Apparatus for providing location information of hand-held device and method thereof

• US 8,712,434 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2012
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Lee, Sim Hong, Song, Han Bok
• Primary Examiner(s): MITCHELL, NATHAN A
• Application Number:
  US13/524,635
• Publication Number:
  US 20120315923A1
• Time in Patent Office: 683 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0045 Transmission from base station to mobile station G01S5/009 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing location information of a user terminal is provided, which makes it possible to mark the location of a user terminal using geographical information stored in a broadcast receiver.

Claims

1. A method for a broadcast receiver to provide location information of a user terminal connected to the broadcast receiver through a communication network, the method comprising:

registering at least one user terminal;

storing, at a memory of the broadcast receiver, information corresponding to each of the at least one user terminal;

requesting, from the broadcast receiver, location information of the user terminal;

receiving the location information and ambient environment information from the user terminal in response to the request, wherein the environment information is selected from the user terminal, the ambient environment information from the user terminal relates to the location information, and the ambient environment information is received with the location information, wherein the ambient environment information is one of audio information or video information of the user terminal;

retrieving geographical information stored in the broadcast receiver, wherein retrieving the geographical information includes;

determining whether or not the location information includes the geographical information; and

retrieving geographical information stored in the broadcast receiver when the location information does not include geographical information;

continuously marking locations of the user terminal in an order in which a plurality of corresponding location information are received from the user terminal to mark a movement path of the user terminal;

displaying, on a screen of the broadcast receiver, the geographical information and the movement path as a line of movement of the user terminal, and outputting the ambient environment information received from the user terminal related to the location information;

receiving a power-off request from a user;

receiving a request to continue receiving the location information from the user terminal; and

turning off power to certain components of the broadcast receiver, and continuing storing the location of the user terminal.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein marking the locations of the user terminal includes:

extracting coordinate information from the location information received from the user terminal; and

marking the locations of the user terminal on the geographical information using the coordinate information.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein requesting the location information of the user terminal from the broadcast receiver includes transmitting an identification number of the broadcast receiver and an identification number of the user terminal to the user terminal.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the geographical information stored in the broadcast receiver; and

storing the modified geographical information.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising marking the locations of the user terminal on the modified geographical information and displaying the marked location of the user terminal.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein modifying the geographical information includes changing scale of the geographical information, inserting at least one of an image, an avatar, and an emoticon into the geographical information.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising storing the geographical information marked with the locations of the user terminal or with the movement path of the user terminal.

8. The method according to claim 4, wherein modifying the geographical information includes inserting audio data into the geographical information based on the received ambient environment information related to the location information.

9. A broadcast receiver for providing location information of a user terminal, the broadcast receiver comprising:

a user interface for receiving a request from a user;

a communication unit for requesting, to a user terminal, location information through a communication network and receiving the location information and ambient environment information from the user terminal in response to the request, wherein the environment information is selected from the user terminal, the ambient environment information received from the user terminal relates to the location information, and the ambient environment information is received together with the location information, wherein the ambient environment information is one of audio information or video information of the user terminal;

a storage unit for storing geographical information and for storing information corresponding to each of at least one user terminal;

a location information processor for continuously marking a plurality of locations of the user terminal on the geographical information using the location information received from the user terminal;

a screen for displaying the marked plurality of locations of the user terminal in the form of a continuous line;

a unit to output the ambient environment information related to the location information of the user terminal;

a controller for controlling the screen to display the continuous line representing the plurality of locations of the user terminal on the geographical information;

a signal converter for converting, when the location information includes video or audio information not complying with a specification of the broadcast receiver, the video or audio information into a format complying with the specification of the broadcast receiver;

a broadcast signal input unit for tuning to a channel and receiving a broadcast signal through the tuned channel or receiving a broadcast signal from an external device;

a decoding unit for decoding the broadcast signal and the video or audio information included in the location information;

an A/V signal output unit for outputting the decoded broadcast signal or video or audio information; and

a signal synthesizer for outputting information output from the A/V signal output unit together with the location of the user terminal.

10. The broadcast receiver according to claim 9, wherein the storage unit stores the geographical information marked with the locations of the user terminal.

11. The broadcast receiver according to claim 9, wherein the output unit includes an OSD processor for outputting the locations of the user terminal using OSD data.

12. A method of providing location information of a user terminal, the method comprising:

registering at least one user terminal;

storing, at a memory of the broadcast receiver, information corresponding to each of the at least one user terminal;

receiving location information regarding the user terminal and ambient environment information regarding the location information, wherein the environment information is selected from the user terminal, the ambient environment information is received together with the location information, wherein the ambient environment information is one of audio information or video information of the user terminal;

obtaining geographic information based on the received location information, wherein obtaining the geographical information includes;

determining whether or not the location information includes the geographical information; and

obtaining geographical information stored in the broadcast receiver when the location information does not include geographical information;

displaying, on a display, a travel line on the geographic info nation, the displayed travel line representing continuous movement of the user terminal from a first point to a second point, and outputting the ambient environment information regarding the location information of the user terminal;

receiving a power-off request from a user;

receiving a request to continue receiving the location information from the user terminal; and

turning off power to certain components of the broadcast receiver, and continuing storing the location of the user terminal.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the geographic information is a map.