KR20100062899A - Inputting method and device using touch pattern - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An inputting method using a touch pattern and a device thereof are provided to connect a call by contacting a specific pattern or execute an additional function on a touch screen, thereby providing convenience to a user. CONSTITUTION: An electronic device comprises a touch screen(10), a communication unit(20), a memory(30), and a controller(40). The touch screen processes the contact of an external object as an input signal. The communication unit performs a communication function including a telephone and an internet. The memory stores phone number information and information for executing additional functions. The controller attempts call connection with a telephone number corresponding to a touch pattern of the external object. In other words, the controller executes an additional function corresponding to the touch pattern.

Description

Input method and device using touch pattern

The present invention relates to an input method and a method of using the same, and more particularly, a method for performing input processing for a specific function such as searching a phone number and executing a camera function using a touch pattern through a touch pad or a touch screen. And to an apparatus.

Recently, as communication technology as well as electronic technology develops, various mobile communication devices such as mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs have been developed and distributed. In particular, in the case of a mobile phone that is spread to the majority of people, a variety of additional functions such as a photographing function, a video recording function, a mobile Internet function, etc. are being added in addition to the telephone connection function. In addition, as the amount of data to be stored increases, the memory capacity also increases, and techniques for searching stored data become increasingly diverse.

In order to execute various functions such as a telephone connection function, a picture taking function, and a function of searching data stored in the memory, some information such as an execution command must be input from the user. Representative information input method is a method using a keypad, the user can input specific information (for example, function execution command, etc.) using the provided numeric buttons, direction buttons.

For example, to execute the phone number search and call connection function provided in the mobile phone, press the menu button on the keypad, select the phone number search item among submenus, and search for the phone number of the person to be called. Then press the call button to try to connect. Alternatively, it is possible to attempt a telephone connection to a preset speed dial number for each phone number. In this case, one or more numeric buttons according to the speed dial number should be sequentially pressed.

Likewise, in the case of executing other additional functions such as a camera function, most of them may be performed by pressing a specific button according to the corresponding function using a keypad of a button type or searching for a function using a menu function.

According to the conventional input method described above, in order to execute each function added to an electronic device such as a mobile phone, a separate key button according to each function is required, or a user must search for and execute the corresponding function through a menu. There is inconvenience. Similarly, when making a call using the phone number information stored in the phone book, it is inconvenient to memorize a shortcut number or perform a menu search.

Of course, in recent years, electronic devices using a touch screen method in addition to a button-type keypad have been widely used. In particular, in the case of a mobile phone, a touch screen method has become mainstream. However, the conventional touch screen method is not merely a mechanical button but a touch button. Therefore, the touch screen input method is also substantially the same as the above-described button keypad input method, so the inconvenience of the input still exists.

Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide an input method and apparatus using a touch pattern capable of executing a telephone connection or an additional function with a single touch.

In addition, the present invention is to provide an input method and apparatus using a touch pattern that can input specific information by using their own patterns that people can easily memorize.

Other objects of the present invention will become more apparent through the preferred embodiments described below.

According to an aspect of the invention, the touch screen; And calculating a touch pattern for any one of a position, an area corresponding to at least one touch point as the external object contacts the touch screen, an area, a movement formed in contact, and a combination thereof. There is provided an electronic device including a control unit which attempts to connect a call to a corresponding telephone number or executes an additional function corresponding to the touch pattern.

Here, the controller executes the call connection or the additional function using a touch pattern according to the position of two or more contact points, or the call connection or the additional function using a touch pattern according to the position and area of the contact point. You can run

The controller may recognize a shape according to the movement as the touch pattern, or recognize at least two or more of a start point, one or more elapsed points, and an end point according to the movement as the touch pattern, or the controller may determine the position And the movement may be recognized as the touch pattern.

The controller may first search for the corresponding additional function of the touch pattern, and if the additional function is not searched, search for the telephone number and execute a function according to the result.

The controller may search only one of the phone number and the additional function corresponding to the touch pattern so as to correspond to the previously inputted selection information, and execute a function according to the result.

In addition, the touch screen may display the numbers 0 to 9 and numbers.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an input method in an electronic device having a touch screen, comprising: (a) a position, an area, and a contact state corresponding to one or more contact points as an external object contacts the touch screen; Calculating a touch pattern for any one of a movement formed and a combination thereof; (b) searching for a telephone number or additional function corresponding to the touch pattern; And (c) connecting a call to the telephone number according to the retrieved information or executing the additional function, and a recording medium on which a program for executing the method is recorded.

Here, the step (b) may include displaying information on the retrieved telephone number or additional function.

