WO2023234495A1

WO2023234495A1 - Control method of portable terminal

Info

Publication number: WO2023234495A1
Application number: PCT/KR2022/018474
Authority: WO
Inventors: 김동철; 남궁두삼; 김법수
Original assignee: 크리온 주식회사
Priority date: 2022-06-02
Filing date: 2022-11-22
Publication date: 2023-12-07
Also published as: KR102443123B1

Abstract

The present invention proposes a control method of a portable terminal, in which a content list is scrolled in a plurality of directions so that access to more items of content and user convenience are significantly improved compared to an existing unidirectional scroll method, and content lists not exposed on a touch screen are deleted so as to optimize memory resources allocated in the portable terminal. To this end, the present invention is performed by a portable terminal having a wireless communication unit and a memory, and may be configured to comprise the steps of: a) arranging content lists to be displayed on the touch screen, according to a lattice array network; b) arranging a new content list in the lattice array network according to a drag orientation on the touch screen, and deleting content lists in the reverse direction of the orientation in the lattice array network, so as to secure resources of the memory; and c) reorganizing the lattice array network by using, as a reference point, a content list exposed in the center portion of the touch screen, and when a drag input occurs on the touch screen, performing step b).

Description

Mobile terminal control method

The present invention relates to a method of controlling a mobile terminal, and more specifically, to provide a non-sequential content list to the user so that the user is exposed to a variety of content, while deleting the content list that the user has passed and creating a new content list, thereby increasing the memory resources of the mobile terminal. It relates to a portable terminal control method that secures.

Smartphones, tablets, and touch-enabled mobile terminals are designed to allow you to select desired content by touching and dragging on the touch screen.

Most Android-based and iOS-based mobile terminals are configured to move content in one direction or scroll a web page by touch and drag input, which is difficult for users in situations where the touch screen is small and a large number of contents must be exposed. This makes it easier to select and use content in the limited space of the touch screen.

Typically, when moving a content list in a mobile terminal, a new content list must be buffered in advance from the content server along the drag input direction. This will be explained with reference to FIG. 1.

Figure 1 shows a conceptual diagram of a conventional method of buffering a content list.

Referring to FIG. 1, when the content list (a1 to a12) is displayed on the touch screen 11 of the portable terminal 10 and the user's drag input occurs in the R1 direction, the portable terminal 10 is connected to the content server (not shown). connects to the network and requests and obtains a new content list to be displayed along the R1 direction and buffers it.

In Figure 1, the content list displayed on the touch screen 11 corresponds to a1 to a12, and when a drag input occurs on the touch screen 11 in the R1 direction, new content to be newly displayed on the touch screen 11 The list corresponds to a13 to a18.

When the user scrolls in the direction R1 in the content list displayed on the touch screen 11, the mobile terminal 10 requests the required number of contents to the content server (not shown) in consideration of the scrolling speed, and the content server is sent to the mobile device. When a content list is transmitted to the terminal, the content list provided from the content server is loaded into the memory of the portable terminal 10 and consumes memory resources.

The memory on the mobile terminal 10 has a limit to the memory that can be allocated to each installed application, and ranges from tens of megabytes to hundreds of megabytes depending on the operating system version. If the scrolling speed of the content list due to the drag input in the R1 direction occurring on the touch screen 11 is high, the mobile terminal 10 must download more content lists in advance than those shown in FIG. 1, and the allocated memory resources are close to There is a risk of exceeding or exceeding it.

In addition, the content list shown in FIG. 1 forms a one-dimensional arrangement of the type of content specified by the user's search along the R1 direction, making it difficult for the user to be exposed to various content, and the faster the user's scrolling speed, the faster the mobile terminal. In (10), it is difficult to secure the memory resources required to run the installed application.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2016-0020102 (Drag and drop processing method and device)

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2017-0128902 (Application display method and electronic device implementing the same)

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a portable terminal control method that minimizes memory resources through efficient addition and deletion of content lists in the portable terminal.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a portable terminal control method that allows access to various contents by diversifying the selection direction of the content list displayed on the touch screen and adding content related to the user as the user drags the touch screen. In providing.

According to the present invention, the above object is achieved in a portable terminal having a wireless communication unit and a memory, comprising the steps of: a) arranging a content list to be displayed on a touch screen according to a grid array network; b) Arranging a new content list in the grid array network along the direction of the drag input on the touch screen, and deleting the content list in the grid array network in a direction opposite to the orientation direction to secure resources in the memory. step; and c) reconfiguring the grid array network using the content list exposed at the center of the touch screen as a reference point, and performing step b) when a drag input occurs on the touch screen, and the wireless The communication unit performs data communication with a content server connected to the network, and requests and obtains a new content list from the content server according to the amount of movement of the grid array network on the touch screen by the drag input and buffers it in the memory. In step b), if the data type of the content list displayed on the touch screen is a video type, a new content list is requested and obtained from the content server corresponding to the shifted movement amount, and if the data type is non-video, At least one more is requested and obtained compared to the shifted movement amount.

