WO2007102642A1

WO2007102642A1 - Mobile phone using optical pointing device to input letters

Info

Publication number: WO2007102642A1
Application number: PCT/KR2006/003060
Authority: WO
Inventors: Keon-Joon Ahn; Chul Park; Jae-Hun Bae; Jae-Dong Kim; Hee-Gon Ko
Original assignee: Crucialtec Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2006-03-08
Filing date: 2006-08-03
Publication date: 2007-09-13

Abstract

An optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal having a display screen, a signal receiving and transmitting device and input buttons is provided. The portable terminal includes an optical pointing device (100) mounted to a specified position of the portable terminal and used as a letter input means. The optical pointing device includes a light source for irradiating a light beam to be used in writing letters on a floor surface (103) as a light pointing object. The display screen (101) is adapted to directly display the letters written on the floor surface (103).

Description

MOBILE PHONE USING OPTICAL POINTING DEVICE TO

INPUT LETTERS

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a portable terminal for inputting letters using an optical pointing device and, more particularly, to an optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal to which an optical pointing device is directly mounted to enable a user to input letters in a simple and easy manner. Background Art

[2] Portable terminals can be classified into a slide type, a folder type, a bar type, a transverse type, a hinge type and so forth, depending on the structure thereof. Among them, the slide type portable terminal typically includes, as shown in Fig. 1, an upper body 10 provided with a display screen 40 and a signal receiving device, and a lower body 20 provided with a multiple number of selection function buttons, direction buttons, numeral and letter buttons and a signal transmitting device.

[3] In the slide type portable terminal, a key pad 30 for inputting letters is provided on a top surface of the lower body 20 and the display screen 40 for representing and displaying the letters inputted by a user is provided on the upper body 10. Thus, the user can input letters while alternately seeing the key pad 30 of the lower body 20 and the display screen 40 of the upper body 10.

[4] In other types of portable terminals than the slide type portable terminal, letters are inputted in a similar manner.

[5] When inputting letters through the key pad in the conventional portable terminals, use is made of a key-combined Korean (Hangul) alphabet input method by which letters are displayed by combining consonants and vowels of the Korean alphabet and a key pad pressing input method by which the English alphabet arranged in a specified pattern is designated.

[6] The key pad 30 of the conventional portable terminals includes letter input keys arranged to avoid duplication of the basic consonants and the basic vowels of the Korean alphabet and additional extension keys capable of selectively inputting extension consonants (fortes) of the basic consonants and extension vowels (diphthongs) of the basic vowels.

[7] According to the letter input method of the conventional portable terminals configured as above, the letter input keys are pressed through mono-space movement that allows key input to be performed on a single-space movement basis, thus posing a problem in that the letter input method requires a time-consuming and onerous input operation.

[8] Furthermore, the user of the portable terminals inputs letters while seeing identification letters printed on the key pad. Inasmuch as the identification letters printed on the key pad are small-sized, erroneous typing occurs frequently during the course of inputting letters. This is problematic in that a task of correcting the erroneous typing recognized by the user requires an additional time.

[9] In addition, a problem is posed in that the small identification letters printed on the miniaturized key pad make it very difficult for an aged person with poor eyesight or a handicapped person awkward at key input to use the letter input method of the conventional portable terminals. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[10] In view of the above-noted problems, it is an object of the present invention to enable a user of a portable terminal to input letters in an extremely simple and easy manner.

[11] Another object of the present invention is to enable a user to ascertain a letter input status simultaneously with inputting letters, thereby reducing occurrence of erroneous typing in a letter input process.

[12] A further object of the present invention is to enable an aged person with poor eyesight or a user awkward at operating a key pad to input letters with ease.

[13] A still further object of the present invention is to enable a user to readily input the

Japanese alphabet, the Chinese characters and other foreign alphabets or characters, as well as the Korean alphabet and the English alphabet. Technical Solution

[14] With the above objects in view, the present invention provides an optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal having a display screen, a signal receiving and transmitting device and input buttons, the portable terminal comprising: an optical pointing device mounted to a specified position of the portable terminal and used as a letter input means, the optical pointing device including a light source for irradiating a light beam to be used in writing letters on a floor surface as a light pointing object, the display screen adapted to directly display the letters written on the floor surface.

[15] The optical pointing device may be mounted to a lower body or an upper body of the portable terminal.

[16] Furthermore, the optically pointed letter- inputting portable terminal of the present invention may further comprise a button key provided on one flank side of the portable terminal for enabling a user to select an option of recognition of a numeral, the Korean alphabet, the English alphabet and other letters. [17] Preferably, the button key may have a function of hot key for menu items.

[18] Moreover, the optically pointed letter- inputting portable terminal may further comprise a click key provided on one flank side of the portable terminal for enabling a user to select a letter input mode.

[19] Preferably, the click key is configured to ensure that the letters can be inputted when the click key is pushed and the letters cannot be inputted when the click key is released.

