WO2008002040A1 - Portable digital device having graphic user interface system which uses two cursors and two pointing devices as the input devices - Google Patents

Portable digital device having graphic user interface system which uses two cursors and two pointing devices as the input devices Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2008002040A1
WO2008002040A1 PCT/KR2007/003062 KR2007003062W WO2008002040A1 WO 2008002040 A1 WO2008002040 A1 WO 2008002040A1 KR 2007003062 W KR2007003062 W KR 2007003062W WO 2008002040 A1 WO2008002040 A1 WO 2008002040A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
hand
digital device
touchpads
portable digital
touchpad
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/KR2007/003062
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Taeun Park
Sangjung Shim
Original Assignee
Tp-I Co., Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Tp-I Co., Ltd filed Critical Tp-I Co., Ltd
Publication of WO2008002040A1 publication Critical patent/WO2008002040A1/en

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
    • G06F3/048—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
    • G06F3/0487—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser
    • G06F3/0488—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B1/00—Details of transmission systems, not covered by a single one of groups H04B3/00 - H04B13/00; Details of transmission systems not characterised by the medium used for transmission
    • H04B1/38—Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving
    • H04B1/40—Circuits
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
    • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
    • G06F3/048—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
    • G06F3/0487—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser
    • G06F3/0489—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser using dedicated keyboard keys or combinations thereof
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
    • H04M1/02—Constructional features of telephone sets
    • H04M1/23—Construction or mounting of dials or of equivalent devices; Means for facilitating the use thereof
    • H04M1/233—Construction or mounting of dials or of equivalent devices; Means for facilitating the use thereof including a pointing device, e.g. roller key, track ball, rocker switch or joystick
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
    • H04M1/72—Mobile telephones; Cordless telephones, i.e. devices for establishing wireless links to base stations without route selection
    • H04M1/724—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
    • H04M1/72403—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M2250/00—Details of telephonic subscriber devices
    • H04M2250/22—Details of telephonic subscriber devices including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for moving a cursor o n a screen by using a pointing device, and more particularly, to an apparatus and meth od having an interface system including two cursors and two pointing devices as input d evices.
  • Computers can be used as graphical user interface systems via a mouse that ca n move a pointer that points to commands and indicates the position on a computer mo nitor.
  • touchpads and pointin g sticks have been developed as built-in pointing devices to replace the mouse and imp rove user convenience.
  • the touchpad and the pointing stick While a mouse is directly moved on a pad to set the coordinates of a pointer, sin ce a touchpad or a pointing stick is fixed, the touchpad and the pointing stick set the co ordinates of a pointer using the motions of a user's finger and a button should be manip ulated using additional motions of the user's finger to execute various commands. Ace ordingly, the touchpad and the pointing stick have inferior user convenience to the mou se.
  • notebook computers are equipped with a built-in input device, such as a touchpad or a pointing stick, they also include a separate mouse.
  • the mouse is more convenient than the touchpad or the pointing stick because operating a button execute commands after the motions of a finger for setting the coord inates of a pointer ends with the pressing of the button when the finger is no longer mov ed.
  • the touchpad or the pointing stick is more inconvenient with regard to input continuity and promptness than the mouse because after the coordinates of a po inter is set using the motions of a finger, the finger must be additionally moved to execu te various commands.
  • the mouse can simultaneously set the coordinates and execute var ious commands via the user's thumb, second finger, or middle finger without additional motions of the hand or finger, whereas the touchpad or the pointing stick requires awkw ard or additional motions of the user's wrist or finger to operate a button, and, if necess ary, requires both hands to input commands.
  • FIG. 1 A illustrates a conventional cellular phone.
  • FIG. 1 B illustrates a cellular p hone having a touchpad 104 instead of a keypad.
  • reference nu meral 101 denotes a power switch
  • reference numerals 102, 103, 105, and 106 de note function buttons including buttons acting like a 'select' button and a 'menu' button of a two-button mouse typically used in a computer.
  • FIG. 2A illustrates a method of operating the eel lular phone having the touchpad 203 with one hand.
  • FIG. 2B illustrates a method of o perating the cellular phone having the touchpad 203 with both hands.
  • a fi nger is moved around on the touchpad 203 to move a pointer to '4' on a virtual keypad 201 of a screen, and then a 'select' button 204 is pressed so as to input '4'.
  • the pointing device i.e., the touchpad 203
  • the touchpad 203 is easy to use like a mou se.
  • the second finger is moved around on the touchpad 203 to move the poi nter to a desired position on the screen, and then the 'select' button 202 or 204 is press ed with the thumb or the middle finger respectively, such that commands are executed while the second finger for operating the touchpad 104 rests.
  • the touchpad 203 may function as a function button in order to allow the cellular phone to be quickly used with only one finger.
  • FIG. 3 A method of operating a cellular phone having a touchpad that also functions as a function button is shown in FIG. 3.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone having a touchpad 303 i dentical to the touchpad 104 of FIG. 1 B with one hand to input '47'.
  • a pointer is moved to '4' on a virtual keypad of a screen.
  • a s elect button 304 is pressed with a user's thumb to input '4' into the screen.
  • the thumb is moved downward on the touchpad 303 to move the pointer to ' T on the screen.
  • FIG. 3D the thumb is moved downward from the touchp ad 303 to the select button 304, and the select button 304 is pressed with the thumb to i nput 7' into the screen.
  • GUI graphical user interface
  • a pointing device i.e., a touchpad
  • 7 is simult aneously selected and input by pressing the touchpad (see FIG. 4B).
  • FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a method of operating a cellular phone having a touch pad that is identical to the touchpad 104 of FIG. 1 B and also serves as a function butto n.
  • the cellular phone of FIGS. 4A and 4B is operated in the same manner with same motions of a finger as those of a conventional button cellular phone.
  • the touchpad of the cellular phone also serves as the function butto n, when 47 needs to be input, the operations of FIGS. 3B and 3D are omitted and just t he operations of FIGS. 3A and 3C are performed and the touchpad is pressed. Accor dingly, referring to FIG.
  • a finger is moved around on the touchpad to select '4' on th e screen and then the touchpad is pressed to input '4', like in the conventional cellular p hone of FIG. 4C.
  • the finger is moved around on the touchpad to select 7' and th en the touchpad is pressed to input 7', like in the case of the conventional cellular phon e of FIG. 4D.
  • a finger is moved from the 4 button to the 7 button of the conventional cellular phone.
  • the 7 button is pressed to in put 7.
  • the cellular phone having the touchpad can be operated with a plura lity of fingers to move the pointer and execute commands without changing the position s of the fingers as shown in FIG. 2B, or can be operated with one finger to move the poi nter and execute commands like the conventional cellular phone as shown in FIG. 2A. That is, the cellular phone according to the present invention can offer the same user convenience as the conventional cellular phone and can have a GUI system beca use the pointing device can also serve as a built-in mouse.
  • a keypad provided in addition to a numeric keypad increases the size of a cellular phone, thereby making it a bit difficult to carry the cellular phone.
  • the size of the numeric keypad must be reduced, which also creates user inconvenience.
  • FIG. 1A illustrates a conventional cellular phone.
  • FIG. 1 B illustrates a cellular phone having a touchpad instead of a keypad.
  • FIG. 2A illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone having a touchpad ide ntical to the touchpad of FIG. 1 B with one hand.
  • FIG. 2B illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone having a touchpad ide ntical to the touchpad of FIG. 1 B with both hands.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone having a touchpad identi cal to the touchpad of FIG. 1 B with one hand to input '47'.
  • FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a method of operating a cellular phone having a touch pad that is identical to the touchpad of FIG. 1 B and also serves as a function button.
  • FIGS. 4C and 4D illustrate a method of operating a conventional cellular phone h aving a keypad.
  • FIG. 5 illustrates a method of operating a touchpad as a function button.
  • FIG. 6A illustrates a cellular phone having a touchpad functioning as a function b utton.
  • FIG. 6B illustrates the touchpad of FIG. 6A pressed to act as the button function.
