MOBILE TERMINAL HAVING RECHARGE MENU SETTING FUNCTION AND INTER-RECHARGING METHOD USING THE SAME

• US 20090140692A1
• Filed: 11/21/2008
• Published: 06/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Hwang, Shi-Youn
• Granted Patent: US 8,575,890 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/108
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/04 using magnetically coupled devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 2038/143 for signals
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/80 involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/342 The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/0034
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces

Abstract

A non-contact recharging apparatus and method provides a recharge menu to a first mobile terminal when performing non-contact recharging using inductive coupling. A user can set and operate a menu for recharging a second mobile terminal according to the recharge menu to perform inter-recharging between the mobile terminals. A recharge menu setting state is displayed in the form of icon, and the mobile terminal performs short-range communication with the counterpart terminal during the recharging to exchange information about the remaining battery capacity and the amount of current. The exchanged information is displayed on a display module such that the user can easily check which one of the mobile terminals is being recharged and can also check the recharge level of the mobile terminal being recharged.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal having a recharge menu setting function, the mobile terminal comprising:

a user interface providing a recharge menu to perform inter-recharging with a counterpart terminal;

a coil connected with a recharger, to which current is applied when the inter-charging is performed by non-contact recharging; and

a controller controlling the current flowing to the coil according to a menu setting input through the recharge menu, and performing a controlling operation during the inter-charging with the counterpart terminal,

wherein the non-contact recharging is performed according to inductive coupling.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the coil is operated as a primary coil when the counterpart terminal is recharged by the mobile terminal and the coil is operated as a secondary coil when the mobile terminal is recharged by the counterpart terminal.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the recharge menu comprises a inter-recharge menu, the inter-recharge menu comprising a menu item for recharging the counterpart terminal and a menu item for recharging the mobile terminal by the counterpart terminal.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein the recharge menu further comprises a menu for recharging by connecting to a recharging device.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein the recharge menu comprises a recharge time, a recharge level and a menu item for setting output information when the recharging is completed.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 5, wherein the output information comprises at least one of a color, a sound, a character, or a recharge icon to be set.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller applies the current to the coil and displays a counterpart recharge icon when the counterpart terminal is recharged by the non-contact recharging and the controller detects the current flowing across the coil and displays at least one of an icon indicating that the mobile terminal is recharged or a non-contact recharge icon when the mobile terminal is recharged by the counterpart terminal.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further comprising:

a user input unit receiving key data for setting the recharge menu;

a display unit displaying the recharge menu when a specific key data is input via the user input unit, and displaying information about a recharge menu setting state and operation; and

a short range communication unit communicating with the counterpart terminal during the non-contact recharging to exchange battery information and current information.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the short range communication unit comprises an infrared transmitting/receiving unit for performing infrared communication.

10. A method for performing non-contact recharging using inductive coupling to inter-recharge a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

providing a recharge menu for performing the non-contact recharging; and

performing inter-recharging with a counterpart terminal by controlling current flowing across a coil according to a menu setting input via the recharge menu.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein performing the inter-charging comprises:

operating the coil as a primary coil when the counterpart terminal is recharged; and

operating the coil as a secondary coil when the mobile terminal is charged by the counterpart terminal.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the recharge menu comprises a inter-recharge menu, and the inter-recharge menu comprises a menu item for recharging the counterpart terminal and a menu item for recharging the mobile terminal by the counterpart terminal.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the recharge menu further comprises a menu for recharging by connecting to a recharging device.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the recharge menu comprises a recharge time, a recharge level and a menu item for setting output information when the recharging is completed.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the output information comprises at least one of a color, a sound, a character, or setting a recharge icon.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein performing the inter-recharging comprises:

displaying a menu setting selected by a user from the recharge menu as an icon;

performing short range communication with the counterpart terminal during the recharging to exchange battery information;

displaying the exchanged battery information; and

checking whether the recharging has been completed by comparing the exchanged battery information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the short range communication comprises infrared communication.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein displaying the menu setting comprises:

displaying a counterpart recharge icon when the user selects recharging of the counterpart terminal by the mobile terminal; and

displaying a non-contact recharge icon when the user selects recharging of the mobile terminal by the counterpart terminal.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein displaying the menu setting further comprises displaying an icon indicating that the mobile terminal is recharged.

20. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

automatically stopping the inter-recharging when recharge levels of the mobile terminal and the counterpart terminal are substantially the same.