MOBILE TERMINAL, MOBILE TERMINAL SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING OPERATION OF THE SAME

• US 20110165841A1
• Filed: 11/24/2010
• Published: 07/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Cho, Eunhae, Kim, Namhoon, BAEK, Sungmin, Chung, Jaehee
• Granted Patent: US 8,958,747 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

A mobile terminal which can enter a content share mode, a mobile terminal system, and a method for controlling the operation of the same are provided. After entering a content share mode, a mobile terminal can transmit and receive content to and from another mobile terminal which is in the content share mode and within a predetermined distance. The mobile terminal can also specify a content transmission format. Before the content is transmitted, the content may be displayed on another mobile terminal using a thumbnail of the content. Users can conveniently transmit content between mobile terminals.

Claims

1. A method for controlling operation of a first mobile terminal, the method comprising:

entering, by the first mobile terminal, a content share mode;

detecting, by the first mobile terminal, a second mobile terminal which is in the content share mode;

specifying a content transmission format for transmitting content to the second mobile terminal based on the detection result; and

transmitting the content to the second mobile terminal according to the specified content transmission format,

wherein the content transmission format is at least one of a first transmission format and a second transmission format,

the first transmission format allows the first mobile terminal to control the transmitted content according to a first command input to the first mobile terminal, and

the second transmission format allows the second mobile terminal to control the transmitted content according to a second command input to the second mobile terminal.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first transmission format allows the second mobile terminal only to display the content on the second mobile terminal in the same manner as the first mobile terminal according to the first command.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein each of the first command and the second command includes a command for moving, editing, playing, playing back, or stopping playback the content.

4. The method according to claim 1, the step of specifying the content transmission format including:

displaying a first icon representing a transmission command specifying the content transmission format, wherein the content is dragged to the first icon for the transmission to the second mobile terminal;

or

displaying a second icon and a third icon representing the first transmission format and the second transmission format respectively, wherein the content is dragged to the second icon or the third icon for a desired content transmission format.

5. A method for controlling operation of a first mobile terminal, the method comprising:

entering, by the first mobile terminal, a content share mode;

detecting, by the first mobile terminal, a second mobile terminal which is in the content share mode;

transmitting, by the first mobile terminal, a content transmission grant signal and information regarding content;

determining whether a command to receive the content has been received from the second mobile terminal; and

transmitting the content to the second mobile terminal based on the determination result.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the information regarding the content is information for displaying a thumbnail of the content on the second mobile terminal.

7. The method according to claim 6, the determining step including:

receiving the command to receive the content in response to the content transmission grant request signal from the second mobile terminal,

wherein the second mobile terminal displays the thumbnail based on the information regarding the content, and transmits the command to receive the content to the first mobile terminal when a user of the second mobile terminal selects the displayed thumbnail by dragging the thumbnail within a display unit of the second mobile terminal.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein the first mobile terminal displays the content in a full screen mode when the transmission of the content to the second mobile terminal is completed.

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

stopping the transmission of the content to the second mobile terminal when the determining step determines that the second mobile terminal has rejected the content transmission grant request signal.

10. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

displaying, on the first mobile terminal, a content thumbnail and an icon representing a transmission command,

wherein the first mobile terminal transmits the information regarding the content to the second mobile terminal when a user of the first mobile terminal drags the displayed content thumbnail to the icon.

11. A method for controlling operation of a first mobile terminal, the method comprising:

entering, by the first mobile terminal, a content share mode;

receiving, by the first mobile terminal in the content share mode, information regarding content to be transmitted and a content transmission grant request signal from a second mobile terminal that is in the content share mode;

displaying on the first mobile terminal the received information regarding the content;

determining whether a command to receive the content has been transmitted to the second mobile terminal; and

receiving the content from the second mobile terminal based on the determination result.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the information regarding the content is information for displaying a thumbnail of the content.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the command to receive the content is transmitted to the second mobile terminal when the user of the first mobile terminal drags the thumbnail of the content.

14. The method according to claim 11, the step of receiving the content including:

transmitting to the second mobile terminal a signal granting transmission of the content in response to the content transmission grant request signal when the determination result of the first mobile terminal is to receive the content from the second mobile terminal; and

receiving the content from the second mobile terminal after transmitting the signal granting transmission of the content.

15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

displaying the received content in a full screen mode when the reception of the content transmitted by the second mobile terminal is completed.

16. A first mobile terminal comprising:

a wireless communication unit configured to transmit and to receive signals to and from a second mobile terminal; and

a controller configured to, when the first mobile terminal has entered a content share mode, detect the second mobile terminal which is capable of transmitting and receiving signals through the wireless command unit and which is in the content share mode, to specify a content transmission format for transmitting content to the second mobile terminal, and to control the wireless communication unit to transmit the content to the second mobile terminal according to the specified format,

wherein the content transmission format is at least one of a first transmission format and a second transmission format,

the first transmission format allows the first mobile terminal to control the transmitted content according to a first command input to the first mobile terminal, and

the second transmission format allows the second mobile terminal to control the transmitted content according to a second command input to the second mobile terminal.

17. A first mobile terminal comprising:

a wireless communication unit configured to transmit and to receive signals to and from a second mobile terminal; and

a controller configure to, when the first mobile terminal has entered a content share mode, detect the second mobile terminal which is capable of transmitting and receiving signals through the wireless command unit and which is in the content share mode, to transmit information regarding content, which is to be transmitted and displayed on the second mobile terminal, to determine whether a command to receive the content has been received from the second mobile terminal, and to control the wireless communication unit to transmit the content to the second mobile terminal.

18. The first mobile terminal according to claim 17, wherein the information regarding the content is information required for the second mobile terminal to display a thumbnail of the content on the second mobile terminal.

19. A first mobile terminal comprising:

a wireless communication unit configured to transmit and to receive signals to and from a second mobile terminal; and

a controller configured to, when the first mobile terminal has entered a content share mode, detect a second mobile terminal which is capable of transmitting and receiving signals through the wireless command unit and which is in the content share mode, to receive information regarding content to be transmitted by the third mobile terminal, to display the received information regarding the content, to determine whether a command to receive the content has been transmitted to the second mobile terminal, and to control the wireless communication unit to receive the content transmitted by the second mobile terminal.

20. The first mobile terminal according to claim 19, wherein the information regarding the content is information for displaying a thumbnail of the content.