[20] A technical feature of the present invention resides in that letters are inputted with an optical pointing device directly mounted to a specified position of a portable terminal, instead of using a conventional key pad pressing method.

[21] With the above configuration, if letters are written on a light pointing object, i.e., a floor surface, by orienting the optical pointing device toward the light pointing object, the letters thus inputted appear on the display screen.

[22] A key pad of a typical portable terminal includes letter input keys arranged in such a fashion as to avoid duplication of basic consonants and basic vowels of the Korean alphabet and additional extension keys capable of selectively inputting extension consonants (fortes) of the basic consonants and extension vowels (diphthongs) of the basic vowels.

[23] For this reason, keys need to be pressed several tens of times in order to complete one sentence, which requires a prolonged period of input time. Moreover, since identification letters are printed on the key pads in a very small size, users with poor eyesight should consume an extended period of time in inputting letters.

[24] Furthermore, the users who concentrate his or her attention on the task of inputting letters have a difficulty in immediately recognizing occurrence of erroneous typing if such is the case. Even if the erroneous typing is found after inputting the letters, the keys have to be pressed again to correct the erroneous typing. This requires an additional period of time and often makes the users feel inconvenient.

[25] For the reasons noted above, users unfamiliar with the key pad input, particularly aged or handicapped persons, may suffer from a significant difficulty in inputting the letters.

[26] The present invention ensures that, by directly mounting an optical pointing device a lower folder of a portable terminal in a specified position, letters are written on a light pointing object, i.e., a floor surface, with a light beam projected from a light source of the optical pointing device and the letters thus written are directly displayed on a display screen.

[27] Accordingly, the present invention enables a user to readily input the Japanese alphabet, the Chinese characters and other foreign alphabets or characters, as well as the Korean alphabet and the English alphabet. [28] As set forth above, in the optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal of the present invention, a user is allowed to input letters while seeing a display screen that displays the inputted letters. This provides an advantageous effect of easing a letter input task and reducing occurrence of erroneous typing.

[29] In particular, the present portable terminal has an advantage in that it can be conveniently used in inputting monosyllable letters, like the Korean alphabet or the English alphabet, each letter of which represents a single sound, or inputting the Chinese characters of complex structure.

[30] Moreover, with the present portable terminal, a user is allowed to input letters regardless of the letter pattern, which provides an advantageous effect that the aged or handicapped persons having a difficulty in key input can input letters with ease. Brief Description of the Drawings

[31] Fig. 1 is a view showing a prior art portable terminal with a push type key pad.

[32] Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal in accordance with the present invention.

[33] Fig. 3 is a state-of-use view showing the optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal of the present invention.

[34] Fig. 4 is a state-of-use view showing an optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

[35] Fig. 5 is a section view illustrating one example of an optical pointing device that can be employed in the present invention.

[36] Fig. 6 is a perspective view illustrating one example of an optical pointing device that can be employed in the present invention. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[37] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings

[38] Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a portable terminal in accordance with the present invention.

[39] First, if a user writes letters on a floor surface using an optical pointing device mounted to the portable terminal, the letters thus written are inputted to a central processing unit through a drive/input part of the optical pointing device.

[40] The central processing unit temporarily stores in a memory the letters recognized by a Korean alphabet recognition part, an English alphabet recognition part, a numeral recognition part and an other letter recognition part. The letters inputted from the optical pointing device are displayed in a display part of the portable terminal.

[41] In order to mount the optical pointing device to the portable terminal, it is necessary to manufacture a lens module of the optical pointing device in an ultra small size. To this end, the present inventors have developed a variety of super-slim optical pointing devices adapted for use in a portable terminal, in respect of which patent applications were filed with the Korean Patent Office and allotted Koran Patent Application Nos. 10-2004-0113266, 10-2005-0000471, 10-2005-0005935, 10-2005-0005936, 10-2005-0005937, 10-2005-0009356 and 10-2005-0063614. One of the optical pointing devices disclosed in these patent applications may be used as the optical pointing device of the present invention.

[42] Description will now be made on the optical pointing device disclosed in Koran

Patent Application No. 10-2004-0113266, among other optical pointing devices of the patent applications noted above.

[43] As illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, the optical pointing device 100 includes a cover glass

230, a first wave guide tube 210, a second wave guide tube 220, an image sensor 250 and a light source (not shown).

[44] The first wave guide tube 210 is integrally made of an optical plastic material and includes a first reflecting surface 212 and a first plano-convex lens portion 214. The second wave guide tube 220 is integrally made of an optical plastic material and includes a second reflecting surface 222 and a second plano-convex lens portion 224.

[45] In the optical pointing device configured as above, a light beam irradiated from a light source (not shown) is reflected from a light pointing object and then transmitted to the image sensor 250 via the cover glass 230, the first reflecting surface 212, the first plano-convex lens 214, an interrupting portion 260, the second plano-convex lens 224 and the second reflecting surface 222.

