KR20070064220A - Slide type mobile communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

A slide-type mobile terminal is provided to allow an upper body to be slid with respect to the lower body upwardly/downwardly and arrange the first and second functional key pads related to additional functions of the mobile terminal on up and bottom sides of the upper and lower bodies, thereby providing a display module at the center portion of the mobile phone when multimedia functions are selected. A slide-type mobile terminal includes an upper body(100) and a lower body(200) coupled with the upper body(100) such that the upper body(100) is slid upwardly. The upper body(100) has a display module(110) and the first functional key pad module(120) at the top surface. The first functional key pad module(120) includes a direction key, a selection key, and functional keys for other menus, e-mail, navigation, searching, and the switching of an additional function. The lower body(200) is a member allowing the upper body(100) to be slide upwardly. The lower body(200) includes an input key pad module having a plurality of number buttons and other input keys.

Description

SLIDE TYPE MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL}

1 is a front view, a rear view, and a side view of a slide-type mobile communication terminal in a communication mode state according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating a multimedia use mode (a) and a camera use mode (b) in which a housing coupled to the terminal lower body slides upward with respect to the lower body according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a view showing a sliding fastening structure of the housing and the lower body according to an embodiment of the present invention. (a) multimedia use mode (b) camera use mode

Figure 4 is a side view showing a slide structure according to an embodiment of the present invention

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawing>

100: upper body

120: first function key pad portion

200: lower body

300: housing

320: second function key pad portion

350: camera unit

The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly, a separate housing including an additional function keypad unit or a camera unit is movably coupled to a part of the terminal body, and thus, a mobile communication terminal such as a game, a DMB, a camera, and the like. The present invention relates to a slide type mobile communication terminal capable of providing an optimized user interface when using an additional function.

In recent years, with the rapid development of mobile communication technology, personal mobile communication devices including mobile communication terminals have become widespread, and have become an essential portable device for each person's life.

Among them, mobile communication terminals are already being born as digital media devices by integrating the functions of various audio and video (AV) devices such as MP3, digital cameras, camcorders, TVs, and PDAs.

Moreover, the development of application fields of mobile communication terminals such as hard disk drive (HDD), wireless LAN, Bluetooth, fingerprint recognition, radio, digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), game machine, etc. Is endless.

In order to implement such various additional functions, it is required to design a method of operating a mobile communication terminal that enables easy switching to the operation mode of each additional function and enables efficient driving.

The mobile communication terminal has a bar type, a flip type, a folder type, a slide type, etc., depending on the type of operation thereof. However, in order to enjoy various multimedia environments such as games and digital multimedia broadcasting, cameras and videos, slide type This is proven to be advantageous.

The slide-type mobile communication terminal is provided with upper and lower main bodies, and upper and lower main bodies respectively have slide grooves and protrusions, so that the upper main body is switched to the communication mode only when the upper main body slides upward. An example is the configuration disclosed in the 'slide type mobile communication terminal' of the Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-2002-0052542.

However, such a slide type mobile communication terminal can only move upward and return to the initial position with respect to the lower body when switching between the normal standby mode and the communication mode. Since the upper portion and the upper portion of the lower portion of the lower portion of the upper portion of the upper portion of the lower keypad that is exposed when sliding upward, there is a limit in the arrangement of the configuration for implementing multimedia, such as games, DMB, camera, video.

In particular, recently, as more users use multimedia such as games and DMB by using mobile communication terminals, mobile communication terminals having various structures for enjoying multimedia are commercially available. However, since the mobile communication terminal with the multimedia tendency made a lot of changes to the original communication interface, it was unfamiliar to the user who used the existing mobile communication terminal. That is, in the case of a game, both hands are normally used, and it is difficult in design to implement various keys for such a game function in a small mobile communication terminal. Thus, a mobile communication terminal similar to the shape of a game machine was made, but as many parts of the original communication interface were different from each other, it had been rejected by the general user.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems of the prior art, and in particular, an object of the present invention is to provide a slide-type mobile communication terminal that is easy to implement various game functions and multimedia functions.

In addition, the present invention in consideration of the fact that the upper body is a slide-type mobile communication terminal slid upwards with respect to the lower body is the optimal structure for utilizing the additional functions such as games, DMB, cameras, It is an object of the present invention to provide a configuration that can conveniently perform additional functions such as a game and a DMB to the terminal by slidably mounting a separate housing provided with a utilization space for implementation to the lower body.

