Mobile terminal and photo searching method thereof

• US 9,043,318 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2013
• Issued: 05/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Yeongoo
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao, Phuong Thao
• Application Number:
  US13/750,428
• Publication Number:
  US 20130198176A1
• Time in Patent Office: 851 Days
• Field of Search: 707/724, 707/758, 707/725
• US Class Current: 707/724
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/532 Query formulation, e.g. graphical querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a mobile terminal and a photo search method thereof capable of searching and displaying photos shared by the cloud and SNS systems in connection with a specific location on a camera view using augmented reality. To this end, according to the present disclosure, when a photo search function is selected on an augmented reality based camera view, photo information associated with at least one location on which the focus of the camera view is placed is searched from a network system to sort and display the searched photo information on the camera view, thereby allowing the user to conveniently search photos associated with old memories.

Claims

1. A photo search method of a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

displaying, on the mobile terminal, an augmented reality based camera view;

searching photo information associated with at least one location on which a focus of the camera view is placed from a network system;

displaying the searched photo information at each location on the camera view;

displaying a list of locations at which photos are captured when a trace function is selected in a state that the searched photo information is displayed;

displaying routes from a closest location to one or more next locations as arrows, respectively, when specific location is selected from the list; and

displaying a fastest route that can be followed to a selected next location when a specific arrow is selected from the arrows.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one location comprises a tourist resort, a specific building, a mountain, a sea or a hometown, and the network system comprises a cloud system or a social network services (SNS) system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the photo information comprises photos and location information, and is displayed and sorted by time or distance.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the photos are displayed in a region apart from the location information as photos captured at a location within a predetermined proximity distance.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the photo information is updated to new photo information searched from the network system when a new location is entered on the camera view by a movement of a user or the user changes a search range.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said searching step comprises:

checking a user'"'"'s current location, when a photo search function is selected;

reading pre-stored search settings;

searching photos within a content display range shared by a database (DB) source of cloud or social network services (SNS) systems around a search range based on the read pre-stored search settings; and

sorting the searched photos based on a sorting method and proximity distance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the searching comprises:

a search range indicating a distance for searching photos from a user'"'"'s current location;

a contents display range indicating a kind of searched photos;

a database (DB) source indicating a service provider for searching photos;

a sorting method for sorting the searched photos by time or distance; and

a proximity distance range indicating a proximity distance to be displayed at a one side region of the camera view.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying photos captured at a relevant location when the displayed photo information is selected;

searching information associated with the relevant location and displaying the information on a screen when a search function for the displayed photos is selected; and

transmitting the displayed information to a network system for storing or sharing.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the information associated with the relevant location is searched from various blogs, twitters, papers and broadcasts, and the searched information is transmitted via cloud, SNS, blog or email based on a user'"'"'s selection.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing a user'"'"'s location with locations of the photos when a same place search function is selected while moving to the selected next location;

displaying a moving direction when the user'"'"'s location and the selected next location are not the same, and displaying information for setting a composition of the camera view to a composition of a photo captured at the selected next location based on the user'"'"'s mode setting when the user'"'"'s location and the selected next location are the same; and

performing a photo capture for the selected next location when the user moves or selects a zoom function based on the information such that the two compositions are identical.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a user'"'"'s mode setting is one of an outline edge mode for displaying that an outline of an existing photo is overlapped with a camera view and a synchronization rate mode indicating a synchronization rate between a composition of the camera view and a composition of the existing photo.

12. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a display unit configured to display an augmented reality based camera view;

a memory configured to store a user'"'"'s search settings; and

a controller configured to search photo information associated with at least one location on which a focus of the camera view is placed from a network system based on the search settings, and display relevant photo information for each storage source on the camera view,

display a list of locations at which photos are captured when a trace function is selected in a state that the searched photo information is displayed,

display routes from a closest location to one or more next locations as arrows, respectively, when a specific location is selected from the list, and

display a fastest route to a selected next location when a specific arrow is selected from the arrows.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the at least one location comprises a tourist resort, a specific building, a mountain, a sea or a hometown, and the network system comprises a cloud system or a social network services (SNS) system.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the search settings comprises:

a search range indicating a distance for searching photos from the user'"'"'s current location;

a contents display range indicating a kind of searched photos;

a database (DB) source indicating a service provider for searching photos;

a sorting method for sorting the searched photos by time or distance; and

a proximity distance range indicating a proximity distance to be displayed at a one side region of the camera view.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the photo information comprises photos and location information, and the photos are displayed in a region apart from the location information as photos captured at a location within a predetermined proximity distance.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the controller displays the photo information by sorting the photo information by time or distance.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the controller updates the photo information to new photo information searched from the network system when a new location is entered on the camera view or the user changes a search range.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the controller deletes information associated with a specific photo based on updated information from the network system when the specific photo is deleted from the network system.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the controller checks the user'"'"'s current location when a photo search function is selected and then reads re-stored search settings, and searches photos within a contents display range shared by a database (DB) source of cloud and social network services (SNS) systems around a search range at a current location based on the read pre-stored search settings, and sorts the searched photos based on time or distance.

20. The mobile terminal of claim 12, the controller displays photos captured at a relevant location when specific photo information is selected, and searches information associated with the relevant location and displays the information on a screen when a search function for the displayed photos is selected, and transmits the displayed information to a network system based on the user'"'"'s input for sharing or storing.

21. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the controller compares the user'"'"'s location with a location of an existing photo when a same place search function is selected while moving to the selected next location, and displays a moving direction when the user'"'"'s location and the selected next location are not the same, and displays information for setting a composition of the camera view to a composition of the existing photo captured at the selected next location based on the user'"'"'s mode setting when the user'"'"'s location and the selected next location are the same, and performs a photo capture for the user'"'"'s location when the user moves or selects a zoom function based on the information such that the two compositions are identical.

22. The mobile terminal of claim 21, wherein the user'"'"'s mode setting is one of an outline edge mode for displaying that an outline of the existing photo is overlapped with a camera view and a synchronization rate mode indicating a synchronization rate between the composition of the camera view and the composition of the existing photo, and the information is an outline or synchronization rate.