KR20140074562A - Terminal and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a terminal and a control method thereof. A terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a touchscreen-type display unit which consists of a first user input area and a second user input area displayed with a predetermined size in the first user input area; and a control unit which performs a terminal operation or controls a screen displayed on the display unit, based on a user command sensed in the second user input area.

Description

[0001] TERMINAL AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF [0002]

The present invention relates to a terminal and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a control method for controlling a large screen.

A terminal can be divided into a mobile terminal (mobile / portable terminal) and a stationary terminal according to whether the terminal can be moved. The mobile terminal can be divided into a handheld terminal and a vehicle mount terminal according to whether the user can directly carry the mobile terminal.

Such a terminal has various functions, for example, in the form of a multimedia device having multiple functions such as photographing and photographing of a moving picture, reproduction of a music or video file, reception of a game and broadcasting, etc. .

In order to support and enhance the functionality of such terminals, it may be considered to improve the structural and / or software parts of the terminal.

In addition to the diversified functions of terminals, the use of terminals having a touch screen as a display unit rather than an input using a conventional local key has been expanded in a user input method.

A touch screen is a device for inputting data or commands directly on the screen without using a keyboard. When a human hand or an object (for example, a stylus pen) touches a specific character or position displayed on the screen And the promised program is executed.

When a user touches a character or a figure displayed on the touch screen, the touch screen transmits the position information of the touched portion to the control unit, and the control unit recognizes the user's selection according to the position information, . Therefore, by attaching the touch screen to the terminal, it is possible to provide the user with the necessary information more easily and quickly.

Because of this convenience, the size of the touch screen mounted on the terminal gradually increases according to the enlargement of the screen, and the large screen of the large screen of the 4 inch to 5 inch is the mainstream of the smart phone. Although high accessibility is required due to the characteristics of the terminal, it is difficult to control the hand of the current screen of the smartphone in the situation where the two-hand control is impossible. Therefore, errors and misreads due to user input frequently occur, which may result in inconvenience of use.

The present invention provides a terminal and a control method thereof that can facilitate control of a terminal having a touch screen on a large screen with a single hand.

In addition, the present invention provides a terminal including a user interface that facilitates input according to user convenience in a terminal having a touch screen of a large screen, and a control method thereof.

A terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a touch screen type display unit including a first user input area and a second user input area displayed in a predetermined size in the first user input area; And a controller for performing a terminal operation based on a user command detected in the second user input area or controlling a screen displayed on the display unit.

A terminal and a control method thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention allow a user to easily control a window even in an environment where there is no external input device such as a keyboard or a mouse.

A terminal and a control method thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention allow a user to easily control a terminal having a touch screen on a large screen.

Also, the terminal and the control method thereof according to the embodiment of the present invention can flexibly set a user input unit to facilitate user input.

1 is a block diagram of a related mobile terminal to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.
2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
3 is an exemplary view for explaining an activation operation of a control pad according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation for deactivating a control pad according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.
5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a terminal according to user input according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is an exemplary diagram for explaining a content activation operation according to user input according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is an exemplary view for explaining user content use operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a flowchart illustrating a screen control operation according to user input according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9 to 12 are diagrams illustrating screens in a screen control operation according to user input according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a mobile terminal related to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The suffix "module" and " part "for the components used in the following description are given or mixed in consideration of ease of specification, and do not have their own meaning or role.

The mobile terminal described in this specification may include a mobile phone, a smart phone, a laptop computer, a digital broadcasting terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), a PMP (Portable Multimedia Player), and navigation. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the configuration according to the embodiments described herein may be applied to a fixed terminal such as a digital TV, a desktop computer, and the like, unless the configuration is applicable only to a mobile terminal.

Hereinafter, a structure of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

1 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

The mobile terminal 100 includes a wireless communication unit 110, an audio / video input unit 120, a user input unit 130, a sensing unit 140, an output unit 150, a memory 160, A controller 170, a controller 180, a power supply 190, and the like. The components shown in FIG. 1 are not essential, and a mobile terminal having more or fewer components may be implemented.

Hereinafter, the components will be described in order.

The wireless communication unit 110 may include one or more modules for enabling wireless communication between the mobile terminal 100 and the wireless communication system or between the mobile terminal 100 and the network in which the mobile terminal 100 is located. For example, the wireless communication unit 110 may include a broadcast receiving module 111, a mobile communication module 112, a wireless Internet module 113, a short range communication module 114, and a location information module 115 .

The broadcast receiving module 111 receives broadcast signals and / or broadcast-related information from an external broadcast management server through a broadcast channel.

