Mobile terminal
Contents
1. 13 The mobile terminal of claim 12 further comprising a data line formed at edges of the touch sheet and config ured to transfer a touch signal corresponding to the first and second regions being touched wherein the shielding pattern is formed at a position cor responding to the data line and positioned at an opposite surface of a surface of the touch sheet on which the data line is positioned 14 The mobile terminal of claim 12 wherein the illumi nation sheet has individualized illumination patterns config ured to separately illuminate touched regions of the touch pad part and wherein the illumination patterns each have a different radius and are formed in concentric circles arranged in sequence along the radius 15 The mobile terminal of claim 14 further comprising control unit configured to separately control the illumi nation patterns to have a brightness that changes along an ambient direction based on a length of time a corre sponding illumination pattern is touched 16 The mobile terminal of claim 2 further comprising a center key disposed in a through hole formed in the window at a position in the second region and May 7 2009 switch disposed within the terminal body and configured to input information according to a pressing operation of the center key 17 The mobile terminal of claim 2 wherein the display is disposed at the first region the window of a transmissive material is mounted on a front2. To achieve these and other advantages and in accor dance with the purpose of the present invention as embodied and broadly described herein the present invention provides in one aspect a mobile terminal including a terminal body having first and second regions on a front surface thereof a touch screen part on the first region and configured to display visual information and perform an inputting operation in a tactile manner and a touch pad part corresponding to the second region and configured to input information corre sponding to a touch applied to a pre set position on the second region 0011 Further scope of applicability of the present inven tion will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter However it should be understood that the May 7 2009 detailed description and specific examples while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention are given by illus tration only since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0012 The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by illustra tion only and thus are not limitative of the present invention and wherein 0013 FIG 1 is a front perspective view of a mobile termi nal according to an embo
3. body comprises a first body and a second body connected to be slidably moved with respect to the first body and wherein the first body includes the touch screen part and the touch pad part formed on a front surface thereof and the second body includes a keypad on a front surface thereof and configured to input numbers or characters 24 The mobile terminal of claim 4 wherein the first con ductive pattern is a single layer
4. illumination patterns 162 may be con figured such that the first to fourth illumination patterns 162a to 162d are in the state of being brightest in turn over time For example as shown in FIG 7A when a touch is input to the touch key parts 154 of the touch sheet 150 the first illumina tion pattern 162 is controlled to be the brightest and when time passes by and as shown in FIG 7B the first illumination pattern 162a becomes dark while the second illumination pattern 162 is controlled to be the brightest 0067 Similarly as shown in FIG 7C as time passes by the third illumination pattern 162c becomes the brightest and then as shown in 7D after the fourth illumination pattern 162d becomes the brightest the illuminations of the first to fourth illumination patterns 162a to 162d are stopped There fore when the user inputs a touch to the touch keypad part 114 the illumination patterns 162 ofthe corresponding touch keypad part 114 are illuminated and at this time visual effects are implemented such that light is diffused in a ring shape along the ambient direction 0068 In addition the illumination patterns 162 may be individually controlled to be brightest starting from the fourth illumination pattern 162d to the first illumination pattern 162a in turn whereby light in the ring form can be diffused along the inward direction over time Further in the above embodiments four illumination patterns 162a to 162d are sequenti
5. in FIG 9 mounted on a first body In addition in FIG 10 the touch sheet 250 and its relevant elements are exaggerated for illustration purposes 0075 As shown the touch sheet 250 includes a first region 251 second region 252 that extends from the first region Conductive patterns 256 and 258 formed at the first and second regions 251 and 252 FIGS 9 and 10 also illustrate a data line 253 touch key part 254 front case 211 rear case 212 display module 235 PCB 234a window 236 etc that correspond with similar components shown in the other above described figures except the reference numerals have been increased by 100 0076 FIG 10 also illustrates an insulation layer 265 pro vided on an inner surface of the conductive pattern 256 formed at the touch sheet 250 and a conductive layer 264 formed on an inner surface of the insulation layer 265 by vacuum depositing e g sputtering a transparent conductive material As shown the conductive layer 264 formed at the first region 251 and the data line 253 is disposed on edges of the conductive layer 264 and electrically connected with the conductive layer 264 Here the data line 253 surrounds the edges ofthe first and second regions 251 and 252 and may be also electrically connected with the conductive patterns 256 and 258 of the first and second regions 251 and 252 0077 Further a shielding pattern 255 is formed at edges of the touch sheet 250 in order to minimize an e
6. information according to a pressing opera tion of the center key 318 is also mounted at an inner side of the center key 318 In addition an illumination sheet 360 that displays an illumination pattern on the touch panel 319 is mounted at an inner side of the touch panel 319 and the configuration and operation of the illumination sheet 360 is the same as that in the former embodiments so its description will be omitted Other reference numerals shown in FIG 13 that have not been described correspond to similar reference numerals shown in FIG 3 0086 Further the above embodiments describe a slide type mobile terminal but the present invention is applicable to all types of mobile terminals such as a bar type mobile terminal a folder type mobile terminal a swing type mobile terminal a swivel type mobile terminal and the like 0087 Next FIG 14 is a schematic block diagram of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention In the following description the mobile terminal 100 in FIG 1 will be explained but it can be also applicable to the mobile terminal 300 shown in FIG 12 0088 As shown in FIG 14 the mobile terminal includes wireless communication module 171 the manipulation units 117 123 and 124 the image input units 116 and 128 the audio input unit 125 the touch screen part 113 the touch keypad part 114 the audio output unit 115 a sensing unit 176 the interface 126 a broadcast receiving mod
