Abstract:
A portable terminal has a body including a transparent window integrally formed therein, a display disposed beneath the body and visible through the transparent window, and a touch screen located between the display and the body, the touch screen permitting signal input in a capacitive manner.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     The application claims the benefit of priority to Korean Application No. 10-2006-0071043, filed on Jul. 27, 2006, which is herein expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a portable terminal, and more particularly, to a portable terminal that applies a capacitive touch pad to a display. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a portable terminal according to the related art, and  FIG. 2  is a sectional view of a portable terminal according to the related art. 
     The related art portable terminal includes a body  110 , a display  114  disposed to be exposed to the outside of the body  110  to display information, and a touch pad  112  attached onto a surface of the display  114  to input signals. 
     The touch pad  112  is outwardly exposed because information can be inputted only by applying pressure directly onto the surface of the touch pad  112 . Therefore, the body  110  has an opening  116  so as to dispose the touch pad  112  to be outwardly exposed. In addition, the touch pad  112  is formed to be transparent, so as to enable viewing of information displayed on the display  114  from the outside. 
     An adhesive tape (not shown) is attached onto an edge of an upper surface of the touch pad  112 , and accordingly the tape-attached edge of the touch pad  112  is adhered onto an edge of an inner surface of the opening  116 . Also, the adhesive tape is attached onto an edge of a lower surface of the touch pad  112  so as to adhere the edge of the lower surface of the touch pad  112  onto an edge of an upper surface of the display  114 . 
     In the related art portable terminal having the configuration as explained above, upon directly touching the surface of the touch pad  112 , pressure change occurs at the touched portion of the touch pad  112 , thereby inputting a signal. 
     However, since the touch pad  112  of the related art portable terminal is exposed to the outside of the body  110 , the opening  116  extends through the body  110 , which results in an unattractive appearance of the terminal, and allows permeation of foreign materials (e.g., dust or water) into the body  110  through the opening  116 . 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, in order to solve those problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable terminal in which a capacitive touch pad is disposed on a display and a transparent window is integrally formed at a body, such that an attractive design of the terminal can be obtained and foreign materials can be prevented from being permeated into the terminal. 
     To achieve this and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a portable terminal having a body including a transparent window integrally formed therein, a display disposed beneath the body and visible through the transparent window, and a touch screen located between the display and the body, the touch screen permitting signal input in a capacitive manner. 
     In another aspect, the body may have a surface thereof coated with an opaque film to be integrally formed with the transparent window. 
     In yet another aspect, the body may be formed by a double injection molding. 
     In still another aspect, the touch pad may include a touch-sensing unit disposed at an inner surface of the transparent window and touchable by a user&#39;s body via the transparent window, and a signal transferring unit disposed at an edge of the touch-sensing unit to transfer a coordinate value read by the touch-sensing unit. In addition, the signal-transferring unit installed at the edge of the touch pad may be transparent. 
     In a further aspect, a gap-maintaining pad may be interposed between the touch pad and the display to maintain a gap between the touch pad and the display. 
     In yet another aspect, the touch pad may have one end electrically connected to the display and a main circuitry supporting substrate via a flexible circuitry supporting substrate. In addition, the flexible circuitry supporting substrate may have a control circuit that converts a signal generated from the touch pad into a coordinate value and transfers the coordinate value to a controller of the main circuitry supporting substrate. 
     In still another aspect, the body has a surface thereof coated with an opaque film to be integrally formed with the transparent window, and the opaque film may cover the signal-transferring unit. 
     In yet another aspect, the body has a substantially planar front surface, and the transparent window forms a portion of the front surface. 
     In another aspect, the body has an uninterrupted front surface, and the transparent window forms a portion of the front surface. 
     According to principles of the present invention, a mobile communication device for receiving and transmitting wireless communication signals is provided that includes a body having a transparent window integrally formed therein, a display disposed beneath the body and visible through the transparent window, and a touch screen located between the display and the body, the touch screen permitting signal input in a capacitive manner to control the mobile communication device. 
     Further aspects of the mobile communication device are similar to those detailed above. 
     Further scope of applicability of the present application will become more apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
       In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a portable terminal according to the related art; 
         FIG. 2  is a sectional view of a portable terminal according to the related art; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of a portable terminal in accordance with a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a partial sectional view of a portable terminal in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a touch pad in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a block view of a portable terminal in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a partial sectional view of a portable terminal in accordance with a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  is a partial sectional view of a portable terminal in accordance with a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 9  is a partial sectional view of a portable terminal in accordance with a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 10  is a partial sectional view of a portable terminal in accordance with a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Description will now be given in detail of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference number has been used for the same part in all of the exemplary embodiments. 
     As seen in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , a portable terminal, such as, but not limited to a mobile communication device, in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes bodies  10  and  12 , a display  14  which is disposed in the bodies  10  and  12  to display information, and a transparent touch pad  20  which is disposed at an upper surface of the display  14  to input information in a capacitive manner. 
     Inside the bodies  10  and  12 , a main circuitry supporting substrate (not shown) electrically connected to both the display  14  and the touch pad  20 , and a battery for supplying power source may further be disposed. 
     When the portable terminal is used in a communication mode, both a speaker for outputting sound and a microphone for inputting sound may be installed inside the bodies  10  and  12 . 
     The bodies  10  and  12  are divided into the upper body  10  (relatively disposed at an upper portion) and the lower body  12  coupled to the upper body  10 . A transparent window  30  is formed at the upper body  10  to allow viewing of information displayed on the display  14  from the exterior. 
