WO2018038545A1

WO2018038545A1 - Method, system, and mobile communication terminal to run a predetermined operation for performing a specific function in response to an activation user input

Info

Publication number: WO2018038545A1
Application number: PCT/KR2017/009242
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jaelark JUNG; Jaekyu Lee; Youngtack Shim
Original assignee: Jung Jaelark; Jaekyu Lee; Youngtack Shim
Priority date: 2016-08-25
Filing date: 2017-08-24
Publication date: 2018-03-01

Abstract

Provided is a mobile communication terminal including at least one display unit and at least one activation button which switches the terminal from its inactive state to its active state, which corresponds to an OFF state and an ON state of the display unit, respectively, wherein the terminal runs at least one predetermined operation when a user supplies a user input to the activation button when the terminal is in the inactive state while switching to the active state and simultaneously switching the display unit to the ON state. In particular, the terminal can run one of multiple different predetermined operations for performing different functions based on the number of the user inputs, the time or duration of such user inputs or a time interval or gap between such user inputs.

Description

METHOD, SYSTEM, AND MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL TO RUN A PREDETERMINED OPERATION FOR PERFORMING A SPECIFIC FUNCTION IN RESPONSE TO AN ACTIVATION USER INPUT

The disclosure relates to a mobile communication terminal for performing a specific function by running “one or more predetermined operations” (to be referred to as “a predetermined operation” hereinafter) when a mobile communication terminal is activated, a system including the above terminal, and a method of utilizing the above terminal and/or system. More particularly, the disclosure relates to the above mobile communication terminal, system incorporating such a terminal, and method of using such a terminal for performing various functions by running a predetermined operation according to the number of presses (or other manipulations) of an activation button (or other input units of the terminal or a press time (or duration) of such a button (or other input units) for activating the terminal from an inactive state to an active state while switching a display unit of the terminal from an OFF state to an ON state. This disclosure also relates to a mobile communication terminal, a system, and a method for receiving a user input (such as the above pressing or other manipulations of an activation button or other input units) and performing a specific function by running a predetermined operation based on an interval between such presses (or manipulations), activating the terminal from its inactive state to its active state upon receiving the user input, and also switching the display unit from the OFF state to the ON state upon receiving the user input.

Recently, various terminals, for example, such as smart phones, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and web pads, having not only communication functions but also various other functions, have come into wide use. These terminals have rapidly been accepted by users because not only can an environment identical or similar to a desktop computer be implemented anytime and anywhere on the above-described terminals, but they also include a telephone function.

At present, in order to perform a specific function among various functions included in a terminal such as those described above, a certain operation should be run in a state in which the terminal is in an active state, that is, in an ON state in which a display is turned on. In addition, in order to add a certain function, an interface or button for running a predetermined operation to perform such a function should be added to the terminal. For example, it is possible to transmit a rescue signal indicating an emergency or urgent situation by pressing an emergency button only when the emergency button for the urgent situation is separately added.

On the other hand, users of the terminals described above perform operations of habitually taking out and activating the terminals on the move or in a standby state while carrying the terminals.

Exemplary embodiments provide technology for enabling an advantageous function to be performed through running a predetermined operation as well as turning on a display unit by a simple procedure of pressing or otherwise manipulating an activation button (or other input units) of a mobile communication terminal that is habitually pressed by connecting various operations to the activation button (or other input units) provided in a terminal.

Exemplary embodiments provide technology for enabling health check of an elderly person to be performed with only a simple procedure of pressing or otherwise manipulating an activation button or input unit of the terminal and enabling information regarding the health condition to be transmitted to a healthcare provider or a medical authority.

Exemplary embodiments provide technology for enabling a user authentication process utilizing a fingerprint, an iris, a retina, a face or another part of a user of the terminal with only a simple procedure of pressing or otherwise manipulating an activation button or unit of the terminal, where such authentication process may employ any of currently available biometric technologies.

Exemplary embodiments provide technology for enabling an urgent message to be transmitted along with location information in an emergency with only a simple procedure of pressing or otherwise manipulating an activation button or input unit of the terminal.

According to an exemplary embodiment, there is provided a mobile communication terminal including: at least one display unit; and an activation button (or input unit) configured to switch the terminal from an inactive state, which is an OFF state of the display unit, to an active state, which is an ON state of the display unit, in response to a user input. In one example, when the user applies a user input to the terminal (e.g., by pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button or input unit), the terminal switches the display unit from its OFF state to its ON state upon receiving the user input and runs a predetermined operation to perform a specific function also upon receiving the user input, simultaneously with activating itself to its active state. In another example, the terminal may receive a user input through the activation button or input unit, turn on the display unit upon receiving the user input, and run the predetermined operation to perform the specific function upon receiving the user input or upon the display unit being turned on.

According to another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a method of performing a specific function by running a predetermined operation when a mobile communication terminal is activated, including the steps of: sensing a user input (e.g., sensing whether or not an activation button or input unit has been pressed or otherwise manipulated by the user) when the terminal is in its inactive state; switching a display unit from an OFF state, which is an inactive state of the terminal, to an ON state, which is an active state of the terminal upon such sensing; and running the predetermined operation, with the mobile communication terminal, upon such sensing (or switching), in response to such sensing (or switching) or simultaneously switching to the active state.

According to still another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a system for providing a service to perform a specific function when a mobile communication terminal is activated, including: an activation sensing unit configured to receive a sensing signal indicating activation of the terminal from an inactive state, which is an OFF state of the display unit, to an active state, which is an ON state of the display unit; and a software application driving unit or a hardware driving unit which is configured to run a predetermined operation according to the switching to the active state.

As set forth herein, this disclosure relates to various mobile communication terminals each capable of turning on its display unit and running a predetermined operation to perform a specific function when the terminal is activated by receiving a user input while its display unit was (or remains) in its OFF state. This disclosure also relates to various methods each turning on a display unit of a mobile communication terminal and running a predetermined operation to perform a specific function when the terminal receives the user input while its display unit was (or remains) in its OFF state. This disclosure further relates to various systems each capable of turning on its display unit as well as providing a certain service by running a predetermined operation to perform a specific function when its terminal receives a user input while its display unit was in its OFF state and is activated thereby.

It is appreciated that this disclosure relates to various mobile communication terminals, methods of utilizing such terminals, and systems which incorporate such terminals. It is also appreciated that various “activation buttons,” “activation units” or “input units” are only ancillary features of such terminals, methods, and systems, for such buttons and/or units only serve to receive various inputs (or input signals) from a user. Accordingly, various mobile communication terminals, methods of utilizing such terminals, and systems which incorporate such terminals throughout this disclosure can incorporate one or multiple prior art “activation buttons” and any prior art mechanisms of manipulating such “activation buttons” to activate the terminal. As a result, the “activation button” throughout this disclosure includes its equivalent input units which have been known to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art as performing substantially the same function of receiving the user inputs from the user manipulation in substantially the same way of sensing such user manipulations of at least parts of the terminals to yield substantially the same result of providing the user inputs to such terminals.

In this context and as used herein, an “activation button” collectively refers to one or more conventional input units which receive an input or multiple inputs from a user (to be referred to as “a user input” hereinafter). It is noted that a mobile communication terminal is activated from its inactive state to its active state in response to the user input and that a display unit of the terminal also switches from its OFF state to its ON state in response to the user input.

Numerous prior art documents disclose various input units equivalent to the “push-type activation button,”

The first example is U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,388 (entitled “Computer mouse or keyboard input device utilizing capacitive sensors,” filed by Boie et al. on Jan. 29, 1993 and assigned to AT&T IPM Corp.) which discloses various equivalents of the “activation button” (i.e., input units) such as, e.g., a force imaging input unit, an input tablet (with or without a stylus), a joy stick, a keyboard, a mouse or a track ball, where each of such input units is designed to receive a mechanical input or a tactile input from the user.

Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 7,479,949 (entitled “Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics,” filed by Steve Jobs and 24 other co-inventors on Apr. 11, 2008, claiming a priority date of Sep. 6, 2006, and assigned to Apple Inc.) which discloses various equivalents of the “activation button” (i.e., input units) such as, e.g., a click wheel, a dial pad, a finger gesture input unit, a hand-writing input unit, an image-based input unit, a keyboard, a touch pad or screen (including those capable of recognizing multiple-touch inputs), or the like, where each of such input units is designed to receive the mechanical or tactile input. The ‘949 patent further discloses a microphone for receiving an audible input from the user, and an electronic input unit for receiving an electronic input(s) or input signal as further equivalents of the “activation button.”

Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 8,392,340 (entitled “Method and apparatus for detecting conditions of a peripheral device including motion, and detecting/predicting temperature(s) wherein at least one temperature is weighed based on detected conditions,” filed by K. Cox et al. on Sep. 21, 2009, and assigned to Apple Inc.) which discloses various equivalents of the “activation button” (i.e., input units) such as, e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a pointing unit, a touch pad, or the like. The ’340 patent also discloses an accelerometer capable of monitoring movement of a device and assessing an acceleration of such a device.

Yet another example is U.S. Pat. No. 8,542,206 (entitled “Swipe gestures for touch screen,” filed by W. C. Westerman et al. on Sep. 23, 2011, claiming a priority date of June 22, 2007, and assigned to Apple Inc.) which discloses various equivalents of the “activation button” (i.e., input units) such as, e.g., a button, a joy stick, a keyboard, a mouse, a pointing stick, a switch, a touch surface (including a touch pad and a touch screen) or a trackball, where each of such input units is designed to receive the mechanical or tactile input.

The ‘949 patent also discloses further details of such equivalents of the “activation button” (i.e., input units) in such a way that the touch panel or touch screen may be positioned in front of a display unit or constructed integrally with a display unit so that the touch sensitive surface corresponds to all or a portion of the viewable area of the display unit, that the touch panel may detect touch events and send corresponding signals to the controller which may then process the signals and send the data to the mobile communication terminal, that the terminal can translate the touch events into computer events recognizable by the terminal, and that other variations of this basic arrangement are also possible.

Yet another example is U.S. Pat. No. 8,279,182 (entitled “User input device and method using fingerprint recognition sensor,” filed by H.S. Ki et al. on June 26, 2007, claiming a priority date of June 27, 2006, and assigned to Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.) which discloses various equivalents of the “activation button” (i.e., input units) such as, e.g., a button key, a keypad, a soft keyboard, a touch screen, or the like, where each of such input units is designed to receive the mechanical or tactile input.

Yet another example is U.S. Pat. No. 8,554,275 (entitled “Mobile terminal having an image projector and controlling method therein,” filed by D.Y. Chung on Nov. 24, 2010, claiming a priority date of Dec. 4, 2009, and assigned to LG Electronics Inc.) which discloses further equivalents of the “activation button” (i.e., input units) such as, e.g., a dome switch, a jog switch, a jog wheel, a keypad, a touch film, a touch pad or a touch sheet for receiving the mechanical or tactile input, a microphone for receiving the audible input (such as, e.g., user’s voice or environmental sounds), a camera for receiving a visual input, an electrical capacitive unit for receiving an electrical input or input signal, and so on.

Therefore, it follows that the phrase “pressing an activation button” throughout this disclosure may refer to providing the user input (i.e., manipulating various “activation buttons”) to activate a mobile communication terminal from its inactive state to its active state. Accordingly, the phrase “pressing the activation button” of this disclosure includes various equivalents of “pressing the press-type activation button” which have been known to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art as performing substantially the same function as “pressing the prior art push-type activation button or its prior art equivalents” in substantially the same way as “pressing the prior art press-type activation button or its prior art equivalents” to yield substantially the same result as “pressing the prior art push-type activation button or its prior art equivalents.”

For example and as disclosed in the above prior art such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,463,388, 7,479,949, 8,279,182, 8,542,206, and 8,554,275, the phrase “pressing the activation button” in this disclosure includes various manipulations of various input units by the user such as, e.g., contacting, deforming, displacing, pulling, pushing, rolling, rotating, swiping, swiveling, touching or otherwise moving at least a portion of at least one of the above input units such as, e.g., the click wheel, the dial pad, the dome switch, the force imaging input unit, the jog switch, the jog wheel, the joy stick, the (hard or soft) keyboard, the (soft or hard) keypad, the mouse, the pointing stick, the switch, the track ball, or the like.

In addition and as disclosed in the above U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,463,388, 7,479,949, 8,279,182, and 8,554,275,, the phrase “pressing the activation button” in this disclosure further includes various manipulations of other inputs units by the user such as, e.g., contacting or touching at least a portion of the input tablet, the touch film, the touch pad, the touch screen, the touch sheet or the touch surface with one or more objects either sequentially or simultaneously, where examples of such objects may include, but not limited to, a finger(s) of the user, another body part of the user, a stylus, or the like. Such manipulations may also include pushing or pressing at least a portion of such input units with such object(s), may include swiping the object(s) on or over such input units, rolling such object(s) on or over such input units, or the like.

In addition, the phrase “pressing the activation button” includes yet other manipulations of other input unit(s) such as, e.g., supplying the audible input(s) to the conventional audio input units such as, e.g., a microphone, supplying the electronic input(s) or input signal(s) to the conventional electronic input unit, providing the visual input(s) to the conventional video input units such as, e.g., a camera, a CCD (i.e., a charge coupled device) or a light-sensitive sensor, providing an electrical signal to the electric capacitive input unit, or the like.

Furthermore, as disclosed in the above prior art U.S. Pat. No. 8,392,340, the phrase “pressing the activation button” includes yet other manipulations of other input unit(s) such as, e.g., assessing an acceleration of at least a portion of a mobile communication terminal or its peripheral device, assessing a velocity of at least a portion of such a terminal or peripheral device from which the acceleration can be assessed, or the like.

Following embodiments provide further details of various mobile communication terminals capable of running a predetermined operation to perform a specific function when the terminal is activated by various user inputs while the terminal is in its inactive state and while the display unit is in its OFF state, various method of running a predetermined operation to perform a specific function when the terminal is activated while the terminal is in its inactive state and while the display unit is in its OFF state, and various systems capable of providing a certain service by running a predetermined operation to perform a specific function when such a terminal is activated while the terminal is in its inactive state and while the display unit is in its OFF state.

For simplicity, the following embodiments may focus on the “conventional push-type activation button” which activates the mobile communication terminal when pressed by the user. It is noted, however, that various embodiments set forth heretofore and hereinafter are also operable when the mobile communication terminal includes any of the above input units as the “activation button” and/or when the user performs any of the above manipulations of such input units as “pressing the activation button.”

According to another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a mobile communication terminal including: a display unit defining a major section and at least one minor section each of which operates between an OFF state and an ON state separately or independently; and an activation button which can switch the terminal from its inactive state, which is the OFF state of the major section of the display unit, to its active state, which is the ON state of the major section, wherein, when the terminal receives the user input (e.g., when the user presses the activation button), the terminal runs a predetermined function to perform a specific function by switching to its active state in response to the user input and switches the major section of the display unit to its ON state, while simultaneously activating the terminal itself. It is noted that the major and minor sections of the display unit may be fabricated to be at least substantially contiguous to each other so that the display unit looks like a single article. Therefore, both of the major section and minor section of the display unit may be portions of a single liquid crystal display (LCD), a single thin film transistor (TFT) display, a single organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, a single active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) display, or the like.

The above major and minor sections of the display unit may be shaped and sized in various configurations. For example, the major section of the display unit may always be assigned with a greater area of a screen of the display unit than the minor section. That is, the section of the display unit which is wider, taller or longer than other section(s) may be designated as the minor section which may then be positioned above or below the minor section, on the left or right side of the minor section, inside or around the minor section, or the like. Alternatively, a section of the display unit positioned in a certain area of the screen of the display unit may be designated as the major section of the display unit. For example, regardless of its shape or size, the section located, e.g., in the top-right corner of the screen of the display unit, may be designated as the major section, the section located, e.g., in the center of the screen of the display unit, may be designated as the major section, or the like.

In this embodiment, the mobile communication terminal may also manipulate the major and minor sections of the display unit to turn ON and OFF together. That is, both of the major and minor sections of the display unit may be in their ON states when the terminal is active, while both of the major and minor sections may be in their OFF states when the terminal is inactive.

In the alternative, the terminal may manipulate the major section independently of the minor section. Thus, the terminal may run a predetermined operation to perform a specific function by switching to its active state and switch the major section of the display unit to the ON state when the user provides the user input (e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button) while the major section of the display unit or the entire display unit is in its OFF state.

In this case, the terminal may also switch the minor section of the display unit to its ON state along with the major section or may keep the minor section in its OFF state. It then follows that, when the terminal switches to its inactive state, the terminal may also switch the major section of the display unit to its OFF state, while also manipulating the minor section to its OFF state or manipulating the minor section to remain in its ON state.

The mobile communication terminal of this embodiment may manipulate the major and minor sections of the display unit to display different portions of a single image or a single content. Accordingly, in the latter case, the major section of the display unit may display the right half of a still image or a video clip, while the minor section may display the remaining half of the image or video clip, or the like.

The terminal may instead independently manipulate the major and minor sections of the display unit so that different sections may display different images or contents. The terminal may run different operations and display the resulting different images or contents obtained therefrom on the major and minor sections of the display unit, simultaneously or at different instances. For example, when the terminal is activated in response to the user input, the terminal may run the predetermined operation and display the results obtained from such operation on the major section of the display unit, while always displaying, on the minor section of the display unit, time or other results obtained by running another operation, or the like. Accordingly, the minor section of such a display unit may stay in its ON state, while the major section of the display unit may switch from its OFF state to its ON state when the terminal switches to its active state in response to the user input. Of course the mobile communication terminal as set forth herein may be altered to perform other operational variations of the above.

According to another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a mobile communication terminal including: a first display unit and at least one second display unit, where each of the display units operates between an OFF state and an ON state either dependently or separately; and an activation button which can activate the terminal from an inactive state (which is the OFF state of the first display unit) to an active state (which is the ON state of the first display unit). Upon receiving an input from a user when the first display unit is in its OFF state, the terminal may switch the first display unit to its ON state in response to the user input and may run a predetermined operation for performing a specific function also in response thereto, while simultaneously activating the terminal itself.

It is noted that each of the first and second display units may be one of various types of prior art displays such as, e.g., an LCD, a TFT, an OLED, an AMOLED, or the like. It is also noted that the first and second display units may be of the same type of such displays so that, when the first display unit is an AMOLED, the second display unit is also an AMOLED. Alternatively, the first and second display units may be of different types of such displays so that the first display unit is an OLED, while the second display unit may be an LCD, or the like.

The above first and second display units may be shaped and sized in various configurations. For example, the first display unit may be constructed to be wider, taller or longer than the second display unit, where the first display unit may be positioned above or below the second display unit, on the left or right side of the second display unit, inside or around the second display unit, on different surfaces of the terminal, or the like. Alternatively, a display unit which is positioned in a certain area of the mobile communication terminal may always be designated as the first display unit. For example, regardless of the shape or size thereof, the display unit located in the top-right corner of the terminal may be designated as the major (or minor) display unit, the display unit located in the center of the terminal may be designated as the major (or minor) display unit, or the like.

In this embodiment, the terminal may control the first and second display units to turn ON and OFF together. That is, both of the first and second display units are in the ON state when the terminal is in the active state, while both display units are all in the OFF state when the terminal is inactive. Alternatively, such a terminal may manipulate the first display unit independently of the second display unit. Accordingly, when the terminal receives a user input in its inactive state, the terminal switches the first display unit to the ON state upon receiving the user input, runs a predetermined operation to perform a specific function upon receiving the user input, while simultaneously activating itself to its active state. In this case, the terminal may also switch the second display unit to its ON state along with the first display unit or may keep the second display unit in its OFF state. It then follows that, when the terminal switches to its inactive state, the first display unit may also switch to its OFF state, while the second display unit may also switch to its OFF state or remain in its ON state, or the like.

The terminal of this embodiment may manipulate the first and second display units to display different parts of a single image or content. For example, the first display unit may display the right half of a still image or a video clip, while the second display unit may display the remaining half of the image or video clip.

Such a terminal may instead independently manipulate the first and second display units so that the first and second display units may display different images or contents thereon. Alternatively, the terminal may run different operations and display different images or contents obtained from such different operations on the first and second display units, either simultaneously or at different instances. For example, the first display unit may switch to the ON state while the terminal may simultaneously activate itself to its active state in response to the user input, thereby displaying results obtained by running the predetermined operation, whereas the second display unit may always display time, may always display results obtained by running another operation, or the like. Accordingly, the second display unit may stay in its ON state, while the first display unit may switch from its OFF state to its ON state in response to the user input which activates the terminal itself to its active state in response to the user input applied to the terminal in its inactive state. It is appreciated that various mobile communication terminals as set forth herein may be altered to perform other operational variations of the above.