7. number desired to be obtained by the user can be displayed on the touch screen part 113 Further as shown in FIG 8B when the user touches the lower portion of the touch key part 154 to scroll down the phone book list the illumination patterns 162 are illuminated based on the amount of time the user touches the touch key part 154 0072 As shown in FIG 8C the user may input characters numbers symbols etc to the terminal by manipulating the second and third manipulating units 123 and 124 and manipu lating the touch key part 154 The user can also select a phone number for example by touching the phone icon on the first manipulating unit117 Thus as shown in the embodiments in FIGS 8A 8C the user can easily input and select different options on the terminal and see that the appropriate regions have been touched 0073 Further the menu or the icons displayed in the touch screen part 113 may be displayed with a size corresponding to the user s finger or a larger size for the user s convenient touch input In addition the conductive pattern 156 of the touch sheet 150 see FIG 4 according to embodiments of the present invention is suitable for sensing the touch inputted to the recognition region formed with such a size as described above 0074 Next FIG 9 is a plan view of a touch sheet 250 according to a second embodiment of the present invention and FIG 10 is a sectional view of the mobile terminal with the touch sheet
8. plan view of the touch sheet 150 according to a first embodiment of the present invention in which the touch sheet 150 is viewed in a forward direction from the rear surface of the first body 110 In addition FIG 5 May 7 2009 is a sectional view of the mobile terminal 100 taken along line V V in FIG 3 in which the touch sheet 150 and its relevant elements are shown 0050 As shown in FIG 4 the touch sheet 150 includes a first region 151 for forming the touch screen part 113 and a second region 152 extending from the first region 151 to form the touch keypad part 114 In addition a conductive pattern 156 for sensing a touch is formed at the first and second regions 151 and 152 and can be formed by patterning a conductive material e g ITO Indium Tin Oxide on the touch sheet 150 0051 Further the conductive pattern 156 may be formed as a single layer on one surface of the touch sheet 150 in zigzags As shown in FIG 5 in the present exemplary embodiment the conductive pattern 156 is formed at an inner side of the touch sheet 150 However the conductive pattern 156 may also be formed at an outer side of the touch sheet 150 0052 Also as shown in FIG 4 the conductive pattern 156 of the first region 151 has a zigzag form in a lengthwise direction of the first body 110 namely in the direction from the audio output unit 115 to the first manipulation unit 117 The conductive pattern 156 also includes bent points 157a an
9. supplies power to the terminal and whether or not the external interface 126 is coupled with an external device 0098 Additionally when a touch is input to the touch screen part 113 or the touch key pad part 114 the sensing unit 176 senses the touch and applies a touch signal to the con troller 170 When a touch is input to the conductive patterns 156 and 158 in FIG 4 of the touch sheet 150 the sensing unit 176 senses a change in an amount of charge generated from the conductive patterns 156 and 158 and transfers the same to the controller 170 0099 Further when the user touches the menu or the icon e g the icon 113c in FIG 8A displayed on the touch screen part 113 the sensing unit 176 senses the touch and applies a corresponding signal to the controller 170 Then the control ler 170 operates a corresponding function of the menu or the US 2009 0117944 Al icon 113 In addition when the user touches the touch key pad part 114 the sensing unit 176 senses the user s touch and applies a signal to the controller 170 0100 When the touch keypad part 114 is implemented as a direction key the controller 170 applies a signal for moving the cursor 113 in the list e g the list 113d in FIG 8B displayed on the touch screen part 113 and at the same time applies a signal for illuminating the illumination patterns 162 in FIGS 7A to 7dD to the illumination sheet 160 As dis cussed above the controller 170 individually
10. surface of the display and the touch screen part includes the touch sheet attached on an inner side of the window 18 The mobile terminal of claim 17 wherein the touch pad part comprises atouch panel disposed at the second region and configured to receive a touch and touch sensors mounted within the terminal body and con figured to sense the touch input to the touch panel 19 The mobile terminal of claim 18 wherein the touch panel has a plate shape and the touch sensors are mounted separately at multiple positions on a printed circuit board within the body 20 The mobile terminal of claim 19 further comprising a center key disposed in a through hole formed in the window at a position in the second region and a switch disposed within the terminal body and configured to input information according to a pressing operation of the center key 21 The mobile terminal of claim 1 wherein the terminal body comprises a support frame surrounding a circumference of the first and second regions and a switch mounted at an inner side of the support frame and configured to input information according to a pressing operation of a manipulation unit included in the support frame 22 The mobile terminal of claim 1 wherein the touch screen part displays a selectable list and the touch pad part has a shape of a direction key to move a cursor or a pointer positioned on the list 23 The mobile terminal of claim 1 wherein the terminal
11. 132 may be retracted from the second body 120 In addition FIG 2 also illustrates one part of a slide module 133 that slidably combines the first body 110 and the second body 120 disposed on the rear case 112 of the first body 110 The other part of the slide module 133 is disposed on the front case 121 of the second body 120 0042 Further the battery cover 127 is installed at the rear case 122 to cover a battery that supplies power to the mobile terminal 100 The battery may be detachably combined within the second body 120 Alternatively the battery may be detachably combined in the form of a pack Also in the mobile terminal shown in FIG 2 a pattern part 129 is formed on the rear surface of the battery cover 127 to prevent the mobile terminal 100 from being easily moved or from slip ping of a surface In addition as shown in FIG 2 the pattern part 129 has a geometrical regular pattern such as lattice or comb like pattern The pattern part 129 may also be formed by coating or injection molding a resin material on a metal base or by some other appropriate method US 2009 0117944 Al 0043 Next FIG 3 is an exploded perspective view of the mobile terminal in FIGS 1 and 2 and will be used to explain an internal structure of the first body 110 As shown in FIG 3 printed circuit boards PCBs 134a and 1345 are mounted at an internal space between the front case 111 and the rear case 112 and electronic components that perform var
12. AILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 0027 Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying draw ings The same reference numerals will be used to designate the same or similar parts throughout the different figures 0028 FIG 11s a front perspective view of a mobile termi nal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention As shown the mobile terminal 100 includes a first body 110 and a second body 120 that is slidably moved along at least one direction with respect to the first body 110 In addition when the first terminal body 110 overlaps the second terminal body 120 the mobile terminal 100 is in a closed configura tion When the first terminal body 110 is slid forward as shown in FIG 1 the first body 110 exposes at least a portion ofthe second terminal body 120 and is an open configuration 0029 Further the mobile terminal 100 is usually in a standby mode in the closed configuration but the standby mode can be released by user manipulation In the open US 2009 0117944 Al configuration the mobile terminal 100 mainly functions in a call mode or the like but the user can also change this mode by manipulating a particular menu option or key The mobile terminal 100 can also be automatically placed in the standby mode after the lapse of a certain time 0030 In addition as shown in FIG 1 the case housing casing cover etc forming the external appearance of
13. US 20090117944A1 as United States a2 Patent Application Publication Pub No US 2009 0117944 1 Lee et al 43 Pub Date May 7 2009 54 MOBILE TERMINAL 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Nov 6 2007 10 2007 0112864 76 Inventors Seong Cheol Lee Seoul KR Nov 7 2007 KR tme 10 2007 0113394 Han Cyu Oh Seoul KR NM Hyo Sung Park Seoul Publication Classification Jun Hyuck Song Seoul KR 51 Int Cl Sang Min Park Seoul KR HO4M 1 02 2006 01 Jae Woon Park Seoul KR G06F 3 041 2006 01 G06F 3 042 2006 01 52 US 455 566 345 173 345 176 Correspondence Address BIRCH STEWART KOLASCH amp BIRCH 57 ABSTRACT PO BOX 747 A mobile terminal including a terminal body having first and FALLS CHURCH VA 22040 0747 US second regions on a front surface thereof a touch screen part on the first region and configured to display visual informa 21 Appl No 12 172 522 tion and perform an inputting operation in a tactile manner and a touch pad part corresponding to the second region and configured to input information corresponding to a touch 22 Filed Jul 14 2008 applied to a pre set position on the second region Patent Application Publication May 7 2009 Sheet 1 of 12 US 2009 0117944 1 FIG 1 22024 25722 Patent Application Publication May 7 2009 Sheet 2 of 12 US 2009 0117944 1 PIG 3 Paten
14. ally arranged but the number of illumination pat terns may vary as necessary 0069 Next FIGS 8A to 8C are plan views of the mobile terminal used to explain operations of the mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention As shown in FIG 8A the touch screen part 130 includes a menu or an icon 113c for operating various functions ofthe mobile terminal 100 Here when the user touches the part of the menu or the icon 113c e g a text message the correspond ing function is performed 0070 As shown in FIG 8B the touch screen part 113 also includes a list 113d that can be selected and a cursor or a pointer 113e positioned on the list 1134 Here the touch keypad part 114 may be implemented in the form of a direc tion key that can move the cursor or the pointer positioned on the list 1134 In this instance when the touch keypad part 114 US 2009 0117944 Al is touched the illumination pattern of the illumination sheet is displayed on the touch keypad part 114 to allow the user to recognize the touch keypad part 114 has been touched 0071 Further in FIG 8B the list 113d is a phone book list and in this instance by touching the region corresponding to the touch key part 154 positioned at the lower portion FIG 4 illustrates the touch key part 154 the cursor or the pointer 113c may be moved downwardly and then by pressing the center key 118 positioned at the central region information e g a phone
15. ata that can be displayed or output on the touch screen part 113 0092 Further the image frames processed by the image input units 116 and 128 may be stored in the memory 174 or May 7 2009 transmitted externally through the wireless communication module 171 under the control of the controller 170 The audio input unit 125 receives external audio signals via a micro phone in a phone call mode a recording mode or a voice recognition mode etc and processes the received audio sig nals into electrical voice data 0093 In addition in the phone call mode the processed voice data is converted into a form that can be transmitted to the network e g mobile communication base station via the wireless communication module 171 In the recording mode the processed voice data is output and stored in the memory 174 Further the audio input unit 125 may include various types of noise canceling or suppression algorithms to cancel or suppress noise generated in the course of receiving and transmitting audio signals 0094 Also the touch screen part 113 outputs information processed in the mobile terminal For example when the mobile terminal 100 is in the phone call mode the touch screen part 113 may display a User Interface UI ora Graphic User Interface GUI associated with a call or other commu nication mode under the control of the controller 170 When the mobile terminal 100 is in the video call mode or the image capturing mode t
16. controls the illumination patterns 162 to 162d such that brightness of the illumination patterns 162 to 162d in the concentric circles changes in the order of time 0101 In addition the interface 126 serves as an interface for at least one external device connected with the mobile terminal For example the external device may include a wired wireless headset an external power charger a wired wireless data port a card socket e g for receiving a memory card a Subscriber Identity Module User Identity Module SIM UIM card etc and the like The interface 126 may also be used to receive inputs e g data information power etc from an external device and transfer the received inputs to one or more elements within the mobile terminal or may be used to transfer data from the mobile terminal to another external device 0102 Further the memory 174 stores programs or the like used for the processing and controlling operations performed by the controller 170 or may temporarily store inputted outputted data e g a phonebook messages still images video etc Also the memory 174 stores a program that controls the overall operations of the mobile terminal 100 according to embodiments of the present invention The memory 174 may also include at least one type of storage medium including a hard disk type card type memory e g SD or XD memory etc a flash memory a Random Access Memory RAM a Read Only Memory ROM a