The broadcast channel may include a satellite channel and a terrestrial channel. The broadcast management server may refer to a server for generating and transmitting broadcast signals and / or broadcast related information, or a server for receiving broadcast signals and / or broadcast related information generated by the broadcast management server and transmitting the generated broadcast signals and / or broadcast related information. The broadcast signal may include a TV broadcast signal, a radio broadcast signal, a data broadcast signal, and a broadcast signal in which a data broadcast signal is combined with a TV broadcast signal or a radio broadcast signal.

The broadcast-related information may refer to a broadcast channel, a broadcast program, or information related to a broadcast service provider. The broadcast-related information may also be provided through a mobile communication network. In this case, it may be received by the mobile communication module 112.

The broadcast-related information may exist in various forms. For example, an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) of DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) or an ESG (Electronic Service Guide) of Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DVB-H).

For example, the broadcast receiving module 111 may be a Digital Multimedia Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DMB-T), a Digital Multimedia Broadcasting-Satellite (DMB-S), a Media Forward Link Only And a Digital Broadcasting System (ISDB-T) (Integrated Services Digital Broadcast-Terrestrial). Of course, the broadcast receiving module 111 may be adapted to other broadcasting systems as well as the digital broadcasting system described above.

The broadcast signal and / or broadcast related information received through the broadcast receiving module 111 may be stored in the memory 160.

The mobile communication module 112 transmits and receives radio signals to at least one of a base station, an external terminal, and a server on a mobile communication network. The wireless signal may include various types of data depending on a voice call signal, a video call signal or a text / multimedia message transmission / reception.

The wireless Internet module 113 is a module for wireless Internet access, and may be built in or externally attached to the mobile terminal 100. WLAN (Wi-Fi), Wibro (Wireless broadband), Wimax (World Interoperability for Microwave Access), HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) and the like can be used as wireless Internet technologies.

The short-range communication module 114 refers to a module for short-range communication. Bluetooth, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), infrared data association (IrDA), Ultra Wideband (UWB), ZigBee, and the like can be used as a short range communication technology.

The position information module 115 is a module for obtaining the position of the mobile terminal, and a representative example thereof is a Global Position System (GPS) module.

Referring to FIG. 1, an A / V (Audio / Video) input unit 120 is for inputting an audio signal or a video signal, and may include a camera 121 and a microphone 122. The camera 121 processes image frames such as still images or moving images obtained by the image sensor in the video communication mode or the photographing mode. The processed image frame can be displayed on the display unit 151. [

The image frame processed by the camera 121 may be stored in the memory 160 or transmitted to the outside through the wireless communication unit 110. [ Two or more cameras 121 may be provided depending on the use environment.

The microphone 122 receives an external sound signal through a microphone in a communication mode, a recording mode, a voice recognition mode, or the like, and processes it as electrical voice data. The processed voice data can be converted into a form that can be transmitted to the mobile communication base station through the mobile communication module 112 when the voice data is in the call mode, and output. Various noise reduction algorithms may be implemented in the microphone 122 to remove noise generated in receiving an external sound signal.

The user input unit 130 generates input data for a user to control the operation of the terminal. The user input unit 130 may include a key pad dome switch, a touch pad (static / static), a jog wheel, a jog switch, and the like. The user input unit 130 applied to the embodiment of the present invention generates a control pad on the touch pad display unit 151 for user input in the form of a touch pad and transmits the control pad to the terminal 100, As shown in FIG.

The sensing unit 140 senses the current state of the mobile terminal 100 such as the open / close state of the mobile terminal 100, the position of the mobile terminal 100, the presence or absence of user contact, the orientation of the mobile terminal, And generates a sensing signal for controlling the operation of the mobile terminal 100. For example, when the mobile terminal 100 is in the form of a slide phone, it is possible to sense whether the slide phone is opened or closed. It is also possible to sense whether the power supply unit 190 is powered on, whether the interface unit 170 is connected to an external device, and the like. Meanwhile, the sensing unit 140 may include a proximity sensor 141.

The output unit 150 is for generating output related to the visual, auditory or tactile sense and includes a display unit 151, an audio output module 152, an alarm unit 153, and a haptic module 154 .

The display unit 151 displays (outputs) information processed by the mobile terminal 100. For example, when the mobile terminal is in the call mode, a UI (User Interface) or a GUI (Graphic User Interface) associated with a call is displayed. When the mobile terminal 100 is in the video communication mode or the photographing mode, the photographed and / or received video or UI and GUI are displayed.

The display unit 151 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), a flexible display display, and a 3D display.

