Mobile terminal and control method therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10564675-B2
Application number	US-201515307348-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 26, 2015
Priority date	Apr 30, 2014
Publication date	Feb 18, 2020
Grant date	Feb 18, 2020

Abstract

A mobile terminal includes a display unit disposed on a front surface and including a first portion and a second portion formed to be rotatable with respect to a boundary portion formed on one side of the first portion so as to be in a state in which the second portion covers the first portion or a state in which the second portion does not cover the first portion, a first sensing unit disposed on a left end of the terminal body and generating a first signal on the basis of a movement of the left end, a second sensing unit disposed on the right end of the terminal body and generating a second signal on the basis of a movement of the right end, and a controller controlling at least one of functions executable on the terminal on the basis of the first signal and the second signal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A mobile terminal comprising:
a terminal body having a front surface, a rear surface, and a side surface, and flexibly formed such that a least a portion thereof is foldable;
a display unit disposed on the front surface and including a first portion, and a second portion formed to be rotatable with respect to a boundary portion formed on one side of the first portion so as to be in a state in which the second portion covers the first portion or a state in which the second portion does not cover the first portion;
a first sensing unit disposed on a left end of the terminal body and generating a first signal on the basis of a movement of the left end;
a second sensing unit disposed on a right end of the terminal body and generating a second signal on the basis of a movement of the right end;
a plurality of speakers disposed in at least one region of the front surface and the rear surface and capable of outputting sound;
a plurality of cameras capturing an image of a transfer target of the sound; and
a controller controlling at least one of functions executable on the terminal on the basis of the first signal and the second signal, wherein the controller is capable of:
detecting a relative distance between the transfer target of the sound and the display unit based on the image;
determining a radius of curvature of the display unit based on the detected relative distance and a position of the transfer target of the sound;
bending the display unit such that the display unit has the determined radius of curvature;
in response to detecting a plurality of targets from the image, setting any one of the plurality of targets as the transfer target according to a predetermined condition, the transfer target varying among the plurality of targets according to the predetermined condition;
detecting the set transfer target's ear position using the image; and
controlling the plurality of speakers to stop outputting the sound based on the detected ear position of the set transfer target in the image.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the controller calculates a degree of bending of the display unit with respect to the one boundary portion on the basis of the first signal and the second signal, and controls the at least one of the executable functions on the basis of the calculated degree of bending.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 2 , wherein the calculated degree of bending is an included angle formed by the first portion and the second portion, and the included angle is variable based on a degree to which the first portion and the second portion relatively rotate with respect to the one boundary portion.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3 , wherein
an execution screen according to execution of an application is displayed on the display unit, and
the controller controls the display unit to output the execution screen according to the included angle according to different schemes.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 4 , wherein
when the included angle is included in a first reference range, the controller controls the display unit to display the execution screen in the entire region including the first portion and the second portion,
when the included angle is included in a second reference range, the controller controls the display unit to display first and second execution screens corresponding to the execution screen respectively on the first portion and the second portion, and
when the included angle is included in a third reference range, the controller terminates displaying of the execution screen and switches the display unit from an activated state in which lighting is turned on to a deactivated state in which lighting is turned off.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 5 , wherein the first execution screen is screen information obtained by horizontally reversing the second execution screen with respect to a direction in which the first portion is oriented.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the first portion and the second portion are formed to form a single plane.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein
an execution screen according to execution of an application is displayed on the display unit, and
when a folding event occurs in the one boundary portion, the controller executes a first function related to the execution screen, and when a folding-back event occurs in the one boundary portion, the controller executes a second function related to the execution screen.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein
the display unit displays screen information in a flat state, and
when the display unit is switched to a bent state with respect to the one boundary portion from the flat state, the controller controls the display unit to display a first screen and a second screen related to the screen information on the first portion and the second portion, respectively.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 9 , wherein
the screen information, as an execution screen of a video play application, includes an image and graphic objects associated with controlling of the image, and
in response to a change in a state, the controller displays the first screen including the image and the second screen including the graphic objects, respectively on the first portion and the second portion.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein
the display unit displays screen information in a flat state, and
when the display unit is switched from the flat state to a bent state with respect to the one boundary portion, the controller displays the screen information on any one of the first portion and the second portion and switches the other from an activated state in which lighting is turned on to a deactivated state in which lighting is turned off.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 11 , wherein
when an event occurs in at least one application, while the screen information is being displayed on the any one,
the controller switches the other from the deactivated state to the activated state, and displays information related to the event on the remaining one which has been switched to the activated state.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , further comprising:
first and second cameras disposed at different points of the rear surface, and
when the display unit is switched from a flat state to a bent state with respect to the one boundary portion, the controller activates the first and second cameras.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 13 , wherein
when the first and second cameras are activated, the controller displays a first preview screen captured by the first camera on the first portion, and displays a second preview screen captured by the second camera on the second portion.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 14 , wherein
when an image capture command is received, the controller generates a first image captured by the first camera, a second image captured by the second camera, and a third image obtained by synthesizing the first and second images.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 12 , wherein
when the first and second cameras are activated, the controller synthesizes a first image captured by the first camera and a second image captured by the second camera and displays the same on the entire region of the display unit.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 16 , wherein
the controller identifies a subject included in the first and second images, and bends the display unit such that focuses of the first and second cameras are formed on the identified subject.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 17 , wherein
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Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Ka Hokyung
• Park Chul
• Kim Jaedong
• Lee Kyoungho
• Cho Jinho

Classifications

• H04M1/0268

  including a flexible display panel · CPC title

• G09G2370/16

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• G06F1/1677

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• G06F2203/04102

  Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper · CPC title

• G06F3/04883

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