17. d 157b that are formed at the left and right sides of the conductive pattern 156 in zigzags at which the direction of the pattern changes Further two lines adjacent to the bent point 1575 are symmetrical based on a horizontal line 157c virtual line that passes through the bent point 1525 0053 Thus when the user s finger comes in contact with the window 136 the user s finger is positioned on the region where the conductive pattern 156 is formed on the touch sheet 150 In the following description the positioning ofthe user s finger on the region where the conductive pattern 156 is formed will be referred to as contacting the conductive pattern 156 for the sake of explanation 0054 In addition as shown in FIG 4 the conductive pat tern 156 is configured such that the user s finger F comes into contact with at least two lines 1574 and 157e For this purpose a maximum distance between the two lines 157d and 157e is set to be shorter than the size of the user s finger F Further both ends X Y of the conductive pattern 151 are connected with a data line 153 disposed at an edge of the touch sheet 150 In more detail the data line 153 transfers a touch signal inputted to the conductive pattern 156 to the interior of the first body 110 for which an end of the data line 153 is connected to the PCB 134 by the FPCB 141 0055 Further conductive patterns 158 of the second region 152 implement a key input unit for inputting info
18. diment of the present invention 0014 FIG 2 is a rear perspective view of the mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present inven tion 0015 FIG 3 isan exploded perspective view ofthe mobile terminal in FIGS 1 and 2 0016 FIG 415 a plan view ofa touch sheet according to a first embodiment of the present invention 0017 FIG 5 is a sectional view of the mobile terminal taken along line V V in FIG 3 0018 FIG 6 is a sectional view of the mobile terminal taken along line VI VI in FIG 3 0019 FIGS 7A to 7D are front views of illumination sheets in FIG 3 0020 FIGS 8A to 8C are plan views ofthe mobile termi nal for explaining operations of the mobile terminal accord ing to an embodiment of the present invention 0021 FIG 9 is a plan view ofa touch sheet according to a second embodiment of the present invention 0022 FIG 10 is a sectional view of the mobile terminal with the touch sheet in FIG 9 mounted on a first body 0023 FIG 11 is a circuit diagram showing a schematically converted electrical field form on a conductive layer when the touch sheet in FIG 9 is touched 0024 FIG 12 is a perspective view of a mobile terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention 0025 FIG 13 is an exploded perspective view of the mobile terminal in FIG 12 and 0026 FIG 14 is a schematic block diagram of the mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present inven tion DET
19. eration of the first manipulating unit 117 0047 Also a touch sheet 150 that senses a touch is attached at an inner side of the window 136 and may be made ofa transparent material The touch sheet 150 is also electri cally connected with the PCB 1345 by a flexible PCB FPCB 141 In addition a through hole 150a is formed at a region corresponding to the second region 1135 of the touch sheet 150 and the center key 118 is disposed in the through hole 150a so that the center key 118 can be pressed In addition a switch may be mounted on a rear surface ofthe center key 118 to input information according to a pressing operation of the center key 118 Also mounting holes 1505 are formed at one region of the touch sheet 150 to allow the first manipulating unit 117 to be mounted thereon The touch sheet 150 also includes a shielding pattern 155 formed at edges of the touch sheet 150 0048 Further an illumination sheet 160 which is surface illuminated is disposed at an inner side of the touch sheet 150 and is used to illuminate a region of the window 136 or indicate a certain mark on one region of the window 136 Further the illumination sheet 160 may include an EL Elec troluminescence sheet The illumination sheet 160 also includes a through hole 160a corresponding to the through holes 150a and 136a A dome switch 118a or other input button is also formed on the PCB 1346 to correspond with the center key 118 0049 Next FIG 4 is a
20. f charge measured at both ends X Y of the conductive pattern 156 changes at every touched point according to the change in the resistance value and the values measured at both ends X Y ofthe conductive pattern 156 are compared with set values previously measured at each touch region to detect the touched position As discussed above FIG 5 is a sectional view of the mobile terminal 100 taken along line V V in FIG 3 in which the touch sheet 150 and its relevant elements are shown 0059 Next FIG 6 is a sectional view of the mobile ter minal 100 taken along line VI VI in FIG 3 With reference to FIGS 3 and 6 the illumination sheet 160 is disposed at an inner side of the second region 152 and is configured to display an illumination pattern at the touch keypad part 114 In addition the shielding pattern 155 is formed at edges of the touch sheet 150 and minimizes an external influence namely an influence of electromagnetic waves generated from electronic components on signals of the conductive pattern e g signals transferred via the data line 153 0060 Further the shielding pattern 155 may be formed by depositing a conductive material e g a metallic material on the touch sheet 150 The shielding pattern 155 is also formed at a position corresponding to the data line 153 and is formed at an opposite side of the surface on which the data line 153 is positioned In the present exemplary embodiment the data line 153 is f
