MOBILE TERMINAL AND PHOTO SEARCHING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20130198176A1
• Filed: 01/25/2013
• Published: 08/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: KIM, Yeongoo
• Granted Patent: US 9,043,318 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/724
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/532 Query formulation, e.g. graphical querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a mobile terminal and a photo search method thereof capable of searching and displaying photos shared by the cloud and SNS systems in connection with a specific location on a camera view using augmented reality. To this end, according to the present disclosure, when a photo search function is selected on an augmented reality based camera view, photo information associated with at least one location on which the focus of the camera view is placed is searched from a network system to sort and display the searched photo information on the camera view, thereby allowing the user to conveniently search photos associated with old memories.

Claims

1. A photo search method of a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

displaying an augmented reality based camera view;

searching photo information associated with at least one location on which the focus of the camera view is placed from a network system; and

displaying the searched photo information at each location on the camera view.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one location comprises a tourist resort, a specific building, a mountain, a sea and a hometown, and the network system comprises a cloud system and an SNS system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the photo information comprises photo and location information, and is sorted and displayed for each time and distance.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the photos are displayed in a region apart from the location information as photos captured at a location within a predetermined proximity distance.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the photo information is updated to new photo information searched from the network system when a new location is entered on the camera view by the movement of the user or the user changes its search range.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said searching step comprises:

checking the user'"'"'s current location when a photo search function is selected;

reading prestored search settings;

searching photos within a contents display range shared by the DB source of the cloud and SNS systems around the search range based on the read search settings; and

sorting the searched photos based on the sorting method and proximity distance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the search settings comprises:

a search range indicating a distance for searching photos from the user'"'"'s current location;

a contents display range indicating a kind of searched photos;

a DB source indicating a service provider for searching photos;

a sorting method for sorting the searched photos by time and distance; and

a proximity distance range indicating a proximity distance to be displayed at a one side region of the camera view.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying photos captured at the relevant location when the displayed photo information is selected;

searching information associated with the relevant location and displaying the information on the screen when a search function for the displayed photos is selected; and

transmitting the displayed information to a network system.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the information associated with the relevant location is searched from various blogs, twitters, papers and broadcasts, and the searched information is transmitted via cloud, SNS, blog or email based on the user'"'"'s selection.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a list of locations at which the photos are captured when a trace function is selected in the state that the searched photo information is displayed;

displaying routes from the closest location to the next location as arrows, respectively, when a specific location is selected from the list; and

displaying the fastest road that can be moved to the relevant location when a specific arrow is selected from the arrows.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

comparing the user'"'"'s location with the location of the photo when a same place search function is selected while moving to the selected location;

displaying a moving direction when the two locations are not the same, and displaying information for setting the composition of the camera view to the composition of a photo captured at the relevant location based on the user'"'"'s mode setting when the two locations are the same; and

performing a photo capture for the relevant location when the user moves or selects a zoom function based on the information such that the two compositions are identical.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the user'"'"'s mode setting is one of an outline edge mode for displaying that an outline of the existing photo is overlapped with a camera view and a synchronization rate mode indicating a synchronization rate between the composition of the camera view and the composition of the previous photo, and the information is an outline or synchronization rate.

13. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a display unit configured to display an augmented reality based camera view;

a memory configured to store the user'"'"'s search settings; and

a controller configured to search photo information associated with at least one location on which the focus of the camera view is placed from a network system based on the search settings, and display the relevant photo information for each storage source on the camera view.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the at least one location comprises a tourist resort, a specific building, a mountain, a sea and a hometown, and the network system comprises a cloud system and an SNS system.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the search settings comprises:

a search range indicating a distance for searching photos from the user'"'"'s current location;

a contents display range indicating a kind of searched photos;

a DB source indicating a service provider for searching photos;

a sorting method for sorting the searched photos by time and distance; and

a proximity distance range indicating a proximity distance to be displayed at a one side region of the camera view.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the photo information comprises photo and location information, and the photos are displayed in a region apart from the location information as photos captured at a location within a predetermined proximity distance.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the controller displays the photo information by sorting them by time and distance.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the controller updates the photo information to new photo information searched from the network system when a new location is entered on the camera view or the user changes its search range.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the controller deletes information associated with the relevant photo based on the updated information of the network system when a specific photo is deleted from the network system.

20. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the controller checks the user'"'"'s current location when a photo search function is selected and then reads prestored search settings, and searches photos within a contents display range shared by the DB source of the cloud and SNS systems around the search range at a current location based on the read search settings, and sorts the location information of the searched photos based on time and distance.

21. The mobile terminal of claim 13, the controller displays photos captured at the relevant location when specific photo information is selected, and searches information associated with the relevant location and displays the information on the screen when a search function for the displayed photos is selected, and transmits the displayed information to a network system based on the user'"'"'s input.

22. The mobile terminal of claim 21, wherein the controller displays a list of locations at which the photos are captured when a trace function is selected in the state that the searched photo information is displayed, and displays routes from the closest location to the next location as arrows, respectively, when a specific location is selected from the list, and displays the fastest road that can be moved to the relevant location when a specific arrow is selected from the arrows.

23. The mobile terminal of claim 22, wherein the controller compares the user'"'"'s location with the location of the photo when a same place search function is selected while moving to the selected location, and displays a moving direction when the two locations are not the same, and displays information for setting the composition of the camera view to the composition of a photo captured at the relevant location based on the user'"'"'s mode setting when the two locations are the same, and performs a photo capture for the relevant location when the user moves or selects a zoom function based on the information such that the two compositions are identical.

24. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein the user'"'"'s mode setting is one of an outline edge mode for displaying that an outline of the existing photo is overlapped with a camera view and a synchronization rate mode indicating a synchronization rate between the composition of the camera view and the composition of the previous photo, and the information is an outline or synchronization rate.