Mobile terminal and method of controlling the mobile terminal

• US 9,730,069 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2014
• Issued: 08/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Noh, Hyunyong, Lee, Jungsu, Kim, Sangwon
• Primary Examiner(s): Afshar, Kamran
• Assistant Examiner(s): Madani, Farideh
• Application Number:
  US14/187,825
• Publication Number:
  US 20140273964A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,261 Days
• Field of Search: 455411, 340 551, 340 552, 340 561, 340 583, 345156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/67 by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/065 Continuous authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/068 using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A mobile terminal including a display unit on which objects corresponding to at least one selected application from among multiple applications executable on the mobile terminal are output in a locked mode; a user identification unit that identifies at least one user of the mobile terminal and determines whether the at least one user is authorized to cancel the locked mode; and a controller that only grants access for at least one individually assigned application among the multiple applications to the user authorized to cancel the locked mode of the mobile terminal. The at least one user has access to only at least one assigned function among multiple functions included in the at least one individually assigned application.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

a display;

a user identification unit configured to identify a user of the mobile terminal as an owner of the mobile terminal or a user other than the owner; and

a controller configured to;

control the display to display during a locked mode objects corresponding to a subset of all applications available on the mobile terminal,

control the display to display icons representing less than all functions available in an application and to hide an icon for each function unavailable in the application when an object corresponding to the application is selected from the objects corresponding to the subset of all applications during the locked mode and when the user of the mobile terminal is yet to be identified as the owner, and

control the display to display icons representing all functions available in the application including the icon for each function unavailable in the application when the user of the mobile terminal becomes identified as the owner when the object corresponding to the application is selected from the objects corresponding to the subset of all applications during the locked mode.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the user identification unit recognizes and photographs a face of the user facing toward the display with a camera integrated into a main body of the mobile terminal, compares an image of the photographed face of the user against images of multiple users stored in a memory of the mobile terminal, and deter mines whether the user is authorized to cancel the locked mode.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the controller outputs an object indicating whether the user of the mobile terminal is authorized to cancel the locked mode to the display.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the controller outputs an identification object individually assigned to the user if the user is authorized to cancel the locked mode to the display.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the controller outputs an indicator indicating a location of a face of the user with respect to the display.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the controller outputs a region for recognizing the face of the user to the display.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the controller outputs an image effect indicating an extent to which a region where the face of the user is currently recognized matches with a region for recognizing the face of the user to the display.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the controller outputs an extent of image processing associated with the image of the face of the user to the display.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the display outputs different user identification information corresponding to a plurality of users authorized to cancel the lock mode, respectively.

10. A method of controlling a mobile terminal, comprising:

outputting, on a display of the mobile terminal in a locked mode, objects corresponding to a subset of all applications available on the mobile terminal;

identifying a user of the mobile terminal as an owner of the mobile terminal or a user other than the owner;

displaying icons representing less than all functions available in an application and hiding an icon for each function unavailable in the application when an object corresponding to the application is selected from the objects corresponding to the subset of all applications during the locked mode and when the user of the mobile terminal is yet to be identified as the owner; and

displaying, on the display, icons representing all functions available in the application including the icon for each function unavailable in the application when the user of the mobile terminal becomes identified as the owner when the object corresponding to the application is selected from the objects corresponding to the subset of all applications during the locked mode.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the identifying of the user includes recognizing and photographing a face of the user facing toward the display with a camera integrated into a main body of the mobile terminal, comparing an image of the photographed face of the user against images of multiple users stored in a memory of the mobile terminal, and determining whether the user is authorized to cancel the locked mode.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

outputting an object indicating whether the user is authorized to cancel the locked mode to the display.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

outputting an identification object individually assigned to the user if the user is authorized to cancel the locked mode to the display.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

outputting an indicator indicating a location of a face of the user with respect to the display.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

outputting a region for recognizing the face of the user to the display.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

outputting an image effect indicating an extent to which a region where the face of the user currently recognized matches with a region for recognizing the face of the user to the display.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

outputting an extent of image processing associated with the image of the face of the user to the display.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

outputting different user identification information corresponding to a plurality of users authorized to cancel the lock mode, respectively, to the display.