  • FIG. 7 illustrates a resistor switch, which is typically used for a touch screen, disp osed on a bottom surface of a touchpad.
  • FIG. 8 illustrates two QWERTY phones.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates a cellular phone having two touchpads according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 10 illustrates a prototype of the cellular phone of FIG. 9.
  • FIG. 11 illustrates a cellular phone in a vertical mode according to the present inv ention.
  • FIG. 12 illustrates a cellular phone in a horizontal mode according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 13 illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone in a vertical mode usin g a graphical user interface (GUI) system.
  • GUI graphical user interface
  • FIG. 14 illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone having pointing devices in a horizontal mode according to the present invention to use an E-mail program, like in a GUI system of a conventional computer.
  • FIG. 15 illustrates a virtual keyboard.
  • FIG. 16 illustrates a method of inputting letters using reference points on touchpa ds of a cellular phone.
  • FIG. 17 illustrates a cellular phone having two touchpads and a plurality of function on buttons according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 18 illustrates a double sliding cellular phone having two touchpads used in b oth horizontal and vertical modes.
  • FIG. 19A illustrates an electronic dictionary having a conventional keypad input d evice.
  • FIGS. 19B and 19C illustrate an electronic dictionary having two touchpads.
  • FIG. 20 illustrates a cellular phone and an electronic dictionary having two rectan gular touchpads according to the present invention, different from the circular touchpad s of FIGS. 1 through 19.
  • FIG. 21 illustrates a cellular phone having touchpads on which two or more refer ence points are formed and associated with two or more keys of a virtual keyboard to e asily input letters using the virtual keyboard.
  • FIG. 22 illustrates a method of using reference points on touchpads of a cellular phone in a vertical mode to input letters or numbers.
  • Vacuum tube-based computers were built in the mid-20th century. With the dev elopment of semiconductor technology, computers are now small enough to be held in hands and are no longer embedded systems. Computers, such as desktop computers , laptop computers, or personal digital assistants (PDAs), have become ubiquitous devi ces.
  • PDAs personal digital assistants
  • GUI graphical user interface
  • the pointing device In order to mount a pointing device to use a GUI system on a small electronic de vice, the pointing device, such as a touchpad or a pointing stick built in a notebook com puter, should be reduced in size and function buttons used together with the pointing de vice should be changed in structure and size.
  • a palmtop computer or a PDA is operated using a touch screen or a pen-like stylus.
  • it is inconvenient to use the touch screen or the pen-like styl us for a device small enough to be held in one hand, such as a cellular phone.
  • the present invention provides a cellular phone having a pointing de vice which is convenient to use like a mouse and can be operated with one finger, if nee essary.
  • a hand-held po rtable digital device such as a cellular phone, an electronic dictionary, or a personal dig ital assistant (PDA), having a graphical user interface (GUI) system
  • the hand-held port able digital device comprising two pointing devices having switch functions as input devi ces to easily input letters, numbers, and symbols.
  • the pointing devices may be touchpads.
  • Switches may be disposed under or over the touchpads in a resistance contact o r electrostatic capacity method such that the switches are operated when the touchpads are pressed.
  • the touchpads may be programmed such that the electrostatic capacities of the t ouchpads are changed when the touchpads are pressed with fingers, so as to operate t he switches.
  • One or more small projections or grooves perceivable by fingers may be formed as reference points on the touchpads to know the distances and the directions of the fin gers moved on the touchpads such that the motions of pointers on a screen can be kno wn without seeing the screen.
  • the hand-held portable digital device may further comp rise a virtual keyboard program having a virtual keyboard associated with the touchpads to set the positions of the pointers.
  • Two pointers may be displayed on a window of the virtual keyboard to input letter s, and the two pointing devices may independently control the two pointers, respectively
  • the virtual keyboard may be divided into two regions and the two pointers may b e respectively moved in the divided regions of the virtual keyboard.
  • the left and right pointers may not pass a central border line between the divide d regions of the virtual keyboard and may be respectively moved in the left and right reg ions of the virtual keyboard.
  • the pointers may be located on keys of the virtual keyboard correspondin g to the reference points on the touchpads.
  • the pointers When fingers are removed from the touchpads to press the function buttons whil e the virtual keyboard is still displayed on the screen, the pointers may be returned to th e keys of the virtual keyboard corresponding to the reference points on the touchpads, or when fingers are removed from the reference points to press special keys, such as T ab, Caps, Korean/English, or Shift keys, although the fingers are not removed from the t ouchpads, the pointers may be returned to the keys of the virtual keyboard correspond! ng to the reference points on the touchpads after the special keys are operated.
  • special keys such as T ab, Caps, Korean/English, or Shift keys
  • the reference points on the left and right touchpads may correspond to 'f and 'j' keys of the virtual keyboar d, respectively.
  • At least one projection or groove may be formed at a position a half or a quarter of a r adius away from the center of the left circular touchpad in a right direction and may be f ormed at a position a half or a quarter of a radius away from the center of the right circu lar touchpad in a left direction.
  • the pointing devices may use an optical device of an optical mouse.
  • the hand-held portable digital device may be a cellular phone which allows the vi rtual keypad to be automatically displayed on the screen when being operated in a verti cal mode, so as to make calls first of all.
  • two touchpads which are built-in pointi ng devices substitutable for a computer mouse, are used for a hand-held small electroni c device, such as a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant (PDA)
  • PDA personal digital assistant
  • the operating system of the hand-held device can be easily upgraded to Windo ws level from DOS level.
  • the pointing device also serves as a function button, data input mechanism is the same as that of a conventional cellular phone having a keypad, thereby making i t possible for a user to easily use the cellular phone without a period of adaptation.
  • a keyboard which is the most difficult challenge in miniaturizing computers and permitting small digital electronic devices, such as cellular phones, to provide computer functions, can be realized, thereby making it possible to develop cellular phones providi ng computer functions and hand-held computers.
  • buttons Conventional cellular phones are operated using buttons.
  • a cellular phone havi ng the pointing device, such as the touchpad, according to the present invention is struc tured such that buttons are replaced by the pointing device and virtual buttons are arran ged on a screen.
  • buttons and the size of a button panel which have been Ii mited due to the size of a cellular phone, are no longer limited.
  • a cellular phone having pointing devices of FIG. 10 according to the present invention is approxi mately half the size of a QWERTY phone of FIG. 8 which is equipped with a keyboard t o input many letters in a short time, while both cellular phones perform the same function n.
  • the cellular phone having the pointing device of FIG. 10 can input lett ers on a screen without any finger stress, unlike the QWERTY phone of FIG. 8 in which case finger stress occurs when the small keyboard is operated.
  • the pointing devices are ergonomically efficient in space exploitation.
  • a cellular phone having two touchpads as pointing devices and a plurality of func tion buttons of FIG. 17 according to the present invention can easily provide a GUI funct ion like a mouse.
  • FIG. 17A a document is selected using a right touchpa d and a function button disposed under a left touchpad.
  • FIG. 17B the doc ument is moved to a wastebasket using the right touchpad while the function button is b eing pressed.
  • the two pointing d evices are independently operated and thus can be conveniently used with hands freely like a mouse.
  • GUI GUI
  • fingertop computers can be easily d eveloped from palmtop computers.
  • cellular phones can be used as centr al terminals in this information age not just simple telephones, and the Internet, the foun dation of the information age, will meet another era.
  • a touchpad, a pointing stick, and a track ball, which are used to move a pointer, are different in the principle of moving the pointer but are the same in that function butto ns are additionally required to execute commands in a graphical user interface (GUI) sy stem.
  • GUI graphical user interface
  • a pointing device and function buttons are used to select and move s ome sentences or select and move a file in word processing of a GUI system.
  • Functio n buttons according to the present invention are arranged so that a user can easily oper ate them as shown in FIG. 2B, thereby providing a cellular phone having a GUI system without buttons. Since the function buttons are disposed over and under a touchpad, t he cellular phone of FIG. 2B has the same user convenience as that of a mouse. In or der to operate a cellular phone with only one finger, the touchpad may also function as a function button.