According to another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a mobile communication terminal operating between an inactive state and an active state, where the terminal is communicable in both of the inactive and active states unless the terminal is completely turned off by a user. Such a terminal includes at least one display unit and at least one input unit. The display unit may switch between an OFF state and an ON state, where the OFF state of the display unit corresponds to the inactive state of the terminal and vice versa, while the ON state of the display unit corresponds to the active state of the terminal and vice versa. The input unit may receive an input from the user. The terminal in the inactive state may be switched to the active state upon receiving the user input and may run a predetermined operation while switching the display unit from the OFF state to the ON state also in response to the user input. The terminal may select the predetermined operation from multiple operations based upon at least one feature of the user input, where such a feature of the user input may include, but not limited to, a number of the user inputs, a duration of at least one of the user inputs, a time interval between at least two of the user inputs, or the like.

In one example, the input unit may be a click wheel, a dial pad, a dome switch, a force imaging unit, a jog switch, a jog wheel, a joy stick, a hard keyboard, a soft keyboard, a soft keypad, a hard keypad, a mouse, a pointing stick, an on/off-type switch, a press-type button switch, a rotation-type switch, a track ball, a track pad, an audio input unit (such as, e.g., a microphone and an audio signal transducer), an electronic input unit, a video input unit (e.g., a camera, a charge coupled device, a light-sensitive sensor, and so on), an electric capacitive input unit, a velocity meter, an accelerometer, or the like.

In another example, the input unit may receive the user input when the user supplies the user input using at least one finger thereof, when the user supplies the user input using at least one body part thereof, when the user supplies the user input using at least one object such as, e.g., a stylus, an electronic pen, and a pointer.

In another example, the input unit may receive the user input when the user may contact, deform, displace, pull, press, push, roll, rotate, swipe, swivel, touch or otherwise move at least a portion of the click wheel, the dial pad, the dome switch, the force imaging unit, the jog switch, the jog wheel, the joy stick, the mouse, the pointing stick, the on/off-type switch, the press-type button switch, the rotation-type switch or the track ball, when the user may contact, deform, displace, move, pull, press, push, roll, rotate, swipe, swivel or touch at least a portion of the hard keyboard, the soft keyboard, the soft keypad or the hard keypad, when the user may contact, deform, displace, press, push, roll, swipe or touch at least a portion of the input tablet, the touch film, the touch pad, the touch screen, the touch sheet or the touch surface, when the user may supply an audible input to the audio input unit, when the user may supply an input signal to the electronic input unit, when the user may provide a visual input to the video input unit, when the user may provide an electrical signal to the electric capacitive input unit, when the velocimeter (or accelerometer) of the input unit assesses the velocity (or acceleration) of at least a portion of the mobile communication terminal or its peripheral device, or the like.

In another example, the predetermined operation may be an operation of taking a picture (or recording a video), an operation of recording an audio, an operation of displaying such a picture or video, an operation of playing the audio, an operation of storing (or transmitting) the picture, video or audio, an operation of assessing an emergency, an operation of transmitting information about the emergency, an operation of assessing a geographic location, an operation of transmitting information about the geographic location, an operation of monitoring, storing or transmitting a health condition, an operation of authenticating the user, an operation of making a phone call, an operation of making an internet (or bluetooth) connection, an operation of executing a messenger (or navigator) service, an operation of executing a clock (or timer), an operation of executing a scheduler (or dictionary), an operation of creating, processing or transmitting a document, an operation of changing a mode of operation of the terminal, an operation of providing an access to selected information stored in the terminal, an operation of displaying the last or latest screen (but other than a home screen or a menu screen) displayed by the display unit before the terminal was inactivated, an operation of providing an access to the last or latest software application which had been run by the terminal before the terminal was inactivated, an operation of making a connection to a network of internet-of-things (IoT), an operation of making a connection to an electric or electro-mechanical appliance included in the network of IoT, an operation of unlocking a door of a vehicle (or a building), an operation of setting a control panel, an operation of displaying a home screen, or the like.

In another example, the terminal may include at least one software application which, upon being executed, may run the predetermined operation. The software application may be a picture-taking application, a video-recording application, an audio recording application, a picture or video playing application, an audio playing application, an application for storing or transmitting the picture, video or audio, an application for assessing an emergency or transmitting information about the emergency, an application for assessing a geographic location, an application for transmitting information of the geographic location, an application for monitoring, storing or transmitting a health condition, an application for authenticating the user, an application for making phone calls, an application for making an internet or bluetooth connection, an application for providing a messenger or navigating service, an application for providing a clock or a timer, an application for providing a scheduler or a dictionary, an application for creating, processing or transmitting a document, an application for changing a mode of operation of the terminal, an operation of controlling operations of the terminal using a voice command, an application for providing an access to selected information stored in the terminal, an application for displaying the last screen (but other than a home screen or a menu screen) displayed by the display unit before the terminal was inactivated, an application for providing an access to the last software application which had been run by the terminal before the terminal was inactivated, an application for making a connection to a network of internet-of-things (IoT), an application for making a connection to an electric or electro-mechanical appliance included in the network of IoT, an operation of unlocking a door of a vehicle (or a building), an application for setting a control panel, an operation of displaying a home screen, or the like.

In another example, the software application may be downloaded to the terminal before the terminal may run the predetermined application. Alternatively, the software application may be stored external to the terminal, may run the predetermined operation when the terminal receives the user input, and transmits results from such running to the terminal.

In another example, the terminal may include a timer capable of monitoring such a feature of the user input.

In another example, the predetermined operation may be an operation of authenticating whether said user is an authorized user. Such a terminal may then include a fingerprint scanner which may be incorporated into the input unit. Thus, the terminal may run a first predetermined operation upon monitoring a first number of the user inputs, a first duration of at least one of the user inputs or a first time interval between at least two of the user inputs, while the terminal may instead run a second predetermined operation which is different from the first predetermined operation upon monitoring a second number of the user inputs which is different from the first number, a second duration of at least one of the user inputs which is different from the first duration or a second time interval between at least two of the user inputs which is different from the first time interval.

In another example, the terminal may include a fingerprint scanner for running the authentication operation, where the input unit may be a touch pad, a touch panel or a touch screen each of which may include at least one touch screen and where the fingerprint scanner may be incorporated into at least a portion of such input unit. Therefore, the terminal may run a first predetermined operation upon monitoring a first number of the user inputs, a first duration of at least one of the user inputs or a first time interval between at least two of the user inputs, whereas the terminal may run a second predetermined operation which is different from the first predetermined operation upon monitoring a second number of the user inputs which is different from the first number, a second duration of at least one of the user inputs which is different from the first duration or a second time interval between at least two of the user inputs which is different from the first time interval.

In another example, the terminal may include a first display unit and at least one second display unit each of which switches between an OFF state and an ON state, where the OFF state of the first display unit may correspond to the inactive state of the terminal (and vice versa), while the ON state of the first display unit may correspond to the active state of the terminal (and vice versa). Such a terminal in the inactive state may be switched to the active state upon receiving the user input and may run a predetermined operation while switching said first display unit from the OFF state to the ON state upon such receiving, regardless of the state of the second display unit, and the terminal may run the predetermined operation and display results therefrom on the first display unit.

Therefore, the second display unit may stay in its ON state regardless of the first display unit which switches between its OFF and ON states, may switch between its OFF and ON states along with the first display unit, may switch to its ON state as the first display unit switches to its OFF state, while switching to its OFF state as the first display unit switches to its ON state. Alternatively, the second display unit may display a clock, a power or a list of activities of the terminal which happened before the terminal has been activated, when the first display unit is in the OFF or ON state.

Such a terminal may include such first and second display units on the same side of the terminal, on different sides of the terminal or on the opposite sides of the terminal. In addition, the input unit and first display unit may be provided on the same side of the terminal, on different sides of the terminal, on opposite sides of the terminal, or the like.

In another example, the display unit may define a major section and at least one minor section, where each of such section may switch between its ON state and its OFF state. The terminal in the inactive state may be switched to the active state upon receiving the user input and may then run a predetermined operation while switching the major section of the display unit from the OFF state to the ON state upon such receiving the user input or upon performing the predetermined operation, regardless of a state of the minor section of the display unit. The terminal may run the predetermined operation and display results therefrom on the major section of the display unit.

In such a case, the minor section of the display unit may stay in its ON state regardless of whether the major section of the display unit may switch between its OFF and ON states, may switch between its OFF and ON states along with the major section of the display unit, may switch to its ON state as the major section of the display unit may switch to its OFF state, while switching to its OFF state as the major section of the display unit switches to its ON state.

In another example, the minor section of the display unit may display a clock, a power, a list of activities of the terminal before the terminal has been activated, when the major section of said display unit may be in the OFF or ON state.

In another example, the terminal may include at least one additional software application which, upon being executed, may run an additional predetermined operation selected from another list of operations based on at least one feature of said user input. Such an additional software application may be an application capable of changing a mode of operation of said terminal. where the changed mode may use voice commands to control the terminal.

According to another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a mobile communication terminal operating between an inactive state and an active state, where such a terminal may be communicable in both of the inactive and active states unless the terminal is completely turned off. Such a terminal may include at least one display unit and at least one input unit. The display unit switches between an OFF state and an ON state, where the OFF state of the display unit may correspond to the inactive state of the terminal (and vice versa), while the ON state of the display unit may correspond to the active state of the terminal (and vice versa). When the input unit receives a user input when the terminal is in the inactive state, such a terminal may be simultaneously switched to the active state upon receiving the user input and may also run a predetermined operation of user authentication upon such receiving or upon running the predetermined operation, while switching the display unit from the OFF state to the ON state upon such receiving or running such operation. When the user fails to pass the authentication operation, the terminal may drive the display unit to display a lock screen or display a signal which may inform the user of such a failure. But when the user passes the authentication, the terminal may drive the display unit to display a home screen or another preset screen such as a “related screen” to be described below.

According to another exemplary embodiment, there is provided another mobile communication terminal which operates between an inactive state and an active state, where the terminal may be communicable in both of the inactive and active states unless the terminal is completely turned off. Such a terminal may include a first display unit, at least one second display unit, and at least one input unit. The first display unit may switch between a first OFF state and a first ON state, where the first OFF state of the first display unit may correspond to the inactive state of the terminal (and vice versa), whereas the first ON state of the first display unit may correspond to the active state of the terminal (and vice versa). The second display unit may switch between a second OFF state and a second ON state, while the input unit may receive a user input. Such a terminal in the inactive state may be simultaneously switched to the active state upon receiving the user input and run a predetermined operation of user authentication upon such receiving while switching the first display unit from the OFF state to the ON state upon such receiving or upon running the predetermined operation. When the user fails to pass the authentication operation, the terminal may drive the first display unit to the first OFF state, while driving the second display unit to display a signal informing the user of such a failure. However, when the user passes the authentication operation, the terminal may drive the display unit to display a home screen, a main menu or a related screen.

In one example, the input unit may be a click wheel, a dial pad, a dome switch, a force imaging unit, a jog switch, a jog wheel, a joy stick, a hard keyboard, a soft keyboard, a soft keypad, a hard keypad, a mouse, a pointing stick, an on/off-type switch, a press-type button switch, a rotation-type switch, a track ball, a track pad, an audio input unit (e.g., a microphone and an audio signal transducer), an electronic input unit, a video input unit (e.g., a camera, a charge coupled device, and a light-sensitive sensor), an electric capacitive input unit, a velocimeter, an accelerometer, or the like.

In another example, the input unit may receive the user input when the user supplies the user input using at least one finger thereof, when the user supplies the user input using at least one body part thereof, when the user supplies the user input using at least one object such as, e.g., a stylus, an electronic pen or a pointer, or the like.

In another example, the first and/or second display units may be a liquid crystal display, a thin film transistor display, an organic light emitting diode display, and an active matrix organic light emitting diode. The first display unit and the second display unit may be the same type of display or different types thereof.

According to another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a mobile communication terminal which may operate between an inactive state and an active state, where such a terminal may be communicable in both of the inactive and active states, unless the terminal is completely turned off. Such a terminal may include at least one display unit and at least one input unit. The display unit may switch between an OFF state and an ON state, where the OFF state of the display unit may correspond to the inactive state of the terminal (and vice versa), while the ON state of the display unit may correspond to the active state of the terminal (and vice versa). When the input unit receives a user input when the terminal in the inactive state, such a terminal may be simultaneously switched to the active state upon receiving the user input and may run a predetermined operation of user authentication upon such receiving while switching the display unit to the ON state upon such receiving or upon running the operation. When the user fails to pass the authentication operation, the terminal may manipulate the display unit to display a lock screen or a signal informing the user of the failure. When the user passes the authentication operation, however, the terminal may run at least one additional predetermined operation, optionally displaying a signal informing the user of the success of authentication, of the results from the authentication operation or of information about the additional operation.

In one example, the terminal may select the additional predetermined operation from multiple operations based upon at least one feature of the user input, where examples of such a feature of the user input may include a number of the user inputs, a duration of at least one of the user inputs, a time interval between at least two of the user inputs, or the like.

In another example, the input unit may be a click wheel, a dial pad, a dome switch, a force imaging unit, a jog switch, a jog wheel, a joy stick, a hard keyboard, a soft keyboard, a soft keypad, a hard keypad, a mouse, a pointing stick, an on/off-type switch, a press-type button switch, a rotation-type switch, a track ball, a track pad, an audio input unit (including a microphone, an audio signal transducer, or the like), an electronic input unit, a video input unit (including a camera, a charge coupled device, a light-sensitive sensor, or the like), an electric capacitive input unit, a velocimeter, an accelerometer, or the like.

In another example, the input unit may receive the user input when the user may contact, deform, displace, pull, press, push, roll, rotate, swipe, swivel, touch or otherwise move at least a portion of the click wheel, the dial pad, the dome switch, the force imaging unit, the jog switch, the jog wheel, the joy stick, the mouse, the pointing stick, the on/off-type switch, the press-type button switch, the rotation-type switch or the track ball, when the user may contact, deform, displace, pull, press, push, roll, rotate, swipe, swivel, touch or otherwise move at least a portion of the hard keyboard, the soft keyboard, the soft keypad or the hard keypad, when the user may contact, deform, displace, press, push, roll, swipe or touch at least a portion of the input tablet, the touch film, the touch pad, the touch screen, the touch sheet or the touch surface, when the user supplies an audible input to the audio input unit, when the user supplies an input signal to the electronic input unit, when the user provides a visual input to the video input unit, when the user provides an electrical signal to the electric capacitive input unit, when the accelerometer (or velocimeter) assesses the acceleration (or velocity) of at least a portion of the mobile communication terminal or its peripheral device, or the like.

In another example, the terminal may run the additional predetermined operation which may be an operation of taking a picture, an operation of recording a video (or an audio), an operation of displaying the picture or video, an operation of playing, storing or transmitting the picture, video or audio, an operation of assessing an emergency, an operation of transmitting information about the emergency, an operation of assessing a geographic location, an operation of transmitting information about the geographic location, an operation of monitoring, storing or transmitting a health condition of the user, an operation of further authenticating the user, an operation of making a phone call, an operation of making an internet or a bluetooth connection, an operation of executing a messenger service or navigator service, an operation of executing a clock or a timer, an operation of executing a scheduler (or a dictionary), an operation of creating, processing or transmitting a document, an operation of changing a mode of operation of the terminal, an operation of controlling various operations of the terminal using a voice command, an operation of providing an access to preset information stored in the terminal, an operation of displaying the last or latest screen (but other than a home screen or a menu screen) displayed by the display unit before the terminal was inactivated, an operation of providing an access to the last or latest software application which had been run by the terminal before the terminal was inactivated, an operation of making a connection to a network of internet-of-things (IoT), an operation of making a connection to an electric appliance or electro-mechanical appliance included in the network of IoT, an operation of unlocking a door of a vehicle (or a building), an operation of setting a control panel, an operation of displaying a home screen, or the like.

In another example, the terminal may include at least one additional software application which, upon being executed, may run the additional predetermined operation. Examples of the additional application may include, e.g., a picture-taking application, a video-recording application, an audio recording application, a picture displaying application, a video playing application, an audio playing application, an application for storing the picture, video or audio, an application for transmitting the picture, video or audio, an application for assessing an emergency, an application for transmitting information about the emergency, an application for assessing a geographic location, an application for transmitting information about the geographic location, an application for monitoring a health condition, an application for storing information of the health condition, an application for transmitting the information about the health condition, an application for further authenticating the user, an application for making phone calls, an application for making an internet connection, an application for making a bluetooth connection, an application for providing a messenger service, an application for providing a navigating service, an application for providing a clock, an application for providing a timer, an application for providing a scheduler, an application for providing a dictionary, an application for creating, processing or transmitting the document, an application for changing a mode of operation of the terminal, an application for providing an access to selected information stored in the terminal, an application for displaying the last or latest screen (but other than a home screen or a menu screen) displayed by the display unit before the terminal was inactivated, an application for providing an access to the last or latest software application which had been run by the terminal before the terminal was inactivated, an application for making a connection to a network of internet-of-things (IoT), an application for making a connection to an electric or electro-mechanical appliance included in the network of IoT, an application for unlocking a door of a vehicle (or a building), an application for setting a control panel, or the like.

In another example, the additional software application is an application for changing a mode of operation of said terminal. For example, such a changing of the mode may be to use voice commands in order to control the terminal or to control operations of the terminal.

According to another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a mobile communication terminal which operates between an inactive state and an active state, where the terminal is communicable in both of the inactive and active states unless the terminal is completely turned off by a user. The terminal may comprise at least one display unit and at least one input unit. The display unit may switch between an OFF state and an ON state, where the OFF state of the display unit corresponds to the inactive state of the terminal, while the ON state of the display unit corresponds to the active state of the terminal. The input unit may receive an input from the user. The terminal in the inactive state may be switched to the active state upon receiving the user input and may switch the display unit from the OFF state to the ON state also upon receiving the user input. The terminal may also run at least one authentication operation upon receiving the user input. When the user passes the authentication, the terminal may be switched to an unlock state and may run at least one predetermined operation without requiring an additional input from the user.

In one example, the input unit may be a click wheel, a dial pad, a dome switch, a force imaging unit, a jog switch, a jog wheel, a joy stick, a hard keyboard, a soft keyboard, a soft keypad, a hard keypad, a mouse, a pointing stick, an on/off-type switch, a press-type button switch, a rotation-type switch, a track ball, a track pad, an audio input unit including at least one of a microphone and an audio signal transducer, an electronic input unit, a video input unit including at least one of a camera, a charge coupled device, and a light-sensitive sensor, an electric capacitive input unit, or the like. In another example, the input unit may receive the user input when the user supplies the user input using at least one finger thereof, when the user supplies the user input using at least one body part thereof, when the user supplies the user input using at least one object such as, e.g., a stylus, an electronic pen, a pointer, or the like.

In another example, the input unit may receive the user input by various input modes. For example, the user may receive the user input when the user may contact, deform, displace, move, pull, press, push, roll, rotate, swipe, swivel or touch at least a portion of the above click wheel, dial pad, dome switch, force imaging unit, jog switch, jog wheel, joy stick, mouse, pointing stick, on/off-type switch, press-type button switch, rotation-type switch, and/or track ball; when the user may contact, deform, displace, move, pull, press, push, roll, rotate, swipe, swivel or touch at least a portion of the hard (or soft) keyboard, soft keypad or the hard keypad; when the user may contact, deform, displace, press, push, roll, swipe or touch at least a portion of the input tablet, touch film, touch pad, touch screen, touch sheet or touch surface; when the user may supply an audible input to the audio input unit; when the user may supply an input signal to the electronic input unit; when the user may provide a visual input to the video input unit; when the user may provide an electrical signal to the electric capacitive input unit, or the like.

