KR20020011194A - User menu selecting method of mobile communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for selecting a menu of a mobile communication terminal is provided to decrease the number of key composed in the mobile communication terminal by using digit keys as direction keys in a graphic menu selection mode. CONSTITUTION: A control confirms whether a key is inputted in a state in which a mobile communication terminal is set as a graphic menu selection mode(51). If the key is inputted, the control unit judges whether the inputted key is a numerical key in which a direction is assigned(53). If the inputted key is the numerical key in which the direction is assigned, the control unit moves a cursor in the direction assigned in the numerical key and selects a menu existing in the position(55).

Description

Menu selection method of mobile communication terminal {USER MENU SELECTING METHOD OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL}

The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly, to a method for selecting a menu through key input in a mobile communication terminal.

In general, a direction key used to move a cursor or select a menu in a mobile communication terminal is a '*' and '#' key or a scroll button next to an LCD screen of the mobile communication terminal. Recently, as the functions of the mobile communication terminal have been improved, a variety of menus to be selected and the size of the LCD screen have been expanded. In addition, menus are displayed as icons in graphic form, and new direction keys have been added to the existing key input section for convenient menu selection. Such a key input unit is shown in FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a keypad for a mobile communication terminal having a direction key 31. As shown in the figure, the addition of arrow keys 31 that can select up, down, left, and right has complicated the configuration of the keypad and the overall size of the keypad has increased. Relatively small display screen or the size of the key itself is inconvenient to use and difficult to miniaturize the size of the mobile communication terminal.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a menu selection method of a mobile communication terminal which can reduce the number of keys of a keypad.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a menu in which the menu is displayed in the form of an icon so that the user can select a menu by selecting the displayed icon. The menu is moved by moving the cursor according to the direction assigned to the input key, and in the mode except the graphic menu selection mode, the numeric key assigned the direction is recognized as a commonly used numeric key.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a mobile communication terminal to which the present invention is applied;

2 is an exemplary keypad of a mobile communication terminal having a conventional direction key;

3 is a diagram illustrating a mobile communication terminal keypad according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a flowchart illustrating a control operation of a process of selecting a direction by using numeric keys according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the same elements in the figures are denoted by the same reference numerals or the same reference signs wherever possible. In addition, detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

First, a configuration of a mobile communication terminal to which the present invention is applied will be described. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a mobile telephone to which the present invention is applied. Referring to FIG. 1, the controller 11 performs an overall control operation of the mobile phone. The wireless unit 21 controls transmission and reception of voice data and control data under the control of the control unit 11, and the voice processing unit 19 controls the voice data received from the wireless unit 21 under the control of the control unit 11. The audio signal is converted into an audible sound through a speaker, and the voice signal received from the microphone is converted into data and output to the wireless unit 21. The key input unit 15 includes a plurality of numeric keys and function keys, and outputs key input data corresponding to a key pressed by the user to the control unit 11. The display unit 13 displays various messages and the like under the control of the control unit 11. The memory unit 17 includes a program memory and a data memory. According to the present invention, the program memory stores program data in which the control unit recognizes the numeric key as a direction key when the input of a specific numeric key to which a function of the direction key is assigned is in a graphic mode for selecting a menu. It also stores program data needed to control mobile phone operation. The data memory includes a data memory for storing data generated during control or during execution by a user.

3 illustrates a keypad constituting the key input unit 15 of the mobile communication terminal. 3 is an exemplary diagram of a keypad for a mobile communication terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and shows a numeric key to which each direction of the direction key 31 shown in FIG. 2 is assigned. That is, the functions of the up key, the left key to the 4 key, the down key to the 8 key, and the right key to the 6 key are assigned, and there is no separate direction key.

According to the present invention, when the mobile communication terminal is set to the menu selection graphic mode, the control unit recognizes the input of the 2nd, 4th, 8th, and 6th keys as the input of the direction key. Then, move the cursor along the direction assigned to the input key to select the menu. The graphic menu selection mode is a mode in which a menu is displayed in the form of an icon and a menu can be selected by selecting the icon. When the mobile communication terminal is in a mode other than the graphic menu selection mode, the controller determines that the input of the second, fourth, eighth, and sixth keys is an input of a commonly used numeric key, and performs an operation accordingly. The operation of the control unit as described above is illustrated in FIG. 4.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a process of selecting a direction by using numeric keys according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, in step 51, the controller determines whether there is a key input while the mobile communication terminal is set to the graphic menu selection mode. If there is a key input in step 51, the process proceeds to step 53. In step 53, it is determined whether the input key is a number key to which the direction is assigned, and if it is a number key to which direction is assigned, the process proceeds to step 55; In step 55, the cursor is moved in the direction assigned to the input numeric key and the menu at the position is selected. If there is a key input again, the above process is repeated. In step 57, if the key input in step 51 is not a key to which a direction is assigned, an operation corresponding to the input key is performed.

As described above, the number of keys can be reduced by using an arbitrary numeric key as a direction key, and accordingly, the size of the overall mobile communication terminal can be reduced by reducing the size of the keypad.

In the above description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, in another embodiment of the present invention, two of the four directions (up, down, left, and after) can be assigned to '*' and '#' keys instead of the numeric keys to be used as direction keys in modes other than graphic menu selection mode. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be defined by the described embodiments, but should be determined by the equivalent of claims and claims.

As described above, the present invention can reduce the number of keys constituting the mobile terminal by providing a method in which the numeric keys can be used as the direction keys in the graphic menu selection mode. In addition, by reducing the number of keys, the size of the keypad of the mobile communication terminal can be reduced to reduce the overall size of the mobile communication terminal.

Claims (2)

In the menu selection method of the mobile communication terminal, In the graphic menu selection mode of selecting an icon to select a menu, receiving a random numeric key input, Determining whether the input numeric key is an assigned key; And controlling the movement of the cursor according to the direction assigned to the input numeric key. The method of claim 1, wherein the number key assigned to the direction comprises a key number 2 assigned to the up direction, key 4 assigned to the left direction, key 6 assigned to the right direction, and key 8 assigned to the down direction. How to choose a menu.