In order to achieve this object, according to the present invention, there is provided a slide type mobile communication terminal, comprising: an upper body having a display unit and a first function key pad unit; The upper body is coupled to be slidably relative to the upper direction, and includes a lower body having an input key pad portion on the lower side, a housing having a second function key pad portion or a camera device portion is mounted on the upper side of the lower body; The housing is slidably coupled upwardly with respect to the lower body.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a protruding-groove fastening structure configured to be slidably coupled to the outer wall of the lower body and the inner wall of the housing may be formed.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the second function key pad part may be disposed in the housing so as to be exposed to the outside when the housing slides in an upstream direction with respect to the lower body. The second function key pad portion and the camera device portion are connected to the lower body via a signal connection portion to enable electrical signals.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the housing slides upward with respect to the lower main body, the display unit may be disposed in the center of the mobile communication terminal.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first function key pad unit and the second function key pad unit may include at least one of a direction change key and a selection key.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the upper and lower main bodies are in the standby mode at the initial position, and when the housing mounted on the lower main body slides upward with respect to the lower main body, it may be switched to the additional function mode.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the additional function mode may be one of a game mode and a DMB mode.

The objects, features and advantages of the present invention described above will be more clearly understood through the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, a mobile communication terminal and a configuration related to the implementation of various functions added to the terminal, even if not described in detail in the following description, those skilled in the art will be able to implement without any difficulty.

1 is a view of the slide-type mobile communication terminal in a communication mode state according to an embodiment of the present invention viewed from the front, back and side, Figure 2 is a housing coupled to the terminal lower body according to an embodiment of the present invention A view of the slide-type mobile communication terminal in the game mode state slid upward with respect to the lower main body from the front, rear and side views.

First, referring to FIG. 1, the slide-type mobile communication terminal according to the present invention includes an upper main body 100 and a lower main body 200 in which the upper main body is slidably coupled in an upstream direction.

As shown in the figure, the upper body 100 includes a display unit 110 and a first function key pad unit 120 on the upper surface thereof.

The first function key pad unit 120 includes a function key for changing direction keys, selection keys, other menus, mail, navigation, search, and additional function switching. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first function key pad unit 120 is configured to play a role as a game function key, that is, a game button when the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention is switched to the game mode. Can be.

The lower main body 200 is a member to which the upper main body 100 is slidably coupled in an upward direction, and has an input key pad part 220 having a plurality of number buttons and other input keys below.

The input keypad 220 is used for input of a telephone number, a letter, etc. in a communication mode, and is provided to a general mobile communication terminal.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 2, which more clearly illustrates the structural features of the present invention, the mobile communication terminal further includes a housing 300. A second function key pad unit 320 or a camera device unit 350 is provided on the upper surface of the housing, and the second function key pad unit 320 may include a direction change key and a selection key. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is a characteristic configuration in which a display screen is placed in the middle of a terminal when a user selects an additional function mode such as DMB, and the user can conveniently operate the additional function using both hands. Like the keypad portion, the game mode may be configured to be utilized as a game function key, or may be configured as a DMB function key. In addition, it is possible to diversify the use of space with a camera unit.

3 schematically illustrates one aspect of the coupling of the lower body 200 and the housing 300. As shown, the side wall of the lower body 200 is formed with a protruding rail 230 is engaged with the corresponding inner wall of the housing 300. The housing 300 is mounted to the lower main body 200 to be slidable up and down along the protruding rail 230. As will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, groove rails are formed on the inner wall of the housing 300 corresponding to the shape of the protruding rails 230, and these protrusions and grooves may be formed by changing their positions. Care must be taken. In addition, the lower main body 200 includes a PCB circuit unit 250 in which the second function key pad 320 of the housing 300 and the signal connection unit 210 for signal transmission with the camera module are located in the lower main body 200. It is connected so that an electrical signal is possible. In the drawing, the signal connection portion is configured to protrude to the outside, it will be readily understood that it may be configured inside the lower body so that it is not visible from the outside.

According to the present invention, the second function key pad part 320 is configured to be exposed to the outside when the housing 300 slides upstream with respect to the lower main body 200. That is, as shown in Fig. 1, the normal communication mode (i.e., the state in which the upper body is relatively slid upstream relative to the lower body) or not shown, but the state in which the upper body and the lower body overlap, that is, the upper body In the standby state in which the lower main body does not slide upward, the second function key pad 320 or the camera device 350 is not exposed to the outside. However, in the standby state, when the housing 300 is relatively slid upward with respect to the lower body 200 along the protruding rail 230, the mobile communication terminal is switched to the additional function mode state (for example, game mode), 2 The function key pad 320 and the camera module are exposed to the outside. By configuring the second function key pad as described above, the terminal of the present invention can utilize various additional functions as a more convenient interface when using the game mode and the camera as described below.