In another example, the predetermined operation may include a variety of operations which the prior art smartphones may run with or without a user command. Examples of such operations may include, but not limited to, an operation of displaying a home screen or a lock screen; an operation of taking a picture; an operation of recording a video or an audio; an operation of displaying the picture or video; an operation of playing the audio; an operation of storing the picture, video or audio; an operation of transmitting the live picture, video or audio; an operation of transmitting the previously acquired or stored picture, video or audio; an operation of assessing an emergency; an operation of analyzing or transmitting information related to the emergency; an operation of assessing, storing or transmitting a geographic location of the user; an operation of monitoring, storing or transmitting the health condition of the user; an operation of further authenticating the user; an operation of making a telephone call; an operation of making an internet or bluetooth connection; an operation of executing a messenger or SNS service; an operation of executing a navigator; an operation of executing a clock or a timer; an operation of executing a scheduler; an operation of executing a dictionary; an operation of creating, editing, processing or transmitting a document; an operation of changing a mode of operation of the terminal; an operation of providing an access to selected information which is stored in the terminal; an operation of displaying the last screen which had been displayed by the display unit before the terminal was locked (or inactivated), where the last screen excludes a home (or menu) screen of the terminal; an operation of providing an access to the last software application which had been run by the terminal before the terminal was locked or inactivated; an operation of making a connection to a network of internet-of-things; an operation of connecting to an electric or electro-mechanical appliance included in the network of internet of things; an operation of unlocking a door of a vehicle; an operation of unlocking a door of a building; an operation of setting a control panel, or the like.

In another example, the terminal may comprise at least one software application which, upon being executed, runs one or more of the above predetermined operations. The software application may be downloaded to the terminal before the terminal runs the predetermined application. In the alternative, the software application may be stored external to the terminal, run when the terminal receives the user input, and transmits result from the running to the terminal.

In another example, the terminal may acquire at least one biometric information of the user to perform the authentication function, where the biometric information may be related to, but not limited to, a fingerprint of the user, an iris thereof, a retina thereof, an eye thereof, a face thereof, a palm thereof, a hand thereof, a body part thereof, a spatial distribution of blood vessels thereof, a voice thereof, a gesture thereof, and so on. The terminal may comprise a fingerprint scanner which may be incorporated into the input unit and acquire the fingerprint for the authentication operation, where the input unit may include a touch pad, a touch panel or a touch screen each of which includes at least one touch screen and where the fingerprint scanner is incorporated into at least a portion of the input unit.

In another example, the terminal may comprise a camera which may acquire a visual image of the iris, retina, eye, face, palm, hand or other body parts of the user. The terminal may then extract necessary biometric information from an image acquired by the camera and use such information for the above authentication operation.

In another example, the terminal may include a first display unit and at least one second display unit each of which switches between an OFF state and an ON state, where the OFF and ON states of the first display unit respectively correspond to the inactive state and active state of the terminal. The terminal in the inactive state may be switched to the active state upon receiving the user input and run a predetermined operation while simultaneously switching the first display unit from the OFF state to the ON state, regardless of the state of the second display unit. The terminal may run the predetermined operation and may display images or results therefrom on the first display unit. The second display unit may then stay in its ON state regardless of the first display unit switching between its OFF and ON states, may switch between its OFF and ON states along with the first display unit, may switch to its ON state as the first display unit switches to its OFF state, while switching to its OFF state as the first display unit switches to its ON state, or the like. The second display unit may display a clock, a power status (e.g., power consumption, remaining power, or the like), a list of activities of the terminal before the terminal has been activated, or the like, when the first display unit is in at least one of the OFF state and the ON state.

In another example, the terminal may comprise at least one additional software application which may, upon being executed, run an additional predetermined operation selected from a second plurality of operations based on the at least one feature of the user input. The additional software application may be an application for changing a mode of operation of the terminal, where the user may change the mode by providing a voice command in order to control the terminal.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a method is further provided for seamlessly using a mobile communication terminal which operates between an inactive state and an active state, where such a terminal is communicable in both of the inactive and active states unless the terminal is completely turned off by a user, where the terminal includes at least one display unit switching between an OFF state and an ON state, where the display unit switches to the OFF state when the terminal is inactivated (and vice versa), and where the display unit switches to the ON state when the terminal is activated (and vice versa). Such a method may include the steps of receiving an input from the user; activating the terminal upon such receiving; running a predetermined operation upon such receiving and/or activating; and switching the display unit to the ON state upon such receiving, activating, and/or running. Therefore, the user is capable of activating the terminal, running the predetermined operation, and turning on the display unit, simply through supplying the user input to the terminal.

In one example, such receiving may include at least one of supplying the user input using at least one finger of the user, supplying the user input using at least one body part of the user, supplying the user input using at least one object such as, e.g., a stylus, an electronic pen, and a pointer, or the like.

In another example, such receiving may include contacting, deforming, displacing, pulling, pressing, pushing, rolling, rotating, swiping, swiveling, touching or otherwise moving at least a portion of the click wheel, the dial pad, the dome switch, the force imaging unit, the jog switch, the jog wheel, the joy stick, the mouse, the pointing stick, the on/off-type switch, the press-type button switch, the rotation-type switch, the track ball, or the like. Such receiving may instead include contacting, deforming, displacing, pulling, pressing, pushing, rolling, rotating, swiping, swiveling, touching or otherwise moving at least a portion of the hard keyboard, the soft keyboard, the soft keypad, the hard keypad, or the like. Such receiving may instead include contacting, deforming, displacing, pressing, pushing, rolling, swiping or touching at least a portion of the input tablet, the touch film, the touch pad, the touch screen, the touch sheet, the touch surface, or the like. Such receiving may also include supplying an audible input to the audio input unit, supplying an input signal to the electronic input unit, providing a visual input to said video input unit, providing an electrical signal to the electric capacitive input unit, assessing an acceleration (or a velocity) of at least one moving portion of the mobile communication terminal or its peripheral device, or the like.

In another example, such “running the predetermined operation” may include taking a picture, recording a video, recording an audio, displaying the picture and/or video, playing the audio, storing the picture, video, and/or audio, transmitting the picture, video, and/or audio, assessing an emergency, transmitting information regarding such emergency, assessing a geographic location, transmitting information about such geographic location, monitoring, storing or transmitting information about the health condition, authenticating the user by his or her fingerprint, eye, iris, retina, face or voice, making a phone call, making an internet connection, making a bluetooth connection, executing a messenger service, executing a navigator service, executing a clock or a timer, executing a scheduler or a dictionary, creating, processing or transmitting a document, changing a mode of operation of the terminal, engaging a voice control mode, providing a direct or indirect access to selected information stored in the terminal, displaying the last or latest screen (but other than a home screen or a menu screen) displayed by the display unit before the terminal was inactivated, providing an access to the last or latest software application which had been run by the terminal before the terminal was inactivated, making a connection to a network of internet-of-things (IoT), making a connection to an electric or electro-mechanical appliance included in the network of IoT, unlocking a door of a vehicle (or a building), setting a control panel, displaying a home screen, or the like.

In another example, such “running the predetermined operation” may further include downloading a software application for such running to the terminal and performing such running. In the alternative, such “running the predetermined operation” may include storing a software application for such running external to the terminal, monitoring such receiving the user input by the terminal, running the predetermined operation, and providing results from such running to the terminal.

In another example, such “running the predetermined operation” may include providing multiple operations, and selecting such predetermined operation from such multiple operations based upon at least one feature of the user input such as, e.g., a number of the user inputs, a duration of at least one of such user inputs, a time interval between at least two of such user inputs, or the like.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a method is provided for authenticating a user of a mobile communication terminal. The method may include the steps of: receiving a user input while the terminal is in its inactive state; displaying a lock screen, a standby screen or a related screen upon such receiving; and authenticating the user upon such receiving and/or such displaying, thereby displaying one of the screens and authenticating the user simply in response to such receiving. The terminal may accomplish such performing and such authenticating solely in response to such receiving, without receiving any additional user input. Such displaying may include at least one of the steps of: displaying the related screen when the user is authenticated; displaying the lock screen when the user is not authenticated; displaying the standby screen when the user is authenticated, or the like. The method may further include the step of displaying an alarm message when the user is not authenticated. Such authenticating may further include the step of: performing a fingerprint authenticating; performing an iris (or a retina) authenticating; performing a face (or a body) authenticating; performing a key (or password) matching authenticating, or the like. The receiving may include the steps of: recognizing the user input which is applied to a preselected portion of the terminal for such displaying; and acquiring information for such authenticating through the preselected portion of the terminal. Such authenticating may be the fingerprint authenticating and may include the steps of: acquiring information about a fingerprint of the user; and comparing the acquired fingerprint information to a pre-stored fingerprint information for the authenticating. Such authenticating may be the iris authenticating and include the steps of: taking a picture of an iris of the user; acquiring information about the iris of the user from the picture; and then comparing the acquired iris information to a pre-stored iris information for such authenticating. Alternatively, the method may include the steps of: receiving a user input while the terminal is in its inactive state; authenticating the user upon such receiving; and displaying a lock screen, a standby screen or a related screen upon such receiving and/or authenticating, thereby displaying one of the screens and authenticating the user simply in response to such receiving.

According to another exemplary embodiment, another method is provided for performing an authentication operation with a mobile communication terminal. Such a method may include the steps of: receiving an input by a user while a display unit of the terminal is turned off; turning on the display unit in response to such receiving; and performing such authentication operation in response to the receiving and/or the turning on, thereby turning on the display unit and performing the authentication operation simply in response to the user input applied to said terminal. The terminal may accomplish such turning on and such performing solely in response to the user input, without receiving any additional user input. Such turning on may include at least one of the steps of: displaying a lock screen when the user fails the authentication operation; displaying a standby screen when the user passes the authentication operation; displaying a related screen when the user passes the authentication operation, or the like The method may further include the step of: displaying an alarm message when the user fails such authentication operation. The performing such authentication operation may further include the step of performing a fingerprint recognition authentication operation, an iris (or a face) recognition authentication operation, a key (or a password) matching authentication operation, or the like. Such receiving may include the steps of: recognizing the user input applied to a preselected portion of the terminal for such turning on; and acquiring information for such authentication operation also through the preselected portion of the terminal. If the authentication operation is the fingerprint recognition authentication operation, such performing such authentication operation may include the steps of: acquiring information about a fingerprint of the user; and comparing the acquired fingerprint information to a pre-stored fingerprint information for such authentication operation. If the authentication operation is the iris recognition authentication operation, such performing such authentication operation may include the steps of: taking a picture of an iris of the user; acquiring information about the iris of the user from the picture; and comparing the acquired iris information to a pre-stored iris information for such authenticating. Alternatively, the method may instead include the steps of: receiving an input by a user while a display unit of the terminal is turned off; performing such authentication operation in response to the receiving; and turning on the display unit in response to such receiving and/or performing, thereby performing the authentication operation and turning on the display unit simply in response to the user input applied to said terminal.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a method is provided for authenticating a user of a mobile communication terminal including an activation button and a display unit. The method may include the steps of: sensing activation of the button by the user while the display unit is turned off; turning on the display unit upon such sensing; and performing an authentication operation upon such sensing and/or such turning on, thereby accomplishing such turning on and such performing simply after such sensing the activation. Such sensing may include the step of sensing such activation only once. Such turning on may include the step of displaying a related screen when the user passes said authentication operation, displaying a lock screen when the user fails the authentication operation, displaying a standby screen when the user passes the authentication operation, or the like. Such performing the authentication operation may include at least one of the steps of: performing a fingerprint recognition authentication operation; performing an iris (or a retina) recognition authentication operation; performing a face (or a body) recognition authentication operation; performing a key (or a password) matching authentication operation, or the like. When the authentication operation is the fingerprint recognition authentication operation, such sensing may include the steps of: recognizing the activation of the button by the user; and acquiring fingerprint information of the user also through the button. If the authentication operation is the fingerprint recognition authentication operation, such sensing may include the steps of: acquiring information about a fingerprint of the user; and comparing the acquired fingerprint information to a pre-stored fingerprint information for such authentication operation. If the authentication operation is the iris recognition authentication operation, such sensing may include the steps of: taking a picture of an iris of the user; acquiring information about the user’s iris from the picture; and comparing the acquired iris information to a pre-stored iris information for such authenticating.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a method may be provided to authenticate a user of a mobile communication terminal including an activation button and a display unit. The method may include the steps of: sensing pressing of the activation button by the user while the display unit is turned off; turning on the display unit upon such sensing; and performing an authentication operation also upon such sensing, thereby allowing the user turning on the display unit and performing the authentication operation simply by pressing the activation button. Such pressing may include pressing the activation button only once. Such performing the authentication operation may include the step of: performing a fingerprint recognition authentication operation; performing an iris (or retina) recognition authentication, performing a face (or body) recognition authentication operation; performing a key (or password) matching authentication operation, or the like. If the operation is the fingerprint recognition authentication operation, such sensing may include the steps of: recognizing the pressing of the activation by the user; and acquiring a fingerprint information of the user. If the operation is the iris or face recognition authentication operations, such sensing may include the steps of: recognizing the pressing of the activation by the user; and receiving information about the iris or face of the user, respectively. The method may further include the step of: displaying a standby (or related) screen on the display unit when the user passes the authentication operation; displaying a lock screen on the display unit when the user fails the authentication operation, or the like.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a method may be provided to authenticate a user of a mobile communication terminal including an activation button and a display unit. The method may include the steps of: sensing pressing of the activation button by the user while the display unit is turned off; turning on the display unit upon such sensing; and performing an authentication operation upon such turning on, thereby allowing the user turning on the display unit and performing the authentication operation simply by pressing the activation button. Such a method may include the step of: displaying a lock screen on the display unit when the user fails the authentication operation; displaying a standby (or a related) screen on the display unit when the user passes the authentication operation.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a method may be provided for authenticating a user of a mobile communication terminal which includes at least one activation button and a display unit. The method may include the steps of: sensing pressing of the activation button by the user while the display unit is turned off; performing an authentication operation upon such sensing; and turning on the display unit upon such performing, thereby allowing the user performing the authentication operation and turning on the display unit simply by pressing the activation button. The method may also include the step of: displaying a lock screen on the display unit when the user fails the authentication operation; displaying a standby (or a related) screen on the display unit when the user passes the authentication operation, or the like.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a method may be provided to authenticate a user of a mobile communication terminal including an activation button and a display unit. The method may include the steps of: sensing activation of the terminal by the user while the display unit is turned off; turning on the display unit upon such activation; and performing an authentication operation also upon the activation, thereby allowing the user turning on the display unit and performing the authentication operation simply by pressing the activation button. Such sensing may include the step of recognizing pressing of the activation button by the user. Such sensing may instead include the step of the user pressing the activation button only once. Such performing may include the step of performing a fingerprint recognition authentication operation, an iris (or retina) recognition authentication operation, performing a face (or body) recognition authentication operation, a key (or a password) matching authentication operation, or the like. When the operation is the fingerprint recognition authentication operation, such sensing may include the steps of: recognizing pressing of the activation by the user; and acquiring a fingerprint information of the user from the pressing. The method may include at least one of the steps of: displaying a lock screen on the display unit when the user fails the authentication operation; and displaying a standby (or a related) screen on the display unit when the user passes the authentication operation.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a method may be provided to authenticate a user of a mobile communication terminal including an activation button and a display unit. The method may include the steps of: sensing activation of the terminal by the user while the display unit is turned off; turning on the display unit upon the activation; and performing an authentication operation upon the turning on, thereby allowing the user turning on the display unit and performing the authentication operation simply by pressing the activation button. The method may include at least one of the steps of: displaying a lock screen on the display unit when the user fails the authentication operation; and displaying a standby screen or a related screen on the display unit when the user passes the authentication operation.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a method may be provided to authenticate a user of a mobile communication terminal including an activation button and a display unit. The method may instead include the steps of: sensing activation of the terminal by the user while the display unit is turned off; performing an authentication operation upon the activation; and turning on the display unit upon such performing, thereby allowing the user performing the authentication operation and turning on the display unit simply by pressing the activation button. The method of may include at least one of the steps of: displaying a lock screen on the display unit when the user fails the authentication operation; and displaying a standby screen or a related screen on the display unit when the user passes the authentication operation.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a method may be provided for running a software application of a mobile communication terminal to authenticate a user, where the terminal includes an activation button and a display unit. The method may include the steps of: sensing pressing of the activation button while the display unit is turned off; running the application for turning on the display unit upon such pressing; and running the application for performing an authentication operation also upon such pressing or such turning on, whereby the terminal can accomplish such turning on and such performing simply by the pressing of the activation button. The terminal may include at least two software applications, run a first of the applications for such turning on, but run a second of the applications for such performing.

It is appreciated that, in the mobile communication terminals, systems including such terminals, and methods of utilizing such terminals as disclosed heretofore and hereinafter, each terminal activates itself in response to the user input and run one or more of various predetermined operations in response to the user input, while turning on its display unit in response to the user input as well.

Accordingly, in one aspect, activating the terminal, running the predetermined operation(s), and turning on the display unit may all occur ‘simultaneously,’ without making the user perceive a temporal gap among such activating, running, and turning on. In other words, various mobile communication terminals of this disclosure can perform all of the above ”activating,” ”running,” and ”turning on” within, e.g., 0.5 sec, 0.3 sec, 0.2 sec or 0.1 sec.

Alternatively and in another aspect, such activating the terminal, running the predetermined operation(s), and turning on the display unit may all occur in response to a single user input. In other words, various mobile communication terminals of this disclosure can perform the above activating, running, and turning on upon receiving and/or in response to the single user input, where such single user input is typically signified by a single continuous user manipulation of the above push-type activation button or its prior art equivalents.

Exemplary embodiments are described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that various aspects of the drawings may have been exaggerated for clarity:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an external appearance of a mobile communication terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation of the mobile communication terminal when an activation button has been pressed according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams illustrating the operation of the mobile communication terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are block diagrams illustrating the operation of the mobile communication terminal according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of the mobile communication terminal according to still another exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an operation of a system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. It is to be understood that the various embodiments of the invention, although different, are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, a particular feature, structure, operation, function, method or characteristic described herein in connection with one embodiment may be implemented within other embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Also, it is to be understood that the positions or arrangements of individual elements in the embodiment may be changed without separating the spirit and scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken to limit the scope of the present invention which is defined only by the appended claims that should be appropriately interpreted along with the full range of equivalents to which the claims are entitled. In the drawings, like reference numerals identify like or similar elements or functions through the several views.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing so that those skilled in the art can easily practice the invention.

[Exemplary Embodiments of Present Invention]

The term “mobile communication terminal” used herein refers to a digital device that includes a memory means and a microprocessor with computing capability as in a mobile phone, a navigation system, a web pad, a PDA, a workstation, a personal computer (for example, a notebook computer or the like) as a digital device including wired/wireless communication functions or other functions. Although an example of the mobile communication terminal (for example, a mobile phone) will be described in part of this specification, the present invention is not limited thereto.

The term “inactive state”as used herein refers to a state in which the mobile communication terminal is communicable but a display screen is turned off. Accordingly, “inactivating a mobile communication terminal” refers to a user manipulation inactivating such a terminal, which also corresponds to turning off a display unit of the terminal or switching the display unit from its ON state to its OFF state. Even when the display screen is turned off (i.e., in its OFF state), the user can set the terminal to perform one or more specific functions by continuing to run one or more certain operations, when the user or the terminal started such an operation to run before the terminal has been inactivated or before the display screen has been turned off. Examples of such predetermined operations may include, but not limited to, a music playing operation, a (phone call) operation, an internet connection operation, or the like. In other words, the term “inactive state” as used herein refers to a concept encompassing states in which the display unit is turned off, regardless of whether or not the mobile communication terminal performs a specific function by continuing to run a certain operation which the user or terminal has set to run before the display unit was turned off. However, it is noted that the term “inactive state” does not include a state in which the mobile communication terminal is completely turned off and not communicable.

Similarly, the term “active state” as used herein refers to a state of the mobile communication terminal in which the display unit of the terminal is turned on. Thus, the phrase “activating a mobile communication terminal” refers to a user manipulation activating the terminal, which corresponds to turning on the display unit, i.e., a user manipulation which switches the display unit from its OFF state to its ON state. In addition, activating the terminal from the “inactive state” to the “active state” refers to switching of the display unit from the OFF state to the ON state, regardless of information displayed on the display screen in the ON state. For example, the mobile communication terminal can be determined to be in the “active state” even when only a lock screen is displayed.

As described above, a display unit may include multiple sections one of which may be designated as a major section on which results obtained by running a predetermined operation may be displayed. In such a case, the ON state of the display unit and, therefore, the active state of the terminal refer to the state in which the major section of the display unit is in the ON state. Accordingly, even when the minor section of the display unit may be in the ON state, the terminal is deemed to be in the inactive state and the display unit is deemed to be in the OFF state as long as the major section of the display unit is in the OFF state.

The terminal may include at least two display units such as, e.g., a first display unit and a second display unit, where the first display unit is designated as a major display unit on which results obtained by running a predetermined operation may be displayed. In this case, the active state of the terminal refers to the state in which the first display unit is in the ON state. Accordingly, even when the second display unit may be in the ON state, the terminal is deemed to be in the inactive state as long as the first display unit is in the OFF state.

