Method and apparatus for providing GUI

• US 9,143,343 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2009
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Deok-ho, Kim, Ki-ho
• Primary Examiner(s): Sax, Steven
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOI, DAVID E
• Application Number:
  US12/639,694
• Publication Number:
  US 20100162118A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,106 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/157, 345/173, 345/522, 345/594, 345/668, 715/236, 715/716, 715/747, 715/760, 715/771, 715/798, 715/856, 715/778, 715/762
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2805 Home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4112 having fewer capabilities than the client, e.g. thin client having less processing power or no tuning capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4113 PC
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4131 home appliance, e.g. lighting, air conditioning system, metering devices home automation data switching networks exchanging configuration information on appliance services H04L12/2807
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4363 Adapting the video stream to a specific local network, e.g. a Bluetooth® network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43635 HDMI
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43637 involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 : Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71

Abstract

A GUI providing method and a GUI providing apparatus are provided. According to the GUI providing method, a GUI from among GUIs for an external apparatus connected to a video apparatus is determined and displayed. Accordingly, if there are many GUIs for an apparatus, a GUI most suitable for the current circumstance is automatically determined and provided to a user.

Claims

1. A method for providing a Graphical User Interface (GUI), comprising:

displaying on a remote mobile device a list of external apparatuses connected to a video apparatus;

receiving, by the remote mobile device, at least two GUIs for each of the external apparatuses connected to the video apparatus from each of the plurality of external apparatuses, wherein each of the external apparatuses transmit said at least two GUIs of the respective external apparatus directly to the remote mobile device and wherein the at least two GUIs comprise different functionalities of a respective external apparatus and displayable layouts dedicated to said different functionalities of the respective external apparatus;

receiving device type information and interface type information of the each of the external apparatuses from the video apparatus;

selecting an external apparatus from the list in response to a user input;

selecting a GUI of the at least two GUIs of the selected external apparatus based on the received device type information and interface type information of the each of the external apparatuses; and

displaying on the remote mobile device the selected GUI to receive a user control input to control in real time an operation of the selected external apparatus with respect to the video apparatus.

2. The method for providing the GUI as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing a connection method between the video apparatus and the selected external apparatus;

wherein the GUI is selected from among the GUIs of the selected external apparatus based on the analyzed connection method.

3. The method for providing the GUI as claimed in claim 2, wherein the determining determines a first GUI from among GUIs for the selected external apparatus if the connection method is a first connection method, and determines a second GUI from among GUIs for the selected external apparatus if the connection method is a second connection method.

4. The method for providing the GUI as claimed in claim 2, wherein the analyzing analyzes the connection method based on information received from the video apparatus.

5. The method for providing the GUI as claimed in claim 2, wherein the selected external apparatus operates in an operation mode depending on the connection method with the video apparatus.

6. The method for providing the GUI as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing whether an event occurs in the selected external apparatus;

wherein the determining determines the GUI from among GUIs for the selected external apparatus based on information regarding whether the event occurs.

7. The method for providing the GUI as claimed in claim 6, further comprising:

displaying a second GUI for the selected external apparatus if the event occurs in the selected external apparatus while a first GUI for the selected external apparatus is displayed.

8. The method for providing the GUI as claimed in claim 1, wherein the displaying is a second displaying, the method further comprising:

first displaying the GUIs, the GUIs being for the selected external apparatus;

wherein the determining determines a GUI selected by a user as the GUI from among the GUIs for the selected external apparatus to be displayed in the second displaying.

9. The method for providing the GUI as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing a recent operation mode of the selected external apparatus and one of the most frequently used operation modes;

wherein the determining determines the GUI from among GUIs for the selected external apparatus to be displayed in the displaying based on the analyzing.

10. The method for providing the GUI as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receiving the selection, the determining, and the displaying are performed by the remote mobile device which receives a user'"'"'s command for the video apparatus and external apparatuses connected to the video apparatus.

11. The method for providing the GUI as claimed in claim 1, wherein the selected external apparatus operates in a mode from among a plurality of operation modes, and includes different GUIs for the corresponding plurality of operation modes.

12. The method for providing the GUI as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

transferring a first command for the video apparatus, to the video apparatus if the first command is received; and

transferring a second command for the selected external apparatus to the selected external apparatus via the video apparatus if the second command is received.

13. The method for providing a GUI as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving contents from the selected external apparatus via the video apparatus; and

reproducing the received contents.