As such, according to the present invention, by combining a separate housing 300 that can be relatively sliding upward relative to the lower main body 200 to the lower main body, a space for providing additional functions and the like can be more efficiently provided to the terminal. Can be. In addition, since the space of the additional function is not exposed to the outside in the normal standby mode state or the normal communication mode state, the size of the mobile communication terminal can be compactly designed.

That is, unlike the conventional slide-type mobile communication terminal, according to the present invention, since a separate housing is movably coupled to the upper side of the lower main body, and a second function key pad part is disposed in the housing, the display unit is placed in the middle. The first and second function key pad portions can be simultaneously used up and down. Therefore, when the user selects an additional function mode such as a game, a camera, or a DMB, an environment in which the user can operate the function keys with both hands while holding the terminal with both hands and looking at the wide display screen while the terminal is placed horizontally is implemented. When using a mobile terminal with a game machine can provide very useful functionality and convenience.

On the other hand, the switching to each mode of the mobile communication terminal, for example, by placing a variety of sensors, such as a position sensor, a contact sensor in the main body to detect the relative position between the upper and lower main body to perform the mode switching, such a configuration is already known in the art Since it is known, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

When the additional function such as a game, a DMB, a camera, etc. is selected as a game mode, both the first and second function key pad parts are activated, so that a user can play a game using the two function key pad parts.

1 and 2, a method of utilizing an additional function (for example, a game) using a terminal according to the present invention will be described.

In the standby state or the communication mode state shown in FIG. 1, when the user wants to use an additional function such as a game or a DMB, the upper main body 100 is overlapped with the lower main body 200 (that is, the standby state), When the housing 300, which is movably coupled to the lower body, is moved upstream, the mobile communication terminal is switched to the additional function state as shown in FIG. 2. In this case, since the first and second function key pad portions 120 and 320 are disposed on both sides of the display 110 at the center, the user horizontally positions the terminal when using additional functions such as a game, a camera, and a DMB. Both ends of the terminal can be held by both hands, and the function keys can be operated by both hands while looking at the display screen.

In this way, when the additional function mode is selected, the display unit is switched to the horizontal wide screen arrangement.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art. For example, although the slide fastening part is illustrated and described as having a slide rail on the upper body and a slide protrusion on the lower body, the reverse arrangement is possible, and the shape and number thereof may be changed.

In the slide-type mobile communication terminal according to the present invention, the upper main body is configured to be slidable in both up and down directions with respect to the lower main body, and the first main body and the second function key pad part related to various additional functions provided in the mobile communication terminal. And by placing the upper and lower sides of the lower main body, it is possible to use the first and second function key pad unit or the camera with the display unit in the middle when selecting additional functions such as multimedia functions such as various games, cameras, DMB. Therefore, the user can arrange the terminal horizontally and operate the function keys with both hands while looking at the display screen while holding both ends of the terminal with both hands, thereby providing excellent space utilization and user operability.

Claims (7)

A slide type mobile communication terminal, An upper body having a display unit and a first function key pad unit; The upper main body is coupled to be slidably relative to the upper direction, and the lower main body includes a normal input keypad portion is provided, A housing having a second function key pad portion or a camera device portion is mounted on an upper side of the lower main body, and the housing is slidably coupled to the lower main body in a slidable upward direction to open and close each other. terminal. The slide-type mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein a protruding-groove fastening structure is formed on the outer wall of the lower body and the inner wall of the housing to be slidably coupled. The slide-type mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the camera device is configured to be rotatable. The slide-type mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the second function key pad unit or the camera device unit is disposed in the housing so as to be exposed to the outside when the housing slides upward with respect to the lower main body. The slide-type mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the first function key pad unit and the second function key pad unit include at least one of a direction change key and a selection key. The slide-type mobile communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the upper and lower main bodies are in a standby mode at an initial position, and when the housing mounted on the lower main body is moved to an upper side with respect to the lower main body, the slide type mobile communication terminal is switched. The slide-type mobile communication terminal of claim 6, wherein the additional function mode is one of a game mode and a DMB mode.

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