[46] Although the light beam path extending from the cover glass 230 to the first and second plano-convex lenses 214 and 224 and then to the image sensor 250 is of a vertical structure in the prior art, it can be changed to a horizontal structure according to the optical pointing device of the present invention.

[47] Thus, the thickness of the optical pointing device grows quite thin so that the optical pointing device can be easily mounted to a small-size portable terminal. In addition, the length of the optical pointing device can be freely changed depending on the kind of the portable terminal, which makes it possible to apply the optical pointing device to a variety of portable terminal models.

[48] The optical pointing device described above is presented by way of example and, needless to say, other optical pointing devices disclosed in the patent applications cited above can be applied to the present invention. No description will be made herein on other types of optical pointing devices.

[49] Figs. 3 and 4 are state-of-use views of the optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 3 is a view showing the state- of-use of the optical pointing device mounted to a lower body of a slide type portable terminal, whereas Fig. 4 is a view showing the state-of-use of the optical pointing device mounted to an upper body of a transverse type portable terminal. The present invention is not limited to the slide type and transverse type portable terminals but may be equally applicable to other types of portable terminals such as a folder type, a bar type, a hinge type and the like.

[50] The optically pointed letter- inputting portable terminal of the present invention has a curved surface formed in a bottom end portion thereof. The optical pointing device 100 is mounted to the curved surface. The optical pointing device may be mounted to either the lower body or the upper body of the portable terminal. In case the optical pointing device is mounted to the upper body, letters can be inputted by rotating the upper body into a transverse direction as illustrated in Fig. 4.

[51] On one flank side of the present portable terminal, there are provided a button key

104 that enables a user to select an option of recognition of a numeral, the Korean alphabet, the English alphabet and other letters and a click key 105 that allows the user to select an option of letter input mode.

[52] In order for the user to input letters using the portable terminal of the present invention, the portable terminal having the optical pointing device 100 is moved to above a light pointing object 103 and letters are written with a light beam while pushing the click key 105.

[53] The click key 105 is designed to have a letter input mode in which letters can be inputted when the click key 105 is pushed but letters cannot be inputted when the click key 105 is released. The letters thus inputted appear on a display screen 101 immediately.

[54] Furthermore, by pushing the button key 104, the user can select and input numerals, the Korean alphabet including basic consonants, basic vowels, extension consonants (fortes) and extension vowels (diphthongs), the English alphabet, each letter of which represents a single sound, and other letters.

[55] Use of the button key 104 enables the user to readily select the types of letters while writing letters. This helps to reduce misconception or confusion of the letters inputted and to enhance a letter recognition rate.

[56] Moreover, if the other letter recognition part is selected by the button key 104, it becomes possible to easily input hard-to-input letters such as the Chinese characters and the Japanese alphabet.

[57] In addition, by endowing the button key 104 with a hot key function for menu items, it is possible to move to each of the menu items (a note pad menu, a message menu and so forth) by inputting a specified letter and then clicking the button key 104.

[58] Operations of other parts or components except the button key 104 and the click key 105 are the same as those of typical portable terminals and, therefore, no de- scription will be offered in that regard. [59] While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described hereinabove, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. It is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the claims.

Industrial Applicability [60] The present invention can find its application in the field of portable terminals for inputting letters by use of an optical pointing device.

Claims

[1] An optically pointed letter- inputting portable terminal having a display screen, a signal receiving and transmitting device and input buttons, the portable terminal comprising: an optical pointing device (100) mounted to a specified position of the portable terminal and used as a letter input means, the optical pointing device including a light source for irradiating a light beam to be used in writing letters on a floor surface (103) as a light pointing object, the display screen (101) adapted to directly display the letters written on the floor surface (103).

[2] The optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal as recited in claim 1, wherein the optical pointing device (100) has a horizontal light beam path.

[3] The optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal as recited in claim 1, wherein the optical pointing device (100) is mounted to a lower body of the portable terminal.

[4] The optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal as recited in claim 1, wherein the optical pointing device (100) is mounted to an upper body of the portable terminal.

[5] The optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal as recited in claim 1, further comprising a button key (104) provided on one flank side of the portable terminal for enabling a user to select an option of recognition of a numeral, the Korean alphabet, the English alphabet and other letters.

[6] The optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal as recited in claim 5, wherein the button key (104) has a function of hot key for menu items.

[7] The optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal as recited in claim 1 or 4, further comprising a click key (105) provided on one flank side of the portable terminal for enabling a user to select a letter input mode.

[8] The optically pointed letter-inputting portable terminal as recited in claim 7, wherein the click key (105) is configured to ensure that the letters can be inputted when the click key (105) is pushed and the letters cannot be inputted when the click key (105) is released.