Patent Publication Number: US-2009228790-A1

Title: Method and apparatus of displaying touch button panel for mobile apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a screen display, and more particularly to a screen display of displaying touch button panels for a mobile apparatus. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Recently with the rapid improvement of 3G-generation mobile phone, various multimedia applications, such as video/voice communication, Internet surfing, games, mobile TV, and so on, are integrated in the 3G mobile phone. Hence, a suitable screen display of the mobile phone is an essentially demand for users. For this reason, it needs to not only raise resolution of the screen display but also enlarge size of the screen display. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 1   a  and  FIG. 1   b  which are a front view of a prior art mobile phone and an operation schematic view of the prior art mobile phone, respectively. A touch button cluster  102  comprises directional buttons, an End button, an Answer button, and functional buttons. The touch button cluster  102  is installed on a lower portion of an upper shell  101  of the mobile phone  10  to enlarge size of a screen display  103 . Another touch button cluster  105  is installed on a lower shell  104 , and the touch button cluster  105  is exposed for operation when the upper shell  101  has a position shift. 
     However, the design of the upper shell  101  and the lower shell  104  makes a complicated structure for the mobile phone  10  and difficulty for manufacturing. Besides, the mobile phone can only install one screen display  103  for operating. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a screen display of a mobile apparatus to display icons of touch button panel. Different shells of the mobile apparatus are mechanically connected to enlarge available region of the screen display. In addition, the uncovered portion of the screen display is provided to display icons, such as directional button icons, an End button icon, an Answer button icon, functional buttons icons, and so on. Furthermore, the mobile apparatus can install at least one screen display. 
     In order to achieve the objectives mentioned above, the mobile apparatus comprises a first shell and a second shell. The first shell installs a touch-screen display on a front surface thereof. The second shell is mechanically connected to the first shell and the second shell is shorter than the first shell so that a portion of the touch-screen display of the first shell is exposed. 
     In order to achieve the objectives mentioned above, a method of displaying the touch button panel for the mobile apparatus comprises: Firstly, it is to determine whether the second shell has a position shift or not. The exposed touch-screen display is provided to display icons of a first touch button panel when the second shell has not a position shift. The touch-screen display is completely exposed to simultaneously display icons of the first touch button panel and icons of a second touch button panel when the second shell has a position shift. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. Other advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description, drawings and claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING 
       The above and further advantages of this invention may be better understood by referring to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1   a  is a front view of a prior art mobile phone; 
         FIG. 1   b  is an operation schematic view of the prior art mobile phone; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a mobile apparatus according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of the mobile apparatus; 
         FIG. 4  is a front schematic view of producing a position shift for a second shell; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view from another view of producing a position shift for the second shell; 
         FIG. 6  is a flowchart of displaying a touch button panel; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a mobile apparatus of another embodiment; 
         FIG. 8  is an operation schematic view of  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 9  is a front view of a mobile apparatus of another further embodiment; and 
         FIG. 10  is an operation schematic view of  FIG. 9 . 
     
    
    
     The drawings will be described further in connection with the following detailed description of the present invention. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3  which are a perspective view of a mobile apparatus and a front view of the mobile apparatus, respectively. The mobile apparatus comprises a first shell  1  and a second shell  2 , and the second shell  2  is used as an upper shell for the mobile apparatus. 
     The first shell  1  installs a touch-screen display  11  on a front surface thereof, and the touch-screen display  11  is provided to display various touch button icons  12  and image frames. When the touch button icons  12  are displayed on the touch-screen display  11 , operators can touch the touch button icons  12  to generate corresponding signals to the first shell  1 . The signals are processed by a program of a controller (not shown) in the first shell  1 . The touch button icons  12  can be a Button panel icon, a File folder icon, a Page icon, and so on. The touch-screen display  11  is comprised of a liquid crystal display and a touch panel, and the touch panel is a resistive touch panel or a capacitive touch panel. 
     The second shell  2  is mechanically connected to the first shell  1  by using a sliding mechanism. The second shell  2  installs a screen display  21  on a front surface thereof, and the screen display  21  is provided to display number icons, character icons, or symbol icons. In this embodiment, the second shell  2  is pivotally engaged on the front surface of the first shell  1 . Because the second shell  2  is shorter than the first shell, the touch-screen display  11  of the first shell  1  is partially exposed. An exposed portion of the touch-screen display  11  displays icons of a first touch button panel  12   a , such as directional button icons, an End button icon, an Answer button icon, functional buttons icons, and so on. At this time, the second shell  2  does not have position shift and entirely rests on the first shell  1 . 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5  which are a front schematic view of a second shell with a position shift and a perspective view from another view for the second shell with a position shift, respectively. The first touch button panel  12   a  is displayed on an upper portion of the touch-screen display  11  and a second touch button panel  12   b  is displayed on a lower portion of the touch-screen display  11  when the touch-screen display  11  of the first shell  1  is completely exposed. Moreover, the first touch button panel  12   a  can be displayed on the lower portion of the touch-screen display  11  and the second touch button panel  12   b  can be displayed on the upper portion of the touch-screen display  11  when the touch-screen display  11  of the first shell  1  is completely exposed. The first touch button panel  12   a  and the second touch button panel  12   b  are controlled by an internal circuit (not shown) of the first shell  1 . Hence, a complete operation button panel of the mobile apparatus is formed by combining the first touch button panel  12   a  and the second touch button panel  12   b . The second touch button panel  12   b  displays number icons, character icons, symbol icons. 
     However, the first touch button panel  12   a  is displayed again on the lower portion of the touch-screen display  11  when the second shell  2  is restored to the original position (without position shift) and the upper portion of the touch-screen display  11  is covered by the second shell  2 . 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 6  which is a flowchart of displaying a touch button panel. Firstly, the mobile apparatus is in a standby condition (S 100 ). Afterward, it is to determine whether the second shell is slid or not (has position shift or not) (Si02). If the second shell is not slid, the first touch button panel is displayed on the exposed touch-screen display of the first shell (S 104 ). If the second shell is slid, the first touch button panel and the second touch button panel are simultaneously displayed on the exposed touch-screen display of the first shell (S 106 ). 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 7  and  FIG. 8  which are a perspective view of a mobile apparatus of another embodiment and an operation schematic view of  FIG. 7 , respectively. The second shell  4  is mechanically connected to the first shell  3  by a hinge  33 . A portion of the touch-screen display  31  of the first shell  3  is covered by the second shell  4  when the second shell  4  is not lifted. Another portion of the touch-screen display  31  is exposed to display icons of the first touch button panel  32   a . The touch-screen display  31  of the first shell  3  is completely exposed to simultaneously display icons of the first touch button panel  32   a  and icons of a second touch button panel  32   b  on the touch-screen display  31  when the second shell  4  is lifted. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 9  and  FIG. 10  which are a front view of a mobile apparatus of another further embodiment and an operation schematic view of  FIG. 9 , respectively. The second shell  6  is mechanically connected to the first shell  5  by a pivot or a hinge  53  for a rotation connection. A portion of the touch-screen display  51  of the first shell  5  is covered by the second shell  6  when the second shell  6  is not rotated. Another portion of the touch-screen display  51  is exposed to display icons of the first touch button panel  52   a . The touch-screen display  51  of the first shell  5  is completely exposed to simultaneously display icons of the first touch button panel  52   a  and icons of a second touch button panel  52   b  on the touch-screen display  51  when the second shell  6  is rotated. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have been suggested in the foregoing description, and others will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.