Here, the grid array network may be a structure in which the content list is arranged in a grid along a movable direction on the touch screen.

Here, the grid array network is arranged to form the grid with a number of content lists that are greater than the maximum number that can be moved by one drag on the touch screen and less than the maximum number that can be moved by two drags on the touch screen. It may be a structure.

Here, the grid array network arranges the content list along a first direction that is the horizontal direction of the touch screen with respect to the reference point and a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction, so that the content list has a diamond shape. A method of controlling a portable terminal, wherein the diamond shape forms an area larger than the touch area of the touch screen and corresponds to the drag input.

Here, the wireless communication unit performs data communication with a content server connected to a network, receives a content list through the content server, buffers it in the memory, and when a touch and drag occurs on the touch screen, the buffered content list You can create the new content list.

Here, the reference point may be reset to the center of the touch screen after the drag input, and the coordinates of the grid array network may be reset around the reference point.

Here, step b) is preferably performed in the background mode of the mobile terminal.

According to the present invention, user convenience is significantly improved compared to the existing unidirectional scroll method by allowing the content list to scroll in multiple directions.

According to the present invention, the content list is loaded according to the drag direction on the touch screen, and at this time, the content list located in the opposite direction to the drag direction and not exposed on the touch screen is deleted, thereby optimizing the memory resources allocated in the mobile terminal. You can.

According to the present invention, the user can access various contents by including some contents according to the user's location or interests in the content list.

Figure 2 shows a block diagram of a portable terminal according to the present invention.

Figure 3 shows a flowchart of a portable terminal control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 to 6 are diagrams for explaining a method of controlling a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Content referred to in this specification may mean media files such as images, text, videos, sounds, and selective combinations thereof.

The content list referred to in this specification may refer to a list format in which a plurality of the contents are exposed to the touch screen for user selection.

Therefore, the content list is an abbreviated form of an image expressed in the form of a thumbnail, a reduced form of a representative image of a video, and, if the content is a web page, the name of the web page, an abbreviated image of the web page, or the web page. It can take the form of any of the following: text for explanation, a representative image, or a preset icon for a thumbnail. The content list serves as an interface between content and the user before the user selects it on the touch screen. When a user's touch input occurs on the touch screen, the content list can be displayed in full screen form on the touch screen in response.

The portable terminal referred to in this specification may mean a portable terminal equipped with a touch screen, a wireless communication unit, memory, and a processor. Portable terminals may include smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other various types, but in this specification, the illustration and explanation will focus on popular smartphones.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 2, the portable terminal 100 may include a wireless communication unit 110, a control unit 120, an interface unit 130, a memory 140, an output unit 150, and a power supply unit 160. there is. When these components are implemented in actual applications, two or more components may be combined into one component, or one component may be subdivided into two or more components, as needed.

The wireless communication unit 110 may include a mobile communication module 113, a wireless Internet module 115, a short-range communication module 117, and a GPS module 119.

The mobile communication module 113 transmits and receives wireless signals with at least one of a base station, an external terminal, and a server on a mobile communication network. Here, the wireless signal may include voice signals, video call signals, or various types of data resulting from the transmission and reception of text/multimedia messages.

The wireless Internet module 115 refers to a module for wireless Internet access. The wireless Internet module 115 may be built into or external to the mobile terminal 100. Wireless Internet technologies include Wireless LAN (WLAN) (Wi-Fi), Wireless Broadband (Wibro), World Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wimax), and High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA).

The short-range communication module 117 refers to a module for short-range communication. Short-distance communication technologies include Bluetooth, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), infrared data association (IrDA), Ultra Wideband (UWB), and ZigBee.

The Global Position System (GPS) module 119 receives location information from a plurality of GPS satellites.

The output unit 150 is for outputting audio signals, video signals, or alarm signals. The output unit 150 may include a display unit 151 and an audio output module 153.

The display unit 151 displays and outputs information processed in the portable terminal 100. For example, when the mobile terminal 100 is in call mode, it displays a user interface (UI) or graphic user interface (GUI) related to the call.