Various mobile communication terminals of this disclosure, methods of using such terminals, and systems incorporating such terminals for providing a certain service may offer various benefits to users as well as manufacturers of such terminals.

First, various mobile communication terminals as set forth herein offer the benefit of providing a user with an enhanced convenience of a seamless operation of such terminals.

It is well known that, when a display unit of a prior art smartphone is in the OFF state, a user has to supply a first user input to switch the display unit from its OFF state to its ON state. Although the first input may be enough to switch the display unit from its OFF state to its ON state, the display unit just shows a lock screen in which the prior art smartphone still remains in a lock state. Alternatively, when the user supplies the first user input to the prior art smartphone, the display unit switches to its ON state, while displaying a home screen or a menu screen. Of course such prior art smartphones cannot run any operation until the user supplies a second user input. Similarly, even when the prior art smartphone may display the home or menu screen, it does not run any operation unless the user supplies the second user input thereto.

To the contrary, various mobile communication terminals as set forth in this disclosure allow the user to run a predetermined operation when the user supplies a user input only once. This single user input activates the terminal which has been in its inactive state, without having to apply a second input to run a predetermined operation. Thereby, the user can enjoy a more seamless operation by skipping one more unnecessary step of applying the second user input, e.g., in order to escape the lock screen, to run a predetermined operation, or the like.

Similarly, various methods of using such mobile communications terminals as set forth in this disclosure can allow the user to run a predetermined operation when such a terminal in its inactive state is simply activated by a single user input, without requiring the user to apply a second user input to proceed from the lock or menu screen and to run the predetermined operation. In addition, various systems which incorporate such terminals embodied in this disclosure can provide a certain service by running the predetermined operation when such terminals in their inactive state are simply activated by a single user input, without requiring the user to apply a second user input to proceed from the lock or menu screen to run a predetermined operation. Thereby, such terminals, methods, and systems throughout this disclosure can obviate one unnecessary step of applying the second user input, while allowing their users to better enjoy the seamless operation of turning on the display unit as well as running the predetermined operation with a single user input.

Secondly, various mobile communication terminals as set forth herein offer the benefit of providing a user with an enhanced security in operating such terminals.

It is natural of the user to protect various information he or she has downloaded to the terminal, for many of such information may be personal, may be of financial value to the user, or the like. To this end, many prior art mobile communication terminals have been equipped with various authentication software or hardware using a variety of biometric information such as, e.g., a fingerprint, an iris, a retina, a face or another body part of the user, a pattern of blood vessels in a hand, a wrist, an arm or another body part of the user, or the like. However, such an authentication procedure requires the user to first switch the display unit from its OFF state to its ON state, and then requires the user to perform such authentication. Accordingly, the user has to supply at least two or more user inputs for enjoying such security in using the prior art terminals.

To the contrary, various mobile communication terminals as set forth in this disclosure allow the user to run a predetermined operation of authentication when the user supplies a single user input. That is, the single user input can activate the terminal which has been in its inactive state, without having to apply a second input to run the authentication operation. Thereby, the user can enjoy a more secure operation by skipping one more unnecessary step of applying the second user input, e.g., in order to supply the biometric information to perform the authentication operation.

In addition, various mobile communication terminals throughout this disclosure may allow the user to run a series of predetermined operations of authentication as the user supplies a single user input (or the first of a series of multiple user inputs) when its display unit was turned off. That is, the user may first provide the user input such as, e.g., his or her fingerprint, thereby activating the terminal in response to the user input, turning on its display unit in response thereto, and also running a predetermined operation of authentication for performing the fingerprint authentication. Thereafter, the terminal which is in its active state may acquire one or more additional biometric information of the user without having to require the user to supply additional user inputs. Thereafter, the terminal can run another predetermined operation of authentication for further security. Alternatively, the user may supply the terminal with a second user input such as, e.g., biometric information regarding his or her iris, thereby manipulating the terminal to run the predetermined operation of the iris authentication.

In these exemplary embodiments of utilizing two or more authentication operations, the terminal may unlock itself but only allow the user to perform a limited number of specific functions after the user passes the first authentication operation. The terminal may then allow the user to perform more specific functions after the user passes the second authentication operation, or the like. Alternatively, the terminal may allow the user to perform a limited number of specific functions after the user passes the first authentication operation. The terminal may then unlock itself and allow the user to perform more specific functions after the user passes the second authentication operation, or the like.

That is, in these exemplary embodiments of employing multiple authentication operations, the terminal may be arranged to unlock itself as the user passes the first of a series of authentication operations, as the user passes not the first but the second of the series of authentication operations, or the like. Alternatively, such a terminal may be arranged to allow the user to access his or her email or messenger service as the user passes the first of a series of authentication operations, as the user passes not the first but the second of the series of authentication operations, or the like. In another alternative, the terminal may be arranged to allow the user to access a specific folder as the user passes the first of a series of authentication operations, as the user passes not the first but the second of the series of authentication operations, or the like. By doing so, the user may enjoy different levels of security to run different operations for performing different specific functions.

Thirdly, the mobile communication terminal including multiple display units as set forth herein offer a great flexibility to user in utilizing a display surface of the terminal to its fullest extent. Because the size of the display surface of the mobile communication terminal has to be compromised against the portability of such a terminal, guaranteeing the best use of the restricted area of the display surface is a key to the flexibility in utilizing the terminal. In this context, the mobile communication terminal of this disclosure may include more than one display unit (or a single display unit with multiple sections) and, based on this configuration, such a terminal allows the user to run a predetermined operation by simply applying a single user input to the terminal which has been in the inactive state and of which the first display unit (or the major section of the display unit) has been in the OFF state. The user may optionally keep the second display unit (or its minor section of the display unit) in the ON state, while monitoring the clock, continuing listening to the music or watching the video which the user started before the terminal has been switched to its inactive state, before the first display unit (or the major section of th single display unit) was switched to its OFF state, and so on.

In addition, the mobile communication terminal may include various input units of which the operations may be determined by a number of presses (or manipulations) of such input units, a duration of such presses, an interval between such presses or a combination thereof. For example, when the user provides the user input to the input unit when the terminal is in its inactive state and when the display unit is in its OFF state, the terminal activates itself and may run each of multiple predetermined operations based on the number of presses (or other manipulations) of the activation button, the press time (or duration), or the time interval between such presses, while switching the display unit to its ON state. Therefore, the user may run a desired predetermined operation out of multiple preset operations without having to provide an additional user input, thereby enjoying more seamless operation of the terminal more easily and more efficiently.

Configuration of Mobile Communication Terminal

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an external appearance of the mobile communication terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the mobile communication terminal 100 according to this exemplary embodiment can include a display unit 110 and an activation button 120. The mobile communication terminal 100 can further include a camera 130.

Although the display unit 110 is provided on the front side or surface of a frame constituting the mobile communication terminal 100, the activation button 120 (or input unit) is provided on a lower part of the display unit 110, and the camera 130 is provided on an upper part of the display unit 110 as illustrated in FIG. 1, the terminal 100 may also include the display unit 110, the activation button (or input unit) 120, and the camera 130 provided in different configurations. For example, the display unit 110 need not necessarily be formed on the entire side or surface of the mobile communication terminal 100. That is, the display unit 110 is only required to be formed on at least a part of the side or surface of the mobile communication terminal 100, and the activation button (or input unit) 120 may be provided on a part different side or surface from that of the display unit 110. When the display unit 110 includes a touch film, a touch pad, a touch screen, a touch sheet or a touch surface, the activation button (or input unit) 120 may be provided in any desirable location of the display unit 110. The camera 130 can be incorporated into any portion of the terminal 100 as long as a desirable view angle is guaranteed thereto. In addition, the camera 130 can be provided on the other side on which the display unit 110 is not provided in the mobile communication terminal 100. When the terminal 100 includes multiple cameras, such cameras can be provided on the same side, surface or corner of the terminal 100, can be disposed on different sides, surfaces or corners of the terminal 100, or the like.

The display unit 110 displays various information regarding operation states of the mobile communication terminal 100, and also displays an interface for a user's input if the mobile communication terminal 100 drives a touch screen. In general, if a state in which the user's operation on the mobile communication terminal 100 is absent continues for a predetermined period of time, the mobile communication terminal 100 may inactivate itself to its inactive state, where such user's operation may include, e.g., a user input through the interface displayed on the display unit 110, a user input through the activation button 120, a user input through a function key (for example, a volume control key or the like) or a user input through other parts of the terminal 100. A condition for inactivating the terminal 100 from its active state to its inactive state can be set by the user. For example, the condition can be set by manipulating a setting menu through the interface displayed on the display unit 110 manipulating another button (for example, an ON/OFF button) provided on the mobile communication terminal 100, or the like. In addition, the mobile communication terminal 100 can be completely turned off when a separate ON/OFF button is pressed for a long time when the mobile communication terminal 100 is in the active state, but the mobile communication terminal 100 can inactivate itself to its inactive state as a communicable state in which a phone call can be received if the ON/OFF button is pressed for a short time.

The activation button (or input unit) 120 is means for switching the mobile communication terminal 100 from the inactive state to the active state. That is, if the user presses or otherwise manipulates the activation button (or input unit) 120 when the mobile communication terminal 100 is in the inactive state, the terminal 120 activates itself to the active state. FIG. 1 illustrates a state in which a lock screen may be optionally or temporarily displayed on the display unit 110 after pressing the activation button 120 when the mobile communication terminal 100 is in the inactive state. However, the activation button (or input unit) 120 can function as means for another operation (for example, means for moving to a standby screen while a certain operation state is displayed on the display unit 110 or means for displaying a list of programs currently being operated). When the terminal 120 receives the user input (pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button or input unit 120 by the user) in its inactive state, the terminal 100 switches the display unit 110 from its OFF state to its ON state in response to the user input and runs a predetermined operation in response to the user input, while simultaneously activating itself from its inactive state to its active state but not necessarily displaying the lock screen on the display unit 110.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, if the user presses the activation button 120 when the mobile communication terminal 100 is in the inactive state, the mobile communication terminal 100 can alternatively run a predetermined operation before activating itself or instead of switching itself to the active state. Such mobile communication terminal 100 can determine which one of multiple predetermined operations it will run when the terminal 100 activates itself to the active state, i.e., when the user presses or otherwise manipulates the activation button 120 (i.e., when the terminal 100 receives the user input). For example, using a setting menu through an interface displayed on the display unit 110, the user can set the mobile communication terminal 100 to run a predetermined operation which is connected to the activation button 120.

In addition, according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the mobile communication terminal 100 can run different operations according to the number of presses, a press time of the activation button 120 or a time interval between such presses when the mobile communication terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state. For example, the terminal 100 can run a first operation if the activation button 120 is pressed once, but to run a second operation when the activation button 120 is pressed or otherwise manipulated twice or more, when the activation button 120 is pressed or otherwise manipulated more than once and with some time gaps therebetween. In addition, as another example, the terminal 100 can run the first operation if the activation button 120 is pressed once for a short time, but to run the second operation if the activation button 120 is pressed once for a long time. In another example, the terminal 100 may run a first operation when the user presses or otherwise manipulates the activation button 120 once and once more after a certain period of time (or a duration), but may run a second operation as the user presses or otherwise manipulates the activation button 120 once and then once more within another certain period of time (or another duration).

The mobile communication terminal 120 can include a clock circuit or timer to calculate the cumulative number of continuous (or intermittent) presses (or other user manipulations) of the activation button 120, to measure a period of time (or a duration) for which the activation button 120 is pressed, or to measure the time interval (or a time gap) between such presses or other manipulations. For example, the number of presses is determined to be two if the activation button 120 is re-pressed within a threshold time after one press. If the activation button 120 is pressed or otherwise manipulated for the threshold time or longer, this user input may be deemed as a long press of the activation button 120. Various predetermined operations which can be run by the terminal 100 to perform specific functions in response to pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120 in the inactive state will be described later.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the mobile communication terminal 100 may include, along with the display unit 110, at least one sub-display unit 121 which displays information of various predetermined operations which the terminal 100 can run when the user presses or otherwise manipulates the activation button 120. The sub-display unit 121 may display various contents such as a geometric shape, a character, a graphic, a text, a color, and so on, where examples of such shapes may include, but not limited to, a circle, an oval, a triangle, a rectangle, a hexagon, another polygon, or the like. For example, the circle can be displayed on the sub-display unit 121 when the terminal 100 is set to run a first predetermined operation by pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120, and the triangle can be displayed on the sub-display unit 121 when the terminal 100 is instead set to run a second predetermined operation by pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120, and vice versa. A content which the sub-display unit 121 may display and a matching between such contents and various predetermined operations can also be set by the user. For example, the user can select the first operation as the operation to be run by pressing the activation button 120 from a setting menu and select the triangle as the display content of the sub-display unit 121 of the activation button 120. Accordingly, the user can recognize that the first operation will run when the user has pressed or otherwise manipulated the activation button 120 because the triangle is displayed on the sub-display unit 121 even before applying the use input and even when the mobile communication terminal 100 is in the inactive state.

Although the sub-display unit 121 can be implemented by a general display such as, e.g., a liquid crystal, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED) or an active matrix OLED (AMOLED), such mobile communication terminals 100, systems incorporating the terminals 100 to provide certain services, and methods of using such terminals 100 as set forth heretofore and hereinafter are not limited thereto.

An operation of controlling how to drive the display unit 110 and the sub-display unit 121 can be performed in the same processor and the same method or in different processors and different methods.

It is appreciated that, when the display unit 110 is provided only in a portion of one side or one surface of the mobile communication terminal 100 as disclosed above, the remaining portion of such a side or surface of the terminal 100 may include an additional display unit (not shown in the figure) as known to those skilled in the art and as disclosed in many prior documents. The first example of such prior art documents is U.S. Pat. No. 7,676,242 (entitled “Compact and durable thin smartphone,” filed by Siddiqui et al. on Dec. 23, 2005, claiming a priority date of July 12, 2005, and assigned to Microsoft Corp.). Other examples include U.S. Pat. No. 7,884,301 (entitled “Method for displaying multimedia contents and mobile communications terminal capable of implementing the same,” filed by S.H. Lee at al. on Oct. 12, 2006, claiming a priority date of Oct. 14, 2005, and assigned to LG Electronics Inc.), U.S. Pat. No. 8,499,243 (entitled “Information processing device, information processing method, recording medium, and integrated circuit,” filed by Yuki on Mar. 23, 2010, claiming a priority date of Mar. 23, 2009, and assigned to Panasonic Corp.), or the like.

When the mobile communication terminal 100 includes multiple display units, such units may be provided on the same side or surface of the terminal 100 or at least one display unit may be provided on a different side or surface thereof. Alternatively, when the terminal 100 includes a single display unit which in turn includes multiple sections such as, e.g., the major section and at least one minor section, such sections are generally provided on the same side or surface of the terminal 100. At least one section of such display unit 110 may instead be provided on a side or surface of the terminal 100 which is different from the side or surface on which the remaining sections of the terminal 100 may be provided.

Hereinafter, various exemplary embodiments of the mobile communication terminal 100 capable of running a predetermined operation in response to one of various user inputs such as, e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button (or input unit) 120 will be described.

Operations through Activation Button

Various mobile communication terminals of this disclosure can run a variety of operations to be described below in response to user inputs such as pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button (or input unit) 120 when the mobile communication terminal 100 is in the inactive state, and turning on the display unit while simultaneously activating themselves to their active states. However, operations described below are only examples, and other operations can be performed by pressing or otherwise manipulating various activation buttons (or input units) 120 as set forth herein.

Accordingly, the mobile communication terminal may be activated in response to a single user input such as, e.g., pressing (i.e., contacting, deforming, displacing, pulling, pressing, pushing, rolling, rotating, swiping, swiveling, touching or otherwise moving) at least a portion of the input unit (i.e., various activation buttons such as, e.g., a click wheel, a dial pad, a dome switch, a force imaging unit, a jog switch, a jog wheel, a joy stick, a mouse, a pointing stick, an on/off-type switch, a press-type button switch, a rotation-type switch, a track ball, or the like).

The terminal may also be activated upon receiving a single user input such as, e.g., pressing (i.e., contacting, deforming, displacing, pulling, pressing, pushing, rolling, rotating, swiping, swiveling, touching or otherwise moving) at least a portion of the input unit (i.e., various activation buttons such as, e.g., a hard keyboard, a soft keyboard, a soft keypad, a hard keypad, or the like).

Such a terminal may also be activated in response to a user input such as, e.g., pressing (i.e., contacting, deforming, displacing, pressing, pushing, rolling, swiping or touching) at least a portion of the input unit (i.e., various activation buttons such as, e.g., an input tablet, a touch film, a touch pad, a touch screen, a touch sheet, a touch surface, or the like). The terminal may be activated when the user may press the input unit such as, e.g., supplying an audible input to an audio input unit of the terminal, supplying an input signal to an electronic input unit of the terminal, providing a visual input to a video input unit of the terminal, providing an electrical signal to an electric capacitive input unit of the terminal, or the like.

Such a terminal may be activated when the user may press the activation button such as, e.g., assessing an acceleration (or a velocity) of at least one moving portion of such terminals or their peripheral devices, where a magnitude of such acceleration (or velocity) reaches (or exceeds) a certain threshold. For example, such a terminal can be activated when the accelerometer of the input unit measures an acceleration of at least one part of the terminal or its peripheral device where the magnitude of the acceleration exceeds a minimum threshold. Similarly, the terminal may stay in its inactive state when a part of the terminal moves but an acceleration of such movement is less than the minimum threshold. Other arrangements may also be adopted.

1. Camera Activation Operation

When a user applies a user input (e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating an activation button 120) to the mobile communication terminal 100 while the terminal 100 is in the inactive state and a display unit 110 is in its OFF state, the terminal 100 can switch the display unit 110 to its ON state (i.e., turning on the display unit 110) and run a predetermined operation of activating the camera 130 provided in the terminal 100, while simultaneously activating itself 100 to its active state. The terminal 100 may then display a current image acquired by the camera 130 on the display unit 110. Alternatively, when the terminal 100 receives a user input (e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120) while in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may run a predetermined operation of rendering the camera 130 take a picture (or record a video clip) and turn on the display unit 110, while simultaneously activating itself 100. The display unit 110 may optionally display the captured image (such as, e.g., a still picture or a video clip) as well.

It is appreciated that the mobile communication terminal may instead provide enhanced security to the user in addition to the above camera activation function. For example, when the user provides the user input (e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120) while the terminal 100 is in the inactive state and the display unit 110 is in the OFF state, the terminal 100 turns on the display unit 110 to its ON state and runs an authentication operation in response to the user input. Thereafter, when the user passes the above authentication operation, the camera 130 may display the current image, take a picture, record a video clop, or the like. That is, in such an example of an “authentication-based multiple predetermined operations,” the terminal 100 may run the authentication operation in response to the user input as described above, and then the terminal 100 may run the camera activating operation only when the user passes the authentication operation. Even when the user fails the authentication operation, however, the terminal 100 still turns on the display unit 100, while displaying on the display unit 110 one or more of various contents such as, e.g., a lock screen, a preselected content, an advertisement, or the like.

It is also appreciated that the mobile communication terminal may allow the user to run the camera activation operation but to only perform different camera functions based on the results of two or more predetermined authentication operations. For example, when the user provides the user input (e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120) while the terminal 100 is in the inactive state and while the display unit 110 is in the OFF state, the terminal 100 activates itself and switches the display unit 110 to its ON state in response to the user input and runs a first predetermined authentication operation in response to the user input based on biometric information carried by the user input, the camera 130 may then display the current image, may take a picture, may record a video clop, or the like. Thereafter, the terminal 100 may acquire another biometric information of the user (e.g., taking an image of an iris or a retina of the user utilizing the camera 130 or using another image acquiring unit of the terminal 100) by itself (or for itself) and may run a second predetermined authentication operation. Alternatively, the terminal 100 may instead run the second predetermined authentication operation only when the user supplies another user input along with another biometric information to the terminal 100. Thereafter, only when the user passes the second authentication operation, the camera 130 may allow the user to perform other camera-related functions. That is, in this example of a “multiple cascade authentication operations,” the terminal 100 may run the first authentication operation in response to the user input as described above, and then the terminal 100 may run the camera activating operation only when the user passes the authentication operation. Thereafter, the terminal 100 may of itself or for itself runs the second authentication operation which uses different biometric information of the user or which uses more biometric information than the first authentication operation. When the user passes the second authentication operation, the terminal 100 may allow the user to perform different specific functions related to the camera1 130. Even when the user fails the first or second authentication operation, however, the terminal 100 still turns on the display unit 100, while displaying on the display unit 110 one or more of various contents such as, e.g., a lock screen, a preselected content, an advertisement, or the like.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the camera 130 is activated after the activation button 120 is pressed and an imaged scene is displayed on the display unit 110.