  • FIG. 5 illustrates a method of operating a touchpad as a function button.
  • reference numeral 501 denotes a touchpad body
  • reference numeral 502 denot es a button switch.
  • the button switch 502 is located below the touc hpad body 501.
  • the touchpad body 501 is pressed with one fing er.
  • the button switch 502 is disposed beside the touchpad body 501.
  • FIG. 5D the touchpad body 501 is pressed and the button switch 50 2 is moved laterally.
  • the touchpad body 501 can be vertically move d and the button switch 502 is attached to a lower end of the touchpad body 501 , when the touchpad body 501 is pressed, the button switch 502 is changed from an OFF state to an ON state, and when the touchpad body 501 is restored to its original position, the button switch 502 is changed from the ON state to the OFF state, thereby permitting the touchpad to act as a function button.
  • a pointing device including the touchpad body 501 and the button s witch 502 pivoted on the touchpad body 501 according to the present invention can als o function as a function button by operating the button switch 502 when the touchpad b ody 501 is pressed.
  • a cellular phone using the pointing device functioning as the function button is sh own in FIG. 4. That is, since a touchpad of a cellular phone of FIG. 3 does not functio n as a function button, a finger must be moved from the touchpad to a function button t o input number 7 as shown in FIG. 3C. However, since a touchpad of FIG. 4B function s as a function button, the touchpad is only pressed with a finger to input number 7' wit hout moving the finger to a function button.
  • the motions of a finger to input numbers shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B are the sam e as those of a conventional button cellular phone shown in FIGS. 4C and 4D.
  • a cellular phone using such a touchpad can have a GUI system, but has a limitat ion in inputting letters because the cellular phone cannot be used with both hands unlik e a keypad cellular phone.
  • the present invention provides a cellular phone having two touchp ads which can be operated simultaneously with left and right thumbs, thereby achieving the same text input efficiency as the QWERTY phone.
  • the cellular phone having two touchpads according to the present invention can not only improve text input efficiency but also more easily control the coordinates of a pointer in a GUI system than a cellula r phone having one touchpad.
  • FIG. 17 illustrates a cellular phone having two touchpads and a plurality of function on buttons. Referring to FIG. 17, drag & drop can be done easily with the two touchpa ds like with a mouse.
  • FIG. 6A illustrates a cellular phone having a touchpad functioning as a function b utton.
  • FIG. 6B illustrates the touchpad pressed to act as the function button.
  • a conv entional touchpad acts as a function button when the conventional touchpad is stroked once with a finger.
  • a pointer may be moved, thereby failing to execute commands.
  • Furthermor e due to such additional vertical motions of the finger, the conventional touchpad spen ds more energy and more time than a keypad of a conventional keypad cellular phone, thereby lowering input efficiency.
  • FIG. 7 illustrates a resistor switch, which is typically used for a touch screen, disp osed on a bottom surface of a touchpad 701.
  • an upper conductor 703 and a lower conductor 704 are separated from each other by flexible spacers 702.
  • the touchpad 701 is pressed with a finger, the upper conductor 703 and the low er conductor 704 contact each other.
  • the finger is removed, the upper conducto r 703 and the lower conductor 704 return to their original positions, thereby permitting th e touchpad 701 to function as a switch.
  • the operation displacement of the button switch of FIG. 5 can be reduced to one tenth of a millimetre.
  • FIG. 8 illustrates two QWERTY phones.
  • FIG. 8A illustrates an LG's LG9200 Q WERTY phone featuring a slide-out keyboard.
  • FIG. 8B illustrates a Blackberry 8700 Q WERTY phone featuring a full keyboard.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates a cellular phone having two touchpads 901 L and 901 R accordin g to the present invention.
  • Each of the two touchpads 901 L and 901 R has four functiono n buttons 902 through 905.
  • the four function buttons perform different functions when the cellular phone is used and are arranged to be sufficiently operated with one hand o r two hands.
  • FIG. 10 illustrates a prototype of the cellular phone of FIG. 9.
  • FIG. 10C shows a Samsung SPH-B3100 using a double hinge such that a screen can be viewed horizon tally and vertically.
  • the pointing devices according to the present invention can be app lied to both modes, a horizontal mode suitable for a multimedia player, and a vertical m ode suitable for a simple telephone.
  • the QWERTY phone of FIG. 9 can perform a key board function in a less area than the QWERTY phone of FIG. 8 and can also provide a GUI function.
  • FIG. 11 illustrates a bar-type cellular phone in a vertical mode according to the pr esent invention which can be used with one hand to conveniently dial numbers and rec eive or make calls.
  • FIG. 12 illustrates a cellular phone in a horizontal mode according to the present invention which can be used with both hands to input letters and smoothly use a GUI sy stem.
  • FIG. 13 illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone in a vertical mode usin g a GUI system to make calls, wherein to make calls using the GUI system is the same as that using a conventional cellular phone.
  • the cellular phone i s turned on to show an initial screen.
  • a pointer (cursor) is move d to a call icon and a touchpad is double clicked to open a virtual keypad.
  • the cursor is sequentially moved to desired numbers and the touchpad is se quentially pressed to input 011 -813-9715 into a screen.
  • the cur sor is moved to a 'call' button of the virtual keypad and the touchpad is pressed to make a call.
  • an 'end' button is pressed to end the call.
  • Differently fro m a conventional cellular phone even when a wrong number is input, all previously inp ut numbers do not need to be erased. Only the very wrong number is selected, a 'can eel' button is pressed to erase the wrong number, and then a new number is input.
  • Th e cellular phone of FIG. 13 inputs and corrects letters in the same manner as that using a computer mouse.
  • the cellular phone according to the present invention can also b e programmed to perform the function of a conventional cellular phone.
  • the cellular phone can be progra mmed to use the existing calling method.
  • 011-813-9715 corresponding to the numbers 9715 may be shown on the screen, and a call may be made to 011-813-9715 by pressing the "call" button.
  • '1' is pres sed for a long time, that is, when the touchpad is pressed for a long time, a call is made to a previously input telephone number corresponding to "1 ".
  • FIG. 14 illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone having pointing devices in a horizontal mode according to the present invention to use an E-mail program, like in a GUI system of a conventional computer.
  • the cellular phone is turned on to show a main screen.
  • a pointer is moved to an E-mail icon and a touchpad is double clicked to open an E-mail program.
  • the pointer is moved to an outbox and the touchpad is double clicked to open a list of transmitted mails.
  • FIG. 14D one item of the list is clicked to ope n the selected mail such that amendment or addition can be made to the opened mail.
  • the pointer is moved to a position where letters to be input and t he touchpad is double clicked to open a virtual keyboard at a lower portion of a screen such that the position where letters are to be input is placed right over the virtual keybo ard.
  • a title is input.
  • the pointer is move d to a body and the touchpad is double clicked to automatically show the virtual keyboa rd at a lower portion of the screen such that the body is placed right over the virtual key board to easily detect whether a wrong word is input.
  • FIG. 14G the pointer is move d to a body and the touchpad is double clicked to automatically show the virtual keyboa rd at a lower portion of the screen such that the body is placed right over the virtual key board to easily detect whether a wrong word is input.
  • the pointe r is moved to a 'quit' button and the touchpad is clicked to end a text input mode, a butt on 903R over the right touchpad is pressed to show a menu, the pointer is moved to 'se nd' of the menu, and the touchpad is pressed to send the mail.
  • a butt on 903R over the right touchpad is pressed to show a menu
  • the pointer is moved to 'se nd' of the menu
  • the touchpad is pressed to send the mail.
  • FIG. 141 ' end' of the menu is selected and the touchpad is clicked to return to the main screen.
  • FIG. 15 illustrates a virtual keyboard.
  • FIG. 15A illustrates the virtual keyboard di splayed on a screen in a text input mode where left and right pointers (cursors) are loca ted on 'f and 'j' respectively.
