Mobile terminal and control method for the mobile terminal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9768824-B2
Application number	US-201615351251-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 14, 2016
Priority date	Dec 4, 2013
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a mobile terminal mounted with a cover to provide its associated functions, and a control method thereof. The present disclosure may include a body having a front surface and a rear surface thereof, a display unit disposed on the front surface, a cover disposed to cover the display unit, and provided with a window portion, and a controller configured to control the display unit to illuminate notification light on the window portion when an event occurs while the display unit is deactivated. The window portion may be formed to expose at least part of the display unit to the outside while covering the display, and the cover is formed to output the illuminated notification light at a boundary of the window portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:
a controller;
a body configured to be coupled to a cover; a display disposed on a front side of the body; and
a first electrical connector disposed at the body;
wherein the cover is configured to cover the display in a first position and comprises:
a second electrical connector configured to be electrically coupled to the first electrical connector;
an opening configured to allow a portion of the display to be viewed while the cover front portion is in the first position;
a front sheet and a rear sheet;
a light source interposed between the front sheet and the rear sheet and located on a circumference of the opening; and
a light guide member disposed between the front sheet and the rear sheet and located on the circumference of the opening,
wherein the light guide member comprises a first portion through which light incident from the light source is transmitted and a second portion through which the light is emitted at the front side,
wherein the light guide member is configured to be covered by the front sheet and the second portion is configured to overlap with the opening to emit the light to the opening, and
wherein the controller is configured to cause the light source to produce the light when an event occurs at the mobile terminal.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1 wherein the cover further comprises a flexible printed circuit board configured to electrically couple the second electrical connector to the light source.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 2 , wherein the cover comprises a cover front portion comprising the front sheet and the rear sheet and a cover rear portion, and
a hinge between the cover front portion and the cover rear portion to provide hinged movement of the cover front portion from the first position to at least a second position in which the cover front portion does not cover the display.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 2 , wherein the cover front portion is configured to cover the entire display in the first position such that no portion of the display is visible.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 4 , wherein the cover front portion is further configured such that the light from the light source provides at least a portion of indicator information related to the event.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 5 , wherein the indicator information is related to at least a type of the event, a time of the event, a source of the event, or an application related to the event.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 4 , wherein the cover front portion further comprises a plurality of holes and a light passage member configured to selectively allow light from the light source to pass through some of the plurality of holes to be visible when the cover front portion is in the first position.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 2 , wherein the produced light comprises indicator information related to a type of the event.

9. A cover for a mobile terminal, the cover comprising:
a first cover portion configured to cover a display of the mobile terminal in a first position;
a second cover portion configured to be coupled to a body of the mobile terminal; wherein:
the second cover portion comprises a first electrical connector configured to be electrically coupled to a second electrical connector disposed on the body of the mobile terminal; and
the first cover portion comprises:
an opening configured to allow a portion of the display to be viewed while the first cover portion is in the first position;
a front sheet and a rear sheet;
a light source interposed between the front sheet and the rear sheet and located on a circumference of the opening; and
a light guide member disposed between the front sheet and the rear sheet and located on the circumference of the opening,
wherein the light guide member comprises a first portion through which light incident from the light source is transmitted and a second portion through which the light is emitted at the front side,
wherein the light guide member is configured to be covered by the front sheet and the second portion is configured to be overlapped with the opening to emit the light to the opening, and
wherein the first electrical connector is configured to transfer power provided by the second electrical connector to cause the light source to produce the light when an event occurs at the mobile terminal.

10. The cover of claim 9 , wherein the rear sheet faces the display when the first cover portion is in the first position.

11. The cover of claim 9 further comprising a flexible printed circuit board configured to electrically couple the first electrical connector to the light source.

12. The cover of claim 11 , further comprising a hinge between the first cover portion and the second cover portion to provide hinged movement of the cover front portion from the first position to at least a second position in which the cover front portion does not cover the display of the mobile terminal.

13. The cover of claim 11 , wherein the first cover portion is configured to cover the entire display of the mobile terminal in the first position such that no portion of the display is visible.

14. The cover of claim 13 , wherein the first cover portion is further configured such that the light from the light source provides at least a portion of indicator information related to the event.

15. The cover of claim 14 , wherein the indicator information is related to at least a type of the event, a time of the event, a source of the event, or an application related to the event.

16. The cover of claim 11 , wherein the first cover portion further comprises a plurality of holes and a light passage member configured to selectively allow the light from the light source to pass through some of the plurality of holes to be visible when the first cover portion is in the first position.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Jang Inkwi
• Eim Sanghyun
• Yi Ilbyoung
• Kim Sojin
• Lee Yongho
• Ahn Kwanghyun
• Lee Hophil

Classifications

• H04M1/22

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

• H04B1/3888 Primary

  Arrangements for carrying or protecting transceivers · CPC title

• H04M2250/22

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

• H04M1/04

  Supports for telephone transmitters or receivers · CPC title

• H04M19/048

  Arrangements providing optical indication of the incoming call, e.g. flasher circuits · CPC title