Some of these displays may be transparent or light transmissive so that they can be seen through. This can be referred to as a transparent display, and a typical example of the transparent display is TOLED (Transparent OLED) and the like. The rear structure of the display unit 151 may also be of a light transmission type. With this structure, the user can see an object located behind the terminal body through the area occupied by the display unit 151 of the terminal body.

There may be two or more display units 151 according to the embodiment of the mobile terminal 100. For example, in the mobile terminal 100, a plurality of display portions may be spaced apart from one another, or may be disposed integrally with one another, and may be disposed on different surfaces, respectively.

(Hereinafter, referred to as a 'touch screen') in which a display unit 151 and a sensor for sensing a touch operation (hereinafter, referred to as 'touch sensor') form a mutual layer structure, It can also be used as an input device. The touch sensor may have the form of, for example, a touch film, a touch sheet, a touch pad, or the like.

The touch sensor may be configured to convert a change in a pressure applied to a specific portion of the display unit 151 or a capacitance generated in a specific portion of the display unit 151 into an electrical input signal. The touch sensor can be configured to detect not only the position and area to be touched but also the pressure at the time of touch.

If there is a touch input to the touch sensor, the corresponding signal (s) is sent to the touch controller. The touch controller processes the signal (s) and transmits the corresponding data to the controller 180. Thus, the control unit 180 can know which area of the display unit 151 is touched or the like.

Referring to FIG. 1, a proximity sensor 141 may be disposed in an inner region of the mobile terminal or in the vicinity of the touch screen, which is surrounded by the touch screen. The proximity sensor 141 refers to a sensor that detects the presence of an object approaching a predetermined detection surface or an object existing in the vicinity of the detection surface without mechanical contact using an electromagnetic force or an infrared ray. The proximity sensor 141 has a longer life than the contact type sensor and its utilization is also high.

Examples of the proximity sensor 141 include a transmission type photoelectric sensor, a direct reflection type photoelectric sensor, a mirror reflection type photoelectric sensor, a high frequency oscillation type proximity sensor, a capacitive proximity sensor, a magnetic proximity sensor, and an infrared proximity sensor. And to detect the proximity of the pointer by the change of the electric field along the proximity of the pointer when the touch screen is electrostatic. In this case, the touch screen (touch sensor) may be classified as a proximity sensor.

Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the act of recognizing that the pointer is positioned on the touch screen while the pointer is not in contact with the touch screen is referred to as "proximity touch & The act of actually touching the pointer on the screen is called "contact touch. &Quot; The position where the pointer is proximately touched on the touch screen means a position where the pointer is vertically corresponding to the touch screen when the pointer is touched.

The proximity sensor detects a proximity touch and a proximity touch pattern (e.g., a proximity touch distance, a proximity touch direction, a proximity touch speed, a proximity touch time, a proximity touch position, a proximity touch movement state, and the like). Information corresponding to the detected proximity touch operation and the proximity touch pattern may be output on the touch screen.

The audio output module 152 may output audio data received from the wireless communication unit 110 or stored in the memory 160 in a call signal reception mode, a call mode or a recording mode, a voice recognition mode, a broadcast reception mode, The sound output module 152 also outputs sound signals related to functions (e.g., call signal reception sound, message reception sound, etc.) performed in the mobile terminal 100. [ The audio output module 152 may include a receiver, a speaker, a buzzer, and the like.

The alarm unit 153 outputs a signal for notifying the occurrence of an event of the mobile terminal 100. Examples of events that occur in the mobile terminal include call signal reception, message reception, key signal input, touch input, and the like. The alarm unit 153 may output a signal for notifying the occurrence of an event in a form other than the video signal or the audio signal, for example, vibration. The video signal or the audio signal may be output through the display unit 151 or the audio output module 152 so that they may be classified as a part of the alarm unit 153.

The haptic module 154 generates various tactile effects that the user can feel. A typical example of the haptic effect generated by the haptic module 154 is vibration. The intensity and pattern of the vibration generated by the hit module 154 can be controlled. For example, different vibrations may be synthesized and output or sequentially output.

In addition to the vibration, the haptic module 154 may include a pin arrangement vertically moving with respect to the contact skin surface, a spraying force or suction force of the air through the injection port or the suction port, a touch on the skin surface, contact of an electrode, And various tactile effects such as an effect of reproducing a cold sensation using an endothermic or exothermic element can be generated.

The haptic module 154 can be implemented not only to transmit the tactile effect through the direct contact but also to allow the user to feel the tactile effect through the muscular sensation of the finger or arm. The haptic module 154 may include two or more haptic modules 154 according to the configuration of the portable terminal 100.

