PORTABLE MULTIMEDIA PLAYBACK APPARATUS, PORTABLE MULTIMEDIA PLAYBACK SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING OPERATIONS THEREOF

• US 20110269506A1
• Filed: 11/12/2010
• Published: 11/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Park, Seongwon, CHOI, Kyungdong
• Granted Patent: US 9,148,502 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces

Abstract

A portable multimedia playback apparatus, a portable multimedia playback system, and a method for controlling operations thereof are disclosed. The method for controlling an operation of the portable multimedia playback apparatus having a display unit for displaying an image corresponding to a played-back multimedia content and a controller for outputting a display signal to the display unit to display the image corresponding to the played-back multimedia content on the display unit, includes receiving a signal from a mobile terminal capable of executing a phone application, determining status information about the mobile terminal from information included in the received signal, and outputting a display signal from the controller to the display unit such that an image corresponding to the determined status information is displayed on the display unit.

Claims

1. A portable multimedia playback apparatus comprising:

a display unit configured to display multimedia content;

a controller configured to output a signal to the display unit to display an image related to the multimedia content; and

a wireless communication module configured to wirelessly transmit and receive signals to and from a mobile terminal capable of executing a phone application,

wherein the controller is configured to determine status information about the mobile terminal from information included in a signal received through the wireless communication module and output a display signal to the display unit to display an image corresponding to the determined status information about the mobile terminal.

2. A portable multimedia playback system comprising:

a mobile terminal configured to execute a phone application; and

a portable multimedia playback apparatus including;

a display unit configured to display multimedia content;

a controller configured to output a signal to the display unit to display an image related to the multimedia content; and

a wireless communication module configured to wirelessly transmit and receive signals to and from the mobile terminal,

wherein the controller is configured to determine status information about the mobile terminal from information included in a signal received through the wireless communication module and output a display signal to the display unit to display an image corresponding to the determined status information about the mobile terminal.

3. A method for controlling an operation of a portable multimedia playback apparatus (PMPA) including a display unit configured to display multimedia content and a controller configured to output a signal to the display unit to display an image related to the multimedia content, the method comprising:

receiving a signal from a mobile terminal capable of executing a phone application;

determining status information about the mobile terminal from information included in the received signal; and

outputting a display signal from the controller to the display unit to display an image corresponding to the determined status information about the mobile terminal.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the status information includes information about a current mode of the mobile terminal including at least one of an idle mode, an incoming call mode, and an incoming message mode.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising, if the current mode of the mobile terminal changes, changing the signal output to the display unit such that the image corresponding to the status information is changed on the display unit.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein the signal outputting includes outputting the signal from the controller to the display unit such that a status bar including at least one icon representing the status information is displayed on the display unit.

7. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

detecting an icon selection command for including an icon in the status bar to the PMPA; and

storing an icon list corresponding to the icon selection command,

wherein the outputting the signal includes outputting the signal from the controller to the display unit such that the status bar includes icons listed in the stored icon list is displayed on the display unit.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the at least one icon is at least one of an icon representing a message reception status of the mobile terminal, an icon representing an incoming call reception status of the mobile terminal, an icon representing an alarm status of the mobile terminal, and an icon representing a scheduled status of the mobile terminal.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein receiving the signal from the mobile terminal includes receiving the signal through a wireless communication module, and

wherein outputting the display signal includes outputting the display signal from the controller to the display unit such that the at least one icon representing the status information is included in the status bar on the display unit.

10. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

detecting a command for changing a display area of the image corresponding to the status information; and

changing the display area of the image corresponding to the status information on the display unit according to the detected command.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the display unit of the PMPA further includes a touch screen, and

wherein detecting the command for changing the display area further includes at least one of detecting whether the display area of the image corresponding to the status information is touched and dragged and detecting whether the display area of the image corresponding to the status information is touched for at least a predetermined time.

12. The method according to claim 10, changing the display area includes a stepwise enlarging of the display area of the image corresponding to the status information.

13. The method according to claim 3, further comprising determining a location of the mobile terminal,

wherein outputting the display signal includes outputting the display signal from the controller to the display unit such that the image corresponding to the status information is displayed in an area corresponding to the determined location of the mobile terminal in a display area of the display unit.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the area corresponding to the determined location of the mobile terminal is positioned at one of an upper portion, a lower portion, a left portion, and a right portion of the display area of the display unit.

15. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a second signal from a second mobile terminal; and

determining a location of the second mobile terminal,

wherein outputting the display signal outputting includes outputting the display signal from the controller to the display unit such that an image corresponding to status information about each of mobile terminals is displayed in an area corresponding to the location of the mobile terminals.

16. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

detecting an object display command for displaying a keyboard object through which text is entered for transmission to the mobile terminal; and

displaying the keyboard object on the display unit after detecting the object display command.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising transmitting a signal carrying information about text entered through the keyboard object to the mobile terminal.

18. A method for controlling an operation of a portable multimedia playback system having a portable multimedia playback apparatus (PMPA) and a mobile terminal capable of executing a phone application, the PMPA including a display unit configured to display multimedia content and a controller configured to output a signal to the display unit to display an image related to the multimedia content, the method comprising:

transmitting a signal including status information about the mobile terminal to the PMPA by the mobile terminal;

receiving the signal from the mobile terminal by the PMPA;

determining the status information about the mobile terminal from the received signal by the PMPA; and

outputting a display signal to the display unit of the PMPA by the controller of the PMPA such that an image corresponding to the determined status information is displayed on the display unit of the PMPA.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

detecting an object display command for displaying a keyboard object through which text is entered for transmission to the mobile terminal has been received by the PMPA; and

displaying the keyboard object on the display unit after detecting the object display command.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising transmitting a signal carrying information about text entered through the keyboard object to the mobile terminal by the PMPA.

21. The method according to claim 20, further comprising:

receiving the signal carrying text information from the PMPA by the mobile terminal;

determining the text information from the received signal by the mobile terminal; and

transmitting a message based on the determined text information to a base station by the mobile terminal.