  • the two left and right pointers on the virtual keyboard ca nnot pass over a central border line and are respectively moved in a left region 1501 an d a right region 1502.
  • the left pointer is moved in the left region 1501 with the left thumb and the right pointer is moved in the right region 1502 w ith the right thumb to improve text input efficiency.
  • next position of t he thumb to input next letter can be found easily because the positions of fingers can b e detected by the touchpads with the reference points according to the present inventio n.
  • the present invention having touchpads enables to mechanica Hy input letters by detecting the positions of fingers like a real keyboard.
  • FIG. 16 illustrates a method of inputting the text "... I am fine.” using the referenc e points 1503L and 1503R on the touchpads.
  • '... am 1 is already input.
  • a space function button is pressed to input a space.
  • R eferring to FIG. 16C the right pointer is automatically moved to 'j' of the virtual board. At this time, since the left thumb was not moved, the left pointer still remains on 'a' and only the right thumb pressing the space function button is returned to the reference poin 1 1503R.
  • the left and right pointers and the positions of the left and right t humbs are always associated and each of keys of the virtual keyboard has predetermin ed coordinates on the touchpads, thereby achieving the same effect as that of a compu ter keyboard.
  • FIG. 17 illustrates a cellular phone having two touchpads and a plurality of function on buttons according to the present invention.
  • the cellular phone can easily operate a
  • GUI system like a mouse.
  • a document is selected using a righ t touchpad and a function button disposed under a left touchpad.
  • FIG. 17A a document is selected using a righ t touchpad and a function button disposed under a left touchpad.
  • the document is moved to a wastebasket using the right touchpad while the function button is being pressed.
  • the two pointing devices are independently operated and thus can be conveniently used with t he hands like a mouse.
  • FIG. 18 illustrates a double sliding cellular phone having two touchpads which ca n be used in both horizontal and vertical modes.
  • the cellular phone of FIG. 18 can have a screen as large as the keypad o f the cellular phone of FIG. 8A to increase space efficiency, or can have a size as small as the cellular phone of FIG. 8A without the keypad when the screens of both the cellul ar phones are the same. Accordingly, the cellular phone of FIG. 18 can be more effici ent in space exploitation than the QWERTY phone of FIG. 8A and can provide a GUI fu nction.
  • FIG. 19A illustrates an electronic dictionary having a conventional keypad input d evice.
  • FIGS. 19B and 19C illustrate an electronic dictionary having two touchpads. S ince the electronic dictionary having the touchpads is operated based on a GUI system, internal dictionaries can be used in the same manner as computer application program s.
  • the electronic dictionary having the two touchpads may be used with both hands as shown in FIG. 12A, or may be laid down on the bottom and the touchpads may be use d with one hand as shown in FIG. 2B.
  • the conventional electronic dictionary has a single window
  • the electronic dictionary according to the present invention can have multi-windows as shown in FIG. 19C such that a plurality of dictionaries can be simultan eously used. That is, when a Japanese-Korean radio button at a lower end of a scree n is clicked, a Japanese-Korean dictionary can be used together with an English-Korea n dictionary currently displayed on the screen.
  • FIG. 20 illustrates a cellular phone and an electronic dictionary having two rectan gular touchpads different from the circular touchpads of FIGS. 1 through 19.
  • the posit ions and arrangement of function buttons may vary depending on the shapes of the tou chpads, and the number of the function buttons may be changed variously.
  • FIG. 21 illustrates a cellular phone having two touchpads on which two or more r eference points are formed and associated with two or more keys of a virtual keyboard t o more easily input letters using the virtual keyboard.
  • four reference points 210 1-L1 , 2101-L2, 2101-L3, 2101-L4, 2101-R1 , 2101-R2, 2101-R3, and 2101-R4 disposed on left and right touchpads are respectively associated with s, e, f, c, j, i, I, and m of the virtual keyboard, letters to be input can be known without seeing a screen from relative positions from the reference points perceived by fingers. For example, referring to FIG .
  • the virtual keyboard has the same convenience as that of the real keyboard, althoug h there is a difference in that while the real keyboard is used with all five fingers, the virt ual keyboard is used with only one finger.
  • FIG. 22 illustrates a method of using reference points on touchpads of a cellular phone in a vertical mode to input letters or numbers.
  • FIG. 22A illustrates reference poi nts when a screen of a cellular phone using a double hinge as shown in FIG. 10 is view ed vertically.
  • a reference point 2101-L1 is higher in position than a reference point 21 01-R1.
  • a virtual keypad instead of a virtual keyboard, is displaye d on the screen to input letters or numbers.
  • FIG. 22B illustrates a relationship betwee n the virtual keypad and the reference points.
  • FIGS. 22C and 22D illustrate the motions of a finger to input '8' and 1 O'.
  • the finger is moved from the position including the four reference points where the poin ter is located on '5', to a position including three reference points where the pointer is Io cated on '8', and to a reference point 2101-R3 where the pointer is located on O'.
  • letters and numbers can be easily input in both horizontal and vertical modes u sing the plurality of reference points.

Abstract

Provided is a hand-held portable digital device, such as a cellular phone, an electronic dictionary, or a personal digital assistant (PDA), having a graphical user interface ( GUI) system, the hand-held portable digital device comprising two pointing devices having switch functions as input devices to easily input letters, numbers, and symbols.

Description

PORTABLE DIGITAL DEVICE HAVING GRAPHIC USER INTERFACE SYSTEM WHICH USES TWO CURSORS AND TWO POINTING DEVICES AS THE INPUT
DEVICES
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for moving a cursor o n a screen by using a pointing device, and more particularly, to an apparatus and meth od having an interface system including two cursors and two pointing devices as input d evices.
BACKGROUND ART
Computers can be used as graphical user interface systems via a mouse that ca n move a pointer that points to commands and indicates the position on a computer mo nitor. As the size of computers has become smaller nowadays, touchpads and pointin g sticks have been developed as built-in pointing devices to replace the mouse and imp rove user convenience.
While a mouse is directly moved on a pad to set the coordinates of a pointer, sin ce a touchpad or a pointing stick is fixed, the touchpad and the pointing stick set the co ordinates of a pointer using the motions of a user's finger and a button should be manip ulated using additional motions of the user's finger to execute various commands. Ace ordingly, the touchpad and the pointing stick have inferior user convenience to the mou se.
For this reason, although notebook computers are equipped with a built-in input device, such as a touchpad or a pointing stick, they also include a separate mouse. In detail, the mouse is more convenient than the touchpad or the pointing stick because operating a button execute commands after the motions of a finger for setting the coord inates of a pointer ends with the pressing of the button when the finger is no longer mov ed. In contrast, the touchpad or the pointing stick is more inconvenient with regard to input continuity and promptness than the mouse because after the coordinates of a po inter is set using the motions of a finger, the finger must be additionally moved to execu te various commands. i For example, the mouse can simultaneously set the coordinates and execute var ious commands via the user's thumb, second finger, or middle finger without additional motions of the hand or finger, whereas the touchpad or the pointing stick requires awkw ard or additional motions of the user's wrist or finger to operate a button, and, if necess ary, requires both hands to input commands.
In order to eliminate the inconvenience in use and improve convenience like in th e case of the mouse, attempts have been made to dispose function buttons over and u nder a pointing device. A cellular phone equipped with such a pointing device is show n in FIG. 1 B. FIG. 1 A illustrates a conventional cellular phone. FIG. 1 B illustrates a cellular p hone having a touchpad 104 instead of a keypad. Referring to FIG. 1 B, reference nu meral 101 denotes a power switch, and reference numerals 102, 103, 105, and 106 de note function buttons including buttons acting like a 'select' button and a 'menu' button of a two-button mouse typically used in a computer. A method of using a cellular phone having a touchpad 203 identical to the touchp ad 104 of FIG. 1 B is shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2A illustrates a method of operating the eel lular phone having the touchpad 203 with one hand. FIG. 2B illustrates a method of o perating the cellular phone having the touchpad 203 with both hands. In this case, a fi nger is moved around on the touchpad 203 to move a pointer to '4' on a virtual keypad 201 of a screen, and then a 'select' button 204 is pressed so as to input '4'.