21. he touch screen part 113 may display a captured image and or received image a UI a GUI and the like under the control of the controller 170 0095 Further the touch screen part 113 may be used as an input device that inputs information in a tactile manner The audio output unit 115 converts audio data received from the wireless communication module 171 or stored in the memory 174 and outputs the converted data in a call signal reception mode a phone call mode a recording mode a voice recog nition mode and the like under the control of the controller 170 0096 Also the audio output module 115 provides audible outputs related to a particular function e g a call signal reception sound a message reception sound etc performed by the mobile terminal In addition the sensing unit 176 detects a current status or state of the mobile terminal 100 such as an open close state of the mobile terminal 100 a location of the mobile terminal 100 presence or absence of user contact with the mobile terminal etc and generates a sense or control signal for controlling the operation of the mobile terminal 0097 For example when the mobile terminal is a slide type mobile phone the sensing unit 176 senses whether the slide phone is opened or closed and outputs the sensing result to the controller 170 to thereby control the operations of the terminal 100 In addition the sensing unit 176 can detect whether or not the power supply unit 130
22. ious func tions of the mobile terminal 100 are mounted on the PCBs 134a and 1345 0044 Further a display module 135 for displaying visual information is mounted on the PCB 134a and may include an LCD Liquid Crystal Display module an OLED Organic Light Emitting Diode module or the like A window 136 is disposed on an outer side of the display module 135 and has a transmissive region allowing the visual information dis played on the display module 135 to be seen In addition the window 136 may be made of a transparent material a syn thetic resin of a translucent material or tempered glass etc 0045 through hole 136a is also formed at a portion corresponding to a second region of the window 136 and a sound hole 115a is formed at the other end ofthe window 136 for inputting sounds etc to the audio output unit 115 In addition a window mounting part 138 is formed at the front case 111 in order to mount and support the window 136 therein As shown in FIG 3 the window mounting part 138 is dented from a surface ofthe front case 111 so as to receive the window 136 0046 Further a support frame 139 is mounted at a circum ference of the window mounting part 138 and may be made of a metallic material or a semitransparent synthetic resin material The first manipulation unit 117 is formed at one region of the support frame 139 and switches 117a are mounted at 134b to input information according to a pressing op
23. layer 264 may besimply replaced by the circuit diagram having one capacitor C and four resisters R1to R4 based on the touched point P 0080 As the touched point P changes the values of the resisters R1to R4 vary and accordingly the amount ofcharge C accumulated at the touched point P varies Further the variation value of the amount of charge C is measured and compared with pre set previously measured values There fore because the mobile terminal according to the present embodiment further includes the touch sensing method using the conductive layer 264 and the electric field generating parts P1 to P4 in addition to the touch sensing by virtue of the conductive pattern 256 the precision and accuracy of the touch sensing is improved without affecting the thickness of the touch sheet 250 0081 Next FIG 12 is a perspective view of a mobile terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention and FIG 13 is an exploded perspective view ofthe mobile terminal in FIG 12 Reference numerals shown in FIG 12 are similar to the reference numerals shown in FIG 1 but are increased by 200 from the reference numerals shown in FIG 1 0082 As shown in FIG 12 the mobile terminal includes first region 313a and a second region 314a formed on a front surface of a first body 310 A touch screen part 313 and a touch keypad part 314 are disposed on the first and second regions 313a and 314a respectively Further a
24. ll number of pixels to quickly capture an image or video of the user s face and immediately transmit the captured data to another party during a video conferencing call or the like Meanwhile the second image input unit 128 may be used for high resolution i e supporting a relatively large number of pixels in order to capture more detailed or higher quality images or video which typically do not need to be transmitted immediately In addition a flash may be additionally dis posed next to the second image input unit 128 to provide extra light to a subject when an image of the subject is being captured by the second image input unit 128 0040 In the above description the second image input unit 128 is disposed on the second terminal body 120 but the second image input unit 128 may be mounted on the rear case 112 of the first body 110 In this instance the elements dis posed on the rear case 112 can be protected or covered by the second terminal body 120 in the closed configuration In addition if the second image input unit 128 is not provided the first image input unit 116 may be configured to rotate or otherwise be moved to thus allow capturing images in the direction of the second image input unit 128 as well as other directions 0041 Further as shown in FIG 2 the broadcast signal receiving antenna 132 is disposed at one side of the rear case 122 FIG 2 illustrates the antenna 132 in a retractable state and the antenna
25. m 4 wherein the touch sheet further comprises a conductive layer disposed on one face ofthe first conduc tive pattern a data line electrically connected to the conductive layer and disposed at edges of the touch sheet and electric field generating units disposed at the edges of the touch sheet and configured to generate an electric field at the conductive layer US 2009 0117944 Al 8 The mobile terminal of claim 7 wherein the touch sheet has a rectangular shape and the electric field generating units are mounted at positions corresponding to vertexes of the touch sheet 9 The mobile terminal of claim 7 further comprising a correction pattern formed at the edges of the touch sheet and configured to linearly correct an electric field gen erated at the conductive layer 10 The mobile terminal of claim 3 wherein a portion of the touch sheet corresponding to the touch pad part includes a second conductive pattern configured to sense a touch of the touch pad part 11 The mobile terminal of claim 10 wherein the second conductive patterns are spaced apart from each other on the touch sheet 12 The mobile terminal of claim 11 wherein the touch pad part comprises an illumination sheet configured to illuminate the second region and wherein the touch sheet further comprises a shielding pat tern electrically short circuited to ground of the illumi nation sheet and configured to block an influence of the illumination sheet
