Mobile communication device and method of controlling the same

• US 8,806,376 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2008
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Park, Jung Young
• Primary Examiner(s): Ng, Amy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Takele, Meseker
• Application Number:
  US12/102,824
• Publication Number:
  US 20080282196A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,311 Days
• Field of Search: 715/705, 715/825, 715/835, 715/838
• US Class Current: 715/838
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• 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: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

Disclosed are a mobile communication device and a method of controlling the same in which an image of a web page is stored as a thumbnail image when the web page is added to a list of favorites. When the list of favorites is requested from the mobile communication device, a plurality of thumbnail images corresponding to a plurality of web pages added to the list of favorites are displayed.

Claims

1. A method of displaying a list of favorites on a display screen of a mobile communication device, the method comprising:

accessing a website in response to a user command;

displaying a web page of the accessed website on the display screen;

receiving a first user input for registering the web page in the list of favorites;

registering the web page in the list of favorites in response to the first user input;

acquiring a thumbnail image from at least a portion of content of the displayed web page;

storing the acquired thumbnail image along with a uniform resource locator (URL) address of the web page corresponding to the thumbnail image in a memory of the mobile communication device;

displaying a plurality of thumbnail images each corresponding to one of a plurality of web pages registered in the list of favorites on the display screen when the list of favorites is retrieved in response to a first request;

receiving a second user input pointing to one of the plurality of thumbnail images displayed on the display screen;

in response to the second user input, displaying a pointer on the display screen and moving the displayed pointer on the display screen;

selecting one of the plurality of thumbnail images by locating the pointer on an area of a desired thumbnail image according to a movement of the pointer;

displaying an enlarged view of the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images on the display screen while the pointer is located on the area of the desired thumbnail image, wherein the enlarged view of the selected thumbnail image is displayed overlaying the selected thumbnail image and at least part of other thumbnail images;

receiving a third user input for selecting one of the plurality of thumbnail images by recognizing sensory touching of the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images;

accessing a web page corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images and displaying, on an entire area of the display screen, content of the accessed web page in response to the third user input; and

automatically updating the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images by acquiring and storing an image from the displayed content of the accessed web page,

wherein the plurality of web pages registered in the list of favorites is displayed as one of a text format and a thumbnail image format according to a user setting.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a size of the displayed content of the accessed web page is larger than a size of the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images that has been enlarged.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a fourth user input for selecting the one of the plurality of thumbnail images while the enlarged view of the one of the plurality of thumbnail images is displayed; and

displaying content of a web page that is associated with the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images on the entire area of the display screen in response to the fourth user input.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the content of the web page associated with the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images is displayed on the entire area of the display screen without a toolbar.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of thumbnail images are at least partially displayed as a background of the enlarged view of the one of the plurality of thumbnail images.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a fourth user input pointing to a different thumbnail image from the plurality of thumbnail images overlaid by the enlarged view of the one of the plurality of thumbnail images; and

displaying a new enlarged thumbnail image corresponding to the different thumbnail image in response to the fourth user input.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the enlarged view of the one of the plurality of thumbnail images is highlighted, and the plurality of thumbnail images at least partially displayed as the background are displayed in faded colors.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the content of the accessed web page corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images is displayed with a name associated with the content on the display screen.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying information identifying the website or the content of the accessed web page, wherein the information identifying the website comprises at least a web address or a name of the website.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a message notifying that the web page has been registered in the list of favorites for a predetermined time before displaying the plurality of thumbnail images on the display screen.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the list of favorites in the text format according to a setting by a user.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a plurality of thumbnail images including the updated one of the plurality of thumbnail images on the display screen when the list of favorites is retrieved in response to a second request.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected thumbnail image is not visible when the enlarged view of the selected thumbnail image is displayed overlaying the selected thumbnail image.