Alternatively, the mobile communication terminal 100 may run different predetermined operations based on the number of presses (or manipulations) of the activation button 120 by the user, the press time (or duration) thereof or a time interval or gap between such presses (or manipulations). For example, when the terminal 100 receives a user input once (or for a short period or duration) in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may turn on the display unit 110 and run the operation for activating the camera 130 to take still pictures, while simultaneously activating itself 100 to its active state. To the contrary, when the terminal 100 receives the user input twice (or for a longer period or duration) in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may turn on the display unit 100 and run an operation for activating the camera 130 and recording video clips, simultaneously with activating itself 100 to its active state. Alternatively, when the user supplies the user input once and then supplies another user input after a certain period of time (i.e., a preset time interval or gap between such consecutive user inputs), the terminal 100 may turn on the display unit 110 and run another operation of taking pictures or recording video clips of the current user who is currently manipulating the terminal 100, simultaneously with activating itself 100 to its active state.

When the mobile communication terminal 100 with multiple display units (or a single display unit with multiple sections thereon) receives a user input, the terminal 100 may switch the first display unit (or major section) to its ON state and run a predetermined operation(s) to display different images or contents on different display units (or on different sections of the display unit). For example, the first display unit (or the major section of the single display unit) may display a current image acquired by the camera 130, while the second display unit (or the minor section of the single display unit) may display other information or contents such as, e.g., still images or video clips which had already been taken, information regarding the status of the camera 130 (such as, e.g., an exposure, a f value or a zoom ratio), or the like.

It is appreciated that the above examples of running various camera activating operations for performing the specific functions of activating the camera, utilizing the camera or transmitting (or otherwise utilizing) various information acquired by the camera (and their variations) are only exemplary and not limiting the scope of the disclosure. It then follows that the above examples can be combined with other exemplary operations for performing different functions and that portions of the above examples may also be interchangeably substituted by or combined with (or into) other examples of running different operations for performing different functions.

2. Health Monitoring and Health Information Transmission Operations

When the mobile communication terminal 100 receives a single user input (e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating an activation button or input unit 120) in the inactive state, the terminal 100 switches the display unit 110 to its ON state and may run an operation of activating a health module for performing a variety of health-related functions such as, e.g., monitoring health condition of the user, controlling and driving sensing units (or elements) for such monitoring, processing health-related information which may be acquired directly or indirectly by such units (or elements), or the like. When desirable, the terminal 100 may also run another operation of transmitting such heal-related information to a healthcare provider.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams of the mobile communication terminal 100 illustrating the above-described functions. FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate functional block diagrams illustrating the above-described functions of the mobile communication terminal 100.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the mobile communication terminal 100 can include an activation sensing unit (or an activation sensing input unit) 310, a health sensing unit 320, and a health information transmission unit 330. When the mobile communication terminal 100 is in the inactive state, the activation sensing unit 310 senses whether or not the user has pressed or otherwise manipulated the activation button 120.

The terminal 100 may run a predetermined operation of executing the health sensing unit 320 when the activation sensing unit 310 has sensed that the activation button 120 has been pressed when the terminal 100 is in its inactive state and the display unit 110 is in its OFF state. Then, the health sensing unit 320 may monitor a health condition, e.g., by acquiring various biometric information of the user using various methods.

FIG. 3B is a block diagram illustrating an example of the health sensing unit 320. Referring to FIG. 3B, the health sensing unit 320 can include a camera activation element 321, an element (for detecting an image of an iris, a retina, an eye or a face 322, for detecting a spatial distribution pattern of blood vessels thereof, for detecting other biometric information of other body parts of the user, or the like) and a health information acquisition element 323.

Therefore, when the terminal 100 may acquire the image or another biometric information of the iris, the retina or the eye of the user, the camera activation element 321 activates the camera 130 provided in the mobile communication terminal 100. In response to the activation of the camera 130, a still image or a dynamic video clip currently captured by the camera 130 is displayed on the display unit 110. If an iris, a retina, an eye or a face of the user is imaged by the camera 130, the detection element 322 performs a predetermined operation for performing a specific function of, e.g., recognizing and extracting a specific information of the iris, retina, eye or face of the user. A prior art iris, retina, eye or face detection algorithm can be used for the detection of the iris, retina, eye or face, respectively. The health information acquisition element 323 acquires various health information through the image of the iris, retina, eye or face detected through the detection element 322. It is possible to recognize a stress index, a diabetes index, or retinal diseases of the user through a color or health state of the iris, retina, eye or face of the user. A well-known algorithm in the related art can be used as an algorithm for detecting health information from characteristics of the detected iris, retina, eyeball or face of the user.

The health-related information acquired as described above can be transmitted by the health information transmission unit 330 to the mobile communication terminal of the healthcare provider or a predetermined server. Information regarding the healthcare provider (e.g., a phone number or an e-mail address) can be stored in advance. The acquired health information can be optionally displayed on the display unit 110 so that the user can check the acquired health information.

The above-described functions such as the iris, retina, eye or face detection function and the health sensing function based on information regarding the detected iris, retina, eye or face of the user, can be performed by installing and running a predetermined operation (such as, e.g., using a software application). That is, the application includes an algorithm for detecting the iris, retina, eye or face as well as a health sensing algorithm, so that the terminal 100 can run such operations as described above by installing the software application therein. The user can download this application and install the downloaded application in the mobile communication terminal 100. In addition, although an example of only health monitoring through the iris, retina, eye or face detection has been described above, it is possible to install another software application such as, e.g., for health monitoring through other body parts, and to operatively couple such an application to the activation button 120. The user can then run various health-related operations for performing various health-related functions as described above by setting the application to run, e.g., upon receiving the user input, upon turning on the display unit 110, in response to the user input, immediately when the activation button 120 is pressed (or otherwise manipulated directly by the user) or through the setting menu in the inactive state of the mobile communication terminal 100.

In general, many elderly people may not conveniently use the prior art health-related software applications, primarily due to a difficult instruction or complicated operation even when the health monitoring function is provided in the many conventional smartphones. However, according to the above-described exemplary embodiment, the user can readily perform the health sensing function by simply pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120 while the terminal 100 remains in its inactive state, without supplying an additional or complex user input to the terminal 100. Accordingly, it is possible to easily check health condition of the elderly people, gather their health-related information, and optionally transmit their health information to the healthcare provider.

Although not shown in the figure, when the terminal 100 receives a user input (i.e., pressing the activation button 120 of the terminal 100 or otherwise manipulating such a button 120 by the user) in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may turn on the display unit 110 upon such pressing and run a predetermined operation of activating multiple health modules, simultaneously with activating itself 100, while displaying interfaces to run one or more additional predetermined operations for the iris, retina, or eye monitoring function, the retina monitoring function, the face monitoring function, other functions of monitoring other body parts, and so on. As the user selects a predetermined interface by supplying an additional user input, the terminal 100 may then run an additional predetermined operation for performing another health monitoring function.

Alternatively, when the mobile communication terminal 100 may receive the user input in its inactive state, the terminal may turn on the display unit 110 in response to the user input and may run one of multiple predetermined health-related operations in response to the user input but based on the number of presses or other manipulations associated with the user input, the press time (or duration) of the user input, an interval between such user inputs, and so on. For example, when the user supplies a single user input (or for a short period or duration) when the terminal 100 is in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may turn on the display unit 100 while running the operation for performing the iris (or retina) monitoring function. In contrary, when the terminal 100 receives multiple user inputs (or for a longer period or duration) in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may turn on the display unit 100 in response to such user inputs while running another operation for performing the face monitoring function. Other combinations or permutations of various health-related operations are also possible.

When the mobile communication terminal 100 includes multiple display units (or a single display unit which defines multiple sections thereon), such a terminal 100 may display different images or contents on different display units (or on different sections of the single display unit). For example, a first display unit (or the major section of the single display unit) may display a currently monitored or processed health information acquired by the above health-related units or elements, whereas the second display unit (or the minor section of the single display unit) may display previously acquired health-related information, comparison of the current and previous health conditions, instructions from the healthcare provider, or the like.

As exemplified in the above camera activation operation, various authentication operations can be coupled to the health monitoring operation or health information transmission operation. That is, the health-related operation can be coupled with the authentication operations through the “authentication-based multiple predetermined operations.” For example, when the user provides the user input (e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120) while the terminal 100 is in the inactive state (i.e., the display unit 110 is in the OFF state), the terminal 100 turns on the display unit 110 to its ON state and runs an authentication operation in response to the user input. Thereafter, when the user passes the above authentication operation, the terminal 100 may run any of the above health-related operations or may run two or more of the above health-related operations. That is, in such an “authentication-based multiple predetermined operations,” the terminal 100 may run the authentication operation in response to the user input as described above, and then the terminal 100 may run the health-related operation only when the user passes the authentication operation. Even when the user fails the authentication operation, however, the terminal 100 still turns on the display unit 100, while displaying on the display unit 110 one or more of various contents such as, e.g., a lock screen, a preselected content, an advertisement, or the like.

Alternatively, various authentication operations can be coupled to the health monitoring operation or health information transmission operations through the “multiple cascade authentication operations.” For example, when the user provides the user input (e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120) while the terminal 100 is in the inactive state (i.e., the display unit 110 is in the OFF state), the terminal 100 activates itself and switches the display unit 110 to its ON state in response to the user input and runs a first predetermined authentication operation in response to the user input based on biometric information carried by the user input, the terminal 100 may thereafter run one or more of the above health-related operations. Thereafter, the terminal 100 may acquire another biometric information of the user (e.g., taking an image of an iris or a retina of the user utilizing the camera 130 or using another image acquiring unit of the terminal 100) by itself (or for itself) and may run a second predetermined authentication operation. Alternatively, the terminal 100 may run the second predetermined authentication operation only after the user supplies another user input along with another biometric information to the terminal 100. When the user passes the second authentication operation, the terminal 100 may then run another health-related operation for performing the specific function such as, e.g., sending confidential health-related information of the user to the healthcare provider. That is, in this example of the “multiple cascade authentication operations,” the terminal 100 may run the first authentication operation in response to the user input as described above, and then the terminal 100 may run one or more health-related operations only when the user passes the authentication operation. Thereafter, the terminal 100 may of itself or for itself runs the second authentication operation which uses different biometric information of the user or which uses more biometric information than the first operation. When the user passes the second authentication operation, the terminal 100 may run another health-related operation. Even when the user fails the first or second authentication operation, however, the terminal 100 still turns on the display unit 100, while displaying on the display unit 110 one or more of various contents such as, e.g., a lock screen, a preselected content, an advertisement, or the like.

It is appreciated that above examples of running various operations for performing the specific functions of monitoring the health condition or transmitting the health-related information (and their variations) are only exemplary and not limiting the scope of the disclosure. It therefore follows that the above examples can be combined with other examples of other operations for performing different functions and that portions of such examples may also be interchangeably substituted or combined with (or into) other examples for performing different functions.

3. User Identification Operation or Authentication Operation

When the mobile communication terminal 100 receives a (single) user input in the inactive state, the terminal 100 switches the display unit 110 from its OFF state to its ON state in response to the user input (or upon such receiving) and runs a predetermined operation for performing an authenticating or identifying function (such as, e.g., confirming whether or not a current user attempting to access the terminal 100 is a true, authorized user) in response to the user input (or upon such receiving) while simultaneously activating itself 100 to its active state.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate block diagrams of the mobile communication terminal 100 illustrating the above-described functions. Referring to FIG. 4A, the mobile communication terminal 100 can include an activation sensing unit 410 and a user identification unit 420.

When the mobile communication terminal 100 is in the inactive state, the activation sensing unit 410 senses an input supplied by a user, e.g., sensing whether or not the user supplies the input to a preselected portion of the terminal 100, sensing whether or not the user has pressed or otherwise manipulated the activation button 120, or the like.

If the activation sensing unit 410 senses that the user pressed or otherwise manipulated the activation button 120 (i.e., user input), the terminal 100 can switch the display unit 110 from its OFF state to its ON state and run a predetermined operation of activating the user identification unit 420 for performing the user identification function in various methods, while simultaneously activating itself 100. To this end, the terminal 100 may acquire various biometric information of the user as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art of user authenticating technologies or user identification technologies.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating an example of the user identification unit 420. Referring to FIG. 4B, the user identification unit 420 can include a camera activation element 421, an iris detection element 422, and a user identification element 423.

Followings are a few examples where the terminal 100 runs a single predetermined authentication operation in response to a user input (or upon receiving the user input) or runs a series of sequential predetermined authentication operations in response to the user input (or upon receiving the user input) when the user input is provided to the terminal 100 when the terminal 100 is in its inactive state and when the display unit 110 is in its OFF state. For example, when the terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, the camera activation element 421 activates the camera 130 provided in the mobile communication terminal 100. Once the camera 130 is activated, the terminal 100 may run an operation of taking a still picture or recording a video clip by the camera 130 and may display such on the display unit 110. If the camera 130 takes a picture of an iris, a retina, an eye or a face of the user, the element for detecting the iris, retina, eye or face 422 performs a predetermined function of recognizing and extracting information of the iris, retina, eye or face of the user from the picture or video clip. A prior art iris, retina, eye or face detection algorithm can be used for such recognition. The user identification element 423 performs a function of comparing the iris, retina, eye or face detected by the detection element 422 to pre-stored iris, retina, eye or face information of the user, and authenticating the current user as a true or authorized user if the two match. To this end, the user identification element 423 can use information of the iris, retina, eye or face of the user pre-stored in a database (not illustrated). The iris, retina, eye or face information of the user can be stored by registering information regarding the iris, retina, eye or face of the user detected by the detection element 422 using a still image or a video clip of the true user first captured by the camera 130 and stored in the terminal 100. When desirable, the terminal 100 may allow the user to change or modify the pre-stored information or other information with correct identification information (for example, an identifier (ID), a password, a social security number, or the like). If the user identification element 423 authenticates the current user as the true user, the mobile communication terminal 100 may release itself from the lock state and switches the display unit 110 to its ON state in response to such authentication, whereby all other operations become ready to be run to perform specific functions assigned to each operation. Upon such authentication or identification, the terminal 100 may switch the display unit 110 from its OFF state to its ON state and run an additional operation such as, e.g., displaying any content or information thereon, displaying a home or menu screen, displaying a predetermined group of interfaces preselected by the user, or the like. Even when the current user is not authenticated as the true user, the terminal 100 still turns on the display unit 110 to its ON state and may display one or more of an alarm message, while the terminal 100 may remain in the lock state. Alternatively, when the current user fails the authentication operation, the terminal 100 may stay in the inactive state, while keeping its display unit 110 in the OFF state as well.

Alternatively, when the terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, the terminal 10 first activates itself in response to the user input, switches the display unit 110 to its ON state in response to the user input, and runs a predetermined operation of fingerprint authentication operation in response thereto. To this end, the terminal 100 may acquire a fingerprint of the user from the user input, extract biometric information about the user’s fingerprint, and perform a specific function of comparing the fingerprint acquired by the terminal 100 with pre-stored fingerprint of the user. When the user identification element 423 authenticates the current user as the true user, the terminal 100 may release itself from the lock state to the unlock state and then run another predetermined operation such as, e.g., displaying a preselected content or information on the display unit 110, displaying a home (or menu) screen, displaying a predetermined group of interfaces preselected by the user, activating the camera 130, running another authentication operation, or the like. Even when the current user is not authenticated as the true user, the terminal 100 still turns on the display unit 110 to its ON state and may display one or more of an alarm message. Alternatively, when the user fails the authentication, the terminal 100 may remain in the lock state. In another alternative, when the current user fails the authentication operation, the terminal 100 may stay in the inactive state, while keeping its display unit 110 in the OFF state as well.

The mobile communication terminal 100 can run the above-described operations for performing the iris, retina, eye or face detection function, and the user authentication function by many well-known procedures in the art such as, e.g., installing a predetermined software application which includes, e.g., the iris, retina, eye, face or fingerprint detection algorithm, the authentication algorithm for performing the authenticating function based on an iris, retina, eye, face or fingerprint comparison, or the like, so that such authenticating functions as described above can be performed by simply installing and running the application in the mobile communication terminal 100. The user can download this application and install the downloaded application in the mobile communication terminal 100 in the conventional manner. The user can set the terminal 100 to perform such functions as described above by setting the application to run immediately when the activation button 120 is pressed or otherwise manipulated by the user through the setting menu in the inactive state of the mobile communication terminal 100, by setting the application to run upon switching the display unit 110 to its ON state, or the like.

Accordingly, it is possible to efficiently and readily reduce security risks by setting the user authentication operation to run in response to receiving the user input while the terminal 100 is in its inactive state, that is, by pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120 while the display unit 110 is turned off.

Although an example of an authentication or identification operation for performing the iris, retina, eye, face or fingerprint recognition functions has been described above, other authentication operations such as, e.g., an authentication key (or password) matching operation, a body recognition operation, a fingerprint recognition operation, or the like, can be used. That is, when the terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, the terminal 100 can turn on the display unit 110 in response to the user input and can run one or more authentication operations in response to such user input.

Although not shown in the figure, when the user input (e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120) is supplied to the mobile communication terminal 100 in its inactive state, the terminal 100 turns on the display unit 110 and may run two or more authentication operations sequentially. Alternatively, when the terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may run the authentication operation followed by (or simultaneously with) another predetermined operation of acquiring and storing various data such as the matching key, password, iris, retina, face, body or fingerprint of the current user. Accordingly, when the terminal 100 determines that the current user is not the true user, the terminal 100 may store the false data in its storage means and then may later notify the true user about such data of the person who attempted to access the terminal 100. Alternatively, the terminal 100 may include an alarm unit which can go off and generate an audio or visual alarm (e.g., emitting lights) when the current user fails the authentication operation in a preset number of attempts, when the iris, retina, eye, face, body or fingerprint of the current user deviates the preregistered information of the iris, retina, eye, face, body or fingerprint of the true user, or the like.

In another example, when the mobile communication terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, the terminal 100 turns on the display unit 100 upon receiving the user input and may sequentially run a series of authentication operations, while simultaneously activating itself 100 to its active state. Therefore, in response to the user input, the terminal 100 may run the fingerprint authentication operation, followed by running one or more authentication operations to perform the iris recognition function, face recognition function or other functions such as matching a key, matching a password, or the like. Of course such an arrangement offers an enhanced security to the user, where such an arrangement has been explained in the “multiple cascade authentication operations.”

In another example, the mobile communication terminal 100 may further automatically change the types of authentication operations based on different biometric information of the user (such as, e.g., the fingerprint, iris, retina, eye, face, and so on) or based on other different authentication or identification information (such as, e.g., key matching, password matching, or the like). For example, the terminal 100 may change the types of authentication operations randomly. In another example, the terminal 100 may change the types of authentication operations based on the time of the day such that, e.g., the fingerprint authentication is the daytime authentication operation, while the key matching authentication operation is the night-time operation. These arrangements may offer the benefit of enhancing the level of security. Alternatively, the terminal 100 may downgrade the level of security when the user actively (or frequently) uses the terminal 100 over a preset period. For example, when the terminal 100 monitors the user authenticating himself or herself more than a preset number of times within a preset period, the terminal 100 may skip the authentication operation or may change the type of authentication operation which is more convenient to the user. This arrangement offers the benefit of ease of operation at the cost of low security level. It is noted that the terminal 100 may provide such arrangements automatically or the user may manually set up such arrangements.

In another example, the mobile communication terminal 100 may also automatically change the required number of authentication operations (such as, e.g., the fingerprint, iris, retina, eye, face, body, key matching or password matching authentication) or the security level, all based on the location of the user such that the user can pass the authentication operation more easily when he or she resides at home, in a pre-registered place of work or in the home country, but the user has to go through more authentication operations when the user leaves home, when the user is not at the work place, when the user is in a foreign country, or the like. It is noted that the terminal 100 may provide such arrangements automatically or the user manually sets up such arrangements.