The memory 160 may store a program for the operation of the controller 180 and temporarily store input / output data (e.g., a phone book, a message, a still image, a moving picture, etc.). The memory 160 may store data on vibration and sound of various patterns outputted when a touch is input on the touch screen.

The memory 160 may be a flash memory type, a hard disk type, a multimedia card micro type, a card type memory (for example, SD or XD memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), PROM A disk, and / or an optical disk. The mobile terminal 100 may operate in association with a web storage that performs a storage function of the memory 160 on the Internet.

The interface unit 170 serves as a path for communication with all external devices connected to the mobile terminal 100. The interface unit 170 receives data from an external device or supplies power to each component in the mobile terminal 100 or transmits data to the external device. For example, a wired / wireless headset port, an external charger port, a wired / wireless data port, a memory card port, a port for connecting a device having an identification module, an audio I / O port, A video input / output (I / O) port, an earphone port, and the like may be included in the interface unit 170.

The identification module is a chip for storing various information for authenticating the use right of the mobile terminal 100 and includes a user identification module (UIM), a subscriber identity module (SIM), a general user authentication module A Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), and the like. Devices with identification modules (hereinafter referred to as "identification devices") can be manufactured in a smart card format. Accordingly, the identification device can be connected to the terminal 100 through the port.

When the mobile terminal 100 is connected to an external cradle, the interface unit may be a path through which power from the cradle is supplied to the mobile terminal 100, or various command signals input by the user to the cradle may be transmitted It can be a passage to be transmitted to the terminal. The various command signals or the power source input from the cradle may be operated as a signal for recognizing that the mobile terminal is correctly mounted on the cradle.

The controller 180 typically controls the overall operation of the mobile terminal. For example, voice communication, data communication, video communication, and the like. The controller 180 may perform a pattern recognition process for recognizing handwriting input or drawing input performed on the touch screen as characters and images, respectively. In particular, the control unit 180 according to the embodiment of the present invention allows a user to generate a control pad for controlling the operation of the terminal 100, detects an input state of a user signal input into the control pad, And controls operations of the terminal unit 151 and the terminal 100.

The power supply unit 190 receives external power and internal power under the control of the controller 180 and supplies power necessary for operation of the respective components.

Hereinafter, the operation of the terminal including the above-described configuration will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 12. FIG.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a view illustrating an activation operation of a control pad according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 8 is an exemplary diagram for explaining an inactivation operation of the pad. Fig.

2 to 4, the controller 180 of the terminal 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention receives a call from the user in a standby mode state (S202) for receiving a call or performing a predetermined operation, Flicking from the first position to the second position in the direction of the display portion 151 or inside the display portion 151 at any point 301 or the bubble of the terminal 100 as shown in FIG. When it is detected that the operation is generated (S204), the second position 302 is determined as the final position according to the user input, and the controller 180 determines the position of the second position 302 The control pad 310 can be output and activated as shown in FIG.

The control pad 310 may be a user input unit having a predetermined size with the second position touched by the user as a center. The size may be flexible and its shape may be reduced in shape and size at a predetermined ratio to the display unit of the terminal.

The control unit 180 determines whether or not a long touch is made within the activated control pad 310 (arbitrary position) 401 over the reference time as shown in the screen diagram of FIG. 4 (S208). )

The control unit 180 may change the control pad from the active state to the movable state 311 when the time touched within the control pad is equal to or longer than the reference time. The control pad can be displayed so that the border or color of the control pad is distinguished from the display state of the control pad.

When the control pad 311 is in the movable state 311, the controller 180 controls the control pad 311 to touch the inner area of the control pad 311 as shown in FIG. 4 (b) (S212). For example, when the control pad is movable, a flicking operation is performed from the arbitrary position 302 (first position) in the control pad to the bezel direction or the second position 302 The control pad 311 is turned off on the display unit 151. If the control pad 311 is in the inactive state, the control pad 311 is turned off.

4, when the control unit 311 is in the movable state and the user input is not the flicking operation but the drag operation is detected in step S216, The control pad 311 may be moved to a position 311a or 311b where the user drags the control pad 311 as shown in FIG.

As described above, the control pad may be activated or deactivated for user input for operation of the terminal 100 and execution of the application, and the terminal 100 may be controlled corresponding to the user input signal input to the control pad.

