User interface for a mobile device with lateral display surfaces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10101876-B2
Application number	US-201514628476-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 23, 2015
Priority date	Mar 3, 2014
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

A mobile terminal including a display unit having a main display region exposed on a front surface and an auxiliary display region exposed on a lateral surface; and a controller configured to display at least one display object on the main display region, and move the at least one display object from the main display region to the auxiliary display region in response to a received move command.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile terminal comprising:
a display unit having a main display region exposed on a front surface and auxiliary display regions exposed on lateral surfaces, wherein the auxiliary display regions are inseparably coupled to the main display region; and
a controller configured to:
display an execution screen of an application on a first region of the main display region and an indicator region on a second region of the main display region, wherein the indicator region includes indicators that are configured to display operating states of the mobile terminal, and wherein the second region is separated from the first region and does not overlap the first region,
select a first indicator region including at least one indicator in the indicator region in response to an input to the mobile terminal,
detect an inclination of the mobile terminal toward one of the auxiliary display regions and select an auxiliary display region for moving the indicators thereto among the auxiliary display regions based on a detected direction of the inclination of the mobile terminal,
move the selected first indicator region from the second region of the main display region to the selected auxiliary display region to which the mobile terminal is inclined in response to the detected inclination of the mobile terminal,
select a second indicator region including remaining indicators in the indicator region in response to another input to the mobile terminal,
detect a different inclination of the mobile terminal toward a different one of the auxiliary display regions and select the different auxiliary display region for moving the remaining indicators thereto among the auxiliary display regions based on a detected direction of the different inclination of the mobile terminal,
move the second indicator region including remaining indicators in the indicator region to the different auxiliary display region, such that the indicator region is removed from the main display region, and
extend the execution screen of the application over the first region to occupy the second region of the main display region.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , further comprising:
a sensing unit configured to detect a tapping input received through a rear surface of the mobile terminal and detect the inclination of the mobile terminal.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 2 , wherein the auxiliary display regions comprise a right auxiliary display region provided to a right lateral surface of the display unit and a left auxiliary display region provided to a left lateral surface of the display unit.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine the detected tapping input as a left tapping input or a right tapping input depending on a location of the received tapping input,
move the indicator region to the left lateral surface if the move command is the left tapping input, and
move the indicator region to the right lateral surface if the move command is the right tapping input.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
receive the tapping input on a first side of the rear surface of the mobile terminal, and
move objects displayed on the display unit to a first side of the display unit located opposite to the first side of the rear surface, such that the moved objects are directly manipulated by a finger other than a finger used for the tapping input.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
display an address input window for inputting a webpage on the main display region, and
move the address input window to the auxiliary display region in response to the inclination of the mobile terminal.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein controller is further configured to:
display a text notification indicator indicating a text message has been received on the selected auxiliary display region, and
display an auxiliary indicator on the main display region adjacent to the text notification indicator, wherein the auxiliary indicator is displayed while only the main region is oriented to a user to inform the user that the text notification indicator is displayed.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
display contents of the received text message on the main display region in response to a selection input of the text notification indicator.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 8 , further comprising:
a sensing unit configured to detect a tapping input received through a rear surface of the mobile terminal,
wherein the selection input comprises the detected tapping input.

10. The mobile ten final of claim 8 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
display a text input window and a virtual keypad for inputting a reply to the received text message in response to the selection input of the text notification indicator.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the operating states of the mobile terminal include a current hour, a battery state and a radio signal reception strength.

12. A method of controlling a mobile terminal, the method comprising:
displaying an execution screen of an application on a first region of a main display region exposed on a front surface of a display unit and an indicator region on a second region of the main display region, wherein the indicator region includes indicators that are configured to display operating states of the mobile terminal, and wherein the second region is separated from the first region and does not overlap the first region;
selecting, via a controller, a first indicator region including at least one indicator in the indicator region in response to an input to the mobile terminal:
detecting, via a sensing unit of the mobile terminal, an inclination of the mobile terminal toward one of auxiliary display regions which are exposed on lateral surfaces, wherein the auxiliary display regions are inseparably coupled to the main display region, and selecting an auxiliary display region for moving the indicators among the auxiliary display regions based on a detected direction of the inclination of the mobile terminal;
moving, via the controller, the selected first indicator region from the second region of the main display to the selected auxiliary display region to which the mobile terminal is inclined in response to the detected inclination of the mobile terminal;
selecting, via the controller, a second indicator region including remaining indicators in the indicator region in response to another input to the mobile terminal;
detecting, via the sensing unit, a different inclination of the mobile terminal toward a different one of the auxiliary display regions and selecting the different auxiliary display region for moving the remaining indicators thereto among the auxiliary display regions based on a detected direction of the different inclination of the mobile terminal,
moving, via the controller, the second indicator region including remaining indicators in the indicator region to the different auxiliary display region other than the selected auxiliary region, such that the indicator region is removed from the main display region; and
extending, via the controller, the execution screen of the application over the first region to occupy the second region of the main display.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
detecting, via the sensing unit of the mobile terminal, a tapping input received through a rear surface of the mobile terminal.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the auxiliary display r

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Cho Jinho
• Ka Hokyung
• Jung Egun
• Ahn Yeongnam

Classifications

• G06F1/1652

  the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable · CPC title

• H04M2250/16

  including more than one display unit · CPC title

• G06F2203/04803

  Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas · CPC title

• G06F3/04845

  for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour · CPC title

• G06F3/03547

  Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface · CPC title