Pressure-sensitive degree control method and system for touchscreen-enabled mobile terminal

Abstract

A pressure-sensitive degree control method and system of a mobile terminal including a touchscreen for controlling interaction degree of the touchscreen based on a pressure level of a touch are provided. The method includes detecting a pressure level of the touch made on the touchscreen, configuring an interaction degree of the user interface to be determined based on the pressure level, and controlling operations of the user interface according to the interaction degree.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for providing a user interface of a mobile terminal including a touchscreen, the method comprising:
 detecting a pressure level of a touch made on the touchscreen;   configuring an interaction degree of the user interface based on the pressure level; and   controlling operations of the user interface according to the interaction degree.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the configuring of the interaction degree comprises:
 determining whether the touch is maintained over a threshold time duration; and   configuring, if the touch is maintained over the threshold duration, the interaction degree based on the pressure level.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the controlling of the operations of the user interface comprises increasing, if the pressure level increases, an interaction speed of the user interface. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the controlling of the operations of the user interface comprises decreasing, if the pressure level decreases, an interaction speed of the user interface. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the controlling of the operations of the user interface comprises displaying a touch pressure indicator indicating the pressure level of the touch. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the touch pressure indicator comprises an alarm for notifying of excessive touch pressure. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface comprises at least one of a scroll interface, a volume adjustment interface, a brightness adjustment interface, an intra-image navigation speed adjustment interface, a length adjustment interface, and an image zoom adjustment interface. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the controlling of the operations of the user interface comprises increasing, when the user interface comprises a scroll interface, a scrolling speed as the touch pressure increases and decreasing the scrolling speed as the touch pressure decreases. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the controlling of the operations of the user interface comprises increasing, when the user interface comprises a brightness adjustment interface, brightness as the touch pressure increases and decreasing the brightness as the touch pressure decreases. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the controlling of the operations of the user interface comprises increasing, when the user interface comprises an intra-image navigation speed adjustment interface, a navigation speed as the touch pressure increases, decreasing the navigation speed as the touch pressure decreases, and moving an image in a direction corresponding to a navigation direction at the navigation speed. 
     
     
         11 . An apparatus for providing a user interface of a mobile terminal, the apparatus comprising:
 a touchscreen unit for generating a touch signal in response to a touch;   a pressure extractor for extracting information regarding a pressure level of the touch from the touch signal; and   a user interface manager for configuring an interaction degree of the user interface to be determined based on the pressure level and for controlling operations of the user interface by adjusting an interaction speed of the user interface according to the touch pressure.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the user interface manager determines whether the touch is maintained over a threshold time duration and configures, if the touch is maintained over the threshold duration, the interaction degree to be determined based on the pressure level. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the user interface manager increases, if the pressure level increases, the interaction speed of the user interface. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the user interface manager decreases, if the pressure level decreases, the interaction speed of the user interface. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the user interface manager displays a touch pressure indicator indicating the pressure level of the touch on the touchscreen unit. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the touch pressure indicator comprises an alarm for notifying of excessive touch pressure. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the user interface manager increases, when the user interface comprises a scroll interface, a scrolling speed as the touch pressure increases and decreases the scrolling speed as the touch pressure decreases. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the user interface manager increases, when the user interface comprises a brightness adjustment interface, brightness as the touch pressure increases and decreases the brightness as the touch pressure decreases. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the user interface manager increases, when the user interface comprises an intra-image navigation speed adjustment interface, a navigation speed as the touch pressure increases, decreases the navigation speed as the touch pressure decreases, and moves an image in a direction corresponding to a navigation direction at the navigation speed