CONTENT SHARING METHOD AND MOBILE TERMINAL USING THE METHOD

• US 20130262578A1
• Filed: 10/26/2012
• Published: 10/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: KIM, Jae-hwan
• Granted Patent: US 9,900,415 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2745 using static electronic memories, e.g. chips
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27457 Management thereof, e.g. manual editing of data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A method of sharing content performed by a mobile terminal is provided. The method includes providing a list of social groups that share group activity information of a group member by executing a phone book, receiving a selection of at least one social group from the list of social groups, transmitting at least one piece of content selected by a first user of the mobile terminal to a device of a group member included in the selected at least one social group, and adding the transmitted at least one piece of content to a group share space corresponding to the selected at least one social group.

Claims

1. A method of sharing content, performed by a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

providing a list of social groups that share group activity information of a group member by executing a phone book;

receiving a selection of at least one social group from the list of social groups;

transmitting at least one piece of content selected by a first user of the mobile terminal to a device of a group member included in the selected at least one social group; and

adding the transmitted at least one piece of content to a group share space corresponding to the selected at least one social group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing of the list of social groups comprises:

displaying a list of second users registered in the phone book;

receiving from the first user a selection of at least one second user from the list of second users; and

providing a list of social groups that the selected at least one second user joins.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the selection of the at least one social group comprises receiving selections of a plurality of social groups, wherein the transmitting of the at least one piece of content comprises transmitting the at least one piece of content selected by the first user of the mobile terminal to devices of group members included in each of the plurality of social groups, and

wherein the adding of the transmitted at least one piece of content comprises adding the transmitted at least one piece of content to a group share space corresponding to each of the plurality of social groups.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing of the list of social groups comprises:

receiving a share request to share the at least one piece of content with the group member from the first user; and

providing the list of social groups by executing the phone book in response to the share request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one piece of content comprises at least one piece of information regarding a predefined application or link information of a web browser.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the group activity information comprises at least one piece of information selected from among message information, photo information, bookmark information, music information, video information, and document information of the group member.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an external Social Networking Service (SNS) group list by executing a phone book;

receiving a selection of at least one external SNS group from the external SNS group list from the first user;

transmitting the at least one piece of content to a device of a group member included in the selected at least one external SNS group or to an external SNS server corresponding to the selected at least one external SNS group; and

adding the at least one piece of content to a group share space corresponding to the selected at least one external SNS group.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an instant group list by executing a phone book;

receiving from the first user a selection of at least one instant group from the instant group list; and

transmitting the at least one piece of content to a device of a group member included in the selected at least one instant group.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the providing of the instant group list comprises:

transmitting messages to devices of a plurality of third users selected by the first user;

receiving a request to create an instant group from the first user with respect to the plurality of third users to which the messages are transmitted; and

creating an instant group including the plurality of third users and adding the created instant group to the phone book in response to the instant group creation request.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an external device search request from the first user;

searching for devices of second users registered in the phone book that are located within a predefined distance from the mobile terminal in response to the external device search request;

providing a list of second users corresponding to the found devices;

receiving from the first user a selection of at least one second user from the list of second users; and

transmitting the at least one piece of content to a device of the selected at least one second user.

20. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for executing the method of sharing content of claim 1.

11. A mobile terminal comprising:

a display unit for providing a list of social groups that share group activity information of a group member by executing a phone book;

a user input unit for receiving a selection of at least one social group from the list of social groups;

a communication unit for transmitting at least one piece of content selected by a first user of the mobile terminal to a device of a group member included in the selected at least one social group; and

a control unit for adding the transmitted at least one piece of content to a group share space corresponding to the selected at least one social group, and for controlling the display unit, the user input unit, and the communication unit.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the display unit displays a list of second users registered in the phone book, and, when at least one second user is selected from the list of second users by the first user, provides a list of social groups that the selected at least one second user joins.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the user input unit receives selections of a plurality of social groups,

wherein the communication unit transmits the at least one piece of content selected by the first user of the mobile terminal to devices of group members included in each of the plurality of social groups, and

wherein the control unit adds the transmitted at least one piece of content to a group share space corresponding to each of the plurality of social groups.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the user input unit receives a share request to share the at least one piece of content with the group member from the first user, and

wherein the display unit provides the list of social groups by executing the phone book in response to the share request.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the at least one piece of content comprises at least one piece of information regarding a predefined application or link information of a web browser.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the group activity information comprises at least one piece of information selected from among message information, photo information, bookmark information, music information, video information, and document information of the group member.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the display unit provides an external SNS group list by executing a phone book,

wherein the user input unit receives a selection of at least one external SNS group from the external SNS group list from the first user,

wherein the communication unit transmits the at least one piece of content to a device of a group member included in the selected at least one external SNS group or to an external SNS server corresponding to the selected at least one external SNS group, and

wherein the control unit adds the at least one piece of content to a group share space corresponding to the selected at least one external SNS group.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the display unit provides an instant group list by executing a phone book,

wherein the user input unit receives a selection of at least one instant group from the instant group list from the first user, and

wherein the communication unit transmits the at least one piece of content to a device of a group member included in the selected at least one instant group.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the user input unit receives an external device search request from the first user,

wherein the control unit searches for devices of second users registered in the phone book that are located within a predefined distance from the mobile terminal in response to the external device search request,

wherein the display unit provides a list of second users corresponding to the found devices, and

wherein, when at least one second user is selected from the list of second users by the first user, the communication unit transmits the at least one piece of content to a device of the selected at least one second user.