In this case, the pointing device, i.e., the touchpad 203, is easy to use like a mou se.
That is, the second finger is moved around on the touchpad 203 to move the poi nter to a desired position on the screen, and then the 'select' button 202 or 204 is press ed with the thumb or the middle finger respectively, such that commands are executed while the second finger for operating the touchpad 104 rests.
The touchpad 203 may function as a function button in order to allow the cellular phone to be quickly used with only one finger.
A method of operating a cellular phone having a touchpad that also functions as a function button is shown in FIG. 3.
FIG. 3 illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone having a touchpad 303 i dentical to the touchpad 104 of FIG. 1 B with one hand to input '47'. Referring to FIG. 3A, a pointer is moved to '4' on a virtual keypad of a screen. Referring to FIG. 3B, a s elect button 304 is pressed with a user's thumb to input '4' into the screen. Referring t o FIG. 3C, the thumb is moved downward on the touchpad 303 to move the pointer to ' T on the screen. Referring to FIG. 3D, the thumb is moved downward from the touchp ad 303 to the select button 304, and the select button 304 is pressed with the thumb to i nput 7' into the screen.
Referring to FIG. 3, since the cellular phone has a graphical user interface (GUI) system, after 4 is input into the screen, the thumb is moved on the touchpad 303 to sea rch for 7, and then moved downward to the function button 304 (see FIG. 3D) to input 7
If a pointing device, i.e., a touchpad, also serves as a function button, 7 is simult aneously selected and input by pressing the touchpad (see FIG. 4B).
FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a method of operating a cellular phone having a touch pad that is identical to the touchpad 104 of FIG. 1 B and also serves as a function butto n. The cellular phone of FIGS. 4A and 4B is operated in the same manner with same motions of a finger as those of a conventional button cellular phone. Referring to FIG S. 4A and 4B, since the touchpad of the cellular phone also serves as the function butto n, when 47 needs to be input, the operations of FIGS. 3B and 3D are omitted and just t he operations of FIGS. 3A and 3C are performed and the touchpad is pressed. Accor dingly, referring to FIG. 4A, a finger is moved around on the touchpad to select '4' on th e screen and then the touchpad is pressed to input '4', like in the conventional cellular p hone of FIG. 4C. Next, the finger is moved around on the touchpad to select 7' and th en the touchpad is pressed to input 7', like in the case of the conventional cellular phon e of FIG. 4D.
Likewise, referring to FIG. 4C, a finger is moved from the 4 button to the 7 button of the conventional cellular phone. Referring to FIG. 4D, the 7 button is pressed to in put 7.
Accordingly, the cellular phone having the touchpad can be operated with a plura lity of fingers to move the pointer and execute commands without changing the position s of the fingers as shown in FIG. 2B, or can be operated with one finger to move the poi nter and execute commands like the conventional cellular phone as shown in FIG. 2A. That is, the cellular phone according to the present invention can offer the same user convenience as the conventional cellular phone and can have a GUI system beca use the pointing device can also serve as a built-in mouse. Nevertheless, since it takes a longer time to input letters using a pointing device t han using a keyboard, the pointing device cannot replace a keypad on a small digital el ectronic device, such as a cellular phone, to input letters. Thus, a keypad provided in addition to a numeric keypad increases the size of a cellular phone, thereby making it a bit difficult to carry the cellular phone. In order not to increase the size of the cellular p hone when the keypad is additionally provided, the size of the numeric keypad must be reduced, which also creates user inconvenience. Thus, it is difficult to develop a small electronic device having a GUI system to easily input letters.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1A illustrates a conventional cellular phone.
FIG. 1 B illustrates a cellular phone having a touchpad instead of a keypad. FIG. 2A illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone having a touchpad ide ntical to the touchpad of FIG. 1 B with one hand. FIG. 2B illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone having a touchpad ide ntical to the touchpad of FIG. 1 B with both hands.
FIG. 3 illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone having a touchpad identi cal to the touchpad of FIG. 1 B with one hand to input '47'.
FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a method of operating a cellular phone having a touch pad that is identical to the touchpad of FIG. 1 B and also serves as a function button.
FIGS. 4C and 4D illustrate a method of operating a conventional cellular phone h aving a keypad.
FIG. 5 illustrates a method of operating a touchpad as a function button. FIG. 6A illustrates a cellular phone having a touchpad functioning as a function b utton.
FIG. 6B illustrates the touchpad of FIG. 6A pressed to act as the button function.
FIG. 7 illustrates a resistor switch, which is typically used for a touch screen, disp osed on a bottom surface of a touchpad. FIG. 8 illustrates two QWERTY phones.
FIG. 9 illustrates a cellular phone having two touchpads according to the present invention.
FIG. 10 illustrates a prototype of the cellular phone of FIG. 9. FIG. 11 illustrates a cellular phone in a vertical mode according to the present inv ention.
FIG. 12 illustrates a cellular phone in a horizontal mode according to the present invention. FIG. 13 illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone in a vertical mode usin g a graphical user interface (GUI) system.
FIG. 14 illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone having pointing devices in a horizontal mode according to the present invention to use an E-mail program, like in a GUI system of a conventional computer. FIG. 15 illustrates a virtual keyboard.
FIG. 16 illustrates a method of inputting letters using reference points on touchpa ds of a cellular phone.
FIG. 17 illustrates a cellular phone having two touchpads and a plurality of functi on buttons according to the present invention. FIG. 18 illustrates a double sliding cellular phone having two touchpads used in b oth horizontal and vertical modes.
FIG. 19A illustrates an electronic dictionary having a conventional keypad input d evice.
FIGS. 19B and 19C illustrate an electronic dictionary having two touchpads. FIG. 20 illustrates a cellular phone and an electronic dictionary having two rectan gular touchpads according to the present invention, different from the circular touchpad s of FIGS. 1 through 19.
FIG. 21 illustrates a cellular phone having touchpads on which two or more refer ence points are formed and associated with two or more keys of a virtual keyboard to e asily input letters using the virtual keyboard.
FIG. 22 illustrates a method of using reference points on touchpads of a cellular phone in a vertical mode to input letters or numbers.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION TECHNICAL PROBLEM
Vacuum tube-based computers were built in the mid-20th century. With the dev elopment of semiconductor technology, computers are now small enough to be held in hands and are no longer embedded systems. Computers, such as desktop computers , laptop computers, or personal digital assistants (PDAs), have become ubiquitous devi ces.
Furthermore, cellular phones, MP3s, and plasma display panels (PDPs), which h ad no connection with computers, are additionally gaining computer functions. Also, p almtop computers can function as cellular phones, MP3s, or PDAs. Thus, it is the right time to develop a graphical user interface (GUI) system for such small electronic devic es.
However, it is still difficult to mount a pointing device essential to a GUI system of a computer on a small electronic device because of limited space and inconvenience i n use.
In order to mount a pointing device to use a GUI system on a small electronic de vice, the pointing device, such as a touchpad or a pointing stick built in a notebook com puter, should be reduced in size and function buttons used together with the pointing de vice should be changed in structure and size. To this end, a palmtop computer or a PDA is operated using a touch screen or a pen-like stylus. However, it is inconvenient to use the touch screen or the pen-like styl us for a device small enough to be held in one hand, such as a cellular phone.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a cellular phone having a pointing de vice which is convenient to use like a mouse and can be operated with one finger, if nee essary.
TECHNICAL SOLUTION
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hand-held po rtable digital device, such as a cellular phone, an electronic dictionary, or a personal dig ital assistant (PDA), having a graphical user interface (GUI) system, the hand-held port able digital device comprising two pointing devices having switch functions as input devi ces to easily input letters, numbers, and symbols. The pointing devices may be touchpads.