26. minal are becom ing more diversified the number of menu choices has also increased That is a user interface is provided in an attempt to simplify the operation of the mobile terminal In addition users now consider their mobile terminal to be a necessity and also think of the mobile terminal as being an extension of their personality Thus users are now looking for particular mobile terminals that have a design that meets their particular per sonality Thus various designs are now provided for mobile terminals 0007 In addition some mobile terminals also include a touch screen that the user can touch to select particular items or menu options However the touch screen is small in size and therefore it is often difficult to select the various menu options or other items displayed on the touch screen For example the user s input on the touch screen is not recog nized or the user touches two or more menu options or items displayed on the terminal In addition the user often has to read a user s manual to learn how to operate the mobile terminal because there are a large variety of options provided with the mobile terminal SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0008 Accordingly one object of the present invention is to address the above noted and other problems 0009 Another object of the present invention is to provide a user interface environment that is easy to use and to provide a mobile terminal that has a simple design 0010
27. nd the like 0103 In addition the broadcast receiving module 175 receives a broadcast signal transmitted through a satellite or terrestrial service convert the same into a broadcast data format that can be output to the touch screen part 113 and the audio output unit 115 and outputs the converted data to the controller 170 Further the broadcast receiving module 175 also receives supplementary data associated to a broadcast e g Electronic Program Guide EPG a channel list etc 0104 The broadcast data and supplementary data is then converted by the broadcast receiving module 175 and may be stored in the memory 174 In addition the power supply unit 130 is provided with an internal or external power source and supplies power used for operating the different elements of the terminal under the control of the controller 170 0105 As so far described the mobile terminal according to embodiments of the present invention has several advan tages That is first because the touch screen part and the touch pad part are provided to the first and second regions respectively formed on the front surface of the terminal body a convenient user interface environment is provided and the design of the mobile terminal is simplified 0106 Second the illumination sheet including the illumi nation patterns for individually illuminating the touch key parts allows the user to effectively recognize a touch input and because the illumination patter
28. ns in the concentric circles are individually controlled such that their brightness changes in the order of time the user can easily see the operations of the touch parts May 7 2009 0107 Third because the conductive pattern of the touch sheet is formed as a single layer the touch sheet may be formed to be thinner and have an improved light transmit tance Also because a conductive material is used for the conductive pattern the overall material costs of the terminal can be reduced 0108 Fourth because the touch sensing method using a single layer the touch sensing method using the conductive layer formed through vacuum deposition and the electric field generating unit are applied in conjunction and the accuracy of touch sensing is improved without significantly affecting the thickness of the touch sheet 0109 Fifth because the input method uses the touch screen and the touch pad a more convenient user interface is provided 0110 As the exemplary embodiments may be imple mented in several forms without departing from the charac teristics thereof it should also be understood that the above described embodiments are not limited by any ofthe details of the foregoing description unless otherwise specified but rather should be construed broadly within its scope as defined in the appended claims Therefore various changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the claims or equivalents of such scope are therefo
29. ormed at an inner side of the touch sheet 150 and the shielding pattern 155 is formed at an outer side of the touch sheet 150 0061 However conversely the data line 153 may be formed at the outer side of the touch sheet 150 while the shielding pattern 155 may be formed at the inner side of the touch sheet 150 In addition the conductive patterns 156 and 158 may be formed on the same surface on which the data line 153 is positioned Further a ground 161 is formed at the illumination sheet 160 and the shielding pattern 155 is elec trically short circuited with the ground 161 0062 Inaddition the ground 161 of the illumination sheet 160 and the shielding pattern 155 can be connected in various manners for example by a cable or through contact point connection Therefore by electrically short circuiting the shielding pattern 155 and the ground 161 of the illumination sheet 160 an influence of a voltage generated from the illu mination sheet 160 on an operation ofthe touch sheet 150 can be minimized 0063 FIGS 7A to 7D are front views of illumination sheets in FIG 3 in which the operations of the illumination sheet 160 when the touch keypad part 114 is touched are shown in the order of time As shown the illumination sheet 160 includes illumination patterns 162 individualized to separately illuminate the touch key parts 154 when the touch keypad part 114 is touched Further the illumination pattern 162 is illuminated when a t
30. ouch is applied to one of the touch key parts 154 to thus allow a user to recognize that the touch has been inputted to the touch key part 154 May 7 2009 0064 In addition the illumination patterns 162 are posi tioned at regions corresponding to the touch key parts 154 and in the embodiment shown in FIGS 7A to 7D each illumination pattern 162 has concentric circles each having a different radius In the following description the illumination patterns 162 disposed at the right portion of the illumination sheet 160 will be taken as an example Further the circles indicated by solid lines indicate an illuminated state and the circles indicated by dotted lines indicate a non illuminated state 0065 Further as shown in FIGS 7A 7D the illumination patterns 162 include first to fourth illumination patterns 162a to 162d having different radiuses and in which the illumina tion patterns 162a to 162d are sequentially arranged accord ing to their radius In addition each of the illumination pat terns 162a to 162d may be made of a material having a brightness that can be controlled according to strength of a current and may be individually controlled to have a bright ness that changes in turn along an ambient direction in the order of time In FIGS 7A to 7D the darker solid lines with a greater thickness compared to the other illumination pat terns 162 indicate illumination patterns with the highest brightness 0066 Further the
