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EP-4235373-B1 - FLEXIBLE-TYPE ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND OPERATING METHOD THEREFOR

EP4235373B1EP 4235373 B1EP4235373 B1EP 4235373B1EP-4235373-B1

Inventors

  • OH, Deukkyu
  • WOO, Kwangtaek
  • KIM, Byoungkug
  • LEE, CHANGHO
  • AN, JINWAN

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20211116

Claims (13)

  1. An electronic device (101) comprising: a memory (130); a touch panel; a display (1220) having a flexible structure; at least one sensor (1260) configured to sense a change in the screen size of the display (1220); and at least one processor (120) electrically connected to the memory (130), the touch panel, the display (1220), and the at least one sensor (1260), wherein the memory (130) is configured to store instructions that cause, when executed, the at least one processor (120) to: dynamically reduce (1610, 1612, 1614, 1710, 1712, 1714) a first setting value corresponding to an initial value to determine a second setting value during a driving section in which a change in the screen size of the display is detected by a sensing result of the at least one sensor and adjust touch sensitivity of the touch panel by the determined second setting value; divide a full screen that is dynamically expanded during the driving section into a plurality of areas; and determine the second setting value to be different between the plurality of areas; and in case that changing of the screen size of the display is detected to be finished by a sensing result of the at least one sensor, initialize the second setting value to the first setting value and adjust the touch sensitivity of the touch panel by the first setting value according to the initialization.
  2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the memory is configured to store instructions that cause, when executed, the processor to recognize, as the driving section, a period from a first time of detecting that the screen size of the display starts to decrease or that the screen size of the display starts to increase to a second time of detecting that the screen size of the display is fixed according to a sensing result of the at least one sensor.
  3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the memory is configured to store instructions that cause, when executed, the processor to recognize, as the driving section, a period from a first time of detecting that the screen size of the display starts to decrease or that the screen size of the display starts to increase to a second time after a predetermined time elapses after the screen size of the display is fixed according to a sensing result of the at least one sensor.
  4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the touch sensitivity adjusted by the determined second setting value is configured to be lower than the touch sensitivity adjusted by the first setting value according to the initialization.
  5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the memory is configured to store instructions that cause, when executed, the processor to determine the second setting value to be lower for an area that is likely to be touched by a user of the electronic device in case that the screen size of the display changes, among the plurality of areas, than for an area that is not likely to be touched.
  6. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the memory is configured to store instructions that cause, when executed, the processor to further consider, in case that the screen size of the display is detected to be increased, the amount of change in the area due to the increase in the screen size to determine the second setting value.
  7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the screen size of the display is a size of a front window that is enabled to be used by the electronic device.
  8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the instructions may be configured to cause, when executed, the processor to perform, in case that a touch event is sensed during a time period from the time of adjusting the touch sensitivity of the touch panel by the determined second setting value until the time of detecting that the changing of the screen size of the display is finished, an operation according to a user experience scenario in response to the sensed touch event after the changing of the screen size of the display is finished.
  9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the touch sensitivity adjusted by the determined second setting value is either one of 4Phi corresponding to normal sensitivity or 3Phi corresponding to low sensitivity, and the touch sensitivity adjusted by the first setting value is 5Phi corresponding to high sensitivity.
  10. An operation method in a flexible-type electronic device, the method comprising: monitoring (1510, 1610, 1710) a change in the screen size of a flexible display; dynamically reducing a first setting value corresponding to an initial value to determine a second setting value during a driving section in which the screen size of the flexible display continues to change; adjusting (1520, 1612, 1712) touch sensitivity of a touch panel by the determined second setting value; in case (1614, 1714) that changing of the screen size of the flexible display is finished, initializing the second setting value to the first setting value; adjusting (1520, 1616, 1720) the touch sensitivity of the touch panel by the first setting value according to the initialization; and recognizing (1530, 1716) a touch on the touch panel using touch sensitivity adjusted by the first setting value or by the second setting value, wherein the determining of the second setting value comprises: dividing a full screen that is dynamically expanded during the driving section into a plurality of areas; and determining the second setting value to be different between the plurality of areas.
  11. The method of claim 10, further comprising recognizing, as the driving section, a period from a first time of detecting that the screen size of the display starts to decrease or that the screen size of the display starts to increase to a second time of detecting that the screen size of the display is fixed.
  12. The method of claim 10, further comprising recognizing, as the driving section, a period from a first time of detecting that the screen size of the display starts to decrease or that the screen size of the display starts to increase to a second time after a predetermined time elapses after the screen size of the display is fixed.
  13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the touch sensitivity adjusted by the determined second setting value is configured to be lower than the touch sensitivity adjusted by the first setting value according to the initialization.