14. The method for providing the GUI as claimed in claim 1, wherein the GUI includes at least one of a menu screen for the selected external apparatus, a list of contents stored in the selected external apparatus, a file browser for browsing files stored in the selected external apparatus, and a graphic interface for the selected external apparatus.

23. The method for providing a GUI as claimed in claim 1, wherein the determining of the GUI comprises receiving a user selection of a functionality for the selected external apparatus.

24. The method for providing a GUI as claimed in claim 1, wherein the displaying the determined GUI further comprises displaying the determined GUI on a screen of the video apparatus.

25. The method for providing a GUI as claimed in claim 1, wherein the determining the GUI from among the GUIs of the selected external apparatus comprises automatically selecting the GUI based on a recent operation mode and a frequency of usage for each of operation modes of the selected external apparatus.

26. The method for providing a GUI as claimed in claim 1, wherein the GUI for confirming SMS message is determined without user input, when the selected external apparatus is a mobile phone.

27. The method for providing a GUI as claimed in claim 1, wherein the determining the GUI from among the GUIs of the selected external apparatus comprises automatically selecting the GUI based on an occurred event in the selected external apparatus.

28. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising:

displaying GUI for controlling the first external device.

15. A method for providing a Graphical User Interface (GUI), comprising:

displaying on a remote mobile device a list of external apparatuses connected to a video apparatus and the video apparatus;

receiving, by the remote mobile device, at least two GUIs for each of the external apparatuses connected to the video apparatus from each of the plurality of external apparatuses, wherein each of the external apparatuses transmit said at least two GUIs of the respective external apparatus directly to the remote mobile device and wherein the at least two GUIs comprise different functionalities of a respective external apparatus and displayable layouts dedicated to different functionalities of the respective external apparatus;

selecting the video apparatus and one of the external apparatuses from the list in response to a user input;

selecting a GUI of the at least two GUIs of the selected apparatus based on the received device type information and interface type information of the each of the external apparatuses; and

displaying on the remote mobile device the selected GUI to receive a user control input to control in real time an operation of the selected apparatus with respect to the video apparatus.

16. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) providing apparatus, comprising:

a display unit which displays a list of external apparatuses connected to a video apparatus;

a receiving unit which receives at least two GUIs for each of the external apparatuses connected to the video apparatus from each of the plurality of external apparatuses, and device type information and interface type information of the each of the external apparatuses from the video apparatus, wherein each of the external apparatuses transmit said at least two GUIs of the respective external apparatus directly to the receiving unit and wherein the at least two GUIs comprise different functionalities of a respective external apparatus and displayable layouts dedicated to different functionalities of the respective external apparatus; and

a control unit executed by a processor which, if a user selects the video apparatus and one of the external apparatuses from the list in response to a user input, selects a GUI of the at least two GUIs of the selected external apparatus based on the received device type information and interface type information of the each of the external apparatuses, and controls the display unit so that the selected GUI is displayed to receive a user control input to control in real time an operation of the selected external apparatus with respect to the video apparatus, wherein the GUI providing apparatus is a remote mobile device.

17. The GUI providing apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the control unit analyzes a connection method between the video apparatus and the selected external apparatus, and determines the GUI from among GUIs for the selected external apparatus based on the connection method.

18. The GUI providing apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the control unit analyzes whether an event occurs in the selected external apparatus, and determines the GUI from among GUIs for the selected external apparatus based on information regarding whether the event occurs.

19. The GUI providing apparatus as claimed in claim 16, further comprising:

a communication unit which communicates with the video apparatus;

wherein the control unit transfers a first command for the video apparatus, to the video apparatus via the communication unit if the first command is received, and transfers a second command for the selected external apparatus, to the selected external apparatus via the communication unit and the video apparatus if the second command is received.

20. The GUI providing apparatus as claimed in claim 16, further comprising:

a storage unit which stores the GUIs for the external apparatuses;

wherein the control unit controls the GUI generation unit so that the determined GUI from among GUIs stored in the storage unit is displayed on the display.

21. The GUI providing apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein at least one external apparatus from among the external apparatuses is directly connected to the GUI providing apparatus.

22. The GUI providing apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the GUI includes at least one of a menu screen for the selected external apparatus, a list of contents stored in the selected external apparatus, a file browser for browsing files stored in the selected external apparatus, and a graphic interface for the selected external apparatus.