Hereinafter, an application execution operation through the touch pad will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7. FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a terminal according to user input according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is an exemplary view for explaining a content activation operation according to user input according to an embodiment of the present invention. Is an exemplary diagram for explaining user content use operations according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 to 7, in a state where the control pad 310 is activated on the display unit 151 (S502), the control unit 180 controls the operation of the control pad 310, When the touch panel pointer P touched by the user is dragged within the control pad 310 in step S504, the display panel pointer P is displayed at a position corresponding to the movement of the touch panel pointer P dragged in the control pad 310 The control pad 310 may be a size obtained by reducing the display unit 151 by a predetermined ratio so that the main control pointer P ' The main screen pointer P 'displayed on the display unit 151 correspondingly to the pointer P moved in the display unit 310 also moves correspondingly.

The control unit 180 displays a screen example of FIG. 6 at a point (point) where the control pad pointer P is located while a drag signal for moving the control pad pointer P is detected within the control pad 310 as described above 6 (b), when a touch (e.g., a double click) is detected (S508), a text or an image is selected where the main screen pointer P 'is moved on the display unit 151, the content can be executed as shown in FIG. (S510)

7, if the point at which the main screen pointer P 'is located corresponds to the movement of the control pad pointer P, the control unit 180 determines whether the point P' A keypad 720 for inputting a text or a symbol may be displayed on the input window 710. When the key input through the keypad 720 is completed, the keypad 720 is turned off and the control pad 310 is displayed at the previous position.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a screen control operation according to user input according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 9 to 12 are diagrams for illustrating screens in a screen control operation according to user input according to an embodiment of the present invention .

Hereinafter, a screen control operation according to user input will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 12. FIG.

Referring to FIGS. 8 to 12, the controller 180 according to the embodiment of the present invention may be configured such that, when the control pad 310 is activated (S802) as shown in FIG. 9A, Or the lower side 910 is touched (S804)

9, when the lower side 910 of the control pad 310 is touched, the controller 180 determines whether the control pad 310 is dragged to the left or right in the horizontal direction (S806) S810).

The control unit 180 can move the main screen displayed on the display unit 151 to the right direction 902R or the left direction 902L when dragged to the lower right or left side as in the embodiment of the present invention (S808)

On the other hand, the control unit 180 determines whether the upper or lower side of the control pad 310 is dragged in the vertical direction in the touched state P (S810) as shown in the screen example of FIG. 10 (a) The setting state window can be activated as shown in FIG. 10 (b) (S812). If the setting state window is dragged in the upper vertical direction in the state in which the setting state window is activated (S814) It is possible to disable the activated setting state window at step S816. At this time, in order to activate and deactivate the setting state window, the setting state window (Fig. 1020), a status bar 1010 for on / off can be used.

The control unit 180 determines whether the right or left side of the control pad 310 is touched (S818) as shown in the screen example of FIG. 11 (a) The main screen 1120 displayed on the display unit 151 can be moved up and down to be displayed (S822)

12, if the pointer P touches the control pad 310, the control pad 310 may correspond to the main screen of the display unit 151 as shown in FIG. 12 (b) (310 '). ≪ / RTI >

As shown in FIG. 12C, when the pointer P moves on the enlarged control pad 310 ', the main screen can be controlled to correspond to the moved pointer P. FIG.

Also, a general user input can be performed through the touch panel display unit 151 without the control pad by a user request.

The various embodiments described herein may be embodied in a recording medium readable by a computer or similar device using, for example, software, hardware, or a combination thereof.

According to a hardware implementation, the embodiments described herein may be implemented as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays May be implemented using at least one of processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, and other electronic units for performing other functions. In some cases, May be implemented by the control unit 180.

According to a software implementation, embodiments such as procedures or functions may be implemented with separate software modules that perform at least one function or operation. The software code may be implemented by a software application written in a suitable programming language. The software codes are stored in the memory 160 and can be executed by the control unit 180. [

The mobile terminal described above can be applied not only to the configurations and methods of the embodiments described above, but the embodiments may be configured such that all or some of the embodiments are selectively combined so that various modifications can be made. have.

Claims (4)

A touch screen type display unit comprising a first user input area and a second user input area displayed in a predetermined size in the first user input area;
And a controller for performing a terminal operation based on a user command detected in the second user input area or controlling a screen displayed on the display unit
terminal. The method according to claim 1,
The second user input area
The size of the first user input area is reduced by a predetermined ratio corresponding to the entire screen of the display unit.
terminal. The method according to claim 1,
The control unit
And controls a screen displayed on the first user input corresponding to a user signal input from the second user input
terminal. The method according to claim 1,
The control unit
The second user input area is controlled to be turned on and off by a user request and moved to a predetermined position
terminal.

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