Mobile terminal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9244534-B2
Application number	US-82790010-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2010
Priority date	Aug 27, 2009
Publication date	Jan 26, 2016
Grant date	Jan 26, 2016

Abstract

A mobile terminal includes a transparent keypad having a plurality of key regions, a first transparent sheet having first conductive patterns to detect touch inputs on respective ones of the key regions, a plurality of luminous elements aligned with the key regions, and a second transparent sheet having second conductive patterns coupled to respective ones of the luminous elements. The first and second conductive patterns are transparent and the second conductive patterns deliver signals to the luminous elements to light the key regions. The keypad may be mounted on a slider for sliding into and out of a main body of the terminal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile terminal comprising:
a terminal body including a front case and a rear case coupled to each other, and having a sliding hole, which extends in widthwise direction between the front case and the rear case; and
a transparent slider coupled to the terminal body, and formed to move in the widthwise direction relative to the terminal body,
wherein the transparent slider includes
a transparent slide portion provided to slide along the sliding hole, and
a cover portion coupled to the slide portion to slidably move with the transparent slide portion and configured to cover the rear case in a first position, the cover portion being formed to be transparent,
wherein a luminous element that contacts the first and second conductive patterns, respectively, the luminous element being mounted on the transparent sheet and receives signals from the first and second conductive patterns to light the key region, and
wherein the first conductive pattern is coplanar to the second conductive pattern, and one of the first and second conductive patterns is connected to an anode of the luminous element and another one is connected to a cathode of the luminous element,
a transparent keypad having a plurality of key regions;
a first transparent sheet having first conductive patterns to detect touch inputs on respective ones of the key regions;
a plurality of luminous elements aligned with the key regions;
a second transparent sheet having second conductive patterns coupled to respective ones of the luminous elements;
a controller to control operation of the luminous elements based on touch signals generated from the first and second conductive patterns; and
a display configured to output visual information,
wherein the first and second conductive patterns are to detect directional touches, each of the directional touches having at least one directionality, and the controller sequentially operates a plurality of luminous elements located on one or more traces of a directional touch as the directional touch is input on the transparent keypad,
wherein the display displays information corresponding to the directional touch as directional touch in input on the transparent keypad.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the transparent keypad, the luminous element, the conductive patterns, and the transparent sheet are vertically arranged to form an input device.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 2 , wherein the input device includes an upper surface and a lower surface and wherein the input device is transparent from the upper surface to the lower surface.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3 , wherein the transparent slider moves between first and second positions, and the input device is covered by a housing of the mobile terminal in the first position and the input device is exposed in the second position.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein: the key region includes at least one of characters, numbers or symbols, and the luminous element is positioned corresponding to the key region.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 5 , wherein transparent wires are coupled to ends of the first and second conductive patterns and to a controller for control of the luminous element.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 6 , further comprising: a first interface circuit to process the touch signals, and a second interface circuit to generate the signals to be applied to the luminous element, wherein the first and second interface circuits are respectively coupled to the first and second conductive patterns in parallel.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 6 , wherein one of the first or second conductive patterns is coupled to an anode of the luminous element, and the other one of the first or second conductive patterns is coupled to a cathode of the luminous element.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the rear case includes a camera, and the cover portion covers the camera in the first position.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the display moves an output screen along the trace of the directional touch or displays an image corresponding to the trace of the directional touch.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the key regions include at least one of characters, numbers or symbols, and the luminous elements are at positions corresponding to respective ones of the key regions.

Assignees

• Tho Gihoon
• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Tho Gihoon

Classifications

• H04M1/22

  Illumination; Arrangements for improving the visibility of characters on dials · CPC title

• G06F1/1662

  Details related to the integrated keyboard · CPC title

• G06F3/0489

  using dedicated keyboard keys or combinations thereof · CPC title

• G06F1/1624

  with sliding enclosures, e.g. sliding keyboard or display · CPC title

• G06F3/0202 Primary

  Constructional details or processes of manufacture of the input device · CPC title