Mobile terminal and method of controlling operation of the mobile terminal

• US 8,738,713 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2011
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Taeyong
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu, Kibrom T
• Application Number:
  US13/080,417
• Publication Number:
  US 20110252102A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,148 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/32 Means for saving power
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments

Abstract

A mobile terminal and a method of controlling the operation of the mobile terminal are provided. The method includes downloading, via a wireless communication unit, an email into a temporary storage from a mail server, wherein the email includes a header, a content, and a first file, converting, via a controller, the first file corresponding to a file attachment in the email into a second file to fit a size of a display area, storing the email and the second file in a memory, withdrawing, from the memory, the content of the email and displaying, on the display area, the content, if a first request to display the content is received, and withdrawing, from the memory, the second file and displaying the second file on the display area, if a second request to display the first file is received.

Claims

1. A method of controlling the operation of a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

downloading, via a wireless communication unit, an email into a temporary storage from a mail server, wherein the email includes a header, content, and a first file;

converting, via a controller, the first file corresponding to a file attachment in the email into a second file to fit a size of a display area of the mobile terminal;

storing the email and the second file in a memory;

withdrawing, from the memory, the content of the email and displaying, on the display area, the content, if a first request to display the content is received; and

withdrawing, from the memory, the second file and displaying the second file on the display area without a requirement of rendering the first file, if a second request to display the first file is received, wherein the converting of the first file comprises automatically executing a file viewer and creating the second file through the executing file viewer upon the commencement of the downloading of the email, and wherein the download of the email, the execution of the file viewer and the conversion of the file attachment in the email are performed at the same time in a time-sharing manner by the controller of the mobile terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the converting of the first file comprises:

converting the first file into the second file upon the commencement of the downloading the email.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory includes a secure digital (SD) memory.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first file is an uncompressed bitmap image file provided by the mail server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first file is obtained by file conversion performed by the mail server and is readily displayed on the display area without further decoding the first file upon receiving the second request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the converting step reduces a size of the first file into a size of the second file, and the size of the second file is smaller than the size of the first file.

7. The method of claim 1, when the file attachment comprises a multimedia data file, the method further comprising:

converting the file attachment having a first format into a file having a predetermined second format to be readily displayed on the display area of the mobile terminal without further decoding the file attachment before converting the first file into the second file.

8. A mobile terminal comprising:

a wireless communication unit configured to download an email from a mail server, wherein the email includes a header, content and a file attachment;

a display module configured to display the content and the file attachment in the email;

a memory; and

a controller configured;

to convert the file attachment into a file that fits a size of a display area on the display module, to store the email and the converted file in the memory, to withdraw the content from the memory and display the content on the display module, if a first request to display the content is received, to withdraw the file from the memory and display the converted file on the display module without a requirement of rendering the file attachment, if a second request to view the file attachment is received, to automatically execute a file viewer and create the second file through the executing file viewer upon the commencement of the downloading of the email, and to perform the download of the email, the execution of the file viewer and the conversion of the file attachment in the email at the same time in a time-sharing manner by the controller of the mobile terminal.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the memory includes an SD memory.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein he controller is further configured to convert the file attachment upon the commencement of the download of the email.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to include a temporary storage therein to store the file attachment.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the file attachment includes an uncompressed bitmap image file provided by the mail server.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the file attachment includes a file obtained by file conversion performed by the mail server and is readily displayed on the display module without further decoding the file attachment upon receiving the second request.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to reduce a size of the first file into a size of the second file, and the size of the second file is smaller than the size of the first file.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein when the file attachment comprises a multimedia data file, the controller is further configured to convert the file attachment having a first format into another file having a predetermined second format to be readily displayed on the display module of the mobile terminal without further decoding the file attachment before converting the file attachment into the file.