Meanwhile, as described above, when the display unit 151 and the touch pad form a layered structure to form a touch screen, the display unit 151 can be used as an input device in addition to an output device. If the display unit 151 is configured as a touch screen, it may include a touch screen panel, a touch screen panel controller, etc. In this case, the touch screen panel is a transparent panel attached to the outside and can be connected to the internal bus of the portable terminal 100. The touch screen panel monitors the result of contact, and when there is a touch input, it sends corresponding signals to the touch screen panel controller. The touch screen panel controller processes the signals and then transmits the corresponding data to the control unit 120, allowing the control unit 120 to know whether there was a touch input and which area of the touch screen was touched.

Hereinafter, when the display unit 151 is used as an input device in response to a touch input, the display unit 151 will be referred to as a touch screen and will be described by assigning the same reference numeral “151”.

The audio output module 153 outputs audio data received from the wireless communication unit 110 or stored in the memory 140 in voice signal reception, call mode, recording mode, voice recognition mode, broadcast reception mode, etc. In addition, the sound output module 153 outputs sound signals related to functions performed in the mobile terminal 100, for example, voice signal reception sound, message reception sound, etc.

The memory 140 can store programs for processing and controlling the control unit 120, and can perform a function for temporary storage of input or output data (e.g., messages, still images, videos, etc.). It may be possible.

The memory 140 is a flash memory type, hard disk type, multimedia card micro type, card type memory (for example, SD or XD memory, etc.), It may include at least one type of storage medium among RAM and ROM.

The interface unit 130 serves as an interface with all external devices connected to the portable terminal 100. Examples of external devices connected to the mobile terminal 100 include wired/wireless headsets, external chargers, wired/wireless data ports, card sockets such as memory cards and SIM/UIM cards, and audio I/O (Input /Output) terminal, video I/O (Input/Output) terminal, earphone, etc. The interface unit 130 can receive data from such external devices and transmit it to each component inside the portable terminal 100, and can transmit data inside the portable terminal 100 to the external device.

The control unit 120 typically controls the overall operation of the portable terminal 100 by controlling the operations of each part. For example, it performs relevant control and processing for voice calls, data communications, video calls, etc. Additionally, the control unit 120 may be equipped with a multimedia playback module 121 for multimedia playback. The multimedia playback module 121 may be configured as hardware within the control unit 120, or may be configured as software separately from the control unit 120.

Additionally, when a touch input is applied to the touch screen 151, the control unit 120 determines the location where the touch input occurred, whether or not a multi-touch occurred, and whether a drag input by the user occurred at the location where the touch occurred.

In addition, the power supply unit 160 receives external power and internal power under the control of the control unit 120 and supplies power necessary for the operation of each component.

The mobile terminal 100 configured as described above can be configured to operate in a communication system capable of transmitting data through frames or packets, including wired and wireless communication systems and satellite-based communication systems. there is.

Above, we looked at the configuration of the portable terminal according to the present invention. Next, a method of controlling a portable terminal having this configuration will be described.

Referring to FIG. 3, in the mobile terminal control method according to the embodiment, the control unit 120 first determines whether an app that requires a content list is running (S101). As described above, the content list is a structure that lists the results searched by the user in an app or web environment on the touch screen 151. Its shape is not a rectangle, but a diamond, and when an item passed on the touch screen 151 is deleted, Maintains the overall shape, that is, the diamond shape. This will be explained in detail later.

Next, when the operation of the app is confirmed, the control unit 120 can arrange the content list according to the grid arrangement network on the touch screen 151 (S102). The grid array network has the form shown in Figure 4.

As shown in Figure 4, the grid array network sets the reference point located at the center to (0.0), and the coordinates of the content list that moves one space in the d1 direction of the reference point (0,0) are (1.0) and the d2 direction. The coordinates of the content list moving one space are mapped to (-1,0), the coordinates of the content list moving one space in the d3 direction are (0,1), and the coordinates of the content list moving one space in the d4 direction are mapped to (-1,0). It is mapped to (0,-1). Likewise, the coordinates of the content list moving two spaces in the d1 direction are mapped to (2,0). That is, centered on the reference point (0,0), d1-d2 corresponds to the x-axis, d3-d4 corresponds to the xy coordinate system corresponding to the y-axis, and based on FIG. The coordinate system is formed in the direction (d3) where the number increases to +1 each time you move, and in the opposite case, the number of coordinates decreases to -1.

