Portable multimedia playback apparatus, portable media playback system, and method for controlling operations thereof

• US 9,148,502 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2010
• Issued: 09/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Choi, Kyungdong, Park, Seongwon
• Primary Examiner(s): AKINYEMI, AJIBOLA A
• Application Number:
  US12/945,746
• Publication Number:
  US 20110269506A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,782 Days
• Field of Search: 455/566
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces

Abstract

A portable multimedia playback apparatus, a portable multimedia playback system, and a method for controlling operations thereof are disclosed. The method for controlling an operation of the portable multimedia playback apparatus having a display unit for displaying an image corresponding to a played-back multimedia content and a controller for outputting a display signal to the display unit to display the image corresponding to the played-back multimedia content on the display unit, includes receiving a signal from a mobile terminal capable of executing a phone application, determining status information about the mobile terminal from information included in the received signal, and outputting a display signal from the controller to the display unit such that an image corresponding to the determined status information is displayed on the display unit.

Claims

1. A portable multimedia playback apparatus comprising:

a display unit configured to display multimedia content;

a controller configured to output a signal to the display unit to display an image related to the multimedia content; and

a wireless communication module configured to wirelessly transmit and receive signals to and from at least one mobile terminal capable of executing a phone application, the mobile terminal being an external device configured to wirelessly and directly communicate with the portable multimedia playback apparatus,

wherein the controller of the portable multimedia playback apparatus is configured to;

receive a signal including location information and status information about the mobile terminal wirelessly through the wireless communication module from the mobile terminal,

output a display signal to the display unit of the portable multimedia playback apparatus to display a status bar for the mobile terminal including at least one icon representing the status information about the mobile terminal, in a display area of the display unit corresponding to a relative location of the mobile terminal with respect to the portable multimedia playback apparatus, and

when a current mode of the mobile terminal is changed, change the at least one icon representing the status information according to the changed mode of the mobile terminal, and

wherein the status information includes information about the current mode of the mobile terminal including at least one of an idle mode, an incoming call mode, or an incoming message mode.

2. The portable multimedia playback apparatus of claim 1, wherein the status bar includes a section indicating that the mobile terminal is operating.

3. A portable multimedia playback system comprising:

at least one mobile terminal configured to execute a phone application; and

a portable multimedia playback apparatus including;

a display unit configured to display multimedia content;

a controller configured to output a signal to the display unit to display an image related to the multimedia content; and

a wireless communication module configured to wirelessly transmit and receive signals to and from the mobile terminal,

wherein the controller of the portable multimedia playback apparatus is configured to;

receive a signal including location information and status information about the mobile terminal wirelessly through the wireless communication module from the mobile terminal,

output a display signal to the display unit of the portable multimedia playback apparatus to display a status bar for the mobile terminal including at least one icon representing the status information about the mobile terminal, in a display area of the display unit corresponding to a relative location of the mobile terminal with respect to the portable multimedia playback apparatus, and

when a current mode of the mobile terminal is changed, change the at least one icon representing the status information according to the changed mode of the mobile terminal, wherein the status information includes information about the current mode of the mobile terminal including at least one of an idle mode, an incoming call mode, or an incoming message mode, and

wherein the mobile terminal is an external device configured to wirelessly and directly communicate with the portable multimedia playback apparatus.

4. A method for controlling an operation of a portable multimedia playback apparatus (PMPA) including a display unit configured to display multimedia content and a controller configured to output a signal to the display unit to display an image related to the multimedia content, the method comprising:

wirelessly communicating with at least one mobile terminal capable of executing a phone application, the mobile terminal being an external device configured to and directly wirelessly communicate with the portable multimedia playback apparatus;

receiving a signal including local information and status information about the mobile terminal wirelessly from the mobile terminal, in a display area of the display unit corresponding to a relative location of the mobile terminal with respect to the portable multimedia playback apparatus; and

outputting a display signal from the controller to the display unit of the portable multimedia playback apparatus to display a status bar for the mobile terminal including at least one icon representing the status information about the mobile terminal; and

when a current mode of the mobile terminal is changed, changing the at least one icon representing the status information according to the changed mode of the mobile terminal, wherein the status information includes information about the current mode of the mobile terminal including at least one of an idle mode, an incoming call mode, or an incoming message mode.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising, when the current mode of the mobile terminal changes, changing the signal output to the display unit such that the at least one icon corresponding to the status information is changed on the display unit.

