Mobile terminal and method of searching a contact in the mobile terminal

• US 8,874,608 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2010
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Song, Yoo-Mee, Yeo, Byung-Sang, Yun, Yee-Rang, Cho, Hye-Youn, Cho, Seong-Yoon, Son, Kyoung-Hee
• Primary Examiner(s): Perveen, Rehana
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khong, Alexander
• Application Number:
  US12/714,408
• Publication Number:
  US 20110078184A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,705 Days
• Field of Search: 707/636, 707/705, 707/706, 707/770
• US Class Current: 707/770
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A mobile terminal includes a wireless communication unit communicating with a server providing a social network service, a memory storing a contact list and account information related to the social network service, a user input unit receiving a search query, a controller searching for a contact person in the contact list based on the search query, the controller also connecting and transmitting information of the contact person found in the contact list to the server, and receiving a search result from the server, and a display unit displaying the search result.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

a display configured to display information;

a wireless communication unit configured to communicate with a plurality of servers providing a plurality of social network services of which a user of the mobile terminal is a subscriber, each of the plurality of servers providing a different social network service;

a memory configured to store a plurality of contacts and the user'"'"'s account information related to the plurality of social network services;

a user input unit configured to receive a command for searching for at least one contact; and

a controller configured to;

cause the display to display a contact list along with a menu icon for setting a search option;

cause the display to display an option menu for setting the search option in response to selection of the menu icon, the option menu comprising a first search option for searching for the at least one contact only from the plurality of contacts stored in the memory and a second search option for searching for the at least one contact from both the plurality of contacts stored in the memory and the plurality of servers;

search for the at least one contact among the plurality of contacts stored in the memory in response to the command according to the set search option;

cause the wireless communication unit to transmit information of the searched at least one contact to each of the plurality of servers when the search option is set to the second search option;

receive, via the wireless communication unit, a plurality of search results from the plurality of servers, the plurality of search results indicating whether the searched at least one contact is registered with at least one of the plurality of social network services and whether the searched at least one contact is registered as a friend with regard to the registered at least one of the plurality of social network services;

update the contact list including the searched at least one contact based on the plurality of search results received from the plurality of servers; and

cause the display to display the updated contact list with a plurality of icons associated with the searched at least one contact or each of the plurality of contacts, wherein each of the plurality of icons represents a corresponding one of the plurality of social network services and indicates a status of the searched at least one contact or a status of each of the plurality of contacts with respect to the corresponding one of the plurality of social network services.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein information of the at least one contact comprises at least a phone number, a name, an email, a home page address, or a user name.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the account information is pre-stored in the memory.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication unit is further configured to connect to the plurality of servers while the controller is searching for the at least one contact.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein:

the memory is further configured to store a client application for executing at least one of the social network services; and

the command is received via the user input unit while the client application is executed at the mobile terminal.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to cause the display to display:

a first contact that is searched from the plurality of contacts and registered with at least one of the plurality of social network services;

a first icon associated with the first contact, wherein the first icon is for adding the searched first contact as a friend in the at least one of the plurality of social network services;

a second contact that is searched from the plurality of contacts and not registered with any one of the plurality of social network services; and

a plurality of second icons associated with the second contact, wherein the plurality of second icons are for inviting the searched second contact to register with each of the plurality of social network services.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the user input unit comprises a touch screen.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the plurality of icons correspond to all social network services for which the user is registered as a subscriber.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the command comprises a search query associated with the at least one contact.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein:

the command is received without a search query;

the searched at least one contact comprises each of the plurality of contacts; and

each of the plurality of contacts in the updated contact list is displayed with the plurality of icons such that a different set of the plurality of icons is displayed based on whether each of the plurality of contacts is registered with any one of the plurality of social services and whether each of the plurality of contacts is registered as a friend with the user with respect to any one of the plurality of social services.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the display is further configured to display a search query input window and to display a search query received via the user input unit in the search query input window to search for the at least one contact.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the display is further configured to display a search result based on the received search query while the search query is displayed in the search query input window.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to check whether each of the plurality of contacts stored in the memory is a registered user of at least one of the plurality of social network services in response to the command.

20. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to cause the display to display a search result along with applicable command icons related to the searched at least one contact based on whether the searched at least one contact is registered as the friend.

21. The mobile terminal of claim 20, wherein the command icons comprise at least an icon for removing the searched at least one contact from registration as the friend.