Switches may be disposed under or over the touchpads in a resistance contact o r electrostatic capacity method such that the switches are operated when the touchpads are pressed. The touchpads may be programmed such that the electrostatic capacities of the t ouchpads are changed when the touchpads are pressed with fingers, so as to operate t he switches.
One or more small projections or grooves perceivable by fingers may be formed as reference points on the touchpads to know the distances and the directions of the fin gers moved on the touchpads such that the motions of pointers on a screen can be kno wn without seeing the screen. The hand-held portable digital device may further comp rise a virtual keyboard program having a virtual keyboard associated with the touchpads to set the positions of the pointers. Two pointers may be displayed on a window of the virtual keyboard to input letter s, and the two pointing devices may independently control the two pointers, respectively
The virtual keyboard may be divided into two regions and the two pointers may b e respectively moved in the divided regions of the virtual keyboard. The left and right pointers may not pass a central border line between the divide d regions of the virtual keyboard and may be respectively moved in the left and right reg ions of the virtual keyboard.
When the virtual keyboard program is implemented to open the virtual keyboard on the screen, the pointers may be located on keys of the virtual keyboard correspondin g to the reference points on the touchpads.
When fingers are removed from the touchpads to press the function buttons whil e the virtual keyboard is still displayed on the screen, the pointers may be returned to th e keys of the virtual keyboard corresponding to the reference points on the touchpads, or when fingers are removed from the reference points to press special keys, such as T ab, Caps, Korean/English, or Shift keys, although the fingers are not removed from the t ouchpads, the pointers may be returned to the keys of the virtual keyboard correspond! ng to the reference points on the touchpads after the special keys are operated.
When the virtual keyboard is operated in a QWERTY mode, the reference points on the left and right touchpads may correspond to 'f and 'j' keys of the virtual keyboar d, respectively.
When the 'f and 'j' keys of the virtual keyboard correspond to the reference point s, at least one projection or groove may be formed at a position a half or a quarter of a r adius away from the center of the left circular touchpad in a right direction and may be f ormed at a position a half or a quarter of a radius away from the center of the right circu lar touchpad in a left direction.
The pointing devices may use an optical device of an optical mouse.
The hand-held portable digital device may be a cellular phone which allows the vi rtual keypad to be automatically displayed on the screen when being operated in a verti cal mode, so as to make calls first of all.
ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS
According to the present invention, since two touchpads, which are built-in pointi ng devices substitutable for a computer mouse, are used for a hand-held small electroni c device, such as a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant (PDA), word processin g performance can be maximized and convenience in the use of the small electronic de vice can be improved like in the case of computers.
The operating system of the hand-held device can be easily upgraded to Windo ws level from DOS level.
Since the pointing device also serves as a function button, data input mechanism is the same as that of a conventional cellular phone having a keypad, thereby making i t possible for a user to easily use the cellular phone without a period of adaptation.
A keyboard, which is the most difficult challenge in miniaturizing computers and permitting small digital electronic devices, such as cellular phones, to provide computer functions, can be realized, thereby making it possible to develop cellular phones providi ng computer functions and hand-held computers.
Conventional cellular phones are operated using buttons. A cellular phone havi ng the pointing device, such as the touchpad, according to the present invention is struc tured such that buttons are replaced by the pointing device and virtual buttons are arran ged on a screen.
Hence, the number of buttons and the size of a button panel, which have been Ii mited due to the size of a cellular phone, are no longer limited. For example, a cellular phone having pointing devices of FIG. 10 according to the present invention is approxi mately half the size of a QWERTY phone of FIG. 8 which is equipped with a keyboard t o input many letters in a short time, while both cellular phones perform the same functio n.
In addition, the cellular phone having the pointing device of FIG. 10 can input lett ers on a screen without any finger stress, unlike the QWERTY phone of FIG. 8 in which case finger stress occurs when the small keyboard is operated.
Also, since pointing devices can be easily used like a mouse as shown in FIG. 1
7, the pointing devices are ergonomically efficient in space exploitation. A cellular phone having two touchpads as pointing devices and a plurality of func tion buttons of FIG. 17 according to the present invention can easily provide a GUI funct ion like a mouse. Referring to FIG. 17A, a document is selected using a right touchpa d and a function button disposed under a left touchpad. Referring to FIG. 17B, the doc ument is moved to a wastebasket using the right touchpad while the function button is b eing pressed. When there are one pointer and two pointing devices, the two pointing d evices are independently operated and thus can be conveniently used with hands freely like a mouse.
Moreover, since a GUI system can be used, fingertop computers can be easily d eveloped from palmtop computers. Furthermore, cellular phones can be used as centr al terminals in this information age not just simple telephones, and the Internet, the foun dation of the information age, will meet another era.
BEST MODE
A touchpad, a pointing stick, and a track ball, which are used to move a pointer, are different in the principle of moving the pointer but are the same in that function butto ns are additionally required to execute commands in a graphical user interface (GUI) sy stem.
In practice, a pointing device and function buttons are used to select and move s ome sentences or select and move a file in word processing of a GUI system. Functio n buttons according to the present invention are arranged so that a user can easily oper ate them as shown in FIG. 2B, thereby providing a cellular phone having a GUI system without buttons. Since the function buttons are disposed over and under a touchpad, t he cellular phone of FIG. 2B has the same user convenience as that of a mouse. In or der to operate a cellular phone with only one finger, the touchpad may also function as a function button.
How a touchpad acts as a function button will now be explained with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 illustrates a method of operating a touchpad as a function button. In FIG . 5, reference numeral 501 denotes a touchpad body, and reference numeral 502 denot es a button switch. Referring FIG. 5A, the button switch 502 is located below the touc hpad body 501. Referring to FIG. 5B, the touchpad body 501 is pressed with one fing er. Referring to FIG. 5C, the button switch 502 is disposed beside the touchpad body 501. Referring to FIG. 5D, the touchpad body 501 is pressed and the button switch 50 2 is moved laterally. Accordingly, since the touchpad body 501 can be vertically move d and the button switch 502 is attached to a lower end of the touchpad body 501 , when the touchpad body 501 is pressed, the button switch 502 is changed from an OFF state to an ON state, and when the touchpad body 501 is restored to its original position, the button switch 502 is changed from the ON state to the OFF state, thereby permitting the touchpad to act as a function button.
Accordingly, a pointing device including the touchpad body 501 and the button s witch 502 pivoted on the touchpad body 501 according to the present invention can als o function as a function button by operating the button switch 502 when the touchpad b ody 501 is pressed.
A cellular phone using the pointing device functioning as the function button is sh own in FIG. 4. That is, since a touchpad of a cellular phone of FIG. 3 does not functio n as a function button, a finger must be moved from the touchpad to a function button t o input number 7 as shown in FIG. 3C. However, since a touchpad of FIG. 4B function s as a function button, the touchpad is only pressed with a finger to input number 7' wit hout moving the finger to a function button.
The motions of a finger to input numbers shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B are the sam e as those of a conventional button cellular phone shown in FIGS. 4C and 4D. A cellular phone using such a touchpad can have a GUI system, but has a limitat ion in inputting letters because the cellular phone cannot be used with both hands unlik e a keypad cellular phone.
Particularly, since a time taken to input letters using a cellular phone using a touc hpad is longer than a time taken to input letters using a QWERTY phone, the cellular p hone using the touchpad has lower text input efficiency than the QWERTY phone. To address this problem, the present invention provides a cellular phone having two touchp ads which can be operated simultaneously with left and right thumbs, thereby achieving the same text input efficiency as the QWERTY phone. The cellular phone having two touchpads according to the present invention can not only improve text input efficiency but also more easily control the coordinates of a pointer in a GUI system than a cellula r phone having one touchpad.
FIG. 17 illustrates a cellular phone having two touchpads and a plurality of functi on buttons. Referring to FIG. 17, drag & drop can be done easily with the two touchpa ds like with a mouse.
