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US 8,786,548 B2Granted
Input device and mobile terminal having the input device
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsMyungseok Oh, Hungchol Chin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An input device and a mobile terminal having the input device are provided. The input device includes a key button with a transparent material having an internal space, an illumination sensor located in an internal space of the key button to sense ambient illumination of the key button, a light-emitting portion located at one side of the illumination sensor to output a light signal to the outside of the key button for detecting a touch applied to the key button, and an input signal generation unit configured to generate a touch input signal according to the light signal being input to a light-receiving portion of the illumination sensor.
Claims19
A mobile terminal, comprising:
- a terminal body;
- a controller;
- and
- an input device mounted on the terminal body, wherein the input device comprises:
- at least one key button formed of a transparent material and having an internal space;
- an illumination sensor located in the internal space and having a light-receiving portion, wherein the illumination sensor is configured to sense a first light and a second light, wherein the first light is ambient light;
- a light-emitting portion located at a side of the illumination sensor and configured to output the second light to the outside of the at least one key button for detecting a touch applied to the at least one key button;
- a spacer comprising an elastically deformable material that is positioned between the illumination sensor and an internal wall of the at least one key button such that the spacer is located below the internal wall of the at least one key button, the spacer configured to cover the illumination sensor in order to suppress shock transferred to the illumination sensor when a contact touch is received via the at least one key button, the spacer including a through hole positioned over the light-receiving portion to transfer light to the light-receiving portion, and
- an input signal generation unit configured to generate a touch input signal according to light sensed at the light-receiving portion via the through hole,
- wherein the controller is configured to generate a first control command when the light sensed at the light-receiving portion of the illumination sensor is the first light and generate a second control command when the light sensed at the light-receiving portion of the illumination sensor is the second light.
7 more elements
An input device, comprising:
- a key button formed of a transparent material and having an internal space;
- an illumination sensor located in the internal space and having a light-receiving portion, wherein the illumination sensor is configured to sense a first light and a second light, wherein the first light is ambient light;
- a light-emitting portion located at one side of the illumination sensor and configured to output the second light to the outside of the key button for detecting a touch applied to the key button;
- a spacer comprising an elastically deformable material that is positioned between the illumination sensor and an internal wall of the key button such that the spacer is located below the internal wall of the key button, the spacer configured to cover the illumination sensor in order to suppress shock transferred to the illumination sensor when a contact touch is received via the key button, the spacer including a through hole positioned over the light-receiving portion to transfer light to the light-receiving portion, and
- an input signal generation unit configured to generate a touch input signal according to light sensed at the light-receiving portion via the through hole,
- wherein a sensing of the first light at the light-receiving portion, via the through hole, is used for generating a first control command via a controller, and
- wherein a sensing of the second light at the light-receiving portion of the illumination sensor, via the through hole, is used for generating a second control command via the controller.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.