possible even though they are shown in different drawings. In the following description of the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

2 is a view showing the appearance of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, it can be seen that the mobile communication terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention further includes a touch pad 15. The touch pad 15 is attached to the upper surface of the flip (or folder) 13. Here, the upper surface of the flip 13 means a surface that is viewed in front of the main body 10 when the flip 13 is closed on the main body 10. On the contrary, when the flip 13 is opened from the main body 10, the surface viewed from the front of the main body 10 may be referred to as a lower surface (or lower surface).

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

Referring to FIG. 3, a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an antenna 110, a transmitter / receiver 120, a controller 130, a memory 140, and an LCD driver 150. And an LCD 12 and a touch pad 15. Since the remaining components except for the touch pad 15 are components constituting a general mobile communication terminal, detailed description of each of the components will be omitted. In addition, although not shown in FIG. 3, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that a general mobile communication terminal further includes components such as a speaker, a microphone, and the like.

In FIG. 3, the antenna 110 receives a radio signal radiated in the air and radiates a radio signal for transmission into the air. The transmitter / receiver 120 processes a transmission signal to be radiated through the antenna 110 and processes a radio signal received through the antenna 110. The memory 130 stores terminal-specific data, program data, data processed in the terminal, and the like. The memory 130 includes a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), and the like.

The controller 130 generally controls various operations of the mobile communication terminal. For example, the controller 130 may be implemented as a micro processing unit (MPU). According to the present invention, the controller 130 controls the operation of displaying various states of the mobile communication terminal on the LCD 12 to be described later, and the operation of displaying the state corresponding to the input through the touch pad 15 on the LCD 12. The detailed operation of the controller 130 will be apparent from the following description.

LCD 12 displays various states of the mobile communication terminal. For example, the LCD 12 not only displays general information such as date and time, battery level status, received field strength, but also displays a menu showing various directoryed functions related to the present invention. The LCD driver 150 controls the driving of the LCD 12 under the control of the controller 130.

The touch pad 15 provides an input for the user to select a desired function on a menu displayed on the LCD 12 only by touching (pressing) the pad (or screen) without pressing another key button. The function selection using the touch pad 15 may be performed by a user pressing a menu indicating a desired function with a finger or by using a separately provided input pen. The position information input through the touch pad 15 (position information for selecting one of the functions of the menu screen displayed on the LCD 12) is transmitted to the controller 130. Accordingly, the controller 130 drives the LCD driver 150 to correspond to the position information. Function is displayed on the LCD 12. At this time, only the selected function among the functions displayed on the screen of the LCD 12 is changed to a dark screen (black), and then the selected function is performed.

The touch pad 15 also provides a scroll function. Here, the scroll function means that the information that can be displayed on the screen of the LCD 12 is limited, and when the touch pad 15 is used to move to a position larger than the screen of the LCD 12 (off-screen position), the screen of the LCD 12 It is a function that scrolls (moves) automatically so that the next screen is displayed. Such a scroll function facilitates screen movement that is frequently performed when accessing the Internet through a mobile communication terminal.

By using the touch pad 15, input of numbers or letters for e-mail or message transmission can be facilitated. In the past, when trying to enter a number or a letter to send an email or a message, the user has a problem that it takes a lot of trouble and time to input because the user inputs the desired number or letter with a key. This is because you can enter numbers or letters more simply by using.

4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a menu selection operation by a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, (a) shows a state in which a menu indicating various functions having a directory structure is displayed on the LCD 12. For example, the menu includes the functions of 1. Bell / Vibration, 2. Internet, and 3. Phonebook. When the user selects (presses) a desired function (for example, the Internet) using his or her finger or an input pen on the touch pad 15 in the same state as in (a), the desired function (Internet) is selected as shown in (b), and the black The color is displayed on the LCD 12, and the corresponding function is connected to the Internet. An example of the Internet connection result is shown in (c). Through the Internet access menu, the seven kinds of information (1. news, 2. weather, 3. travel, 4. mail, 5. life, 6. entertainment, as shown in (c) and (d)) 7. sports). In fact, the index of the seven types of information cannot be displayed on one screen of the LCD 12, but by using the scroll function of the touch pad 15, the user can easily check the information included in the Internet access menu.

The operation of accessing the Internet through the mobile communication terminal by selecting the Internet access function on the menu according to the embodiment of the present invention as described above is as follows.

In the traditional method, you open Flip 13 and press the function key to navigate to the Internet connection menu with the up / down keys, select it, and then access the Internet, then use the up / down keys to navigate to the site you want, and then select and go to that site. .

However, in the present invention, when accessing the Internet through the mobile communication terminal, the desired menu is displayed on the LCD 12 when the user moves the finger or the pen by using the touch pad 15 attached to the flip 13 without opening the flip 13. In addition, when the touch pad 15 is used to move a wider range than the LCD 12 screen, the LCD 12 may automatically scroll to select a desired menu at a time.

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 determined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by the equivalents of the claims.

As described above, the present invention has an advantage in that frequent screen movement such as menu selection or Internet connection can be easily performed by attaching a touch pad to the mobile communication terminal. In addition, there is an advantage in that the touch pad can be used to conveniently enter numbers or letters for email or message transmission.

Claims (6)

A mobile communication terminal having a liquid crystal display for displaying a menu representing various directoryed functions, A touch pad providing an input for selecting a desired function through a menu displayed on the LCD; And a control unit for controlling any one of the functions to be displayed on the liquid crystal display in response to an input through the touch pad. The communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the screen of the menu is moved by scrolling through the touch pad when the screen of the menu is larger than the screen of the liquid crystal display. In the mobile communication terminal having a liquid crystal display and a flip for displaying a menu showing various directoryed functions, A touch pad attached to an upper surface of the flip and providing an input for selecting a desired function through a menu displayed on the LCD; And a control unit for controlling any one of the functions to be displayed on the liquid crystal display in response to an input through the touch pad. The communication terminal of claim 3, wherein the screen of the menu is moved by scrolling through the touch pad when the screen of the menu is larger than the screen of the liquid crystal display. In the menu selection method of a mobile communication terminal having a liquid crystal display and a touch pad, Displaying a menu indicating various directoryed functions on the LCD; Selecting one of the functions displayed on the LCD through the touch pad; And displaying the selected function on the liquid crystal display. The method of claim 5, wherein the screen of the menu is moved by scrolling through the touch pad when the screen of the menu is larger than the screen of the LCD while the function selection process is performed.