In order to more quickly input letters, the present invention provides two touchpa ds and two pointers associated with the touchpads, wherein reference points are forme d on the touchpads and thus the touchpads can be conveniently used like a keyboard. FIG. 6A illustrates a cellular phone having a touchpad functioning as a function b utton. FIG. 6B illustrates the touchpad pressed to act as the function button. A conv entional touchpad acts as a function button when the conventional touchpad is stroked once with a finger. In this case, as soon as the finger is separated from the convention al touchpad, a pointer may be moved, thereby failing to execute commands. Furthermor e, due to such additional vertical motions of the finger, the conventional touchpad spen ds more energy and more time than a keypad of a conventional keypad cellular phone, thereby lowering input efficiency.
FIG. 7 illustrates a resistor switch, which is typically used for a touch screen, disp osed on a bottom surface of a touchpad 701. Referring to FIG. 7, an upper conductor 703 and a lower conductor 704 are separated from each other by flexible spacers 702. When the touchpad 701 is pressed with a finger, the upper conductor 703 and the low er conductor 704 contact each other. When the finger is removed, the upper conducto r 703 and the lower conductor 704 return to their original positions, thereby permitting th e touchpad 701 to function as a switch. In this case, the operation displacement of the button switch of FIG. 5 can be reduced to one tenth of a millimetre.
FIG. 8 illustrates two QWERTY phones. FIG. 8A illustrates an LG's LG9200 Q WERTY phone featuring a slide-out keyboard. FIG. 8B illustrates a Blackberry 8700 Q WERTY phone featuring a full keyboard.
FIG. 9 illustrates a cellular phone having two touchpads 901 L and 901 R accordin g to the present invention. Each of the two touchpads 901 L and 901 R has four functio n buttons 902 through 905. The four function buttons perform different functions when the cellular phone is used and are arranged to be sufficiently operated with one hand o r two hands. FIG. 10 illustrates a prototype of the cellular phone of FIG. 9. FIG. 10C shows a Samsung SPH-B3100 using a double hinge such that a screen can be viewed horizon tally and vertically. The pointing devices according to the present invention can be app lied to both modes, a horizontal mode suitable for a multimedia player, and a vertical m ode suitable for a simple telephone. The QWERTY phone of FIG. 9 can perform a key board function in a less area than the QWERTY phone of FIG. 8 and can also provide a GUI function.
FIG. 11 illustrates a bar-type cellular phone in a vertical mode according to the pr esent invention which can be used with one hand to conveniently dial numbers and rec eive or make calls.
FIG. 12 illustrates a cellular phone in a horizontal mode according to the present invention which can be used with both hands to input letters and smoothly use a GUI sy stem.
FIG. 13 illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone in a vertical mode usin g a GUI system to make calls, wherein to make calls using the GUI system is the same as that using a conventional cellular phone. Referring to FIG. 13A, the cellular phone i s turned on to show an initial screen. Referring to FIG. 13B, a pointer (cursor) is move d to a call icon and a touchpad is double clicked to open a virtual keypad. Referring to FIG. 13C, the cursor is sequentially moved to desired numbers and the touchpad is se quentially pressed to input 011 -813-9715 into a screen. Referring to FIG. 13D, the cur sor is moved to a 'call' button of the virtual keypad and the touchpad is pressed to make a call. Referring to FIG. 13E, an 'end' button is pressed to end the call. Differently fro m a conventional cellular phone, even when a wrong number is input, all previously inp ut numbers do not need to be erased. Only the very wrong number is selected, a 'can eel' button is pressed to erase the wrong number, and then a new number is input. Th e cellular phone of FIG. 13 inputs and corrects letters in the same manner as that using a computer mouse. The cellular phone according to the present invention can also b e programmed to perform the function of a conventional cellular phone. Accordingly, if an existing calling method using a keypad is familiar, the cellular phone can be progra mmed to use the existing calling method. For example, when only last 9715 are input, 011-813-9715 corresponding to the numbers 9715 may be shown on the screen, and a call may be made to 011-813-9715 by pressing the "call" button. Also, when '1' is pres sed for a long time, that is, when the touchpad is pressed for a long time, a call is made to a previously input telephone number corresponding to "1 ".
FIG. 14 illustrates a method of operating a cellular phone having pointing devices in a horizontal mode according to the present invention to use an E-mail program, like in a GUI system of a conventional computer. Referring to FIG. 14A, the cellular phone is turned on to show a main screen. Referring to FIG. 14B, a pointer is moved to an E-mail icon and a touchpad is double clicked to open an E-mail program. Referring to FIG. 14C, the pointer is moved to an outbox and the touchpad is double clicked to open a list of transmitted mails. Referring to FIG. 14D, one item of the list is clicked to ope n the selected mail such that amendment or addition can be made to the opened mail. Referring to FIG. 14E, the pointer is moved to a position where letters to be input and t he touchpad is double clicked to open a virtual keyboard at a lower portion of a screen such that the position where letters are to be input is placed right over the virtual keybo ard. Referring to FIG. 14F, a title is input. Referring to FIG. 14G, the pointer is move d to a body and the touchpad is double clicked to automatically show the virtual keyboa rd at a lower portion of the screen such that the body is placed right over the virtual key board to easily detect whether a wrong word is input. Referring to FIG. 14H, the pointe r is moved to a 'quit' button and the touchpad is clicked to end a text input mode, a butt on 903R over the right touchpad is pressed to show a menu, the pointer is moved to 'se nd' of the menu, and the touchpad is pressed to send the mail. Referring to FIG. 141, ' end' of the menu is selected and the touchpad is clicked to return to the main screen.
FIG. 15 illustrates a virtual keyboard. FIG. 15A illustrates the virtual keyboard di splayed on a screen in a text input mode where left and right pointers (cursors) are loca ted on 'f and 'j' respectively. The two left and right pointers on the virtual keyboard ca nnot pass over a central border line and are respectively moved in a left region 1501 an d a right region 1502. Like in a computer keyboard, the left pointer is moved in the left region 1501 with the left thumb and the right pointer is moved in the right region 1502 w ith the right thumb to improve text input efficiency. Since the two pointers do not interf ere with each other and are always moved in their own regions no matter how the touch pads are operated, both the thumbs can be freely moved and the same text input efficie ncy as that of a QWERTY keyboard can be achieved. Since the functions of "shift1, 'sp ace bar', and 'enter' buttons, which are often used to input letters as shown in FIG. 14G , are performed by function buttons around the touchpads, the function buttons can be operated easily and text input efficiency can be improved. Referring to FIG. 15B, whe n the 'shift' function button is pressed, a key of the virtual keyboard is changed to a capi tal letter mode. When fingers are removed from the touchpads to press the function b uttons, and then are returned to the touchpads, the thumbs cannot find their proper posi tions. To address this problem, projections or grooves, which act as reference points 1503, each having a size small enough not to obstruct the motions of the thumbs, are f ormed on the touchpads. Accordingly, after the function buttons are pressed, the thu mbs are returned to the left and right reference points 1503L and 1503R so that the poi nters are located on 'f and 'j' of the virtual keyboard. Accordingly, the next position of t he thumb to input next letter can be found easily because the positions of fingers can b e detected by the touchpads with the reference points according to the present inventio n. As discussed above, the present invention having touchpads enables to mechanica Hy input letters by detecting the positions of fingers like a real keyboard.
FIG. 16 illustrates a method of inputting the text "... I am fine." using the referenc e points 1503L and 1503R on the touchpads. Referring to FIG. 16A, '... am1 is already input. Referring to FIG. 16B, a space function button is pressed to input a space. R eferring to FIG. 16C, the right pointer is automatically moved to 'j' of the virtual board. At this time, since the left thumb was not moved, the left pointer still remains on 'a' and only the right thumb pressing the space function button is returned to the reference poin 1 1503R. Accordingly, the left and right pointers and the positions of the left and right t humbs are always associated and each of keys of the virtual keyboard has predetermin ed coordinates on the touchpads, thereby achieving the same effect as that of a compu ter keyboard.