Description

[Technical Field] The disclosure relates to a flexible-type electronic device for controlling sensitivity of a touch screen and an operation method therefor. [Background Art] As portable digital terminals are widely used and developed to have high performance as information processors, various methods of processing user input information are being proposed. These are methods making it easier for users to use phone book, short message composing, and electronic notebook functions implemented in portable digital terminals. One of the methods is an input method using a touch screen. Due to the convenience of a user interface, a touch screen method is widely used to perform functions of phone book, scheduler, short messaging, personal information management, Internet access, electronic dictionary, and the like in personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones combined with mobile phones, Internet phones, and the like. In particular, the touch screen is recognized as the most ideal input method in a graphical user interface (GUI) environment because users are able to directly perform desired operations while viewing a screen and because it is able to be easily operated by anyone. In line with the development of the electronic communication industry, a variety of portable terminals equipped with a touch screen are being introduced. Portable terminals are on a trend in which multiple functions, as well as a voice call function, are integrated into a single device. In recent years, the use of electronic devices equipped with a flexible display structure capable of changing a physical shape of a screen area (hereinafter referred to as "flexible-type electronic devices") has proliferated. For example, foldable-type, rollable-type, or slidable-type smartphones may adopt a structure capable of expanding or reducing the screen area, thereby providing a wide screen by increasing the screen size as needed while maintaining excellent portability. In the case where the size of a window displayed in the screen area changes in the flexible-type electronic device, a layout that is configured to conform to a change in the size of the window is required. The flexible-type electronic device may have various screen shapes depending on the state of using the same (e.g., roll-in/roll-out states or slide-in/slide-out states). Accordingly, layout configuration methods utilized in fixed-type screens may not be suitable to be applied to a variable-type screen of the flexible-type electronic device. Therefore, when the size of a screen area varies in the flexible-type electronic device, a user interface (UI)/user experience (UX) different from that in the fixed screen area may be required. For example, while the electronic device having a fixed-type display focuses on how to display information on a fixed screen, the flexible-type electronic device focuses on how to reflect the characteristics of the expanded or reduced screen and how to effectively display information desired by the user on a variable screen. Conventional flexible-type electronic devices for controlling sensitivity of a touch screen and an operation method therefor are disclosed in US 2010/0117975 A1. [Disclosure of Invention] [Technical Problem] In a flexible-type electronic device, if the sensitivity of a touch sensor mounted to a touch panel is set to a high level, a user touch for adjusting a screen size may cause an erroneous operation. For example, a touch input may be made against the user's intention during a sliding operation for adjusting the screen size in a flexible-type electronic device, thereby executing undesired operations. In order to prevent this, the flexible-type electronic device may disable the touch panel during the sliding operation, but this may cause a user touch not to be normally recognized due to the time required for switching between enable and disable states of the touch panel. The disclosure may be made to solve the foregoing problems and disadvantages, and to provide at least the advantages described below. One aspect of the disclosure is to provide a device for adjusting touch sensitivity in response to a change in the screen size in a flexible-type electronic device and an operation method thereof. Another aspect of the disclosure is to provide an electronic device that operates such that a relatively lower touch sensitivity is applied while changing of a screen size is detected in a flexible display, compared to when the screen size is fixed, and an operation method thereof. [Solution to Problem] The present invention is directed to subject matter as defined in the appended set of claims. The description that follows is subjected to this limitation. Any disclosure lying outside the scope of said claims is only intended for illustrative as well as comparative purposes. Various respective aspects and features of the disclosure are defined in the appended claims. Combinations of features of the dependent claims may be combined with fea