TERMINAL AND METHOD FOR DISPLAYING CONTENTS INFORMATION

• US 20090187849A1
• Filed: 01/21/2009
• Published: 07/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: LEE, Ju Youn, RHEE, Young Ho, KIM, Jung Hun
• Granted Patent: US 8,219,932 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72451 according to schedules, e.g. using calendar applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs

Abstract

A terminal and method for displaying contents information is provided for showing the contents information in efficient and intuitive manner. The terminal includes a memory unit for storing contents and creation times of the contents, a display unit for displaying a life diary screen including a time axis, a date axis and contents graph in a life diary mode, a key input unit for receiving a date selection command for selecting a date on the date axis and a control unit for retrieving contents created on the selected date, counting numbers of contents per date and controlling a display of the contents graph generated based on the number of the contents per date, when a date is selected through the key input unit.

Claims

1. A terminal comprising:

a memory unit for storing contents and creation times of the contents;

a display unit for displaying a life diary screen comprising a time axis, a date axis and contents graph in a life diary mode;

a key input unit for receiving a date selection command for selecting a date on the date axis; and

a control unit for retrieving contents created on the selected date, counting numbers of contents per date and controlling a display of the contents graph determined based on the number of the contents per date, when a date is selected through the key input unit.

2. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the display of content objects comprising the contents along the time axis in a creation time order.

3. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the display of icons comprising the contents, when the number of contents is greater than a threshold value, and thumbnail images, comprising the contents, when the number of contents is equal to or less than the threshold value.

4. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the key input unit receives a time selection for selecting a time period on the time axis after a date is selected.

5. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the control unit controls highlighting the date selected on the date axis and a portion of the contents graph corresponding to the selected date.

6. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the time axis comprises a vertical axis comprising a date time range and the date axis comprises a horizontal axis comprising a time range of two months.

7. The terminal of claim 1 wherein the life diary screen further comprises a contents filter window comprising content type filters for filtering specific types of contents.

8. The terminal of claim 7, wherein the contents graph comprises curves corresponding to the content types filtered by the content type filters.

9. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the life diary screen further comprises a selection box for selecting another user whose life diary is downloaded through a network.

10. The terminal of claim 1, wherein, when a content object is selected, the control unit controls the display of the content object comprising detailed information of the content, when a cursor is positioned on the content object.

11. A method for displaying information on contents stored in a terminal, the method comprising:

counting a number of contents per date in a life diary mode;

displaying a life diary screen comprising a time axis, a date axis and a contents graph displaying the number of contents counted per date along the date axis;

selecting a period on the date axis in response to a date selection command; and

displaying content objects representing the contents created at the selected date.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the content objects are displayed along the time axis in a temporal order based on a creation time.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the displaying of the content objects comprises:

determining a number of contents created during the period selected on the date axis; and

displaying icons comprising the contents, when a number of contents is greater than a threshold value and thumbnail images comprising the contents, when the number of contents is equal to or less than the threshold value.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the period selected on the date axis comprises at least two contiguous dates.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the period selected on the date axis and a portion of the contents graph corresponding to the selected period are highlighted.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the time axis comprises a vertical axis defining a date time range, the date axis comprises a horizontal axis defining a time range of two months and the contents graph is displayed in parallel with the date axis.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the life diary screen further comprises a contents filter window comprising content type filters for filtering specific types of contents.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the contents graph comprises curves corresponding to content types filtered by the content type filters.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

selecting another user for displaying a life diary of the selected user;

downloading through a network a life diary of the selected user; and

displaying the life diary of the selected user.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the displaying of the content objects comprises:

enlarging a content object, when a cursor is positioned on the content object; and

displaying the content object comprising detailed information of the content, when the content object is selected.

21. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

monitoring a creation of contents before counting the number of contents; and

storing contents creation times together with the contents, when the contents are created.