In another example, the mobile communication terminal 100 may instead run a predetermined authentication operation based on the number of presses (or manipulations) of the activation button 120 by the user, the press time (or duration) thereof or the time interval or the temporal gap between such user inputs. For example, when the terminal 100 receives a single user input or a user input supplied for a short time period (or a short duration) in its inactive state, the terminal 100 turns the display unit 100 and runs the fingerprint authentication operation in response to the user input, while simultaneously activating itself 100 to its active state. In contrary, when the terminal 100 receives multiple user inputs or receives a single user input for a longer period (or a longer duration) in its inactive state, the terminal 100 turns on the display unit 110 and may then run another operation such as, e.g., the iris authentication operation, while activating itself 100 to its active state in response to the user input.

Therefore, the terminal 100 may run an authentication operation utilizing the fingerprint of the user when the user applies a single user input (or a single or multiple user inputs for a short time), but may run another authentication operation utilizing the key matching function when the user applies multiple user inputs (or a single user input for a longer period). In this case, even when the user supplies his finger information for the fingerprint authentication, the user fails the authentication when the user puts his or her finger for a period which is shorter than the required period or which exceeds the required period. Such an arrangement offers an enhanced security to the user.

Alternatively, when the terminal 100 in its inactive state receives multiple user inputs and when the interval or time gap between such user inputs is shorter than a threshold value, the terminal 100 turns on the display unit 110 and runs an authentication operation. To the contrary, the terminal 100 may skip the authentication operation when the terminal 100 receives multiple user inputs in its inactive state and when the interval or time gap between such inputs exceeds the threshold value.

In another example, the mobile communication terminal 100 may skip all authentication operations based on the number of the user inputs, the press time (or duration) thereof or its combination. For example, when the terminal 100 receives a single user input which is longer a threshold period (or duration) in its inactive state, the terminal 100 turns on the display unit 110 but the terminal 100 may not run any authentication operation. This feature may be deemed as a password authentication operation, where the authentication information is the number of user inputs, the press time (or duration) thereof, or the like,

In another example and as exemplified in the “authentication-based multiple predetermined operations,” the mobile communication terminal 100 may run one of the above authentication operations which is followed by a non-authentication predetermined operation when the terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, while switching the display unit 110 from its OFF state to its ON state in response to the user input. For example, when the terminal 100 completes the authentication operation and confirms that the current user is the true user, the terminal 100 can run an additional operation such as, e.g., activating the camera to capture still images or video clips, activating the health module for performing various health-related functions, or the like. The terminal 100 can instead run another predetermined operation for performing functions such as, e.g., sending emergency messages, transmitting other messages, playing music, recording audio signals, playing videos, making phone calls, starting a web browser, loading a messenger, activating a navigator, displaying a clock, activating a timer, loading a game, starting a scheduler, changing a mode of operation of the display unit 110 or terminal 100, displaying various contents such as, e.g., advertisements, or the like.

As discussed above, the mobile communication terminal 100 may run an authentication operation followed by another non-authentication operation when the terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, while switching the display unit 110 to its ON state in response to the user input. In this example, selection of a non-authentication operation may be determined based on the number of presses or manipulations of the activation button 120 by the user (e.g., a single user input or multiple user inputs), the press time (or duration) of the user input(s), and so on. For example, when the user provides a single user input (or for a short period or duration), the terminal 100 may run the fingerprint authentication operation while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input, followed by, e.g., activating the camera. When the user presses or otherwise manipulates the activation button 120 twice (or for a longer period or duration) when the terminal 100 is in its inactive state, however, the terminal 100 may run the iris authentication operation, while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input, followed by activating the navigator, displaying a preset content on the display unit 110, displaying an advertisement on the display unit 110, or the like. Of course, the terminal 100 may follow up such operations by one or more further predetermined operations of storing the still images or video clips acquired by the camera in a remote location for evidence or further operations of transmitting such video or audio signals to another server, or the like.

When the mobile communication terminal 100 includes multiple display units (or a single display unit defining multiple sections thereon), the terminal 100 may switch different display units (or different sections of the single display unit) between their OFF and ON states upon occurrence of different events or in different sequence, either independently or dependently. For example, a first display unit (or the major section of the single display unit) may display the results of the authentication operation, while the second display unit (or the minor section of the single display unit) may display the status of the additional operation following the authentication operation.

It is appreciated that, although various authentication operations have been explained above, the input unit which acquire requisite biometric information for such authentication operations may not be identical. For example, when the terminal 100 runs the iris (or retina) recognition authentication operation, the terminal 100 acquires information required for the iris (or retina) authentication through the camera 130, while the terminal 100 is activated simultaneously with receiving the user input by various input units including the activation button 120. However, when the terminal 100 runs the key (or password) matching authentication operation, the terminal 100 may acquire the required information through the hard or soft keypad. In other words, the terminal 100 may recruit two different hardware units for activating itself simultaneously with receiving the user input and for running the above authentication operations.

When the terminal 100 performs the fingerprint recognition authentication operation, the terminal 100 may still utilize two different hardware units, one unit for receiving the user input and another unit for acquiring the fingerprint of the user. However, the terminal 100 may perform such receiving and acquiring by incorporating a single hardware unit. For example, a fingerprint detection element may be incorporated into the input unit such as the activation button 120 in such a way that the input unit not only senses the user input but also acquires the fingerprint of the user when the user applies the user input thereonto. Details of incorporating the fingerprint detection element into various input units are well known to those skilled in the art and are therefore omitted here.

It is appreciated that above examples of running various operations for performing the specific functions of authenticating or identifying the true user (and variations thereof) are only exemplary and not limiting the scope of the disclosure. It therefore follows that the above examples can be combined with other examples of operations for performing different functions and that portions of such examples may be interchangeably substituted and/or combined with (or into) other examples for performing different functions.

4. Location Information Transmission Function

When the mobile communication terminal 100 receives the user input (e.g., pressing or other manipulating the activation unit 120) in the inactive state, the terminal may run a predetermined operation for performing the function of collecting location information which the terminal 100 can optionally store and/or transmit to a law enforcement authority (e.g., a police station or a fire station) upon receiving the user input such as, e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120 by the user.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of the mobile communication terminal 100 illustrating the above-described function. Referring to FIG. 5, the mobile communication terminal 100 can include an activation sensing unit 510, a location information collection unit 520, and a location information transmission unit 530.

When the mobile communication terminal 100 is in the inactive state, the activation sensing unit 510 senses whether or not the user has pressed otherwise manipulated the activation button 120 to provide a user input to the terminal 100.

When the activation sensing unit 510 senses that the activation button 120 has been pressed or otherwise manipulated, the terminal 100 then simultaneously activates itself, turns on the display unit 110 in response to the user input, and runs a predetermined operation of activating the location information collection unit 520 which then performs the function of assessing a current location using a global positioning system (GPS) sensor or other location sensors and temporally or permanently storing information related to such a location.

The location information transmission unit 530 performs a function of transmitting the location information collected by the location information collection unit 520 to the law enforcement authority. In an urgent situation, the terminal 100 may transmit a message indicating the urgent situation along with the location information. The location information and the urgent message can be optionally transmitted. On the other hand, the terminal 100 can run another operation of sending different messages and/or information automatically in response to the user input or can run such an operation based on the number of presses, a press time (or a duration) of the input unit (or user input) or a time interval (or a gap) between the user inputs. For example, the terminal 100 may run an operation of transmitting the urgent message to a police station along with the location information when the activation button 120 is pressed for a short time, and may run another operation of transmitting only the location information to the police station when the activation button 120 is pressed for a long time. In another example, the terminal 100 may run an operation of transmitting the location information to the police station along with the urgent message when the activation button 120 is pressed once (or shorter), may run another operation of transmitting the location information to a fire station along with the urgent message when the activation button 120 is pressed twice (or longer), or may run another operation of taking pictures (or recording video clips) or recording sounds when the activation button 120 is pressed three times (or even longer).

The terminal 100 may run the above-described operations when the user downloads a predetermined software application to the terminal 100 or installs the application to the terminal 100 through other known methods. That is, the application may include an algorithm for collecting location information and/or for transmitting the collected located information along with an urgent message to the police or fire station, so that the terminal 100 can run such operations for performing the aforementioned specific functions. The user can perform the functions as described above by setting the application to run in response to the user input or immediately (or simultaneously) when the activation button 120 is pressed or otherwise manipulated through the setting menu in the inactive state of the mobile communication terminal 100.

Accordingly, such mobile communication terminals 100 allow their user to more conveniently as well as more efficiently escape a dangerous situation because the user can report the dangerous situation to the law enforcement along with his/her location information with only a simple operation of pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120.

In another example, when the user supplies the user input to the mobile communication terminal 100 in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may run a predetermined operation for transmitting the location information and/or emergency message, followed by an additional operation, while switching the display unit 110 from its OFF state to its ON state in response to the user input. For example, when the user provides the user input, the terminal 100 may simultaneously activate itself, and run the operation of transmitting such information and/or message while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input, followed by activating the camera to capture still images or video clips surrounding the emergency situation. In another example, when the user provides the user input to the terminal 100 in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may run another operation for recording sound. Of course, the terminal 100 may also follow up such recording operations by further operations of, e.g., storing such video and/or audio signals in a remote location for future evidence or further operations of transmitting such video or audio signals to the law enforcement as well.

When the mobile communication terminal 100 includes multiple display units (or a single display unit which defines multiple sections thereon), such a terminal 100 may display different images or contents on different display units (or on different sections of the single display unit). For example, a first display unit (or the major section of the single display unit) may display a status of transmitting the emergency message and location information, whereas the second display unit (or the minor section of the single display unit) may display responses from the law enforcement authority, and so on. In another example, the first display unit (or the major section of the single display unit) may display still images or video clips captured by the camera of the terminal 100, whereas the second display unit (or the minor section of the single display unit) may display a status of sending such images or video clips to the law enforcement, or the like. In another example, the terminal 100 may run the operations of transmitting the emergency message and location information, while displaying nothing on any display units (or sections of a single display unit) in order to maintain the secrecy of such transmission.

It is appreciated that above examples of running various operations for performing the specific functions of assessing the location or transmitting the location information and emergency messages (and their variations) are only exemplary and not limiting the scope of the disclosure. It therefore follows that the above examples can be combined with other examples of other operations for performing different functions and that portions of such examples may also be interchangeably substituted or combined with (or into) other examples for performing different functions.

5. File Transmission Operation

When the mobile communication terminal 100 receives a user input (e.g., pressing or other manipulating the activation button 120) while it remains in the inactive state, the terminal 100 activates itself simultaneously with receiving the user input and may run a predetermined operation for performing a function of uploading and transmitting the content (for example, contact information, a photo, a moving image, or an application) which is acquired thereby or has been stored therein to another mobile communication terminal or a media space (for example, a personal media space such as Twitter, Facebook, or a blog or a community media space such as a cafe or club community) while switching the display unit 110 from its OFF state to its ON state upon receiving the user input or upon such performing or transmitting.

Alternatively, the mobile communication terminal 100 may run different predetermined operations based on the number of presses (or manipulations) associated with the user input, the press time (or duration) thereof or the time interval or time gap between such user inputs. For example, when the user provides a single user input (e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120 once) or for a short period (or duration) when the terminal 100 is in its inactive state, the terminal 100 simultaneously activates itself, and runs the operation of transmitting a first content to a third person’s mobile communication terminal, while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input. In contrary, when the user provides multiple user inputs (or a single user input for a longer period or duration) when the terminal 100 is in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may run another operation of transmitting the same (or different) content to a fourth’s persons mobile communication terminal or of transmitting the same or different content to a fourth person’s mobile communication terminal, while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input. In the alternative, when the user provides a single user input (or for a short period or duration) when the terminal 100 is in its inactive state, the terminal 100 runs the operation of transmitting a content to another person’s terminal, while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input. In contrary, when the user provides multiple user inputs (or for a longer period or duration) when the terminal 100 is in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may run an operation for performing specific functions other than transmitting the content to other’s mobile communication terminals or media space, while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input.

Such a mobile communication terminal 100 may include multiple display units (or a single display unit which defines multiple sections thereon). Configurations of such terminals 100 as well as operations thereof may be identical or similar to other mobile communication terminals 100 as explained heretofore and hereinafter.

Although not explained in detail, the terminal 100 may run the aforementioned “authentication-based multiple predetermined operations” in response to the user input. Therefore, when the terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, the terminal 100 activates itself in response to the user input, turns on the display unit 110 in response to the user input, and runs one of the above authentication operations in response to the user input. When the user passes the authentication operation, the terminal 100 may then run the file transmission operation for performing the specific functions of uploading and transmitting various contents.

Alternatively, the terminal 100 may run the aforementioned “multiple cascade authentication operations” in response to the user input. Therefore, when the terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, the terminal 100 activates itself and turns on the display unit 110 in response to the user input, and runs the first of the aforementioned authentication operations in response to the user input. As the user passes the first authentication, the terminal 100 may then run the file transmission operation for allowing the user to perform only a limited number of specific functions. Thereafter, the terminal 100 may run the second authentication operation and, when the user passes the second authentication operation, the terminal 100 may run the file transmission operation for allowing the user to perform a full scope of specific functions related to such file transmission operation.

It is appreciated that above examples of running various operations for performing the specific functions of transmitting specific files or otherwise utilizing such files (and their variations) are only exemplary and not limiting the scope of the disclosure. It therefore follows that the above examples can be combined with other examples of other operations for performing different functions and that portions of such examples may also be interchangeably substituted or combined with (or into) other examples for performing different functions.

6. Mode Change Operation During Drive

When the mobile communication terminal 100 receives the user input (e.g., pressing or other manipulations of the activation button 120) while it remains in the inactive state, the mobile communication terminal 100 can run an operation for switching the terminal 100 from its normal operation mode to a different mode (such as, e.g., a hands-free mode) or can run an operation for temporarily (or permanently) suppressing (or interfering) some (or all) communication functions (e.g., a voice communication function, a short message service (SMS) function, and an Internet function) of the mobile communication terminal 100.

As well documented in many prior art documents such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,983,307 (entitled “Communication apparatus and communication method,” filed by I. Goto on Oct. 31, 2007, and assigned to Apple Inc.), U.S. Pat. No. 8,045,921 (entitled “Audio delivery system and method for mobile phone,” filed by K.H. Lee et al. on Sep. 24, 2007, and assigned to Samsung Electronics), U.S. Pat. No. 8,102,995 (entitled “Communication device and telephone communication method thereof,” filed by S.O. Kim on Mar. 16, 2007, and assigned to LG Electronics), U.S. Pat. No. 8,430,310 (entitled “Wireless directional identification and verification using wearable electronic devices,” filed by H. Ho et al. on May 24, 2011, and assigned to Google), and U.S. Pat. No. 8,121,842 (entitled “Audio out of a document from a mobile device,” filed by S.Y. Shih et al. on Dec. 12, 2008, and assigned to Microsoft Corp.), it is well known to those skilled in the art that the “hands-free” mode accompanies a control of an electronic device via a voice of the user. Of course, the main purposes of such “hands-free” mode is to free the user from manipulating the electronic device using his or her hands, thereby providing enhanced convenience and safety.

Therefore, when the mobile communication terminal 100 receives the user input (e.g., pressing the activation button 120 or other manipulations thereof) while it remains in the inactive state, the terminal 100 activates itself, turns on the display unit 100, and may run an operation for switching a mode of operation of the terminal 100 into the “hands-free” mode such that the user can provide a voice command to such a terminal 100. Of course, in the “hands-free” mode, the terminal 100 may provide the results obtained by running such an operation through voice responses. Accordingly, it is possible to significantly reduce traffic accident risks by switching the mode of the mobile communication terminal 100 or interrupting the communication function with only a simple operation of pressing the activation button 120 during driving.

The mobile communication terminal 100 may run different predetermined operations to change its operating modes back and forth based on the number of presses (or manipulations) of the activation button 120 by the user, the press time (or duration) thereof or the time interval or gap between such presses (or manipulations). In addition, the terminal 100 may include multiple display units (or a single display unit which defines multiple sections thereon) to display different information or contents on such display units (or on different sections of the single display unit). Configurations of such terminals 100 and their various operations may be identical or similar to those of other mobile communication terminals 100 as explained heretofore and hereinafter.

Although not explained in detail, the terminal 100 may run the aforementioned “authentication-based multiple predetermined operations” in response to the user input and in conjunction with the mode change operation described above. Alternatively, the terminal 100 may instead run the above “multiple cascade authentication operations” in response to the user input and in conjunction with the mode change operation. Therefore, as the terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, the terminal 100 activates itself and turns on the display unit 110 in response to the user input, and runs the first of the above authentication operations in response to the user input. As the user passes the first authentication, the terminal 100 may then change its mode of operation into the hands-free mode.

It is appreciated that above examples of running various operations for performing the specific functions of changing the modes of operation of the terminal (and their variations) are only exemplary and not limiting the scope of the disclosure. It therefore follows that the above examples can be combined with other examples of other operations for performing different functions and that portions of the above examples may further be interchangeably substituted or combined with (or into) other examples for performing different functions.

7. Advertisement Display Operation

When the mobile communication terminal 100 receives a user input (e.g., pressing or other manipulation of the activation button 120) while it remains in the inactive state, the terminal 100 activates itself, turns on the display unit 110, and may run an operation for performing a function of displaying at least one content such as, e.g., an advertisement on at least a part of the display unit 110. The advertisement display can be implemented by displaying an advertisement provided from an external server in real time, and driven by an advertisement-related software application previously installed in the mobile communication terminal 100.

The user may acquire a software application to run a predetermined operation for performing a specific function such as, e.g., displaying the advertisement or another content on the display unit 120 in advance from an advertisement distribution server, an advertiser server, or a server for providing a service, that is, a service for driving a predetermined software application in response to the user input such as pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120 in response to the user input, while simultaneously activating the mobile communication terminal 100 from the inactive state to the active state and while switching the display unit 120 from its OFF state to its ON state in response to the user input.

An advertisement displaying operation can be implemented by a method of randomly displaying advertisements of advertisers joining this service, a customized advertisement display method based on user information, and an advertisement display method based on a current location.

The user information can be pre-stored in a corresponding application and pre-transmitted to a server that provides an advertising service. On the other hand, many prior art location information collection algorithms necessary for the advertisement display based on the current location can be used in conjunction with the “Location Information Operation” as explained above. That is, the terminal 100 may collect the current location information of the user simultaneously with the activation of the mobile communication terminal 100 and may transmit such information to an advertising-service providing server. Based on the user’s current location information, advertisements related to the current location are distributed to the mobile communication terminal 100.

In another example, when the user provides the user input to the mobile communication terminal 100 in its inactive state, the terminal 100 activates itself, turns on the display unit 100, and may run different operations for performing a function of displaying the same or different advertisements, for performing a function of changing a mode of displaying such advertisements, for performing a function of changing the mode of operating the terminal 100, or the like, according to the number of presses (or manipulations) of the user input(s), the press time (or duration) thereof or the time interval (or gap) between such user inputs (i.e., such presses or other manipulations) while switching the display unit 120 to its ON state in response to the user input. For example, as the user provides a single user input (or for a short period of time or duration), the terminal 100 may then run an operation for displaying an advertisement of electronics, while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input. In contrary, when the user provides the user input twice (or for a longer period of time or duration) to the terminal 100 in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may run another operation for displaying an advertisement of clothing. The terminal 100 may follow up such operations for displaying advertisements with a further operation which may be any other operations as set forth heretofore or hereinafter.

In addition, the mobile communication terminal 100 may include multiple display units (or a single display unit which defines multiple sections thereon) to display different advertisements on such display units (or on different sections of the single display unit) or to display an advertisement on one display unit (or one section of the single display unit) while displaying other contents in another display unit (or another section of the single display unit). Configurations of such terminals 100 as well as their various operations may be identical or similar to those of other terminals 100 as explained heretofore and hereinafter.

It is to be appreciated that turning on the display unit in response to a (single) user input and displaying at least one advertisement on the display unit in response to the user input may compromise a user efficiency in running the predetermined operation of authentication also in response to the user input (or in response to such turning on and/or such displaying). For example, when the terminal 100 displays the advertisement in response to the user input, the user may have to take a certain action(s) to the advertisement by supplying at least one additional user input for, e.g., reviewing details of the advertisement, making a purchase, refusing to review further details of the advertisement, or the like. More particularly, when the user wants to proceed to the next state of operation of the terminal 100 after he or she is done dealing with the advertisement, the user may have to supply another user input (along with his biometric information) to the terminal 100 in order to re-run the authentication operation. In other words, displaying the advertisement in response to the user input may offer the benefit of catching the utmost attention of the user thereto, but such may moderately or greatly compromise the user convenience, for the user may have to supply his or her biometric information at least once more after dealing with the advertisement, for the user may have to rerun the same authentication operation after he or she completes all advertisement-related tasks by supplying at least one additional user input.