In addition, step (c) may be performed after receiving an execution command from a user.

According to the present invention, by simply touching the touch screen to have a specific pattern such as a specific position, area, and movement, the user can input a telephone connection or execute an additional function, thereby providing user convenience and use interest. can do.

In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide specific information by using specific patterns that are easy for people to memorize.

As the invention allows for various changes and numerous embodiments, particular embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the written description. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, it should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and in describing the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same or corresponding elements are denoted by the same reference numerals regardless of the reference numerals, and duplicates thereof. The description will be omitted.

In the following description, an electronic device having a touch screen will be described as an example of a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone. However, the present invention is not limited thereto and may be any electronic device having a touch screen such as a PDA and a notebook computer. It will be more apparent to those skilled in the art through the following description.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic device having a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 6 are exemplary views showing touch patterns according to embodiments of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic device according to the present embodiment includes a touch screen 10, a communication unit 20, a memory 30, and a controller 40.

The touch screen 10 is a component for displaying an image and simultaneously processing an external signal such as a finger as an input signal. That is, the touch screen 10 is provided outside the main body so that a user may input specific information by touching a finger or the like with the touch screen 10. Since the touch screen 10 is still used in electronic devices such as mobile phones, further detailed description thereof will be omitted. However, the touch screen 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with an example of simultaneously displaying a video and having a touch input function for processing an input according to a touch, for example, a touch pad for an image display and a touch input function. Each may be provided separately.

The communication unit 20 is a component for a communication function such as a telephone and the Internet through a communication network such as a mobile communication network, and may include, for example, an antenna and a code division multiple access (CDMA) processor.

The memory 30 stores telephone number information (telephone number, name, speed dial number, etc.) according to the phone book function among the additional functions, and information for executing additional functions such as a phone call function, a camera function, and an MP3 player function. Stored.

The controller 40 is to control the entire electronic device such as the touch screen 10, the communication unit 20, and the memory 30, and performs input processing through the touch screen 10. That is, when an external object touches the touch screen 10, the controller 40 recognizes a touch pattern of a corresponding contact point and processes the function accordingly. For example, the controller 40 controls the communication unit 20 when the touch pattern corresponding to the phone number registered in the phone book stored in the memory 30 is input through the touch screen 10 to connect the phone to the corresponding phone number. Can be processed as possible.

Hereinafter, an input method using the touch screen 10 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 2 according to an embodiment, when a specific area of the touch screen 10 is touched to have a specific area as shown by reference numeral 210, a specific function using the touch pattern is executed. For example, in the case of a touch pattern as shown by reference numeral 210, a telephone connection may be directly performed to a specific telephone number stored in the telephone book. Therefore, the user can immediately try to connect to the preset telephone number by simply bringing a finger or the like to have a corresponding area at the position shown in the drawing.

Of course, since it is not easy to input exactly to the corresponding position and area, it is preferable that a slight error is recognized, and thus may have an error range such as hatched reference numeral 220. The error range can minimize the error of the input and at the same time it is desirable to have the smallest range. In other words, if the error range is too small, an error of input may occur frequently. If the error range is too wide, the function as secret information may be weakened. For example, the error range may be set to have an area of about 1/3 of the total area.

Here, the information on one or more contact points recognized by the user's contact with the touch screen 10 will be referred to as a touch pattern, and each function and phone number will be assigned to each function and phone number in order to recognize which function or phone number corresponds to the touch pattern. Information that is preset and compared with the touch pattern will be referred to as a setting pattern.

For convenience of understanding, for example, the coordinates of the touch pattern according to the contact point are 80% or more coincident with the coordinates of the preset setting pattern, and the remaining coordinates of the touch pattern that do not coincide with the coordinates according to the setting pattern are different. Only when the number is less than 25% compared to the number can be recognized as the same.

As another example, compared to a set pattern, the area has a value of 90% or more (that is, if the number of coordinates is equal to or greater than 90%), and the position is a coordinate having a value equal to or greater than 80% (that is, more than 80% of the set pattern coordinates). It may be recognized that they are the same only when a matching touch pattern is input. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the above error ranges are merely exemplary and may be variously set so as to minimize an error of an input as described above and not have a wide range that can be easily recognized by others.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the user can directly make a call to a specific phone number with a single touch and can feel the convenience of use.

