APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING MESSAGE IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL WITH TOUCH SCREEN

• US 20110086648A1
• Filed: 10/04/2010
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: CHO, Yun-Ri, CHOI, Pil-Sik
• Granted Patent: US 8,855,688 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0254 detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device

Abstract

An apparatus and method for transmitting/receiving a message in a mobile communication terminal with a touch screen are provided. The method includes generating a Simple Contact Object (SCO) mapped to at least one contact and a Simple Inputbox Object (SIO) for message composition, displaying the generated SCO and SIO on an idle screen in a widget format, composing a message using the displayed SIO, and storing the composed message in the SIO, and, when a contact between the SIO storing the message therein and the SCO is detected, transmitting the stored message to the contact mapped to the SCO.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting a message in a mobile communication terminal with a touch screen, the method comprising:

generating a Simple Contact Object (SCO) mapped to at least one phone number and a Simple Inputbox Object (SIO) for message composition;

displaying the generated SCO and SIO on an idle screen in a widget format;

composing a message using the displayed SIO, and storing the composed message in the SIO; and

when a contact between the SIO storing the message therein and the SCO is detected, transmitting the stored message to the phone number mapped to the SCO.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating of the SCO comprises:

when an SCO generation menu is selected, displaying a list of phone numbers on a display unit;

selecting a phone number from the list of phone numbers; and

generating the SCO mapped to the selected phone number.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

displaying a type of animation on the display unit;

selecting an animation to be displayed on the display unit when an event for the generated SCO occurs;

displaying a type of icon on the display unit;

selecting an icon to be used for displaying the generated SCO;

determining an initial display position of the generated SCO;

mapping at least one of an IDentifier (ID), animation, an icon, and display position information onto the generated SCO and storing the mapping result in a Simple Object Database (SOD);

mapping at least one of the ID, the phone number, and name information onto the generated SCO and storing the mapping result in a Contact Object Database (COD), the name information corresponding to the phone number;

when a drag and drop of the SCO displayed on the idle screen is detected, determining a display position of the SCO changed according to the drag and drop; and

according to the determined display position, updating display position information of the SCO in the SOD.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an initial display position of the generated SIO;

mapping at least one of an ID and display position information onto the generated SIO and storing the mapping result in an SOD;

when a drag and drop of the SIO displayed on the idle screen is detected, determining a display position of the SIO changed according to the drag and drop; and

according to the determined display position, updating display position information of the SIO in the SOD,

wherein the SIO is generated when an SIO generation menu is selected.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the composing and storing of the message comprises:

when a touch on the displayed SIO is detected, outputting a message input screen on a display unit and receiving a message; and

when a message input completion key is inputted, storing the received message in the SIO.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the message comprises:

when a drag and drop of the SIO storing the message therein is detected, displaying a display position of the SIO changed according to the drag and drop; and

according to the determined display position, updating display position information of the SIO in an SOD, the SOD storing display position information of the SCO and SIO therein;

searching the SOD for an SCO overlapped in its display position with the SIO; and

transmitting the stored message to a phone number mapped to the searched SCO.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

before the transmitting of the stored message,

searching the SOD for animation information mapped to the searched SCO, the SOD storing the animation information mapped to the SCO therein; and

if the animation information is found, executing the searched animation.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after the transmission of the message is completed,

initializing a display position of the SIO; and

deleting the message stored in the SIO.

9. An apparatus for transmitting a message in a mobile communication terminal with a touch screen, the apparatus comprising:

a controller for generating a Simple Contact Object (SCO) mapped to at least one phone number and a Simple Inputbox Object (SIO) for message composition, for displaying the generated SCO and SIO on an idle screen in a widget format through the touch screen, for composing a message using the displayed SIO, and for storing the composed message in the SIO, and, when a contact between the SIO storing the message therein and the SCO is detected, for transmitting the stored message to the phone number mapped to the SCO; and

the touch screen, for displaying the generated SCO and SIO on the idle screen in the widget format, for detecting a touch on the displayed SCO and SIO, and for providing the detecting result to the controller.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein, when an SCO generation menu is selected, the controller displays a list of phone numbers through the touch screen, selects a phone number, and generates an SCO mapped to the selected phone number.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a Simple Object Database (SOD) for mapping and storing at least one of an IDentifier (ID), animation, an icon, and display position information onto the generated SCO; and

a Contact Object DB (COD) for mapping and storing at least one of the ID, a phone number, and name information onto the generated SCO, the name information corresponding to the phone number,

wherein the controller displays a type of animation through the touch screen, selects an animation to be displayed on the touch screen when an event for the generated SCO occurs, displays a type of icon through the touch screen, selects an icon to be used for displaying the generated SCO, and determines an initial display position of the generated SCO.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising an SCO and SIO position determiner for, when a drag and drop of the SCO or SIO displayed on the idle screen is detected, determining a display position of the SCO or SIO changed according to the drag and drop,

wherein the SOD updates display position information of the SCO or SIO according to the determined display position.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising an SOD for mapping and storing at least one of an ID and display position information on the generated SIO,

wherein the controller generates the SIO when an SIO generation menu is selected, and determines an initial display position of the generated SIO.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein, when a touch on the displayed SIO is detected, the controller outputs a message input screen through the touch screen and receives a message and, when a message input completion key is input, stores the received message in the SIO, and displays the generated SCO and the SIO storing the message therein on the idle screen through the touch screen.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

an SCO and SIO position determiner for, when a drag and drop of the SIO storing the message therein is detected, displaying a display position of the SIO changed according to the drag and drop; and

an SOD for storing display position information of the SCO and SIO and, according to the determined display position, for updating display position information of the SIO,

wherein the controller searches the SOD for an SCO overlapped in its display position with the SIO, and transmits the stored message to a phone number mapped to the searched SCO.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the SOD stores animation information mapped to the SCO, and

wherein, before transmitting the stored message, the controller searches the SOD for animation information mapped to the searched SCO, and, if the animation information is found, executes the searched animation.

17. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein, after the transmission of the message is completed, the controller initializes a display position of the SIO, and deletes the message stored in the SIO.

18. A method for receiving a message in a mobile communication terminal with a touch screen, the method comprising:

generating a Simple Contact Object (SCO) mapped to at least one phone number;

displaying the generated SCO on an idle screen in a widget format;

when a message is received, extracting sender information from a header of the received message;

searching an SCO mapped to a same phone number as the extracted sender information; and

informing the message reception through the searched SCO.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the informing of the message reception comprises:

searching a Simple Object Database (SOD) for animation information mapped to the searched SCO, the SOD storing information on an animation to be displayed on the display unit when an event for the searched SCO occurs; and

if the animation information is found, executing the searched animation.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising, when a touch on the SCO is detected, outputting a message display screen on the display unit and displaying the received message.

21. An apparatus for receiving a message in a mobile communication terminal with a touch screen, the apparatus comprising:

a controller for generating a Simple Contact Object (SCO) mapped to at least one phone number, for displaying the generated SCO on an idle screen in a widget format through the touch screen, for, when a message is received, extracting sender information from a header of the received message, for searching an SCO mapped to the same phone number as the extracted sender information, and for informing the message reception through the searched SCO; and

the touch screen, for displaying the generated SCO on the idle screen in the widget format.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a Simple Object Database (SOD) for storing information on an animation to be displayed through the touch screen when an event for the searched SCO occurs, and

wherein the controller searches the SOD for animation information mapped to the searched SCO, and, if the animation information is found, executes the searched animation.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein, when a touch on the SCO is detected, the controller outputs a message display screen through the touch screen and displays the received message.