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

detecting an icon selection command for including an icon in the status bar to the PMPA; and

storing an icon list corresponding to the icon selection command,

wherein the outputting the signal includes outputting the signal from the controller to the display unit such that the status bar includes icons listed in the stored icon list is displayed on the display unit.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the at least one icon is at least one of an icon representing a message reception status of the mobile terminal, an icon representing an incoming call reception status of the mobile terminal, an icon representing an alarm status of the mobile terminal, and an icon representing a scheduled status of the mobile terminal.

8. The method according to claim 4, wherein receiving the signal from the mobile terminal includes receiving the signal through the wireless communication module, and

wherein outputting the display signal includes outputting the display signal from the controller to the display unit such that the at least one icon representing the status information is included in the status bar on the display unit.

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

detecting a command for changing a display area of the at least one icon corresponding to the status information; and

changing the display area of the at least one icon corresponding to the status information on the display unit according to the detected command.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the display unit of the PMPA further includes a touch screen, and

wherein detecting the command for changing the display area further includes at least one of detecting whether the display area of the at least one icon corresponding to the status information is touched and dragged and detecting whether the display area of the at least one icon corresponding to the status information is touched for at least a predetermined time.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein changing the display area includes a stepwise enlarging of the display area of the at least one icon corresponding to the status information.

12. The method according to claim 4, wherein the display area corresponding to the relative location of the mobile terminal is positioned at one of an upper portion, a lower portion, a left portion, and a right portion of the display unit.

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

receiving a signal from another mobile terminal; and

determining a relative location of the other mobile terminal with respect to the portable multimedia playback apparatus,

wherein outputting the display signal outputting includes outputting the display signal from the controller to the display unit such that icons corresponding to status information about each of mobile terminals is displayed in an area corresponding to the relative locations of the mobile terminals.

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

detecting an object display command for displaying a keyboard object through which text is entered for transmission to the mobile terminal; and

displaying the keyboard object on the display unit after detecting the object display command.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising transmitting a signal carrying information about text entered through the keyboard object to the mobile terminal.

16. A method for controlling an operation of a portable multimedia playback system having a portable multimedia playback apparatus (PMPA) and at least one mobile terminal capable of executing a phone application, the PMPA including a display unit configured to display multimedia content and a controller configured to output a signal to the display unit to display an image related to the multimedia content, and the mobile terminal being an external device configured to wirelessly and directly communicate with the PMPA, the method comprising:

transmitting a signal including location information and status information about the mobile terminal wirelessly to the PMPA by the mobile terminal;

receiving the signal from the mobile terminal by the PMPA;

determining the status information about the mobile terminal based on the received signal by the PMPA; and

outputting a first display signal to the display unit of the PMPA by the controller of the PMPA such that a status bar for the mobile terminal including at least one icon representing the status information is displayed on a display area of the display unit corresponding to a relative location of the mobile terminal with respect to the PMPA;

when a current mode of the mobile terminal is changed, outputting a second display signal to the display unit of the PMPA by the controller of the PMPA such that the at least one icon representing the status information is changed according to the changed mode of the mobile terminal,

wherein the status information includes information about a current mode of the mobile terminal including at least one of an idle mode, an incoming call mode, or an incoming message mode.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising:

detecting an object display command for displaying a keyboard object through which text is entered for transmission to the mobile terminal has been received by the PMPA; and

displaying the keyboard object on the display unit after detecting the object display command.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising transmitting a signal carrying information about text entered through the keyboard object to the mobile terminal by the PMPA.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

receiving the signal carrying text information from the PMPA by the mobile terminal;

determining the text information from the received signal by the mobile terminal; and

transmitting a message based on the determined text information to a base station by the mobile terminal.