In other instances, the terminal 100 may turn on the display unit in response to the single user input and run the authentication operation also in response to the user input, while displaying a certain advertisement(s) on the display unit only when a certain event occurs, e.g., when the user fails or passes the authentication, and so on. Such a terminal 100 offers the benefit of quickly allowing the user to authenticate himself or herself and to proceed to a unlock state of the terminal 100, while the user attention given to the advertisement may decrease.

The terminal 100 may balance the above seemingly conflicting benefits through various embodiments as will be explained below. For example, some terminals 100 may turn on the display unit and also display thereon at least one advertisement in response to the user input. Such terminals 100 may then run the authentication operation by receiving at least one additional user input after the user finishes all advertisement-related tasks. In another example, other terminals 100 may turn on the display unit and run the authentication operation in response to the user input, where such terminals 100 may display at least one advertisement in response to the user input as well, while the terminal 100 is running the authentication operation, only after the terminal 100 finishes the authentication, or the like. Thus, such terminals 100 may keep the same advertisement on the display unit regardless of the outcome of authentication, may replace one advertisement with another advertisement depending on the outcome of the authentication, depending upon the number of user inputs applied to the terminals 100, or the like. More detailed exemplary embodiments of balancing such benefits are as follows.

In one exemplary embodiment, the terminal 100 always turns on the display unit as well as (almost) always displays at least one advertisement in response to the user input while running the authentication operation also in response to the user input. In other words, such a terminal 100 turns on the display unit and displays the advertisement on the display unit in response to the user input, regardless of the outcome of the user authentication. In some instances, the terminal 100 may keep displaying the advertisement on its display unit until the user may take a certain action(s) such as, e.g., supplying at least one additional user input to the terminal 100 or to the advertisement. Only after the user supplies such user input(s), the terminal 100 may stop displaying the advertisement on its display unit and then switch to the next stage of operation such as, e.g., switching to a unlock state and displaying a home screen (or running another predetermined operation) when the user has already passed the previous authentication, receiving an additional user input (along with the biometric information) and rerunning the authentication operation when the user has failed the previous authentication, or the like. It is appreciated that these examples may allow the advertisement provider to get the most attention from the user, at the cost of requiring the user to supply at least one additional user input and, thereby, decreasing the user convenience.

The above terminal 100 may realize this exemplary embodiment in various examples. In one example where the terminal 100 stops displaying the advertisement only after the user takes a certain action(s) directly to the terminal 100 or to the advertisement (e.g., by supplying at least one more user input), the user may have to supply the additional user input to finish displaying of the advertisement and thereafter may even have to supply another user input to rerun the authentication operation. That is, the user may have to provide two (or even three) additional user inputs in order to advance to the unlock state of the terminal 100. In another example where the user has to take a certain action(s) to the terminal 100 or the advertisement, the terminal 100 may store the biometric information of the user which is provided along with the first user input which has been supplied to the terminal 100 to turn on the display unit or which is supplied to finished all of the advertisement-related tasks. When the use is through with the advertisement, the terminal 100 may rerun the authentication operation automatically, using the already-stored biometric information of the user. As a result, the terminal 100 may turn on the display unit, display the advertisement on the display unit, and also run the authentication operation, all with a single user input (or at most with two user inputs).

In another example where the terminal 100 stops displaying the advertisement only after the user takes a certain action(s) to the terminal 100 or to the advertisement, such a terminal 100 may run the authentication operation based on the user input which has been provided to turn on the display unit or which is provided to finish all of the advertisement-related tasks. Thereafter, the terminal 100 may store the outcome of the user authentication operation. When the user is done with the advertisement-related tasks, the terminal 100 may remain in the lock state when the outcome of the user authentication was a failure, or the terminal 100 may switch to the unlock state when the outcome of the user authentication was a success. The terminal 100 may also keep displaying the same advertisement depending on the outcome of the authentication, may display a different advertisement depending on the outcome of the authentication, may display the lock screen or the home screen depending on such outcome, or the like. Such a terminal 100 may combine at least two examples of this embodiment, incorporate one or more features of one example of this embodiment into another example thereof, or the like. In addition, various examples or at least a portion of such examples of this embodiment may also be combined with or incorporated into other examples or other embodiments provided in this section 7.

In another exemplary embodiment, the terminal 100 always turns on the display unit in response to a (single) user input and runs the authentication operations in response to the user input, while displaying at least one of multiple advertisements also in response to the user input, where selection of the advertisement is at least partly determined by the outcome of the user authentication. More particularly, the terminal 100 may display a first advertisement when the user fails the authentication but may instead display a second advertisement when the user passes the authentication. The terminal 100 may perform various functions of this exemplary embodiment in various examples.

In one example, such first and second advertisements may be different from each other such that, e.g., the first advertisement may relate to a shirt made by Company A, while the second advertisement may relate to an electronic article made by Company E. In another example, both of the first and second advertisements may relate to the same merchandise but may provide different options to the user such that, e.g., the first advertisement may display only basic information of the merchandize, while the second advertisement may display detailed information of the same merchandise such as, e.g., size/color options, purchase methods, a special discount, or the like. In another example, the terminal 100 may display multiple advertisements on the display unit in response to the user input and require the user to select one of the advertisements and to take a certain action(s) onto the selected advertisement in order to allow the user to finish the advertisement-related tasks. Similar to the above embodiment, all (or most) of such examples of this embodiment require the user to take at least one additional action to the terminal 100 or to the advertisement in order to proceed to the next stage of operation. Accordingly, the user may have to supply at least one additional user input when he is done with the advertisement-related tasks and when he wants to advance to the unlock state by rerunning the authentication operation. Therefore, the advertisement provider may be able to get the most user attention to the advertisement, at the cost of decreasing the user convenience. The terminal 100 may combine at least two examples of this embodiment, incorporate one or more features of one example of this embodiment into another example thereof, or the like. In addition, various examples or at least a portion of the above examples of this embodiment may also be combined with or incorporated into other examples or other embodiments provided in this section 7.

In another exemplary embodiment, the terminal 100 always turns on the display unit in response to the user input while running the authentication operation and displaying at least one advertisement also in response to such user input. When the terminal 100 finishes the authentication operation, it may then rake one or more actions (or may then run one or more operations) based on both of the outcome of the authentication and/or a duration of the user input.

In one example where the terminal 100 turns on the display unit, displays at least one advertisement on the display unit, and runs an authentication operation, all in response to a (single) user input, the user may keep contact with the authentication unit (such as, e.g., the user identification element shown in FIG. 4B), e.g. by keeping a finger thereon, by keeping a palm thereon, or the like. Alternatively, the user may keep supplying the user input, e.g., by keeping the finger thereon when the terminal 100 authenticates the user based on his or her fingerprint, by keep staring the camera when the terminal 100 authenticates the user based on his or her iris or retina, or the like.

When the user passes the authentication, the terminal 100 may switch to the unlock state while displaying at least one additional options related to the advertisement or may switch to the unlock state while displaying at least one new advertisement while removing the old advertisement from the display unit or displaying such a new advertisement on top of at least a portion of the old advertisement. The terminal 100 may switch to the unlock state while displaying the home screen, may switch to the unlock state, remove the old advertisement, and then run a predetermined operation, or the like.

When the user fails the authentication, the terminal 100 may remain in the lock state while keeping the same old advertisement, may remain in the lock state and keep the same old advertisement while providing a few options which are related to the advertisement. In the alternative, when the user fails the authentication, the terminal 100 may remain in the lock state while displaying a different advertisement with no other options or with a few options operable in the lock state, where the terminal 100 displays the new advertisement after it removes the old advertisement from the display unit or may overlay the new advertisement on top of at least a portion of the old advertisement. The terminal 100 may also remain in the lock state while removing the old advertisement and displaying the home screen, may remain in the lock state, remove the old advertisement, and then run a predetermined operation operable in the lock state while displaying the lock screen or another screen which is related to the operation, or the like.

In another example where the terminal 100 turns on the display unit, displays at least one advertisement on the display unit, and runs an authentication operation, all in response to a (single) user input, the user may keep contact with the authentication unit (such as, e.g., the user identification element shown in FIG. 4B) for at least a preselected period or longer than a preselected threshold, e.g. by keeping his or her finger thereon, by keeping his or her palm thereon, or the like. In the alternative, the user may keep supplying the user input for at least the preselected period or longer than the threshold, e.g., by keeping the finger thereon when the terminal 100 authenticates the user based on the fingerprint, by keep staring the camera when the terminal 100 authenticates the user based on the iris or retina, or the like.

When the user passes the authentication and keeps the contact as described above (or keeps supplying the user input as above), the terminal 100 may switch to the unlock state while displaying at least one additional options which are related to the advertisement or may switch to the unlock state while displaying at least one new advertisement while removing the old advertisement or displaying the new advertisement on top of at least a portion of the old advertisement. The terminal 100 may switch to the unlock state while displaying the home screen, may switch to the unlock state, remove the old advertisement, and then run a predetermined operation, or the like.

When the user fails the authentication but keeps the contact as described above or keeps supplying the user input as above, the terminal 100 may remain in the lock state while keeping the same old advertisement, may remain in the lock state and keep the same old advertisement while providing a few options which are related to the advertisement. In the alternative, when the user fails the authentication, the terminal 100 may remain in the lock state while displaying a different advertisement with no other options or with a few options operable in the lock state, where the terminal 100 displays the new advertisement after it removes the old advertisement from the display unit or may overlay the new advertisement on top of at least a portion of the old advertisement. The terminal 100 may also remain in the lock state while removing the old advertisement and displaying the home screen, may remain in the lock state, remove the old advertisement, and then run a predetermined operation operable in the lock state while displaying the lock screen or another screen which is related to the operation, or the like.

The above terminal 100 of this exemplary embodiment may combine at least two examples thereof, may incorporate one or more features of one example of this embodiment into another example thereof, or the like. In addition, various examples or at least a portion of the above examples of this exemplary embodiment may be combined with or incorporated into other examples or other embodiments provided in this section 7.

In another exemplary embodiment, the terminal 100 always turns on the display unit in response to the user input while running the authentication operation and displaying at least one advertisement also in response to such user input. When the terminal 100 finishes the authentication operation, it may then rake one or more actions (or may then run one or more operations) based on both of the outcome of the authentication and/or a number of the user inputs.

In one example where the terminal 100 turns on the display unit, displays at least one advertisement on the display unit, and runs an authentication operation, all in response to a (single) user input, the user may apply at least one more additional user input, preferably while keeping contact with the authentication unit, e.g. by keeping a finger thereon, by keeping a palm thereon, or the like.

When the user passes the authentication, the terminal 100 may switch to the unlock state while displaying at least one additional options related to the advertisement or may switch to the unlock state while displaying at least one new advertisement while removing the old advertisement from the display unit or displaying such a new advertisement on top of at least a portion of the old advertisement, based at least partly on the number of user inputs applied to the terminal 100 and/or advertisement. The terminal 100 may switch to the unlock state while displaying the home screen or may switch to the unlock state, remove the advertisement, and run a predetermined operation while displaying a new advertisement or another screen related to the operation, based at least partly on the number of user inputs applied to the terminal 100 and/or the advertisement. The terminal 100 may display different advertisements as the user applies a certain number of such user inputs, may display different screens (such as the home screen or another screen related to the operation, or the like) based at least partly upon the number of such user inputs, may run different operations based at least partly on the number of such user inputs, or the like. Such a terminal 100 may also be arranged to take different actions or to perform different functions based at least partly upon an interval between multiple user inputs, durations of each of the multiple user inputs, or the like.

When the user fails the authentication, the terminal 100 may remain in the lock state while keeping the same old advertisement, may remain in the lock state and keep the same old advertisement while providing a few options which are related to the advertisement, and so on, based at least partly on the number of user inputs applied to the terminal 100 and/or advertisement. In the alternative, when the user fails the authentication, the terminal 100 may remain in the lock state while displaying a different advertisement with no other options or with a few options operable in the lock state based at least partly on such user inputs, where the terminal 100 displays the new advertisement after it removes the old advertisement from the display unit or may overlay the new advertisement on top of at least a portion of the old advertisement. Such a terminal 100 may remain in the lock state while removing the old advertisement and displaying the home screen, may remain in the lock state, remove the old advertisement, and then run a predetermined operation operable in the lock state while displaying the lock screen or another screen which is related to the operation, or the like, based at least partly on the number of such user inputs.

In another exemplary embodiment, the terminal 100 always turns on the display unit and displays thereon a lock screen in response to a (single) user input while running the authentication operation also in response to the user input. The terminal 100 of this embodiment may then replace the lock screen with an advertisement, depending at least partly on the outcome of the authentication.

In one example, the terminal 100 may finish the authentication operation and thereafter display at least one advertisement regardless of the outcome of the authentication. In other words, the terminal 100 may briefly display the lock screen until the terminal 100 finishes the authentication and replace the lock screen with a preselected authentication, regardless of whether the user passes or fails the authentication. Of course, such a terminal 100 remains in the lock state when the user fails the authentication, while switches to the unlock state when the user passes the authentication. As illustrated above, the terminal 100 in the lock state may allow the user to perform some advertisement-related tasks operable in such a lock state.

In another example, the terminal 100 may finish the authentication operation and thereafter display at least one advertisement only when the user passes the authentication. Therefore, such a terminal 100 may briefly display the lock screen until the terminal 100 finishes the authentication. Thereafter, the terminal 100 may keep displaying the lock screen if the user fails the authentication. When the user passes the authentication, however, the terminal 100 may replace the lock screen with a preselected advertisement or one of multiple advertisements. In the latter case, the terminal 100 may directly select the advertisement to be displayed thereon or the terminal 100 may receive the advertisement to be displayed thereon from an external server, where such selection and/or reception may be determined based on one or multiple factors such as, e.g., the geographic location of the user, the user preference which has been determined by the terminal 100 (or by the external server) or the data already stored in the terminal 100, the user selection which has previously been set up by the user, or the like. It is noted that the terminal 100 may replace the lock screen with the advertisement or may display the advertisement on top of the entire or only a portion of the lock screen.

In another exemplary embodiment, the terminal 100 may utilize an advertisement as the lock screen. That is, the terminal 100 always turns on the display unit and always runs the authentication in response to a (single) user input, while using the advertisement as the lock screen. The terminal 100 of this embodiment may then keep displaying the lock screen or replace the lock screen with another advertisement, depending at least partly on the outcome of the authentication as described above. Therefore, the user may apply an additional user input(s) in order to perform the advertisement-related tasks or to proceed to the next stage of operation. Such a terminal 100 of this exemplary embodiment may combine at least two examples thereof, incorporate one or more features of one example of this embodiment into another example thereof, or the like. Various examples or at least a portion of the above examples of this exemplary embodiment may also be combined with or incorporated into other examples or other embodiments provided in this section 7.

In another exemplary embodiment, the terminal 100 may include at least two display units or a single display unit defining at least two sections thereon. Since the operations of the latter are similar to those of the former, the following examples will focus on the terminal 100 with multiple display units, and applying such examples to the terminal 100 with a single display unit with multiple sections will be omitted.

The terminal 100 of this embodiment may always turn on at least one of multiple display units (to be referred to as the “first display unit” hereinafter) as well as (almost) always display at least one advertisement on the first display unit in response to the user input while running the authentication operation also in response to the user input. In other words, the terminal 100 turns on the first display unit and displays the advertisement on the first display unit in response to the user input, where the first display unit may correspond to the main display unit or to the minor display unit. When the first display unit is turned on in response to the user input, the rest of the display units may also be turned on or the rest of the display units may instead remain turned off. Thereafter, the terminal 100 may operate according to any of the above examples of the embodiments explained in this section 7. Accordingly, the terminal 100 may enjoy the freedom of operating the first display unit as explained in this section 7, while utilizing the rest of the terminal(s) for other purposes.

The terminal 100 as explained hereinabove may also operate in various modes which may be a combination of the above exemplary embodiments (or their examples) or may be a variation of such embodiments and/or examples. Followings are such exemplary embodiments.

In one exemplary embodiment where the terminal 100 activates itself and switches the display unit from its OFF state to its ON state in response to a first user input received in its inactive state, and the terminal 100 may run at least one authentication operation in response to the first user input which includes one or more first biometric information. It is appreciated that, when the user may provide at least one additional user input (other than the above first user input) or may provide the first user input which in turn includes the above first biometric information and at least one additional biometric information, at least one of such additional user inputs or at least one of such additional biometric information is provided by the user to the terminal 100 in various means such as, e.g., along with the first user input, independently of the first user input, after the first user input, or the like.

In one example, the terminal 100 may run the authentication operation in response to the (first) user input. In one example where the user ceases to supply the (first) user input before the terminal 100 completes the user authentication operation (e.g., removing his or her finger from the input unit, moving his or her eye away from the camera 130, and so on), the terminal 100 may display a first advertisement on the display unit while the terminal 100 remains in its lock state. When the user may respond to the first advertisement by supplying an auxiliary user input, the terminal 100 may take various actions assigned to the auxiliary user input, while still remaining in the lock state. However, when the user supplies the (second) user input and then passes the authentication operation, the terminal 100 may keep displaying the first advertisement on the display unit 110 while (or after) switching to the unlock state or may display a second advertisement which may (or which may not) be related to the first advertisement while (or after) switching to the unlock state. Thereafter, the user may ignore the first or second advertisement and proceed to operate the terminal 100 as he sees fit. In the alternative, the user may supply the auxiliary user input so that the terminal 100 may take actions which are related to the first or second advertisement or assigned to the auxiliary user input. In another example where the user takes a certain action(s) to the first advertisement by supplying the auxiliary user input, the terminal 100 may not take any immediate or simultaneous actions assigned to the auxiliary user input, but may store such auxiliary user input for later use. Only after the user passes the authentication operation, the terminal 100 may then retrieve the auxiliary user input and take the actions which are related to the first or second advertisement and which are also appropriate for the auxiliary user input.

In another exemplary embodiment, the terminal 100 may also run the authentication operation using the user input but in conjunction with the aforementioned “authentication-based multiple predetermined operations.” Therefore and in one example, when the user fails the authentication operation, the terminal 100 may display the lock screen on the display unit while staying in the lock state. As a result, the locked user has to retry the authentication operation by re-supplying the user input. However, when the user passes the authentication operation, the terminal 100 switches to the unlock state and may display the advertisement on its display unit. Thereafter, the user may ignore the advertisement or respond to the advertisement by providing an auxiliary user input. In another example, the terminal 100 displays a first advertisement (or a combination of the lock screen and first advertisement) on the display unit and keeps itself in the lock state when the user fails the authentication operation. When the user supplies the auxiliary user input in response to the advertisement in the lock state, the terminal 100 may allow the user to perform a very limited number of functions operable in the lock state. When the user retries and passes the authentication, the terminal 100 may then switch to the unlock state, while keeping the first advertisement on the display unit or displaying a second advertisement which may or may not be related to the first advertisement. The user may then ignore the first and/or second advertisement(s) or may provide an auxiliary user input to respond to the advertisement.

In another exemplary embodiment, the terminal 100 may also run the authentication operation using the user input but in conjunction with the aforementioned “multiple cascade authentication operations.” Therefore, the terminal 100 may run multiple identical, similar or different authentication operations sequentially or at least two of such operations simultaneously. For example, the terminal 100 may display the first advertisement on the display unit after the user passes the first authentication, may display the same first advertisement or a different second advertisement after the user passes the second authentication operation, or the like.

It is noted that the mobile communication terminal 100 in this section 7 may incorporate one or more of the above authentication operations in various levels such as, e.g., in an operating system level, in another level of a software application which may be downloaded from an external source. Of course a manufacturer of the terminal 100 may easily incorporate an authenticating software into the operating system. In contrary, a software application for displaying the advertisement on the display unit may be incorporated in the operating system level or in the level of a software application which may be downloaded, where the manufacturer may like to install a preferable advertisement software into its operating system, whereas the user may prefer to install his or her preferable advertisement software as a downloadable application. Thus, various exemplary embodiments of running one or more authentication operations in conjunction with displaying one or more advertisements on the display unit can be implemented in various forms as well known to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art.

It is appreciated that above examples of running various operations for performing the specific functions of displaying various advertisements in various arrangements (and their variations) are only exemplary and not limiting the scope of the disclosure. It therefore follows that the above examples can be combined with other examples of other operations for performing different functions and that portions of the above examples may be interchangeably substituted or combined with (or into) other examples for performing different functions.