It is desirable that the grid array network be composed of more content lists than the number of content lists that can be moved by one drag input on the touch screen 151, and fewer content lists than the number of content lists that can be moved by two drag inputs. . For example, when a drag input occurs along the drag direction in the d1 direction in the grid array network shown in FIG. 4, and a coordinate exceeding the rightmost coordinate (4,0) is specified, the touch screen ( 151), a problem may occur in which there is no content list to display. Therefore, the control unit 120 needs to limit the number of content lists constituting the grid array network that can be moved by a single drag input, and for user convenience, the coordinates to be moved by a single drag input are shown in FIG. 4. If it is required to be larger than that, the grid array network must be expanded along each direction (d1 to d4) and the content list must be additionally placed to increase the size of the grid array network.

The grid array network having the above coordinate system moves on the touch screen 151 according to a drag input applied to the touch screen 151, and this will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

As shown in Figure 5, when the mobile terminal 100 and the touch screen 151 are displayed as dotted lines, (-1,2), (0,2), and (1,2) are displayed within the touch screen 151. , (-1,1), (0,1), (1,1), (-1,0), (0,0), (1,0), (-1,-1), (0, Content lists corresponding to the coordinates of -1) and (1,-1) are arranged, and one to three content lists that are not displayed on the touch screen 151 are added in the directions d1, d2, d3, and d4, respectively. You can see that they are arranged. This means that when a drag input occurs on the touch screen 151 in any one of the d1 direction to the d4 direction, the control unit 120 responds to the drag input and uses the content list previously stored in the memory 140 without separate buffering. This is done so that content corresponding to the direction (any one of the d1 direction to the d4 direction) is displayed on the touch screen 151.

Here, in Figure 5, the grid array network is expressed larger than the size of the touch screen 151 indicated by a dotted line, which means that more coordinates than the coordinates displayed on the touch screen 151 are buffered in advance and respond to the user's drag input. It expresses that.

Next, the control unit 120 determines the direction of drag applied to the touch screen 151 (S103) and loads the content list along the direction of drag as described with reference to FIG. 5 (S104).

Next, the control unit 120 secures memory resources by deleting the content list in the anti-direction direction according to the drag direction (S105).

Here, the newly loaded content list and the deleted content list according to the drag direction are processed according to FIG. 6 to secure memory resources.

FIG. 6 shows a method of deleting a content list and loading a new content list when the drag direction is d1 in FIG. 5.

Referring to FIG. 6, the grid array network generates new content along the drag direction when a drag input occurs in the d1 direction in FIG. 5 and the control unit 120 determines that the drag direction for the touch screen 151 is d1. Indicates the process of loading a list.

In FIG. 6, reference numerals n1 to n9 represent new content lists newly loaded in the direction d1 according to the drag direction, and del1 to del9 located in the opposite direction compared to the drag direction represent content lists deleted from the memory 140. .

In Figure 6, before the new content list (n1 to n9) is loaded on the touch screen 151, the reference point of the grid array network is the content list with coordinates (0,0), but the new content list (n1 to n9) is drag-oriented. After the content lists (del1 to del9), which are created along the direction and located in a direction opposite to the drag direction, are deleted from the memory 140, the content list indicated by the reference symbol "np" is reset as the reference point. At this time, the coordinate system is reset in the manner described in FIG. 5 with the contents list (np) reset as the reference point as the center, and the existing coordinates are destroyed.

With the disappearance of the coordinates, the deleted content list (del1 to del9) is completely deleted from the memory 140, so that memory resources allocated to the app (APP) can be secured.

Deletion of the content list (del1 to del9) to secure memory resources can be performed when the control unit 120 is in background mode to prevent performance degradation when the control unit 120 runs the app. there is.

Therefore, a drag input occurs on the touch screen 151 in one of the directions d1, d2, d3, and d4 in a number greater than the number of arrays from the reference point of the grid array to the edge of the grid array, and then again in the opposite direction. When the same number of drag inputs occurs, new content may be displayed on the touch screen 151 instead of content that was previously displayed on the touch screen 151.

For example, in the case of the grid array network shown in FIG. 6, if a drag input occurs more than 5 times in one of the d1, d2, d3, and d4 directions, then the same number of drag inputs occur again in the opposite direction. , New content may be displayed on the touch screen 151 instead of content that was previously displayed on the touch screen 151.

Therefore, there is an effect of providing various contents to users.

Here, when the new content list is loaded into the memory 140 and displayed on the touch screen 151, the new content list to be newly loaded into the memory 140 is sent to the content server according to the shift amount of the content list according to the drag input. It is necessary to obtain and buffer it from (not shown).

Buffering occurs when a drag input on the touch screen continues to occur in one direction (any one of d1 to d4), and as shown in FIG. 6, new content lists (e.g., n1 to n9) must be additionally created along the d1 direction. This means downloading a new content list to be displayed on the touch screen 151 through a network-connected content server (not shown) and loading it into the memory 140. Buffering can be performed according to the standards below.

