APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING LOCATION INFORMATION OF HAND-HELD DEVICE AND METHOD THEREOF

• US 20100113062A1
• Filed: 02/04/2008
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Lee, Sim Hong, Song, Han Bok
• Granted Patent: US 8,224,347 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0045 Transmission from base station to mobile station G01S5/009 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing location information of a user terminal is provided, which makes it possible to mark the location of a user terminal using geographical information stored in a broadcast receiver.

Claims

1. A method for a broadcast receiver providing location information of a user terminal connected to the broadcast receiver through a communication network, the method comprising:

requesting location information of the user terminal from the user terminal;

receiving the location information from the user terminal in response to the request;

retrieving geographical information stored in the broadcast receiver;

marking a location of the user terminal on the geographical information using the location information; and

outputting the marked location of the user terminal to a display screen.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein marking the location of the user terminal includes:

extracting coordinate information from the location information; and

marking the location of the user terminal on the geographical information using the coordinate information.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein requesting the location information of the user terminal from the user terminal includes transmitting an identification number of the broadcast receiver and an identification number of the user terminal to the user terminal.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein retrieving the geographical information includes:

determining whether or not the location information includes the geographical information; and

retrieving geographical information stored in the broadcast receiver if the location information does not include geographical information.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein outputting the location of the user terminal includes:

determining, if the location information includes video or audio information, whether or not the video or audio information complies with a specification of the broadcast receiver;

converting the video or audio information into a format complying with the specification of the broadcast receiver if the video or audio information does not comply with the specification of the broadcast receiver;

decoding the video or audio information complying with the specification of the broadcast receiver; and

outputting the video or audio information together with the location of the user terminal.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein outputting the location of the user terminal includes outputting the location of the user terminal using OSD data.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein outputting the location of the user terminal includes outputting the location of the user terminal using the OSD data together with broadcast information received by the broadcast receiver.

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

receiving a power-off request from a user;

receiving a request to continue the method for providing the location information of the user terminal; and

turning off power to components of the broadcast receiver which do not perform the method for providing the location information of the user terminal, and continuing outputting the location of the user terminal using the OSD data.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein further comprising marking locations of the user terminal in an order in which a plurality of corresponding location information are received from the user terminal to mark a movement path of the user terminal.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the geographical information stored in the broadcast receiver; and

storing the modified geographical information.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising marking the location of the user terminal on the modified geographical information and outputting the marked location of the user terminal.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein modifying the geographical information includes changing scale of the geographical information, inserting at least one of an image, an avatar, and an emoticon into the geographical information, or inserting audio data into the geographical information.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising storing the geographical information marked with the location of the user terminal or with the movement path of the user terminal.

14. A broadcast receiver for performing a method for providing location information of a user terminal, the broadcast receiver comprising:

a user interface for receiving a request from a user;

a communication unit for requesting location information from a user terminal through a communication network and receiving the location information from the user terminal in response to the request;

a storage unit for storing geographical information;

a location information processor for marking a location of the user terminal on the geographical information using the location information received from the user terminal;

an output unit for outputting the marked location of the user terminal; and

a controller for performing a control operation to mark and output the location of the user terminal on the geographical information according to a request from the user through the user interface.

15. The broadcast receiver according to claim 14, wherein the storage unit stores the geographical information marked with the location of the user terminal.

16. The broadcast receiver according to claim 14, further comprising a signal converter for converting, if the location information includes video or audio information not complying with a specification of the broadcast receiver, the video or audio information into a format complying with the specification of the broadcast receiver.

17. The broadcast receiver according to claim 14, wherein the output unit includes an OSD processor for outputting the location of the user terminal using OSD data.

18. The broadcast receiver according to claim 14, further comprising:

a broadcast signal input unit for tuning to a channel and receiving a broadcast signal through the tuned channel or receiving a broadcast signal from an external device;

a decoding unit for decoding the broadcast signal and the video or audio information included in the location information;

an A/V signal output unit for outputting the decoded broadcast signal or video or audio information; and

a signal synthesizer for outputting information output from the A/V signal output unit together with the location of the user terminal.