     The transparent window  30  is integrally formed at the upper body  10  when forming the upper body  10 . That is, the upper body  10  is formed by a double injection molding. The upper body  10  may be formed of a transparent material. Alternatively, the body  10  may be a non-transparent material while the transparent window is formed of a transparent material. Regardless of the transparent properties of the upper body  10 , the inner surface of the upper body  10  may be coated with an opaque film  25  having a cut-out portion in the shape of the transparent window  30  by an in-mold injection so as to form the transparent window  30  at the upper body  10 , as seen in  FIG. 7 . The opaque film  25  may be used to block the view of the inner structure of the portable terminal as well as overly the non-sensing portion of touch pad  20 , which will be described further below. 
     Since the upper body  10  is integrally formed with the transparent window  30 , its surface can be formed to be planar, resulting in obtaining an attractive design and preventing permeation of foreign materials into the bodies  10  and  12 . 
     When being touched by a user&#39;s body (e.g., a finger) via the transparent window  30 , a capacitive method is used such that the touch pad  20  can sense a change in a constant voltage at the touched portion of the touch pad  20  to thusly allow a signal input. 
     The touch pad  20 , as shown in  FIG. 5 , includes a touch-sensing unit  32  touched by a user via the transparent window, and a signal transferring unit  34  installed at the edge of the touch-sensing unit  32  to transfer a signal corresponding to a coordinate value of the touched portion of the touch-sensing unit  32 . Because the signal-transferring unit  34  transmits signals, it is considered to be a non-sensing portion of the touch pad  20 . 
     The signal-transferring unit  34  extends from the edge of the touch-sensing unit  32  by a certain width. The signal-transferring unit  34  is formed to be transparent so as not to be recognized through the transparent window  30 . That is, the transparently formed signal-transferring unit  34  does not block (veil) information displayed on the display  14  so as to obtain a wider transparent window  30  and reduce the size of the terminal. 
     The signal-transferring unit  34  is connected to the display  14  and a main circuitry supporting substrate (not shown) via a flexible circuitry supporting substrate  38  to transfer a signal. The flexible circuitry supporting substrate  38  has a control circuit  36  that converts a data signal generated from the touch pad  20  into a coordinate value and transfers the coordinate value to the main circuitry supporting substrate. 
     The touch pad  20  is attached onto a lower surface of the upper body  10 , namely, a lower surface of the transparent window  30  in a bonding (adhesion) manner. Here, the signal-transferring unit  34  and the touch-sensing unit  32  are transparently formed, and accordingly the information on the display  14  can be viewed through the transparent window  30 . 
     The touch pad  20  is disposed to be spaced apart from the display  14  by a certain gap or interval. That is, a gap-maintaining pad  22  having a particular thickness is interposed between the edge of the touch pad  20  and the edge of the display  14  to provide the gap or interval. For example, the gap-maintaining pad  22  may be a double side (adhesive) tape. 
     The flexible circuitry supporting substrate  38  connected to the signal transferring unit  34  of the touch pad  20  is then connected to both the display  14  and the main circuitry supporting substrate to apply a signal thereto. 
     Operations of the portable terminal according to the present invention having the configuration as described above will be explained with reference to  FIG. 6 . 
     First, when turning on the power of the portable terminal, the display  14  is illuminated. Accordingly, information displayed on the display  14  can be viewed from the outside through the transparent window  30  on the upper body  10 . 
     Under this state, one of several keys displayed on the surface of the transparent window  30  is touched by a part of a human body (e.g., a user&#39;s finger) so as to input a signal. A constant voltage at the touched key of the touch pad  20  is changed, and thereby a data signal corresponding to the coordinate value of the touched key is transferred to the signal-transferring unit  34 . Because the signal-transferring unit  34  is formed to be transparent, information displayed on the display  14  cannot be blocked (veiled). 
     The signal transferred to the signal-transferring unit  34  is applied to the control circuit  36 . The control circuit  36  converts the data signal into the coordinate value and applies the coordinate value to a controller  50  of the main circuitry supporting substrate via the flexible circuitry supporting substrate  38 . The controller  50  controls the portable terminal according to the applied coordinate value and also displays necessary information on the display  14 . 
     Having described a portable terminal where the upper body  10  forms a substantial border of the transparent window  30  as seen in  FIGS. 4 and 7 , it is understood that other configurations of the upper body  10  and transparent window may be provided. 
       FIG. 8  shows an exemplary embodiment of a portable terminal similar to the portable terminal of  FIG. 7  except that the transparent window  30  forms substantially the entire upper surface of the upper body  10  with a small border at the perimeter of the transparent window  30 . In this manner more of the upper surface of the portable terminal may be visible as a display.  FIG. 9  shows an exemplary embodiment where the transparent window  30  forms the entire upper surface of the upper body  10  of the portable terminal. 
       FIG. 10  shows an exemplary embodiment of a portable terminal similar to  FIG. 7 , where the opaque film  25  has been eliminated. In this exemplary embodiment, the gap-maintaining pad  22  has been increased in thickness (e.g., smaller opening) so as to at least partially cover the non-sensing portion of the touch pad  20 . 
     As described above, the portable terminal according to the present invention installs a touch pad adapting a capacitive method to input information at an upper surface of a display, and forms a transparent window integrally at a body, whereby various designs can be applied to the body and an attractive appearance of the terminal can be obtained. In addition, because an opening at the body is not required, foreign materials such as dust or water can be prevented from being permeated into the body. 
     As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalents of such metes and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.