MULTI-PURPOSE DISPLAY DEVICE HAVING A CHANNEL SCAN INTERFACE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME

• US 20120210370A1
• Filed: 02/09/2012
• Published: 08/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: KIM, Uniyoung, Lee, Hyungnam, Bipin, T.S., Patalappa, Kiran
• Granted Patent: US 8,978,071 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration

Abstract

A multi-functional display device having a channel scan interface and a method of controlling the same are disclosed herein. The method may include registering a first individual at the multi-functional display device to create an account that is associated with at least one first social network service (SNS) account for the first individual. A menu may be displayed for selecting among a plurality of channel scan modes for scanning channels of the multi-functional display device, including a channel scan mode for broadcast content and SNS content. For channel scan mode for SNS content, information for at least one second SNS account for a second individual associated with the at least one first SNS account may be retrieved, and a channel number assigned to the at least one second SNS account.

Claims

1. A method of scanning channels in a multi-functional display device comprising:

registering a first individual at the multi-functional display device to create an account that is associated with at least one first social network service (SNS) account for the first individual;

displaying a menu for selecting among a plurality of channel scan modes for scanning channels of the multi-functional display device, the plurality of channel scan modes including a first channel scan mode for scanning channels for accessing broadcast content and a second channel scan mode for scanning channels for accessing SNS content;

when the first channel scan mode is selected, scanning the channels for available channels for broadcast content; and

when the second channel scan mode is selected, retrieving information for at least one second SNS account for a second individual associated with the at least one first SNS account, and assigning a channel number to the at least one second SNS account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieving information for at least one second SNS account for the second individual includes sending a request to a server to access the at least one first SNS account, and retrieving the information for the at least one second SNS account from the server using the at least one first SNS account.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one second SNS accounts are contacts of the at least one first SNS account.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein retrieving information for at least one second SNS account includes retrieving SNS content.

5. The method of claim 4, further including tuning the multi-functional display device to the assigned channel number for one of the at least one second SNS account to access the SNS content for the corresponding second SNS account.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the channel number assigned to the at least one second SNS account is the same as a channel number assigned to one of the broadcast channels.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the channel number assigned to the at least one second SNS account is assigned to a plurality of SNS accounts.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the assigning the channel number to the at least one second SNS account includes assigning an SNS identifier associated with the at least one second SNS account.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the SNS identifier is associated with a plurality of second SNS accounts.

10. The method of claim 8, further including generating a channel map for the channels numbers for the second SNS accounts, the channel map including the SNS identifiers and the corresponding channel numbers for the SNS channels for display on the multi-functional display device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the SNS identifier includes at least one of an e-mail address, an account name, a family name or a Session Initiation Protocol-Uniform Resource Locator (SIP-URL).

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of channel scan modes includes a third channel scan mode for scanning channels for accessing applications and, when the third channel scan mode is selected, assigning a channel to at least one of the applications to access the at least one applications on the assigned channel.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the displayed menu for selecting the mode includes an application channel mode and, when the application channel mode is selected, scanning for available channels associated with one or more applications for accessing the applications on the available channels.

13. A method of scanning channels in a multi-functional display device comprising:

displaying a menu for selecting a mode among at least one of a broadcast channel mode or a social network service (SNS) channel mode,

detecting a selection of one of the modes;

scanning for available channels based on the selected mode; and

displaying the available channels based on the scan, wherein

when the selected mode is the broadcast channel mode, scanning a plurality of broadcast channels and displaying a list of available broadcast channel numbers and broadcast channel names associated with the broadcast channel numbers, and

when the selected mode is the SNS channel mode, scanning a plurality of SNS channels and displaying a list of available SNS channel numbers and SNS identifiers associated with the SNS channel numbers,

wherein the SNS identifiers are associated with one or more social network accounts for an individual.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the scanning the plurality of SNS channels includes transmitting to a server a request to retrieve information related to one or more first SNS accounts.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, in response to the request, receiving information for one or more second SNS accounts associated with the one or more first SNS accounts from the server.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the information for the one or more second SNS accounts are retrieved using a friends list of the one or more first SNS accounts.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the scanning the plurality of SNS channels further includes determining whether the second SNS accounts are associated with an SNS channel number, and assigning an SNS channel number to the second SNS accounts if the second SNS accounts are not associated with an SNS channel number.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the assigning the SNS channel number to the second SNS accounts includes displaying an icon for the second SNS accounts on the multi-functional display device, and

if the second SNS account has an SNS channel number associated therewith, displaying the SNS channel number for the second SNS account, and

if the second SNS account does not have an SNS channel number associated therewith, assigning a new SNS channel number to the retrieved contact and displaying the assigned channel number for the second SNS account.

19. The method of claim 18, further including generating a channel map that lists the assigned SNS channel numbers with corresponding SNS identifiers for the second SNS accounts.