MOBILE TERMINAL AND OPERATION CONTROL METHOD THEREOF

• US 20130149989A1
• Filed: 12/05/2012
• Published: 06/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Arim Kwon
• Inventors: Kwon, Yunmi, Kwon, Arim, Lee, Sunah
• Granted Patent: US 8,954,031 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27453 Directories allowing storage of additional subscriber data, e.g. metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27457 Management thereof, e.g. manual editing of data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72418 for supporting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72439 for image or video messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management

Abstract

There is disclosed a mobile terminal for providing a convenient and effective contact management function by providing differentiated services for two or more connected contacts, respectively. To this end, there is provided an operation control method of a mobile terminal, and the method may include displaying a contact list containing a plurality of contacts; designating a first contact in the contact list as a first recipient according to a user'"'"'s input; designating at least one second contact as a second recipient when there exists the at least one second contact connected to the first contact; and performing a first operation for the first recipient, and performing a second operation subordinate to the first operation for the second recipient.

Claims

1. An operation control method of a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

displaying a contact list containing a plurality of contacts;

designating a first contact in the contact list as a first recipient according to a user'"'"'s input;

designating at least one second contact as a second recipient when there exists the at least one second contact connected to the first contact; and

performing a first operation for the first recipient, and performing a second operation subordinate to the first operation for the second recipient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation is an operation for designating the first recipient as a receiver to transmit a mail, and

the second operation is an operation for designating the second recipient as a reference to transmit the mail.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation is an operation for transmitting a message to the first recipient using a Multimedia Messaging System (MMS), and

the second operation is an operation for transmitting a message to the second recipient using a Short Message Service (SMS).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation is an operation for performing a call with the first recipient using a video communication scheme, and

the second operation is an operation for performing a call with the second recipient using a voice communication scheme.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation is an operation for placing an emergency call to the first recipient, and

the second operation is an operation for sending location information of the mobile terminal when placing the emergency call to the second recipient.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the second contact by connecting it to the first contact.

7. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a display unit configured to display a contact list containing a plurality of contacts; and

a controller configured to designate a first contact in the contact list as a first recipient according to a user'"'"'s input, and designate at least one second contact as a second recipient when there exists the at least one second contact connected to the first contact, and perform a first operation for the first recipient and perform a second operation subordinate to the first operation for the second recipient.

8. An operation control method of a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

displaying a list containing a plurality of items on a display unit;

configuring a storage area on the display unit;

storing a first item selected from the list in the storage area; and

connecting a first contact associated with the first item to a second contact associated with a second item selected from the list.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

performing a first operation for the first contact, and performing a second operation subordinate to the first operation for the second contact when the first contact is designated as a recipient.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said storing step comprises:

selecting an item dragged and dropped from the list to the storage area as the first item, and

said connecting step comprises;

selecting an item corresponding to the position at which the first item has been dropped as the second item when the first item has been dragged and dropped from the storage area to the list.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said configuring the storage area comprises:

displaying the storage area on the display unit.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the storage area is displayed on the display unit until the connecting step is carried out or an input for releasing the storage area is received.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the storage area is displayed on the display unit to overlap with part of a region where the list is displayed.

14. An operation control method of a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

displaying a list containing a plurality of items on a display unit;

configuring a storage area on the display unit;

storing at least one item selected from the list in the storage area; and

connecting a plurality of contacts associated with the at least one item.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said storing step comprises:

selecting at least one item dragged and dropped from the list to the storage area.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one item is a Social Network Service (SNS) bulletin.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein said connecting step comprises:

receiving an input for selecting any one of the at least one items; and

connecting a contact associated with the selected any one item to a contact associated with the other remaining item.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the storage area is displayed on the display unit until the connecting step is carried out or an input for releasing the storage area is received.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein said connecting step is performed to connect a plurality of contacts stored in a phone book when the plurality of contacts are stored in the phone book.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

performing a first operation for a specific contact when the specific contact is designated as a recipient among the plurality of contacts, and performing a second operation subordinate to the first operation for the remaining contact among the plurality of contacts.