Here, the coordinate line 230 may be displayed on the touch screen 10 as shown in the figure so that the user may recognize the position of the setting pattern more accurately. Of course, the conventional numerical display cell 330 may be used without needing to display a separate coordinate line as shown in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 3 according to another embodiment, when a user touches two or more fingers at a specific position of the touch screen 10, that is, when a finger touches at least two or more points of the touch screen 10, the user touches the finger. It is possible to execute a specific function corresponding to the contact point. For example, when two fingers are touched at the same position as the reference numeral 310, the camera function can be immediately executed.

Here, as shown in the figure, the number and each number display column 330 is displayed on the touch screen 10, so that the user can more easily recognize the position of the preset pattern set by the user to input incorrectly You can reduce mistakes. Alternatively, unlike the drawing, only numbers may be displayed without numbers.

Referring to FIG. 4 according to another embodiment, the setting pattern may be set to have a specific shape. That is, when the user moves the sign like a sign in contact with at least one finger on the touch screen 10, the shape formed by the contact points according to the moving path is recognized as a touch pattern, and the corresponding additional function or Telephone connection can be made. For example, the camera pattern may have a C-shaped setting pattern, the phonebook search function may be T, the MP3 player function M, the wireless Internet function e, and the like.

Referring to FIG. 4 for convenience of understanding, when an external object contacts the touch screen 10 to have a shape as shown by reference numeral 410, the MP3 player function may be set to be executed. As another example, for convenience of understanding, when a setting pattern is registered as a heart in the phone number information having the name of a girlfriend in the phone book, as shown in FIG. 6, a finger is used on the touch screen 10. Drawing the heart shape 610, a telephone connection can be immediately performed to the girlfriend of the phone book, such as reference number 630. As such, the user may preset a unique setting pattern for each phone number in the phone book, thereby allowing a quick and easy phone connection with a simple touch. According to an embodiment for easily setting a setting pattern for each phone number in the phone book, several template setting patterns (for example, hearts, arrows, circles, X marks, etc.) are provided to the user, and any one of them is provided. User can select and set easily as setting pattern to any phone number.

Here, the controller 40 of the electronic device may first search for a phone number corresponding to the touch pattern or any one of the additional functions with priority. For example, if the touch pattern is recognized, the phone corresponding to the touch pattern may be searched. After searching for the number first, if there is no number, the additional function corresponding to the touch pattern can be searched. Of course, on the contrary, after first determining whether the touch pattern is an input according to the additional function, the phone number may be searched only when the additional function is not the additional function.

In addition, in another embodiment, the phone number search and connection functions may be performed or additional functions may be performed only when an input to the touch screen 10 is performed while pressing any button. For example, if there is an input via the touch screen 10 while pressing any button (for example, a menu button), the phone number search and connection function may be recognized and processed, and another button (for example, If there is an input through the touch screen 10 while pressing the camera function button, it may recognize that the additional function is searched and executed and process it.

Here, as a method of comparing the touch pattern and the setting pattern according to the movement in the touched state with each other, a method of comparing the entire pattern moved in the contacted state with the setting pattern with the setting pattern may be used as one method. Can be.

Alternatively, in order to increase the processing speed of the comparison, only the contact starting point and the ending point of the touch pattern may be compared with the setting pattern and processed. Of course, for a more accurate comparison, one or more intermediate progression points may also be compared together. For example, when a user draws a heart on the touch screen 10 with a finger, the user may extract the first starting point, the ending point, and an arbitrary point in the middle, and compare the setting pattern with the setting pattern to recognize which function is executed. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that in addition to the above-described pattern comparison, all methods for comparing two patterns will be included in the present embodiment.

Referring back to FIG. 4, in the case of a touch pattern (hereinafter, referred to as a movement pattern) when moving in a touched state, the position and the contact area (ie, thickness) may be used together. For example, as shown in the drawing, if a continuous contact point is touched to have a specific thickness without lifting a finger between the number 7 and the symbol #, the symbol # to the number 8, and the number 8 to the number 0, the specific function may be Can be executed. Here, although using the position of the specific pattern and the contact point as the touch pattern and the thickness thereof, an example, only one of the position and thickness may be used. Therefore, the user can easily execute a specific function by inputting a touch pattern according to a setting pattern as shown in the figure as if to sign at a specific position.

In this embodiment, the movement pattern and the position and / or area (i.e., thickness) are set as a setting pattern. However, when the recognition technology of the pattern is improved and the recognition rate is increased, regardless of the position (and / or interview), Naturally, the setting pattern can be set only by the movement. That is, referring to FIG. 5 according to another exemplary embodiment, when a touch pattern having a shape as shown by reference numeral 510 is input at any thickness at any position of the touch screen 10, a specific function may be executed. In this case, the user only needs to touch the touch screen 10 in the same pattern as a preset pattern with the usual magnetic handwriting.