FIG. 17 illustrates a cellular phone having two touchpads and a plurality of functi on buttons according to the present invention. The cellular phone can easily operate a
GUI system like a mouse. Referring to FIG. 17A, a document is selected using a righ t touchpad and a function button disposed under a left touchpad. Referring to FIG. 17
B1 the document is moved to a wastebasket using the right touchpad while the function button is being pressed. When there are one pointer and two pointing devices, the two pointing devices are independently operated and thus can be conveniently used with t he hands like a mouse.
FIG. 18 illustrates a double sliding cellular phone having two touchpads which ca n be used in both horizontal and vertical modes. When compared with the cellular pho ne of FIG. 8A1 the cellular phone of FIG. 18 can have a screen as large as the keypad o f the cellular phone of FIG. 8A to increase space efficiency, or can have a size as small as the cellular phone of FIG. 8A without the keypad when the screens of both the cellul ar phones are the same. Accordingly, the cellular phone of FIG. 18 can be more effici ent in space exploitation than the QWERTY phone of FIG. 8A and can provide a GUI fu nction.
FIG. 19A illustrates an electronic dictionary having a conventional keypad input d evice. FIGS. 19B and 19C illustrate an electronic dictionary having two touchpads. S ince the electronic dictionary having the touchpads is operated based on a GUI system, internal dictionaries can be used in the same manner as computer application program s. The electronic dictionary having the two touchpads may be used with both hands as shown in FIG. 12A, or may be laid down on the bottom and the touchpads may be use d with one hand as shown in FIG. 2B. While the conventional electronic dictionary has a single window, the electronic dictionary according to the present invention can have multi-windows as shown in FIG. 19C such that a plurality of dictionaries can be simultan eously used. That is, when a Japanese-Korean radio button at a lower end of a scree n is clicked, a Japanese-Korean dictionary can be used together with an English-Korea n dictionary currently displayed on the screen.
FIG. 20 illustrates a cellular phone and an electronic dictionary having two rectan gular touchpads different from the circular touchpads of FIGS. 1 through 19. The posit ions and arrangement of function buttons may vary depending on the shapes of the tou chpads, and the number of the function buttons may be changed variously.
FIG. 21 illustrates a cellular phone having two touchpads on which two or more r eference points are formed and associated with two or more keys of a virtual keyboard t o more easily input letters using the virtual keyboard. When four reference points 210 1-L1 , 2101-L2, 2101-L3, 2101-L4, 2101-R1 , 2101-R2, 2101-R3, and 2101-R4 disposed on left and right touchpads are respectively associated with s, e, f, c, j, i, I, and m of the virtual keyboard, letters to be input can be known without seeing a screen from relative positions from the reference points perceived by fingers. For example, referring to FIG . 21 , when the virtual keyboard is started, pointers are automatically located on f and j o f the virtual keyboard. Referring to FIG. 21 B, when fingers are located on the referenc e points 2101-L1 and 2101-R1 and the pointers begin to be moved, the finger on the lef t touchpad is moved from the reference point 2101-L1 to the reference point 2101-L3 a nd accordingly, the pointer is moved from 'j' to 's1 on the screen. In this state, when th e touchpad is pressed, 's' is input. That is, since relative positions from the reference points are perceived by the fingers, how the fingers are to be moved can be known with out seeing the screen and without trying to move the pointers like using a real keyboard . Accordingly, since the coordinates of the pointers can be set using the virtual keyboa rd, the virtual keyboard has the same convenience as that of the real keyboard, althoug h there is a difference in that while the real keyboard is used with all five fingers, the virt ual keyboard is used with only one finger.
FIG. 22 illustrates a method of using reference points on touchpads of a cellular phone in a vertical mode to input letters or numbers. FIG. 22A illustrates reference poi nts when a screen of a cellular phone using a double hinge as shown in FIG. 10 is view ed vertically. A reference point 2101-L1 is higher in position than a reference point 21 01-R1. In this vertical mode, a virtual keypad, instead of a virtual keyboard, is displaye d on the screen to input letters or numbers. FIG. 22B illustrates a relationship betwee n the virtual keypad and the reference points. Since it is programmed that when the v ertical mode is started, the virtual keypad is displayed on the screen and a pointer is aut omatically located on '5' as shown in FIG. 22A, a finger located at a position including t he four reference points begins to be moved as shown in FIG. 22B, the virtual keypad c an be easily used as shown in FIG. 21 , like using a keypad of a conventional cellular ph one. FIGS. 22C and 22D illustrate the motions of a finger to input '8' and 1O'. That is, the finger is moved from the position including the four reference points where the poin ter is located on '5', to a position including three reference points where the pointer is Io cated on '8', and to a reference point 2101-R3 where the pointer is located on O'. Ace ordingly, letters and numbers can be easily input in both horizontal and vertical modes u sing the plurality of reference points.

Claims

1. A hand-held portable digital device, such as a cellular phone, an electronic die tionary, or a personal digital assistant (PDA), having a graphical user interface (GUI) sy stem, the hand-held portable digital device comprising two pointing devices having switc h functions as input devices to easily input letters, numbers, and symbols.
2. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 1 , wherein the pointing devices are touchpads.
3. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 2, wherein switches are dispose d under or over the touchpads in a resistance contact or electrostatic capacity method s uch that the switches are operated when the touchpads are pressed.
4. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 3, wherein the touchpads are pr ogrammed such that the electrostatic capacities of the touchpads are changed when th e touchpads are pressed with fingers so as to operate the switches.
5. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 2, wherein one or more small pr ojections or grooves perceivable by fingers are formed as reference points on the touch pads to know the distances and the directions of the fingers moved on the touchpads s uch that the motions of pointers on a screen can be known without seeing the screen, t he hand-held portable digital device further comprising a virtual keyboard program havi ng a virtual keyboard associated with the touchpads to set the positions of the pointers.
6. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 1 , wherein two pointers are displ ayed on a window of the virtual keyboard to input letters, and the two pointing devices i ndependently control the two pointers, respectively.
7. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 6, wherein the virtual keyboard i s divided into two regions and the two pointers are respectively moved in the divided re gions of the virtual keyboard.
8. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 7, wherein the left and right poin ters do not pass a central border line between the divided regions of the virtual keyboar d and are respectively moved in the left and right regions of the virtual keyboard.
9. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 6, wherein, when the virtual key board program is implemented to open the virtual keyboard on the screen, the pointers are located on keys of the virtual keyboard corresponding to the reference points on the touchpads.
10. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 6, wherein, when fingers are re moved from the touchpads to press the function buttons while the virtual keyboard is stil I displayed on the screen, the pointers are returned to the keys of the virtual keyboard c orresponding to the reference points on the touchpads, or when fingers are removed fro m the reference points to press special keys, such as Tab, Caps, Korean/English, or Sh ift keys, although the fingers are not removed from the touchpads, the pointers are retur ned to the keys of the virtual keyboard corresponding to the reference points on the tou chpads after the special keys are operated.
11. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 9 or 10, wherein, when the virt ual keyboard is operated in a QWERTY mode, the reference points on the left and right touchpads correspond to 'f and 'j' keys of the virtual keyboard, respectively.
12. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 11 , wherein, when the 'f and 'j' keys of the virtual keyboard correspond to the reference points, at least one projection or groove is formed at a position a half or a quarter of a radius away from the center of t he left circular touchpad in a right direction and is formed at a position a half or a quarte r of a radius away from the center of the right circular touchpad in a left direction.
13. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 1 , wherein the pointing devices use an optical device of an optical mouse.
14. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 1 , wherein the hand-held porta ble digital device is a cellular phone which can be held and operated with one hand.
15. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 1 , wherein the hand-held porta ble digital device is a cellular phone which allows the virtual keypad to be automatically displayed on the screen when being operated in a vertical mode, so as to make calls fir st of all.
16. The hand-held portable digital device of claim 15, wherein, when the virtual k eypad is started, the pointers are located on keys corresponding to the reference points on the key pads.
PCT/KR2007/003062 2006-06-25 2007-06-25 Portable digital device having graphic user interface system which uses two cursors and two pointing devices as the input devices WO2008002040A1 (en)

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