11. A mobile terminal comprising:

a user input unit configured to receive;

a command for finding a contact from a plurality of contacts; and

a search query;

a memory configured to store the plurality of contacts;

a controller configured to search for the contact from the plurality of contacts stored in the memory based on the received search query;

a wireless communication unit configured to communicate with a website server providing a social network service to at least transmit or receive data associated with the searched contact to or from the website server; and

a display unit configured to display;

a contact list, including the plurality of contacts, along with a menu icon for setting a search option;

the search query received via the user input unit;

a search result including information related to the searched contact; and

an icon associated with the searched contact,

wherein;

the controller is further configured to search for the contact according to a preset mode selected from a search option, the search option comprising;

a first search option for searching for the contact only from the plurality of contacts stored in the memory; and

a second search option for searching for the contact from the plurality of contacts stored in the memory and then searching for the contact from a plurality of website servers, using the information related to the contact searched from the plurality of contacts stored in the memory;

the controller is further configured to cause the display unit to display an option menu for setting the search option in response to selection of the menu icon, the option menu comprising the first search option and the second search option;

the controller is further configured to cause the wireless communication unit to transmit the search result to the plurality of website servers to be compared with information of social network service subscribers stored at each of the plurality of website servers when the search option is set to the second search option, each of the plurality of website servers providing a corresponding one of a plurality of social network services that are registered in the mobile terminal;

the controller is further configured to cause the display unit to display a plurality of icons associated with the searched contact based on information received from each of the plurality of website servers, the received information indicating whether the searched contact is registered with at least one of the plurality of social network services and whether the searched contact is registered as a friend with regard to the registered at least one of the plurality of social network services, and each of the plurality of icons representing a corresponding one of the plurality of social networking services; and

the plurality of icons comprise an icon for adding the searched contact as a friend in at least one of the plurality of social network services if the searched contact is registered with the at least one of the plurality of social network services and not yet registered as the friend with regard to the at least one of the plurality of social network services, an icon for indicating the searched contact as a friend in at least one of the plurality of social network services if the searched contact is registered as the friend with regard to the at least one of the plurality of social network services, or an icon for inviting the searched contact to register with at least one of the plurality of social network services if the searched contact is not registered with the at least one of the plurality of social network services.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the information related to the searched contact comprises at least a phone number, a name, an email, a home page address, or a user name.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the memory is further configured to store a user'"'"'s social network service account information and the controller is further configured to connect to the website server by using the social network service account information stored in the memory.

14. A method of searching for a contact in a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

connecting to a server providing a social network service and having information about social network service subscribers by using user account information related to the social network service;

displaying, via a display of the mobile terminal, a contact list, including a plurality of contacts, along with a menu icon for setting a search option;

displaying, via the display, an option menu for setting the search option in response to selection of the menu icon, the option menu comprising a first search option for searching for the contact only from the plurality of contacts stored in the mobile terminal and a second search option for searching for the contact from both the plurality of contacts stored in the mobile terminal and a plurality of servers;

receiving, via an input unit of the mobile terminal, a search query for searching for the contact based on at least contact information stored in the mobile terminal or the server, the received search query comprising at least partial text associated with the contact to be searched;

displaying, via the display, at least a search query input window including the received search query and a search result including at least the searched contact;

connecting to the plurality of servers when the search option is set to the second search option, each of the plurality of servers providing a corresponding one of a plurality of social network services of which a user of the mobile terminal is a subscriber;

communicating with the plurality of servers to share at least partial information associated with the searched contact when the search option is set to the second search option;

updating the contact information stored in the mobile terminal based on information related to the searched contact that is received from the plurality of servers, the received information indicating whether the searched contact is registered with at least one of the plurality of social network services and whether the searched contact is registered as a friend with regard to the registered at least one of the plurality of social network services; and

displaying the updated contact information via the display, the searched contact in the updated contact information being displayed with a plurality of icons, each of the plurality of icons representing a corresponding one of the plurality of social network services and indicating a status of the searched contact or a status of each of the plurality of contacts with respect to the corresponding one of the plurality of social network services.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of icons comprise at least an icon for adding the searched contact as a friend in at least one of the plurality of social network services, an icon for indicating the searched contact as a friend in at least one of the plurality of social network services, or an icon for inviting the searched contact to register with at least one of the plurality of social network services based on a status of the searched contact with respect to each of the plurality of social network services.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying the contact information including a contact corresponding to the searched contact prior to receiving the search query, the plurality of icons not being displayed.