Apparatus and method for displaying multimedia contents

• US 20070174791A1
• Filed: 01/17/2007
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Hyun-mi, Myung, In-sik, Kang, Hyun-joo, Choi, Seung-eok
• Granted Patent: US 8,375,332 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/838
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/434 using image data, e.g. images, photos, pictures taken by a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor

Abstract

Provided are an apparatus and method of displaying multimedia contents, more particularly, an apparatus and method of displaying stored multimedia contents to accommodate a user'"'"'s preference using limited buttons of a remote control device or a cellular phone. The apparatus for displaying multimedia contents includes an alignment condition determination unit determining an alignment condition corresponding to a first user command signal among a plurality of alignment conditions, a detailed condition determination unit determining a detailed condition corresponding to a second user command signal among detailed conditions included in the alignment condition, a contents extraction unit extracting first multimedia contents according to the determined detailed condition, and a display unit displaying the determined alignment condition in a first region, the determined detailed condition in a second region, and a second multimedia contents selected by a user among the extracted first multimedia contents in a third region of a screen.

Claims

1. An apparatus for displaying multimedia contents, the apparatus comprising:

an alignment condition determination unit which determines an alignment condition corresponding to a first user command signal among a plurality of alignment conditions;

a detailed condition determination unit which determines a detailed condition, among detailed conditions included in the alignment condition, corresponding to a second user command signal;

a contents extraction unit which extracts first multimedia contents according to the determined detailed condition; and

a display unit which displays the determined alignment condition in a first region, the determined detailed condition in a second region, and a second multimedia contents selected by a user among the extracted first multimedia contents in a third region of a screen.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first user command signal comprises direction button signals.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the alignment condition determination unit determines the alignment condition according to an up/down button signal among the direction button signals.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second user command signal comprises at least one of direction button signals and numeral button signals.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the detailed condition determination unit determines the detailed condition according to a left/right button signal among the direction button signals or one of the numeral button signals.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of alignment condition comprises at least one of a sequence of generation time of the first multimedia contents, a sequence of main colors included in the first multimedia contents, a sequence of contents included in the first multimedia contents, a sequence of user'"'"'s preference for the first multimedia contents, and a sequence of generation periods in which the first multimedia contents are generated.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the contents extraction unit extracts the first multimedia contents around the multimedia contents previously selected by the user.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the determined alignment condition and alignment conditions close to the determined alignment condition in the first region.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display unit displays a pointer in a portion corresponding to the detailed condition of the second multimedia contents in the second region.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display unit displays a part of the multimedia contents closely aligned to the second multimedia contents in the third region.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, if one of the direction button signals is selected beyond a predetermined critical time, the display unit shifts each thumbnail from the extracted first multimedia contents to the next frame at high speed in a predetermined region of the screen, and displays multimedia contents selected according to the shift in another region of the screen.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display unit displays thumbnails for a part or all of the extracted first multimedia contents.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a thumbnail generation unit which generates the thumbnails.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first multimedia contents comprise still pictures and motion pictures.

15. A method of displaying multimedia contents, the method comprising:

determining an alignment condition corresponding to a first user command signal among a plurality of alignment conditions;

determining a detailed condition, among detailed conditions included in the alignment condition, corresponding to a second user command signal;

extracting first multimedia contents according to the determined detailed condition; and

displaying the determined alignment condition in a first region, the determined detailed condition in a second region, and a second multimedia contents selected by a user among the extracted first multimedia contents in a third region of a screen.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first user command signal comprises direction button signals.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining of the alignment condition comprises determining the alignment condition according to an up/down button signal among the direction button signals.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the second user command signal comprises at least one of direction button signals and numeral button signals.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the determining of the detailed condition comprises determining the detailed condition according to a left/right button signal among the direction button signals or one of the numeral button signals.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of alignment conditions comprise at least one of a sequence of generation time of the first multimedia contents, a sequence of main colors included in the first multimedia contents, a sequence of contents included in the first multimedia contents, a sequence of user'"'"'s preference for the first multimedia contents, and a sequence of generation periods in which the first multimedia contents are generated.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the extracting comprises extracting the first multimedia contents around the multimedia contents previously selected by the user.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the determined alignment condition and alignment conditions close to the determined alignment condition in the first region.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein the displaying comprises displaying a pointer in a portion corresponding to the detailed condition of the second multimedia contents in the second region.

24. The method of claim 15, wherein the displaying comprises displaying a part of the multimedia contents closely aligned to the second multimedia contents in the third region.

25. The method of claim 15, wherein, if one of the direction button signals is selected beyond a predetermined critical time, the displaying comprises shifting each thumbnail from the extracted first multimedia contents to the next frame at high speed in a predetermined region of the screen and displaying multimedia contents selected according to the shift in another region of the screen.

26. The method of claim 15, wherein the displaying comprises displaying thumbnails for a part or all of the extracted first multimedia contents.

27. The method of 26, further comprising generating the thumbnails.

28. The method of 15, wherein the first multimedia contents comprise still pictures and motion pictures.