31. re intended to be embraced by the appended claims What is claimed is 1 A mobile terminal comprising a terminal body having first and second regions on a front surface thereof a touch screen part on the first region and configured to display visual information and perform an inputting operation in a tactile manner and a touch pad part corresponding to the second region and configured to input information corresponding to a touch applied to a pre set position on the second region 2 The mobile terminal of claim 1 further comprising a display mounted on the first region and configured to display the visual information and a window of a transmissive material mounted on the front surface of the first and second regions 3 The mobile terminal of claim 2 wherein the touch screen part comprises a touch sheet attached on an inner side of the window and configured to sense a touch on the first region 4 The mobile terminal of claim 3 wherein the touch sheet comprises a first conductive pattern formed in zigzags on the touch sheet 5 The mobile terminal of claim 4 wherein the first con ductive pattern is formed along a lengthwise direction of the terminal body and has bent points at left and right sides thereof 6 The mobile terminal of claim 5 wherein two lines adja cent to a corresponding bent point are symmetrical based on a horizontal line that passes through the corresponding bent point 7 The mobile terminal of clai
32. rma tion by touching a pre set region Also touch key parts 154 are formed to be spaced apart at the second region 152 In the present exemplary embodiment the touch key parts 154 are disposed to be spaced apart up down and left right centering around the through hole 150a The mounting holes 1506 are also illustrated in FIG 4 0056 An operation of the conductive pattern 156 formed at the first region 151 of the touch sheet 150 will now be described in more detail As shown in FIG 4 as the user touches the window 136 the user s finger F comes into contact with the at least two lines 157d and 157e of the conductive pattern 156 Therefore current supplied within the terminal flows along the line of the conductive pattern 156 and as the user s finger F comes into contact with the conductive pattern 156 a resistance value of the conductive pattern 156 changes US 2009 0117944 Al 0057 In addition as the user s finger contacts the two lines 157d and 157e of the conductive pattern 156 two con tact points and B are generated and as the positions of the contact points A and B change the distance between one end X of the conductive pattern 156 and one contact point and the distance between the other end of the conductive pattern 156 and the other contact point B also change Accordingly the change value of the resistance varies depending on the positions of the contact points A and B 0058 Further an amount o
33. t Application Publication May 7 2009 Sheet 11 of 12 US 2009 0117944 1 FIG 13 Patent Application Publication May 7 2009 Sheet 12 of 12 US 2009 0117944 1 116 128 IMAGE INPUT UNIT TRE Wess 172 1 m POWER m 170 TRANSMITTING UNIT TOUCH SCREEN PART 113 1 TOUCH PAD PART AUDIO OUTPUT UNIT 115 117123124 AUDIO OUTPUT UNT MANIPULATION UNIT SENSING UNIT 176 INTERFACE 126 BROADCAST 125 AUDIO INPUT UNIT RECEIVING MODULE 7 174 MEMORY US 2009 0117944 Al MOBILE TERMINAL 0001 This application claims priority to Korean Applica tion Nos 10 2007 0112864 filed on Nov 6 2007 and 10 2007 01 13394 filed on Nov 7 2007 both of which are hereby incorporated in their entirety BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0002 1 Field of the Invention 0003 The present invention relates to a mobile terminal including a touch screen part and a touch key part on a front surface of the mobile terminal 0004 2 Discussion of the Related Art 0005 Mobile terminals now provide many additional ser vices besides the basic call service For example users can now access the Internet watch videos and movies listen to music take pictures perform scheduling tasks etc using their mobile terminal Because the mobile terminal is mobile and lightweight the user can easily carry their mobile termi nals with them 0006 As the functions of the mobile ter
34. t Application Publication May 7 2009 Sheet 3 of 12 US 2009 0117944 1 FIG 4 Patent Application Publication May 7 2009 Sheet 4 of 12 US 2009 0117944 1 FIG 5 136 150 156 135 194a 153 155 FIG 6 150158 160 134b 161 153 15 m EN NNSANNAAN D crm ue 4 N ez pe E T NEE US 2009 0117944 1 May 7 2009 Sheet 5 of 12 Patent Application Publication gt 160 160 160a Patent Application Publication May 7 2009 Sheet 6 of 12 US 2009 0117944 1 FIG BA 4 18PM X MP3 CAMERA DMB Patent Application Publication May 7 2009 Sheet 7 of 12 US 2009 0117944 1 FIG 8B C2 4 18PM MIKE Patent Application Publication May 7 2009 Sheet 8 of 12 US 2009 0117944 1 FIG 8C 4 cH f 5 RN m 7 PQRS B 8 Ti 0 vm 8 sA Patent Application Publication May 7 2009 Sheet 9 of 12 US 2009 0117944 1 FIG 9 FIG 10 205 296 290 256 264 265 255 7777 2 SJ LL DRE EM MAN TAN RESET LY NA A TROU C m CR E TRA ees AA AINT ACA AVAL ATI AT AE ACE MATTER LAL SILI DT INP PEE YP Py TITY gt RE RRR T 253 259 235 23da 259 253 211 22 2 212 Patent Application Publication May 7 2009 Sheet 10 of 12 US 2009 0117944 1 FIG 11 Paten
35. the first terminal body 110 includes a front case 111 and a rear case 112 Various electronic components are also installed in a space formed by the front case 111 and the case 112 Further one or more intermediate cases may also be addition ally disposed between the front case 111 and the rear case 112 The case may also be formed by injection molding a synthetic resin or may be made ofa metallic material such as stainless steel STS titanium or the like 0031 In addition as shown in FIG 1 the first body 110 includes a touch screen part 113 a touch key pad part 114 an audio output unit 11 5 a first image input unit 116 and a first manipulating unit 117 on its front surface The front surface of the front case 11 includes a first region 113a and a second region 114a and the touch screen part 113 and the touch keypad part 114 are respectively formed on the first and second regions 113a and 114a 0032 Also the touch screen part 113 is configured to display visual information and input information in a tactile manner and the touch keypad part 114 is configured to input information by a touch applied to a particular position set on the second region The audio output unit 115 may be a receiver ora speaker and the first image input unit 116 may be acamera module for capturing an image or video Further the first manipulating unit 117 includes menu options that the user may select by pressing the corresponding menu option to
