METHOD OF AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLING OPERATION BETWEEN TERMINALS AND TERMINAL SUPPORTING THE SAME

• US 20100227556A1
• Filed: 03/01/2010
• Published: 09/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: SHIN, Seung Woo, KIM, Kyung Hwa, OH, Jung Yeob, KIM, Jin Yong, LEE, Myeong Lo
• Application Number:
  US12/714,635
• Publication Number:
  US 20100227556A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1636 Sensing arrangement for detection of a tap gesture on the housing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

A method of automatically controlling operation between mobile terminals and a terminal supporting the same provide for automatic operation control terminals to control each terminal to recognize a specific operation generated in the terminal. Terminals generating the same operation signal automatically activate a near-distance communication module, and automatically forms a communication channel based on the near-distance communication module.

Claims

1. A method of automatically controlling operation between two or more terminals, comprising:

generating an operation signal by at least two terminals according to a specific operation;

activating a near-distance communication module in each of the at least two terminals according to the generation of the operation signal;

searching for other terminals having experienced occurrence of a same operation signal as the operation signal generated by at least one of the at least two terminals; and

forming a near-distance communication channel between the other terminals having experienced occurrence of the same operation signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein activating the near-distance communication module in each of the two terminals activates a respective Bluetooth module included in each of terminal, and wherein a code input procedure for an authentication check of the other terminals to be executed according to the activation of the Bluetooth module is omitted and is replaced by a procedure of checking the operation signal for a code input procedure.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein searching for other terminals comprises:

generating a query message containing information regarding the operation signal and information regarding a generation time of the operation signal;

transmitting the generated query message to at least one other terminal; and

searching for a particular terminal with the same information as the information contained in the query message from among the other terminals.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the two terminals comprise a first mobile terminal and a second mobile terminal, and when the first mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal contact each other in a predetermined direction to generate the operation signal, searching for other terminals comprises:

generating a query message containing information regarding the operation signal, information regarding a location where the operation signal is generated, and information regarding a generation time of the operation signal;

transmitting the generated query message to at least one other terminal; and

searching for a terminal with a same information as the information contained in the query message from among the other terminals.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the two terminals comprise a first mobile terminal and a second mobile terminal, and when one side of the first mobile terminal and one side of the second mobile terminal contact each other during generation of the operation signal to generate an operation signal according to the contact of the first and second mobile terminals, searching for other terminals comprises:

generating a query message containing information regarding the operation signal and information regarding a time when the operation signal is generated, and regarding allowable error information for recognizing as the same operation signal based on generation time of the operation signal;

transmitting the generated query message to at least one other terminal; and

searching for a particular terminal with information identical to information contained in the query message from among the other terminals.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising designating specific contents stored in a storage unit prior to generating the operation signal.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising transmitting the designated specific contents to the other terminals after forming the near-distance communication channel.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the two terminals comprise a first mobile terminal and a second mobile terminal, and wherein searching other terminals comprises:

transmitting by the first mobile terminal a query message for searching for the second mobile terminal according to the generation of the operation signal, in which the first mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal automatically activate the near-distance communication module; and

waiting for reception of the query message by the second mobile terminal after the near-distance communication module is activated.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the generated operation signal by the two terminals.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the two or more terminals comprise a first mobile terminal and a second mobile terminal, and wherein one side of the first mobile terminal and one side of the second mobile terminal generate an operation signal by at least one of (1) coming within a predetermined distance of each other recognizable by respective sensors in the first and second mobile terminals;

or (2) a touch activation comprising sensing a squeezing at a designated portion with a predetermined minimum amount of pressure of at least one of the first and second mobile terminals;

or (3) a voice activation

11. A terminal for supporting automatic operation control, the terminal comprising:

a sensor sensing a specific operation;

an operation recognition unit generating an operation signal according to the specific operation associated with a signal collected by the sensor;

a near-distance communication module being activated according to the operation signal transferred from the operation recognition unit; and

a program controller searching for at least one other terminal having experienced an occurrence of the same operation signal as the operation signal based on the activated near-distance communication module, and for controlling formation of a near-distance communication channel between the at least one other terminal having experienced an occurrence of the same operation signal.

12. The terminal of claim 11, further comprising a storage unit temporarily for storing the operation signal.

13. The terminal of claim 11, wherein, when the near-distance communication module comprises a Bluetooth module, the program controller omits a code input for an authentication check of the at least one other terminals, and substitutes a check of the operation signal for the code input.

14. The terminal of claim 11, wherein the program controller makes a control to generate a query message including the operation signal and generated time information of the operation signal, and to search for at least one other terminals with the same information as the information contained in the query message,

or makes a control to generate a query message containing the operation signal, and generated location information and time information of the operation signal, and to search for at least one other terminals with the same information as the information contained in the query message,

or makes a control to generate a query message containing information of the operation signal and information of time when the operation signal is generated, and allowable error information for recognizing as the same operation signal based on the time when the operation signal is generated, and to search for at least one other terminals with the same information as the information contained in the query message,

or forms the near distance communication channel and then controls automatic transmission of the designated specific contents to at least one other mobile terminals when specific contents stored in a storage unit are designated prior to generating the operation signal.

15. The terminal of claim 11, wherein the terminal and said at least one other terminal comprise a first mobile terminal and a second mobile terminal, and wherein one side of the first mobile terminal and one side of the second mobile terminal generate an operation signal by at least one of (1) coming within a predetermined distance of each other recognizable by respective sensors in the first and second mobile terminals;

or (2) a touch activation comprising sensing a squeezing at a designated portion with a predetermined minimum amount of pressure of at least one of the first and second mobile terminals;

or (3) a voice activation.

16. A method of automatically controlling operation between terminals, comprising:

generating an operation signal by a first terminal having a status in which a menu screen interface for operating a near-distance communication module is activated; and

performing an automatic pairing procedure with a second terminal based on the operation signal generated by the first terminal.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising automatically activating an operation recognition sensor by the first terminal when the menu screen interface is activated, wherein performing an automatic pairing procedure comprises:

activating a near-distance communication module based on the operation signal and searching for the second terminal using the activated near-distance communication module by the first terminal;

storing the operation signal by the first terminal;

comparing an operation signal of the second terminal located by the first terminal with the stored operation signal; and

performing an automatic pairing with the second terminal when the comparison result satisfies a predetermined condition.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein performing an automatic pairing procedure comprises:

searching for the second terminal based on the operation signal by the terminal;

storing the operation signal by the first terminal;

comparing an operation signal of the second terminal located by the first terminal with the stored operation signal; and

performing an automatic pairing with the second terminal when the comparison result satisfies a predetermined condition.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein searching for another terminal comprises:

generating a query message including containing information of the operation signal, information on a location where the operation signal is generated, and information of time when the operation signal is generated;

or

generating a query message containing information of the operation signal, information of time when the operation signal is generated, and error allowable information for recognizing as the same operation signal based on the time when the operation signal is generated.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising at least one of:

designating specific contents stored in a storage unit prior to generating the operation signal;

automatically transmitting the designated specific contents to the other terminal after performing the automatic pairing procedure;

further substituting the operation signal check procedure for a code input procedure for authentication check of the second terminal; and

activating the local communication module when the menu screen interface is activated.