14. A mobile communication device used in a wireless communication, the mobile communication device comprising:

an input unit configured to receive information related to a website;

a wireless communication unit for providing an interface for web access;

a display unit configured to display a web page obtained from the website and to receive a touch input;

a control unit configured to;

register the displayed web page in a list of favorites in response to a first user input for registering the web page in the list of favorites;

acquire a thumbnail image from at least a portion of content of the displayed web page when the displayed web page is registered in the list of favorites;

control the display unit to display a plurality of thumbnail images each corresponding to one of a plurality of web pages registered in the list of favorites when the list of favorites is retrieved in response to a first request;

a memory for storing the plurality of thumbnail images along with a uniform resource locator (URL) address of each of the plurality of web pages, each URL address corresponding to one of the plurality of thumbnail images,

wherein the controller is further configured to;

receive a second user input pointing to one of the plurality of thumbnail images displayed on the display unit;

in response to the second user input, control the display unit to display a pointer and to move the displayed pointer;

select one of the plurality of thumbnail images by locating the pointer on an area of a desired thumbnail image according to a movement of the pointer;

control the display unit to display an enlarged view of the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images while the pointer is located on the area of the desired thumbnail image, wherein the enlarged view of the selected thumbnail image is displayed overlaying the selected thumbnail image and at least part of other thumbnail images;

recognize sensory touching of one of the plurality of thumbnail images in the list of favorites, the sensory touching generated by a third user input for selecting the one of the plurality of thumbnail images;

access, via the wireless communication unit, a web page corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images and control the display unit to display content of the accessed web page on an entire area of a display screen of the display unit in response to the third user input; and

automatically update the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images by acquiring and storing an image from displayed content of the accessed web page,

wherein the plurality of web pages registered in the list of favorites is displayed as one of a text format and a thumbnail image format according to a user setting.

15. The mobile communication device of claim 14, wherein a size of the displayed content of the accessed web page is larger than a size of the enlarged view of the one of the plurality of thumbnail images.

16. The mobile communication device of claim 14, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display unit to display content of a web page that is associated with the one of the plurality of thumbnail images that has been enlarged, on the entire area of the display screen in response to a fourth user input for selecting the one of the plurality of thumbnail images that is received while the enlarged view of the one of the plurality of thumbnail images is displayed.

17. The mobile communication device of claim 16, wherein the content of the web page associated with the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images is displayed on the entire area of the display screen without a toolbar.

18. The mobile communication device of claim 14, wherein the plurality of thumbnail images are at least partially displayed as a background of the enlarged view of the one of the plurality of thumbnail images.

19. The mobile communication device of claim 18, wherein the enlarged view of the one of the plurality of thumbnail images is highlighted, and the plurality of thumbnail images at least partially displayed as the background are displayed in faded colors.

20. The mobile communication device of claim 14, wherein the content of the accessed web page corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images is displayed with a name associated with the content on the display screen.

21. The mobile communication device of claim 14, wherein the display unit displays information identifying the website or the content of the accessed web page and the information identifying the website comprises at least a web address or a name of the website.

22. The mobile communication device of claim 14, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display unit to display a message notifying the registration of the web page in the list of favorites for a predetermined time before displaying the list of items on the display screen.

23. The mobile communication device of claim 14, wherein the controller is further configured to control the display unit to display the list of favorites in the text format according to a setting by a user.

24. A method of displaying a list of favorites on a display screen of a mobile communication device, the method comprising:

accessing a website in response to a user command;

displaying a web page of the accessed website on the display screen;

receiving a first user input for registering the displayed web page in the list of favorites;

registering the web page of the accessed website in the list of favorites in response to the first user input;

generating a thumbnail image based on at least a portion of content of the web page of the accessed website;

storing the generated thumbnail image;

displaying a list of a plurality of items each corresponding to a name of one of a plurality of web pages registered in the list of favorites on the display screen when the list of favorites is retrieved in response to a request;

receiving a second user input pointing to one of the plurality of items displayed on the display screen;

in response to the second user input, displaying a pointer on the display screen and moving the displayed pointer on the display screen;

selecting one of the plurality of menu items by locating the pointer on an area of a desired item according to a movement of the pointer;

retrieving a thumbnail image of a web page corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of items from a memory of the mobile communication device and displaying the retrieved thumbnail image on the display screen while the pointer is located on the area of the desired item;

receiving a third user input for selecting one of the plurality of items by recognizing sensory touching of the selected one of the plurality of thumbnail images;

accessing a web page corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of items and displaying content of the accessed web page on an entire area of the display screen in response to the third user input; and

automatically updating a thumbnail image corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of items by acquiring and storing an image from the displayed content of the accessed web page,

wherein the retrieved thumbnail image is displayed overlaying at least part of the list of items on the display screen, and

wherein the plurality of web pages registered in the list of favorites is displayed as one of a text format and a thumbnail image format according to a user setting.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

displaying the list of favorites in the thumbnail image format according to a setting by a user.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

displaying a message notifying the registration of the web page in the list of favorites for a predetermined time before displaying the list of items on the display screen.