MOBILE TERMINAL AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF THE MOBILE TERMINAL

• US 20110159885A1
• Filed: 07/02/2010
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: SONG, Chi Won, Lee, Ji Youn
• Granted Patent: US 8,340,695 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/10 Map spot or coordinate position indicators; Map reading aids optical projection apparatus per se G03B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging

Abstract

A mobile terminal and a method of controlling the operation of the mobile terminal are provided. The method includes displaying a map, which is divided into a plurality of blocks in predetermined units of latitude and latitude, on a display module and displaying in each of the blocks identification information indicating whether a corresponding block includes geo-tagged information; and if one of the blocks is selected, displaying one or more thumbnail images corresponding to geo-tagged information included in the selected block on the display module. Therefore, it is possible to effectively select and use geo-tagged information even when using a small size screen.

Claims

1. A method of controlling the operation of a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

displaying a map divided into a plurality of blocks having predetermined units of latitude and latitude on a display module;

displaying identification information in each of the plurality of blocks indicating whether a corresponding block includes geo-tagged information; and

displaying one or more thumbnail images on the display module that correspond to geo-tagged information included in a selected one of the plurality of blocks.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a screen on the display module that shows an image corresponding to a selected thumbnail image of the one or more thumbnail images.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising displaying a screen on the display module showing geo-tagged information corresponding to another thumbnail image if the geo-tagged information corresponding to the selected thumbnail image is touched and dragged.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing one or more menu icons for executing predetermined functions on the geo-tagged information corresponding to the selected thumbnail image.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying an image corresponding to the geo-tagged information in a block including geo-tagged information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a plurality of images corresponding to a plurality of pieces of geo-tagged information in succession in a block including the plurality of pieces of geo-tagged information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification information comprises numeric information specifying a number of pieces of geo-tagged information included in each of the plurality of blocks.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification information automatically disappears from the map a predefined amount of time after the map is displayed.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising zooming the map in or out in in response to a user command.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the predetermined units of latitude and longitude in response to a user command.

11. A mobile terminal comprising:

a display module configured to display a map divided into a plurality of blocks having predetermined units of latitude and latitude; and

a controller configured to control the display module to display the map to include identification information in each of the plurality of blocks that indicates whether a corresponding block includes geo-tagged information and to display one or more thumbnail images that correspond to geo-tagged information included in a selected one of the plurality of blocks.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display module to display a screen that shows an image corresponding to a selected thumbnail image of the one or more thumbnail images.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display module to display a screen showing geo-tagged information corresponding to another thumbnail image if the geo-tagged information corresponding to the selected thumbnail image is touched and dragged.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display module to provide one or more menu icons for executing predetermined functions on the geo-tagged information corresponding to the selected thumbnail image.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display module to display an image corresponding to the geo-tagged information in a block including geo-tagged information.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display module to display a plurality of images in succession that correspond to a plurality of pieces of geo-tagged information in a block including a plurality of pieces of geo-tagged information.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the identification information comprises numeric information specifying a number of pieces of geo-tagged information included in each of the plurality of blocks.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display module such that the identification information automatically disappears from the map a predefined amount of time after the map is displayed.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display module to zoom the map in or out in response to a user command.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the predetermined units of latitude and longitude in response to a user command.