Mobile terminal having front cover portion, rear cover portion, and window portion and sensor provided in the front cover portion and methods of controlling the mobile terminal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9547336-B2
Application number	US-201514620957-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2015
Priority date	Sep 19, 2014
Publication date	Jan 17, 2017
Grant date	Jan 17, 2017

Abstract

A mobile terminal according to the present disclosure includes a body having a front surface and a rear surface, a display unit disposed on the front surface, a cover formed to allow at least part thereof to cover the front or rear surface, a window portion provided on the cover to expose at least part of the display unit in a state that the cover covers the front surface, and expose at least part of the rear surface in a state that the cover covers the rear surface, and a sensor unit provided with at least one sensor disposed at an edge portion of the window portion, wherein the sensor unit senses a user motion with respect to an inner side of the window portion in a state that the cover covers the rear surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:
a body having a front surface and a rear surface;
a display unit disposed on the front surface;
a cover including a rear cover portion mounted on the rear surface of the body and a front cover portion rotatably connected to the rear cover portion, wherein the front cover portion is formed to allow at least a part thereof to cover at least a part of the front surface or the rear surface of the body;
a window portion provided in the front cover portion to expose at least part of the display unit in a state that the front cover portion covers at least a part of the front surface, and to expose at least part of the rear surface in a state that the front cover portion covers at least a part of the rear surface; and
a sensor unit provided in the front cover portion and including at least one sensor disposed at an edge portion of the window portion,
wherein the sensor unit is configured to sense motion of an object within a perimeter of the window portion when the front cover portion is in the state that the front cover portion covers the at least a part of the rear surface.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the sensor unit comprises a plurality of sensors separated from one another along the perimeter of the window portion, and disposed toward an edge of the front cover portion that is defined by the window portion.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 2 , the cover further including:
a flexible circuit board comprising a loop portion located around the perimeter of the window portion, and an extension portion extended from the loop portion and connected from the front cover portion to the rear cover portion and electrically connected to the body at the rear cover portion.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3 , wherein a connecting terminal, electrically connected to a power terminal of the body, is disposed at the extension portion to allow reception of power from the body.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein a sensor in the body is configured to be controlled together with the at least one sensor of the sensor unit to sense the motion of the object and is mounted on the rear surface of the body to overlap with the window portion when the front cover portion is in the state that the front cover portion covers the at least a part of the rear surface, wherein the sensor in the body is configured to be controlled to sense the motion of the object through the window portion.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein at least one magnet is disposed at the front cover portion, and a plurality of Hall-effect devices are disposed at the body to permit sensing of the at least one magnet and thereby sense the state of the front cover portion covering the at least a part of the front surface and the state of the front cover portion covering the at least a part of the rear surface.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 6 , wherein:
the plurality of Hall-effect devices comprise first and second Hall-effect devices, located proximate to edges of the body and located at different positions along a length direction of the body, and
first and second magnets are located at positions on the front cover portion corresponding to the positions of the first and second Hall-effect devices, such that each magnet is proximate to a corresponding Hall-effect device when the front cover portion is in the state that the front cover portion covers the at least a part of the front surface or the rear surface of the body.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 6 , wherein the at least one magnet is mounted on the front cover portion to permit sensing of a state that the front cover portion covers the front surface or rear surface, and the controller is further configured to:
determine whether or not the front cover portion is in a state of covering the rear surface using a magnetic field formed by the magnet being sensed through the plurality of Hall-effect devices, and
supply operation power to the sensor unit to activate the sensor unit disposed at the window portion when the front cover portion is in a state of covering the rear surface as a result of the determination.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one movement sensor provided in the body for sensing a movement of the body; and
a controller configured to:
process a function corresponding to motion of the object within the perimeter of the window portion using sensing information sensed through the sensor unit and, when the mobile terminal is in a state that first screen information of a first application is displayed on the display unit, store execution information of the first application in response to a combination of:
the movement sensor sensing movement of the body in a preset first direction and
the sensor unit sensing a motion of the object corresponding to a preset type of touch being applied to the rear surface.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 9 , wherein when the mobile terminal is in a state that second screen information of a second application, which is different from the first application, is displayed on the display unit, the controller is further configured to store execution information of the second application in response to a combination of:
the movement sensor sensing that the body moves in the preset first direction; and
the sensor unit sensing the motion of the object corresponding to the preset type of touch being applied to the rear surface,
wherein the controller is further configured to:
control the display unit to display graphic objects corresponding to the first and the second applications, respectively, using the stored execution information in response to a combination of:
the movement sensor sensing that the body moves in a second direction, which is different from the preset first direction; and
the sensor unit sensing the motion of the object corresponding to the preset type of touch being applied to the rear surface.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to control the display unit to display the screen information of either one of the first or the second application in response to the sensor unit sensing a motion of the object corresponding to a touch being applied to the rear surface when the terminal is in a state that the respective graphic object is displayed.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to control the display unit to display the first or second screen information corresponding to one of the first and second applications that was the most recently executed in response to the sensor unit sensing the motion of the object corresponding to the touch applied to the rear surface.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 12 , wherein, in a state that the graphic objects corresponding to the first and the second applications, respectively, are displayed, the controller is further configured to delete the execution information of the first and the second applications, and terminate the display of graphic objects in response to a combination of:
the movement sensor sensing that the body moves with a preset movement; and
the sensor unit sensing a motion of the object corresponding to a preset type of touch applied to the rear surface.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 13 , wherein, subsequent to deleting the execution information of the first and the second applications, the graphic objects corresponding to the first and the second applications, respectively, are not displayed even when the movement sensor senses that the body moves in the second direction, and the sensor unit senses a m

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Lee Seojin
• Kim Samsick
• Yu Donghwan
• Her Sooyoung
• Heo Jeongyun
• Jang Hyungtae
• Lee Taekon
• Choi Jinhae

Classifications

• H04M2250/22

  including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector · CPC title

• G06F1/163

  Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt · CPC title

• G06F1/1626

  with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs] · CPC title

• H04M1/0214

  Foldable telephones, i.e. with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position (combined with translation movement H04M1/0235) · CPC title

• G04G21/08

  Touch switches specially adapted for time-pieces · CPC title