IMAGE DISPLAY APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPERATING THE SAME

• US 20110134026A1
• Filed: 12/03/2010
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: PARK, Junho, HWANG, Sunjung, KANG, Haengjoon, SEO, Youngjae, PARK, Jongsoon, PARK, Jinyung, KIM, Jongchul, KANG, Mingoo
• Granted Patent: US 8,704,760 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/011 Emotion or mood input determined on the basis of sensed human body parameters such as pulse, heart rate or beat, temperature of skin, facial expressions, iris, voice pitch, brain activity patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/26 Recognition of special voice characteristics, e.g. for use in lie detectors; Recognition of animal voices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score

Abstract

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method for controlling an image display apparatus includes obtaining, by the image display apparatus, emotion information associated with a user of the image display apparatus, determining a contents to be recommended for the user among a plurality of different contents, based on the obtained emotion information associated with the user, and selectively or automatically reproducing one of the recommended contents at the image display apparatus.

Claims

1. A method for controlling an image display apparatus, the method comprising:

obtaining, by the image display apparatus, emotion information associated with a user of the image display apparatus;

determining contents to be recommended for the user among a plurality of different contents, based on the obtained emotion information associated with the user; and

selectively or automatically reproducing one of the recommended contents at the image display apparatus.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reproducing step selectively reproduces the one of the recommended contents based on a user input.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an emotional state of the user using at least one of image information, voice information and physical information of the user, wherein the emotion information associated with the user includes the emotional state.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining the emotional state includes:

obtaining the image information by an image capturing unit, the voice information by a voice recorder, and the physical information by a body signal sensor;

assigning different weights to the obtained image information, voice information, and physical information depending on the user'"'"'s attributes or a preset condition; and

combining the differently weighed image information, voice information, and physical information to determine the emotional state of the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the emotion information associated with the user is obtained by receiving a specific emotion based on the user'"'"'s input using an emotion information menu.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the emotion information associated with the user is obtained from a storage of the image display apparatus, and a preset condition for the emotional information is previously stored in the storage.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a list of the contents to be recommended on a screen of the image display apparatus.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying thumbnails of the contents to be recommended on a screen of the image display apparatus simultaneously with a content-related image.

9. A method for controlling an image display apparatus, the method comprising:

displaying, on a screen of the image display apparatus of a current user, one or more emotion information each for another user at another apparatus;

receiving, at the image display apparatus for another user at another apparatus, a first recommendation of the current user for a first content among a plurality of different contents based on the displayed emotion information; and

transmitting, to said another apparatus, the first recommendation.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

transmitting, to the another user, one of current emotion information or selected emotion information of the current user;

receiving, at the image display apparatus of the current user, a second recommendation of the another user for a second content among the plurality of different contents based on the transmitted current or selected emotion information of the current user; and

reproducing, at the image display apparatus of the current user, the second recommendation.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

displaying, on the screen of the image display apparatus of the current user, a thumbnail list of the plurality of different contents to be selected for the first recommendation to another user.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

transmitting, to a content provider, one of current emotion information or selected emotion information of the current user;

receiving, at the image display apparatus from the content provider, a third recommendation for a third content among the plurality of different contents based on the transmitted current or selected emotion information of the current user; and

reproducing, at the image display apparatus of the current user, the third recommendation.

13. A method for controlling an image display apparatus, the method comprising:

obtaining, by the image display apparatus, emotion information associated with a user of the image display apparatus;

determining at least one broadcast program to be recommended for the user among a plurality of different broadcast programs, based on the obtained emotion information associated with the user;

displaying, on a screen of the image display apparatus, the plurality of different broadcast programs differentiating the at least one broadcast program to be recommended from the other broadcast programs; and

selectively or automatically reproducing the at least one broadcast program to be recommended at the image display apparatus.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of broadcast programs includes at least one of an image object representing a specific emotion for each of the plurality of broadcast programs and a text object indicating at least one of the specific emotion, an attention level, and an emotional intensity level.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of different broadcast programs are displayed using an electronic program guide (EPG), and the at least one broadcast program to be recommended is highlighted or focused on in a different size, brightness or color in comparison to other broadcast programs.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of different broadcast programs are displayed using a thumbnail list, and the thumbnail list includes thumbnail images respectively corresponding to the plurality of different programs on the screen of the image display apparatus or on a subdisplay, and wherein the at least one broadcast program to be recommended is highlighted or focused on in a different size, brightness or color in comparison to other broadcast programs.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the subdisplay is distinguished from the screen of the image display apparatus physically or in hardware, communicates with the screen wirelessly or by cable, and displays at least one of a subtitle, a channel list, and additional information of the thumbnail list, and

wherein the screen of the image display apparatus displays a reproduced image of at least one broadcast program to be recommended.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the thumbnail images correspond to a content part that elicits a strongest emotional response from the user.