8. IoT Operations

The mobile communication terminal 100 of this disclosure may run a predetermined operation for performing various functions that are related to internet-of-things (IoT) when the terminal 100 in its active state receives the user input (e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120) and is activated thereby and turning on the display unit 110 (i.e., switching the display unit 110 from its OFF state to its ON state) in response to the user input. For example, when properly activated by the user input, the terminal 100 may run an operation of displaying a main IoT screen, an operation of making a connection to a network of IoT, an operation of making a connection to one or more electric or electro-mechanical appliance included in the network of IoT, an operation of manipulating one or more electric or electro-mechanical appliance included in the IoT network, or the like. When desirable, the terminal 100 may run another operation of adjusting or modifying an existing IoT network, another operation of identifying any existing or potential problem in the IoT network, another operation of trouble-shooting or rectifying such a problem in the IoT network, or the like.

The mobile communication terminal 100 may run operations for performing other functions related to the IoT. For example, when the terminal 100 in its active state receives the user input and is simultaneously activated thereby while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input, such a terminal 100 may run a predetermined operation for displaying a current status of various appliances hooked up to the IoT network, an operation for assessing and optionally notifying a problematic appliance in the IoT network, an operation of displaying an IoT control panel screen for manipulating a status of such appliances in the IoT network, or the like.

In another example, when the user supplies the user input to the mobile communication terminal 100 in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may run one of the aforementioned predetermined operation related to the IoT, followed by an additional operation, while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input. For example, when the user provides the user input, the terminal 100 may simultaneously activate itself, and run the operation of connecting to the IoT network while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input, followed by activating the camera to capture still images or video clips about a location in which the IoT network is implemented. In another example, when the user provides the user input to the terminal 100 in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may run the aforementioned authenticating operation in response to the user input and, upon passing such authentication, the terminal 100 may run an additional predetermined operation related to the IoT network.

In another example, when the user supplies the user input to the mobile communication terminal 100 in its inactive state, the terminal 100 may run one or more operations of an electrical or electro-mechanical device or appliance connected to the IoT network, while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input. Therefore, the terminal 100 may activate itself and unlock a door of a vehicle (e.g., a bike, automobile or other transportation tools), may unlock a door of a building (e.g., a house, an office or other living space), or the like. Of course, such a terminal 100 may run such operations simultaneously with authenticating the user using his or her fingerprint, iris, retina, face, body, voice, or the like, thereby providing the user with a seamless authentication followed by providing access to the vehicle, building, or the like.

Although not explained in detail, the terminal 100 may run the aforementioned “authentication-based multiple predetermined operations” in response to the user input and in conjunction with the above IoT operations. Alternatively, the terminal 100 may run the above “multiple cascade authentication operations” in response to the user input and in conjunction with the IoT operations. Therefore, as the terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, the terminal 100 activates itself and turns on the display unit 110 in response to the user input, and runs the first of the above authentication operations in response to the user input. As the user passes the first authentication, the terminal 100 may then run one or more of the above IoT operations.

When the mobile communication terminal 100 includes multiple display units (or a single display unit which defines multiple sections thereon), such a terminal 100 may display different images or contents on different display units (or on different sections of the single display unit). For example, a first display unit (or the major section of the single display unit) may display a status of electrical appliances in the IoT network, whereas the second display unit (or the minor section of the single display unit) may display schedules of people who will use such appliances, and so on. In another example, the first display unit (or the major section of the single display unit) may display the status of the IoT network, whereas the second display unit (or the minor section of the single display unit) may display desired commands to such appliances recommended by a control system.

It is appreciated that above examples of running various operations for performing the specific functions of utilizing the IoT network and electrical appliances hook up thereto (and their variations) are only exemplary and not limiting the scope of the disclosure. It therefore follows that the above examples can be combined with other examples of other operations for performing different functions and that portions of such examples may also be interchangeably substituted or combined with (or into) other examples for performing different functions.

9. Other Application Operations

The mobile communication terminal 100 of this disclosure may also run other predetermined operations for performing various specific functions when the terminal 100 in its inactive state receives the user input (e.g., pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120) and is activated thereby while switching the display unit 110 of the terminal 100 from its OFF state to its ON state in response to the user input, instead of switching to a simple active state such as the lock state. Therefore, any operation which the terminal 100 can run according to any of the above description belongs to the scope of the present invention.

For example, the terminal 100 may run an entertainment operation (for example, an operation of a music or video player, an operation of a game application, an operation of a news reception and/or displaying application, and so on) by pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button 120 when the mobile communication terminal 100 in the inactive state receives the user input and turns on the display unit 110 in response to the activating user command. Although several examples of such operations and applications to run such operations have been referred to heretofore, the list of such operations and the list of such applications are not at all exhaustive.

Therefore, such a list of operations includes an audio recording operation, an audio (or video) information (or contents) transmission operation, a picture taking operation, a video recording operation, a picture displaying operation, a video playing operation, a telephone call operation, a web (or internet) connection operation, a bluetooth connection operation, a messenger operation, a navigating operation, a clock displaying operation, a timer operation, a scheduling operation, a dictionary operation, a document processing operation, or the like. Such a list may further include an access providing operation (e.g., providing an access to personal data such as phone numbers, files, and other information stored in the terminal), a control panel operation, and so on. In addition, such a list of operations may also include an operation of displaying the last screen which has been displayed on the display unit before the terminal was put to the lock state or before the terminal was inactivated, an operation of providing an access to the last software application which has been run by the terminal before said terminal was locked or inactivated, or the like. In other words, any operation which can be run simultaneously with the activation of the mobile communication terminal 100 in response to the user input to the activation button 120 falls within the scope of this disclosure.

In addition, such a list of applications includes an audio recording application, an audio (or video) information (or contents) transmission application, a picture taking application, a video recording application, a picture displaying application, a video playing application, a phone calling application, a web browsing application, a bluetooth application, a messenger application, a navigating application, a clock (or a timer) application, a scheduling application, a dictionary application, or the like. Such a list may also include an access providing application (e.g., an access to personal data such as phone numbers, files, and other information stored in the terminal 100), a control panel application, a document processing application, or the like. In other words, any software applications or computer programs which can be executed simultaneously with the activation of the mobile communication terminal 100 from its inactive state to its active state in response to the user input falls within the scope of this disclosure.

Although not explained in detail, the terminal 100 may run the aforementioned “authentication-based multiple predetermined operations” in response to the user input and in conjunction with running one or more the above predetermined operations. Therefore, when the terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, the terminal 100 activates itself and turns on the display unit 110 in response to the user input, and runs at least one of the aforementioned authentication operations in response to the user input. When the user passes the authentication operation, the terminal 100 may run one or more of the above predetermined operations without requiring the user to supply any additional input.

Alternatively, the terminal 100 may run the above “multiple cascade authentication operations” in response to the user input and in conjunction with one or more of the above predetermined operations. Therefore, when the terminal 100 receives the user input in its inactive state, the terminal 100 activates itself and turns on the display unit 110 in response to the user input, and also runs a series of the aforementioned authentication operations in response to the user input sequentially. As the user passes the first authentication, the terminal 100 may then run one or more of the predetermined operations, and may further run one or more of other predetermined operations when the user passes the second authentication.

Operation Standby of Application

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the mobile communication terminal 100 can run the above-described predetermined operations by driving various applications for such operations when the mobile communication terminal 100 receives the user input and is switched from the inactive state to the active state.

To this end, when the mobile communication terminal 100 is in the inactive state, the applications should be in an operation standby state. Thus, when the mobile communication terminal 100 is inactivated from the active state to the inactive state, the above-described applications can also be switched to the operation standby state. That is, a selected application to be run when the mobile communication terminal 100 is switched to the active state in response to the user input applied to the activation unit 120 can be in the operation standby state when the mobile communication terminal 100 is switched to the inactive state. Alternatively, such applications may be switched to a disabled state (instead of the standby state) when the terminal 100 is inactivated from its active state to its inactive state. Of course it may take more time to run such a disabled application when the terminal 100 receives the user input and is activated while turning on the display unit 110 in response to the user input. However, this delay may be generally not material to the scope of this invention as long as the terminal 100 can run an operation by driving such an application within a reasonable period of time (or duration) after the terminal 100 receives the user input and the display unit 110 switches to its ON state.

Service Providing Server

Hereinafter, the service providing server according to an exemplary embodiment will be described.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a service providing system (server) for enabling a specific function to be operated when the mobile communication terminal is activated according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, the service providing server 200 can include an application providing unit 210, an activation sensing unit 220, an application driving unit 230, a communication unit 240, and a control unit 250. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the application providing unit 210, the activation sensing unit 220, the application driving unit 230, the communication unit 240, and the control unit 250 of the service providing server 200 can be program modules or hardware communicable with an external apparatus. The program modules or hardware can be included in the service providing server 200 or another apparatus communicable with the service providing server 200 in the form of an operation system, an application program module, and other program modules, and physically stored in various known storage apparatuses. On the other hand, these program modules or hardware include a routine, a subroutine, a program, an object, a component, and/or a data structure, each of which can execute a specific task to be described later or specific abstract data, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

The application providing unit 210 enables the predetermined application described above to be transmitted to the mobile communication terminal 100. The user can receive a desired application by accessing the service providing server 200 through the mobile communication terminal 100, and install the received application in the mobile communication terminal 100. The application can include a control function of controlling a predetermined operation to run when the mobile communication terminal 100 is activated to its active state, and can independently run the predetermined operation. For example, the application transmitted from the application providing unit 210 can be an application for enabling a certain content or information such as an advertisement to be displayed on the display unit 110 when the mobile communication terminal 100 is switched from the inactive state to the active state in response to the user input applied to the activation unit 120, while switching the display unit 120 from its OFF state to its ON state in response thereto.

The activation sensing unit 220 according to an exemplary embodiment can sense the switching of the mobile communication terminal 100 from the inactive state to the active state. The user can transmit a signal indicating the activation of the mobile communication terminal 100 to the service providing server 200 by pressing or otherwise manipulating the activation button of the mobile communication terminal 100.

The application driving unit 230 which is downloaded to the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an exemplary embodiment is designed to run a predetermined operation when the activation of the mobile communication terminal 100 is sensed. That is, the application driving unit 230 drives a predetermined application in the mobile communication terminal 100 and enables a related screen to be displayed on the display unit 110. For example, if the activation of the mobile communication terminal 100 is sensed, an advertisement-related application can be executed. The application driving unit 230 can run an additional operation related to driving the corresponding application. For example, an application for enabling an advertisement to be displayed on the display unit 110 is driven to receive current location information and control advertisement information related to a corresponding location to be displayed on the display unit 110 of the mobile communication terminal 100. In addition, it is possible to collect user information (for example, a sex, an age, a region of residence, a matter of interest, or the like) and control advertisement information customized for a corresponding user to be displayed. Necessary advertisement information (for example, advertisement information to be transmitted to the mobile communication terminal 100 based on location information or user information) can be transmitted from an advertiser server or an advertisement distribution server. As described above, the application driving unit 230 can drive a predetermined application simultaneously with the activation within the mobile communication terminal 100 and perform an additional operation for optimally driving the application.

The communication unit 240 according to an exemplary embodiment makes information communication between the service providing server 200, the mobile communication terminal 100, and another apparatus possible. That is, the communication unit 240 can transmit an application to the mobile communication terminal 100 and receive an activation signal and information for driving the application from the mobile communication terminal 100.

The control unit 250 according to an exemplary embodiment can perform a function of controlling data flows between the application providing unit 210, the activation sensing unit 220, the application driving unit 230, and the communication unit 240. That is, the control unit 250 according to the exemplary embodiment can control the application providing unit 210, the activation sensing unit 220, the application driving unit 230, and the communication unit 240 to perform unique functions.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to enable an advantageous function to be utilized and improve an interest of a terminal user because various operations can be performed only by pressing an activation button when a terminal is in an inactive state.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to enable health check of an elderly person to be performed with a simple operation and enable information regarding the health check to be transmitted to a healthcare provider or a medical authority.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to enable a user authentication process of which the security is enhanced to be operable with only a simple procedure.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to enable an urgent message to be transmitted along with location information with only a simple operation in an urgent situation.

The embodiments according to the present invention described above may be implemented in the form of program instructions that may be executed through various computer components and recorded on a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, or the like individually or in combination. The program instructions recorded on the medium may be specifically designed for the present invention or may be well known to one of ordinary skill in the art of software. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include a magnetic medium such as a hard disk, a floppy disk, or a magnetic tape, an optical medium such as a compact disc-read only memory (CD-ROM) or a digital versatile disc (DVD), a magneto-optical medium such as an optical disk, and a hardware device such as ROM, a random access memory (RAM), or a flash memory that is specially designed to store and execute program instructions. Examples of the program instructions include not only machine code generated by a compiler or the like but also high-level language codes that may be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware device described above may be constructed so as to operate as one or more software modules for performing the operations of the embodiments of the present invention, and vice versa.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the specific embodiments and drawings together with specific details such as detailed components, the above description is provided only for better understanding of the present invention and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations may be made from the above description.

While exemplary embodiments have been disclosed herein, it should be understood that other variations may be possible. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of exemplary embodiments of the present application, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

Unless otherwise specified, various features of one embodiment (or example) of this disclosure may apply interchangeably to other embodiments (or examples) throughout this disclosure. For example, any of the mobile communication terminals, systems incorporating such terminals, and methods of using such terminals which are related to user authentication may be implemented into other terminals, systems incorporating such terminals, and methods of using the terminals which are related to transmitting emergency or health-related information to others, displaying advertisements on the display units, or the like. Such terminals, systems, and methods related to including the press-type activation button may also be incorporated into other terminals, systems, and methods including the touch screen-type activation buttons.

Various mobile communication terminals, systems incorporating such terminals, and methods of utilizing such terminals of this disclosure may also incorporate other electronic or digital parts which can run various operations for performing various functions similar to those described herein. As discussed above, however, such terminals may include any program, software, source code, binary code or other instructions as far as the terminals may run one or more operations when the terminals receive various user inputs when such terminals are or have been in their inactive states and when such terminals may switch their display units from their OFF states to their Ion state in response to the user input.

It is to be understood that, while various embodiments of this invention have been described in conjunction with the detailed description thereof, the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not to limit the scope of the present invention, which is defined by the scope of the appended claims. Other embodiments, aspects, advantages, and modifications are within the scope of the following claims as well.

Claims

A mobile communication terminal operating between an inactive state and an active state, wherein said terminal is communicable in both of said inactive and active states unless said terminal is completely turned off, said terminal comprising:

at least one display unit which switches between an OFF state and an ON state, wherein said OFF and ON states of said display unit respectively correspond to said inactive and active states of said terminal; and

an activation button capable of receiving a user input as said user presses said button,

wherein said terminal in said inactive state switches itself to said active state upon receiving said user input, while also switching said display unit from said OFF state to said ON state, and

wherein said terminal runs a predetermined operation of user authentication upon receiving said user input in such a way that said terminal is capable of displaying on said display unit at least one first screen as said display unit switches to said ON state and also capable of displaying on said display unit at least one second screen as said terminal finishes said authentication operation.
The terminal of claim 1, wherein at least one of said first and second screens includes at least one first advertisement.
The terminal of claim 2, wherein said terminal selects said first advertisement based on at least one of a location of said user and information of said user.
The terminal of claim 1, wherein said first screen is a lock screen and wherein said second screen is at least one first advertisement.
The terminal of claim 1, wherein said first screen is at least one first advertisement and wherein said second screen is also said first advertisement.
The terminal of claim 1, wherein said first screen is at least one first advertisement and wherein said second screen is at least one second advertisement different from said first advertisement.
The terminal of claim 1, wherein said first screen is a lock screen, wherein said second screen is also said lock screen when said user fails said authentication, but wherein said second screen is at least one first advertisement when said user passes said authentication.
The terminal of claim 1, wherein said first screen is a lock screen, wherein said second screen is at least one first advertisement when said user fails said authentication, and wherein said second screen is at least one second advertisement different from said first advertisement when said user passes said authentication.
The terminal of claim 1, wherein said first screen is at least one first advertisement, wherein said second screen is said first advertisement when said user fails said authentication, and wherein said second screen is at least one second advertisement different from said first advertisement when said user passes said authentication.
The terminal of claim 1, wherein said terminal stores therein said first and second screens before said terminal receives said user input.
The terminal of claim 1, wherein said terminal receives at least one of said first and second screens from an external server upon receiving said user input.
A mobile communication terminal operating between an inactive state and an active state, wherein said terminal is communicable in both of said inactive and active states unless said terminal is completely turned off, said terminal comprising:

at least one display unit which switches between an OFF state and an ON state, wherein said OFF and ON states of said display unit respectively correspond to said inactive and active states of said terminal; and

an activation button capable of receiving a user input as said user presses said button,

wherein said terminal in said inactive state switches itself to said active state upon receiving said user input, while switching said display unit from said OFF state to said ON state and displaying a lock screen on said display unit, and

wherein said terminal runs a predetermined operation of user authentication upon receiving said user input in such a way that said terminal is capable of replacing said lock screen with another screen after said terminal finishes said authentication operation.
The terminal of claim 12, wherein said terminal is capable replacing said lock screen with at least one first advertisement when said user passes said authentication.
The terminal of claim 13, wherein said terminal selects said first advertisement based on at least one of a location of said user and information of said user.
The terminal of claim 11, wherein said terminal is capable of storing therein said another screen before said terminal receives said user input.
The terminal of claim 11, wherein said terminal is capable of obtaining said another screen from an external server upon receiving said user input.
A mobile communication terminal operating between an inactive state and an active state, wherein said terminal is communicable in both of said inactive and active states unless said terminal is completely turned off, said terminal comprising:

at least one display unit which switches between an OFF state and an ON state, wherein said OFF and ON states of said display unit respectively correspond to said inactive and active states of said terminal; and

an activation button capable of receiving a user input as said user presses said button,

wherein said terminal in said inactive state switches itself to said active state upon receiving said user input, while also switching said display unit from said OFF state to said ON state,

wherein said terminal runs a predetermined operation of user authentication upon receiving said user input, and

wherein said terminal displays at least one first screen on said display unit as said display unit switches to said ON state and displays at least one second screen on said display unit as said terminal finishes said authentication operation.
The terminal of claim 17, wherein at least one of said first and second screens includes at least one first advertisement.
The terminal of claim 18, wherein said terminal selects said first advertisement based on at least one of a location of said user and information of said user.
The terminal of claim 17, wherein said first screen is a lock screen and wherein said second screen is at least one first advertisement.
A mobile communication terminal operating between an inactive state and an active state, wherein said terminal is communicable in both of said inactive and active states unless said terminal is completely turned off by a user, said terminal comprising:

at least one display unit which switches between an OFF state and an ON state, wherein said OFF state of said display unit corresponds to said inactive state of said terminal, while said ON state of said display unit corresponds to said active state of said terminal; and

at least one input unit capable of receiving an input from said user,

wherein said terminal in said inactive state is switched to said active state upon receiving said user input and runs a predetermined operation while simultaneously switching said display unit from said OFF state to said ON state, and

wherein said terminal selects said predetermined operation from a plurality of operations based upon at least one feature of said user input, said feature of said user input including at least one of a number of said user inputs, a duration of at least one of said user inputs, and a time interval between at least two of said user inputs.
The terminal of claim 21, wherein said input unit is one of a click wheel, a dial pad, a dome switch, a force imaging unit, a jog switch, a jog wheel, a joy stick, a hard keyboard, a soft keyboard, a soft keypad, a hard keypad, a mouse, a pointing stick, an on/off-type switch, a press-type button switch, a rotation-type switch, a track ball, a track pad, an audio input unit including at least one of a microphone and an audio signal transducer, an electronic input unit, a video input unit including at least one of a camera, a charge coupled device, and a light-sensitive sensor, and an electric capacitive input unit.
The terminal of claim 21, wherein said predetermined operation is an operation of authenticating whether said user is an authorized user.
The terminal of claim 23 further comprising a fingerprint scanner which is incorporated into said input unit.
The terminal of claim 24,

wherein said terminal runs a first predetermined operation upon monitoring at least one of a first number of said user inputs, a first duration of at least one of said user inputs, and a first time interval between at least two of said user inputs, but

wherein said terminal runs a second predetermined operation which is different from said first predetermined operation upon monitoring at least one of a second number of said user inputs which is different from said first number, a second duration of at least one of said user inputs which is different from said first duration, and a second time interval between at least two of said user inputs which is different from said first time interval.