Here, the input processing methods according to the position, area, and movement of the contact point described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6 may be processed in combination with each other. For example, a specific function may be executed by simultaneously using a contact point and a movement pattern of a specific position.

Hereinafter, an input processing process using a touch screen in an electronic device will be described.

7 is a flowchart illustrating an input processing process in an electronic device having a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, referring to FIG. 7, the electronic device processes the touch pattern according to the touch screen 10 being contacted by the user (s710) (S720). That is, when the touch screen 10 is touched by the user, the electronic device calculates any one of a position, an area, a movement pattern, and a combination thereof by using coordinate values belonging to the touch point to recognize the touch pattern according to the touch point. In this case, the input of the touch pattern may be performed only in a separate input mode. That is, the touch pattern may be input after input of an input execution button (not shown) that is not normally operated or after an initial touch of the touch screen 10. Alternatively, when power is applied to the standby state, it is natural that a touch pattern may be received at any time.

The electronic device compares the input touch pattern with pre-stored setting patterns and recognizes a corresponding telephone number or additional function (S730). As described above, the electronic device searches for a phone number or additional function that matches each other within the touch pattern and a preset error range. For example, in the case of the touch pattern according to the position and area of the contact point as described above, the coordinate values according to the setting patterns and the coordinate values of the touch pattern are compared with each other, a setting pattern matching a predetermined ratio or more is searched, and the corresponding setting is performed. Recognize phone numbers or add-ons according to patterns. Alternatively, in the case of using the above-described motion pattern, the mobile phone searches for a setting pattern most similar to the touch pattern and the overall movement shape, and recognizes a phone number or additional function according to the corresponding setting pattern.

If a phone number corresponding to the touch pattern is found (s740), a telephone (communication call) connection is immediately performed to the corresponding phone number (s745). Here, the searched phone number can be displayed so that the user can check whether the phone number according to the touch pattern has been properly searched, and the call connection is performed after the execution command is input separately from the user (for example, by inputting a confirmation button). May be

Alternatively, when the additional function corresponding to the touch pattern is found (s750), the corresponding additional function may be immediately executed (s755). Of course, the additional function may be executed after the user's confirmation.

If the phone number and the additional function corresponding to the touch pattern are not searched for, the user may recognize an input error in operation S760.

The method of the present invention as described above may be implemented in a program and stored in a computer-readable recording medium (CD-ROM, RAM, ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, etc.).

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and many variations are possible by those skilled in the art within the spirit of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic device having a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 to 6 are exemplary views showing a touch pattern according to each embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a flowchart illustrating an input processing procedure in an electronic device having a touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (13)

touch screen; And Calculates a touch pattern for any one of a position, an area, a movement formed by moving in a contact state, and a combination thereof, corresponding to at least one touch point as an external object contacts the touch screen, and corresponds to the touch pattern And a controller for attempting to connect a call to a telephone number or executing an additional function corresponding to the touch pattern. The method of claim 1, And the controller executes the call connection or the additional function by using a touch pattern according to positions of two or more contact points. The method of claim 1, The controller is configured to execute the call connection or the additional function by using a touch pattern according to the position and area of the contact point. The method of claim 1, The control unit recognizes the shape according to the movement as the touch pattern. The method of claim 1, The control unit recognizes at least two or more of a start point, one or more elapsed points, and an end point according to the movement as the touch pattern. The method of claim 1, The control unit recognizes the position and the movement as the touch pattern. The method of claim 1, The control unit searches for the corresponding additional function of the touch pattern first, and if the additional function is not searched, searches for the telephone number and executes a function according to the result. The method of claim 1, The controller may search for only one of the phone number and the additional function corresponding to the touch pattern so as to correspond to the previously inputted selection information, and execute a function according to the result. The method of claim 1, The electronic device, characterized in that the number and the numeral space of 0 to 9 are displayed on the touch screen. An input method in an electronic device having a touch screen, (a) calculating a touch pattern for any one of a position, an area, a movement formed and moved in a contact state corresponding to one or more contact points as an external object contacts the touch screen; (b) searching for a telephone number or additional function corresponding to the touch pattern; And (c) connecting a call to the telephone number according to the retrieved information or executing the additional function. The method of claim 10, The step (b), the input method using a touch screen, characterized in that it comprises the step of displaying information about the retrieved telephone number or additional functions. The method of claim 11, The step (c) is performed after receiving the execution command from the user, the input method using a touch screen. A recording medium on which a combination of instructions for performing the method of any one of claims 10 to 12 is tangibly embodied and in which a program readable by a digital information processing apparatus is recorded.

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