36. thereby perform different functions on the terminal 100 0033 Further the second body 120 includes a front case 121 and a rear case 122 that forms the second body 120 The second body 120 also includes a second manipulation unit 123 e g keypad etc A third manipulating unit 124 an audio input unit 125 and an interface 126 are also disposed on at least one of the front case 121 and the rear case 122 0034 The second and third manipulating units 123 and 124 are configured to allow a user to perform a particular option on the terminal 100 For example the second and third manipulating units 123 and 124 may be implemented as a dome switch or a touch pad that receives a command or information according to a push or touch manipulation by the user or may be implemented as a wheel for rotating a key a jeg type a joystick or the like 0035 In terms of function the first manipulation unit 117 is used by the user to input a command such as start end scroll etc and the second manipulating unit 123 is used to input numbers characters symbols etc The third manipu lating unit 124 may operate as a hot key for performing a particular function such as activation of the first image input unit 116 Further the audio input unit 125 may be imple mented in the form of for example a microphone to receive the user s voice or other sounds 0036 In addition the interface 126 is configured to allow the mobile terminal 100 to exchange data
37. ule 175 a memory 174 a power supply unit 130 and a controller 170 0089 controller 170 controls the overall operations of the mobile terminal For example the controller 180 performs the controlling and processing associated with voice calls data communications video calls and the like The controller 170 also receives a touch signal inputted to the touch screen part 113 and the touch keypad part 114 and controls other electronic components to operate relevant operations of the mobile terminal 0090 In addition the wireless communication module 171 transmits receives radio signals to from a network e g mobile communication base station via an antenna Further the wireless communication module 171 includes a transmit ting unit 172 that handles the transmission and reception of audio data text data image data and control data modulates transmission signals and transmits the modulated signal and a receiving unit 173 that demodulates received signals under the control of the controller 170 0091 The manipulation units 117 123 and 124 are con figured as shown in the above described embodiments and provide key input data input by the user to control operations of the terminal to the controller 170 The image input units 116 and 128 process image frames such as still images or video acquired by an image sensor or the like in a video call mode or an image capturing mode The processed image frames are converted into image d
38. window 336 made ofa transmissive material is mounted on a front side of the first region 313a and a touch sheet 350 for sensing a touch is mounted at an inner side of the window 336 Thus when a touch is input to the window 336 the touch sheet 350 senses the touch and transfers a touch signal to the interior of the terminal body 0083 In addition the conductive patterns formed on the touch sheet 350 see FIG 13 to sense a touch can be formed in the same or similar manner as for the conductive patterns 156 and 256 in the former embodiments In addition in the present exemplary embodiment the insulating layer and the electric field generating parts P1 to P4 may be disposed on the touch sheet 350 in a similar manner as in FIGS 9 and 10 0084 Further in FIG 13 a touch panel 319 is mounted on the front face of the second region 314a and is formed in a plate shape In addition touch sensors 319a that sense a touch US 2009 0117944 Al are mounted at an inner side of the touch panel 319 The touch sensors 319 are separately mounted at appropriate positions on a PCB 336 Thus when a region corresponding to the touch sensors 319a of the touch panel is touched the touch sensors 319a sense the touch and transfer a touch signal to the PCB 336 0085 Further a through hole 318 is formed at a central portion of the touch panel 319 and a center key 318 that can be pressed is mounted in the through hole 318a A switch 318b that inputs
39. with an external device For example the interface 126 may be implemented as one of a connection port terminal for connecting an ear phone to the mobile terminal via a fixed or wireless method a port e g an IrDA port a BLUETOOTH port a wireless LAN port or a power supply port that supplies power to the mobile terminal 100 or the like The interface 126 may also May 7 2009 be a card socket or receiving unit for accommodating an external card such as a Subscriber Identity Module SIM a User Identity Module UIM a memory card for storing information or the like 0037 In addition reference numeral 127 identifies a bat tery cover and reference numeral 132 identifies a broadcast receiving antenna The reference numeral 118 in the touch key pad part 114 identifies a center key These features will be discussed in more detail with respectto the additional figures 0038 Next FIG 2 is a rear perspective view of the mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present inven tion As shown in FIG 2 the rear surface of the second body 120 includes a second image input unit 128 that has an image capture direction which is substantially opposite to that ofthe first image input unit 116 See FIG 1 and may be a camera supporting a different number of pixels from that of the first image input unit 116 0039 For example the first image input unit 116 may be used for low resolution i e supporting a relatively sma
40. xternal influ ence namely an influence of electromagnetic waves gener ated from the electronic components on signals transferred through the data line 2532 In addition as shown in FIG 9 May 7 2009 electric field generating portions P1 to P4 for generating an electric field at the conductive layer 264 are disposed at edges ofthe conductive layer 264 The electric field generating parts P1 to P4 may also be disposed at portions corresponding to vertexes of the rectangular first region 251 and electrically connected with the data line 253 0078 Further a correction pattern 259 for linearly correct ing the electric field generated at the conductive layer 264 is formed at the edges of the conductive layer 264 namely between the conductive layer 264 and the data line 253 Also the correction pattern 259 is configured such that a conductive material forms a particular pattern Therefore the form of electric field according to interaction between the current flowing through the correction pattern 259 and the electric field generated at the conductive layer 264 is corrected to correspond to the rectangular shape of the first region 251 0079 In addition the electric field generating parts P1 to P4 generate electric field above the conductive layer 264 and FIG 11 shows a schematic circuit diagram when a point P of the first region 251 shown in FIG 9 is touched With reference to FIG 11 the electric field formed at the conductive
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