MOBILE TERMINAL AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME

• US 20180145937A1
• Filed: 07/28/2017
• Published: 05/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: CHOI, Huran, CHOI, Younhwa, JANG, Hyungtae, CHOI, Yoojin, KIM, Sunjae, YOON, Sunghye
• Granted Patent: US 10,616,155 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and a method for controlling the same. A mobile terminal displays a group chat screen corresponding to a group chat, determines whether exclusive conversations between several participants in the group chat are continued over a reference range, groups the exclusive conversations between those participants in the group chat when it is determined that the exclusive conversations between those participants are continued over a reference range, and displays a skip area for selectively confirming the grouped exclusive conversations within the group chat screen, wherein the mobile terminal restricts download and output of received information belonging to the skip area and updates an indication related to the exclusive conversations corresponding to the skip area, when the information is received.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a main body;

a wireless communication unit disposed in the main body and configured to receive information;

a touch screen configured to output a group chat screen corresponding to a group chat; and

a controller configured to;

determine whether exclusive conversations between several participants in the group chat are continued over a reference range,

group the exclusive conversations between those participants in the group chat when it is determined that the exclusive conversations between those participants are continued over a reference range, and

control the touch screen to display a skip area for selectively confirming the grouped exclusive conversations within the group chat screen,

wherein the controller is further configured to restrict download and output of received information belonging to the skip area and update an indication related to the exclusive conversations corresponding to the skip area, when the information is received.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine whether or not the exclusive conversations between those participants in the group chat are continued over the reference range based on at least one of a number of conversations, a conversation duration, and conversation contents between specific persons participated in the group chat.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to fold a displayed area of the exclusive conversations between those participants and is configured to replace the displayed area of the exclusive conversations between those participants with the skip area when the exclusive conversations between those participants in the group chat are continued over the reference range, and the controller is configured to display the skip area on the group chat screen at a started position of the exclusive conversation between those participants.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein when the information belonging to the skip area is received, the controller is configured to update at least one of keywords, a cumulative number of chat conversations and a cumulative number of shared contents, all related to the exclusive conversations output in the skip area, and

wherein when information without belonging to the skip area is received, the controller is further configured to download the information and output the downloaded information within the group chat screen out of the skip area.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein those participants corresponding to the skip area are set based on a user input applied on the group chat screen.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein guide information related to an amount of data to be consumed during a download of the exclusive conversations corresponding to the skip area is popped up when a touch input is applied to the skip area.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to provide a summary of the exclusive conversations corresponding to the skip area within the group chat screen, when a preset gesture is applied to the group chat screen while the exclusive conversations corresponding to the skip area are fully output within the group chat screen.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to output an icon for checking only shared contents in a distinguishing manner in the skip area when the shared contents are present in the exclusive conversations corresponding to the skip area, and

wherein the controller is configured to output the shared contents in the exclusive conversations corresponding to the skip area in a form of a preview image within the group chat screen, when a touch is applied to the icon.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to generate an image whose size changes in the skip area when one of the preview images is selected, and the controller is configured to output a part of the contents shared in the exclusive conversations within the generated image based on the selected preview image, and

wherein the controller is configured to restrict a download of other contents shared in the exclusive conversations while the part of the shared contents is output.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to generate an image whose size changes in the skip area when a touch input is applied to one of keywords output in the skip area, and

wherein the controller is configured to output exclusive conversations related to the touch input-applied keyword within the generated image.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to unfold the entire exclusive conversations corresponding to the skip area within the group chat screen while the skip area disappears, when a touch applied to the skip area is dragged toward a top of the group chat screen.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to provide a second skip area for selectively checking a second exclusive conversation in the group chat screen when the second exclusive conversation is continued over a reference range after first information without belonging to the skip area is output in the group chat screen, and

wherein the controller is configured to integrate the skip area and the second skip area with each other within the group chat screen.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to reconstruct a content shared in the exclusive conversations corresponding to the skip area to correspond to a low power mode and outputs the reconstructed content, when a charged level of a battery disposed in the main body is less than a reference value at a time point that a touch input is applied to the skip area, and

wherein the controller is further configured to differently convert a file size or a file format of the content shared in the exclusive conversations in the low power mode.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the group chat screen includes a message area and a background area,

wherein the controller is further configured to set a first content of a plurality of contents shared in the group chat screen as an image of the background area, and

wherein when a sharing request for a second content related to the group chat screen is received while the first content is output, the controller is further configured to output information related to the sharing request for the second content in the message area and control the touch screen to display an image corresponding to the second content instead of the set image of the background area.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 14, wherein the controller is configured to control display of information related to an originator who has requested for sharing of the second content and attribute information related to the second content in the message area when the sharing request for the second content is received.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 14, wherein the controller is further configured to output a detail view image of the shared content output in the background area in the entire touch screen when a touch input is applied to the background area while the chat screen is output, and

wherein the controller is further configure to execute a search mode based on a content-shared time point when a touch input is applied to the output detail view image in left and right directions.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 16, wherein in the search mode, the controller is configured to output one of shared contents in the chat screen as a background image, and the controller is configured to output at least part of the message area displayed at a shared time point of the corresponding content in the touch screen.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 16, wherein the image of the second content is changed to correspond to an indication indicating a secret content and displayed in the background area when the indication is included in the attribute information displayed in the message area, and the screen is controlled to output at least part of the hidden second content when a touch input is applied to the background area.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 16, wherein a plurality of images corresponding to a plurality of contents are output in the background area in a form of a collective view or a slide show, when it is confirmed, based on the information related to the sharing request output in the message area, that a sharing request for the plurality of contents is received for a preset time and information related to an originator sending the request for sharing the plurality of contents is the same.

20. The mobile terminal of claim 16, wherein an image output in the background area is differently changed based on a message related to a shared content when the message related to the shared content output in the background area is output in a message area.