Portable terminal device
AssigneeNEC Corporation
InventorTetsuya Fuyuno
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A potable terminal device comprises an upper housing including a display unit on the surface thereof and a lower housing including a hard key on the surface thereof and relatively slidably coupled to the upper housing. Bothe of the housings are movable between a closed position in which all hard keys of the lower housing is covered with the upper housing, at least one intermediate position in which part of the hard keys are uncovered with the upper housing, and a full open position in which all of the hard keys are uncovered with the upper housing. In the intermediate position, in response to pressing any of part of the hard keys which are uncovered, a soft key for complementing part of the hard keys which are uncovered is displayed in a position starting from the edge of the display unit adjacent to the hard keys.
Claims17
A portable terminal device comprising:
- an upper housing that has a display unit on a surface thereof;
- and
- a lower housing that has hard keys on a surface and is relatively slidably coupled to the upper housing,
- both of the housings being movable between a closed position in which all of the hard keys of the lower housing are covered with the upper housing, at least one intermediate position in which part of the hard keys are not covered with the upper housing, and a fully open position in which none of the hard keys are covered with the upper housing, wherein
- in the intermediate position, in response to depressing any of the part of the hard keys which are not covered, a soft key to complement the part of the hard keys which are not covered is displayed in a position starting from an edge of the display unit adjacent to the hard keys.
A portable terminal device comprising:
- an upper housing that has a display unit on a surface thereof;
- and
- a lower housing that has hard keys on a surface and is relatively slidably coupled to the upper housing,
- both of the housings being movable between a closed position in which all of the hard keys of the lower housing are covered with the upper housing, a plurality of intermediate positions in which part of the hard keys are not covered with the upper housing, and a fully open position in which none of the hard keys are covered with the upper housing, wherein
- in the plurality of intermediate positions, corresponding to each of the plurality of intermediate positions, a soft key to complement the part of the hard keys which are not covered is displayed in a position starting from an edge of the display unit adjacent to the part of the hard keys which are not covered.
A portable terminal device comprising:
- an upper housing having a first display unit on a surface thereof;
- and
- a lower housing having a first surface and a second surface and being rotatably coupled to the upper housing with a hinge, wherein
- the lower housing includes first hard keys on the first surface;
- second hard keys on the second surface and having a same function as at least a part of the first hard keys do;
- and a second display unit adjacent to the second hard keys on the second surface,
- the second display unit displaying a soft key to complement the second hard keys.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.