1) When a drag input occurs on the touch screen 151, a new content list is requested and received from the content server by the amount of movement by which the content list arranged in the grid array shifts due to the drag input (hereinafter referred to as shift movement amount). Buffering method.

In this case, if the shift movement amount occurs in the d1 direction by the coordinate +1, the control unit 120 can request and receive only the corresponding new content list, which is the same as described with reference to FIG. 6. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 120 can request and buffer only new content lists (n1 to n9) corresponding to +1 in the d1 direction to the content server (not shown, omitted below).

2) Even if a drag input does not occur on the touch screen 151, all or most of the remaining space is allocated as a buffering area by referring to the memory resources of the app allocated to the memory 140, and the data is obtained by requesting the content server. Buffering method.

In this case, the number of data communications between the wireless communication unit 110 and the content server decreases, and frequent buffering is not required even if a drag input occurs on the touch screen 151. However, since all (or most) of the free space of the memory 140 is allocated to the buffering space, the free memory resources are reduced.

3) A buffering method that determines the buffering method and the memory 140 space to be allocated for buffering according to the data type.

In this case, the data type of the content list is classified based on whether it is video or non-video. If contentless corresponds to a video with a large amount of data, it is desirable to request only the amount of shift movement from the content server and buffer it in the memory 140. If the data type of the content list is non-video, either item 1) or item 2) One buffering method can be applied.

When buffering a content list according to the data type of the content list, if the data type is non-video, more requests may be made and buffered in the memory 140 than when the data type is a video type. For example, even if the buffering method depends on the shift amount according to the buffering method in item 1), if the data type is a non-video type, the shift amount + 1, shift amount + 2.... are added according to memory resources, such as shift amount + n. This allows the content list to be further buffered in the memory 140.

Next, the control unit 120 determines whether the drag input applied to the touch screen 151 has ended (S106), and if the drag input continues, proceeds to step S103. When the drag input ends, the drag input The coordinates of the finished grid array network are reconfigured (S107), and then it is determined whether the drag input occurs again (S108). If the drag input occurs again as a result of the determination of the control unit 120, step S103 can be performed.

The present invention can be usefully used to improve user convenience and allow users to access a wider variety of content by applying it to portable terminals such as smartphones.

As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, but those of ordinary skill in the art may vary the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below. You will understand that it can be modified and changed.

Claims

It is performed in a mobile terminal equipped with a wireless communication unit and memory,

a) arranging the content list to be displayed on the touch screen according to a grid arrangement network;

b) arranging a new content list in the grid array network along the drag direction on the touch screen, and deleting a content list in a direction opposite to the direction from the grid array network to secure resources in the memory; and

c) reconfiguring the grid array network using the content list exposed at the center of the touch screen as a reference point, and performing step b) when a drag input occurs on the touch screen,

The wireless communication unit performs data communication with a content server connected to a network, and requests and obtains a new content list from the content server according to the amount of movement the grid array network shifts on the touch screen by the drag input to the memory. buffered in,

In step b),

If the data type of the content list displayed on the touch screen is a video type, request and obtain a new content list from the content server corresponding to the shifted amount,

When the data type is non-video, a mobile terminal control method characterized in that at least one more data is requested and obtained compared to the shifted movement amount.
According to paragraph 1,

The grid array network is,

A method of controlling a mobile terminal, characterized in that the contents list is arranged in a grid along a movable direction on the touch screen.
According to paragraph 2,

The grid array network is,

It is more than the maximum number that can be moved by one drag on the touch screen,

A method of controlling a mobile terminal, characterized in that the structure is arranged in the grid with a smaller number of content lists than the maximum number that can be moved by two drags on the touch screen.
According to paragraph 2,

The grid array network is,

The content list is arranged along a first direction that is horizontal to the touch screen and a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction based on the reference point, so that the content list is arranged in a diamond shape. Terminal control method.
According to paragraph 1,

The wireless communication unit performs data communication with a content server connected to a network,

Receiving a content list through the content server and buffering it in the memory,

A method of controlling a mobile terminal, characterized in that when a drag input occurs on the touch screen, the new content list is created from the buffered content list.
According to paragraph 1,

The reference point is,

After the drag input, it is reset to the center of the touch screen,

A portable terminal control method, characterized in that the coordinates of the grid array network are reset around the reference point.
According to paragraph 1,

In step b),

A method of controlling a portable terminal, characterized in that it is performed in a background mode of the portable terminal.