Event information display apparatus and method for mobile communication terminal

Disclosed is an event information display apparatus and method for a mobile terminal, which collects information of sent/received/missed call events, sent/received message events, schedule events, alarm events, wake-up call events, memo events, D-day events, etc. that are recorded in a mobile terminal, and then displays the collected event information as indicators on a timeline, thereby enabling easy checking and management of various types of events.

This application claims the priority benefit of the Korean Application No. 10-2006-0096383, filed on Sep. 29, 2006, which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mobile terminal (e.g., a mobile telecommunication terminal, mobile broadcast receiver, PDA, etc.), and more particularly, to an event information display apparatus and method for a mobile terminal.

2. Description of the Background Art

Related art mobile terminals record events such as sent, received and missed calls into a call list, and record events such as sent and received messages into a message storage file. In addition, the related art mobile terminals record schedule events in a scheduler, and record events such as an alarm and a wake-up call in a menu storage file.

However, since the related art mobile terminals manage each of such various events by different functional parts or under different user menus in a separate manner, information about each item of such events needs to be separately dealt with by the user of the mobile terminal in order to check, modify and set the events, which requirement presents difficulty for the user desiring to conveniently check and manage information about various events.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an event information display apparatus and method for a mobile terminal which collects information of various events, displays the collected event information on a timeline as predetermined indicators and, if there are a plurality of events occurring within adjacent time slots, displays a separate indicator representing an event group on the timeline, thereby enabling a user to easily check and manage information about the events.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an event information display apparatus and method for a mobile terminal which enables a user to easily check and manage information of past, present and future events by collecting information of various events, and displaying the collected event information on past, present and future timelines.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided an event information display apparatus for a mobile terminal, including: a control unit that performs control such that, upon detecting events, such detected events are shown as indicators on a timeline that expresses time transitions in terms of a linear track, and a display unit on which may be displayed the timeline and the indicators under the control of the control unit.

There is further provided an event information display method for a mobile terminal, including steps of: detecting information of an event, and displaying the detected event information as an indicator on a timeline that expresses time transitions in terms of a linear track.

Preferably, the event can be one or more events selected from calls sent, received and missed, messages sent and received, schedules, an alarm, wake-up calls, memos and D-day.

Preferably there is further provided a step of displaying information of an event group representing events the occurrence of which are detected in more than a predetermined frequency as an indicator, after determining the time and frequency at which the detected event has occurred and if events occur more than the predetermined frequency within the predetermined time.

Preferably, the indicator for representing the event group information represents as one icon the information of events detected as occurring in more than the predetermined frequency.

Preferably, the process of displaying the detected event information as indicators further includes the steps of, as time elapses, updating and displaying the timeline and event information.

Preferably, the indicator for representing the event group is differently displayed in size according to the number of the detected events.

Preferably, the process of displaying event information as indicators on the timeline displays the event information by updating the timeline as time elapses.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Description will now be given in detail of the preferred embodiments of an event information display apparatus and method for a mobile terminal, which enables a user to easily check and manage information of various events by collecting information of the various events, displaying the collected information of the events as indicators on a timeline, and displaying information of events which are detected as occurring with more than a predetermined frequency within a predetermined time among the collected event information as a separate indicator on the timeline, with reference toFIGS. 1 through 7.

FIG. 1is a schematic block diagram showing the construction of an event information display apparatus for a mobile terminal according to one embodiment of the present invention.

As shown inFIG. 1, the event information display apparatus for a mobile terminal according to the present invention includes a control unit13that performs control operations such that, upon detecting information of events, such detected event information is caused to be displayed as indicators on a timeline that expresses time transitions in terms of a linear track, and a display unit12for displaying the timeline and the indicators under the control of the control unit13. Herein, when it is described that a function is performed by the control unit13, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that such functionality is accomplished by the execution of control routines of a control program running in the control unit13and receiving, operating upon and output data and commands from and to the other elements of the mobile terminal operably connected and communicating therewith. A detector unit11for detecting information of events may be included or implemented in the control unit13.

The term “event” as used herein refers to an event occurring in connection with or in respect of which a record is kept in a mobile terminal, such as a portable phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), etc., and signifies operations performed for informing a user of the mobile terminal about calls sent, received and missed, about messages sent and received, about a schedule/alarm/wake-up call, and the like. Hereinafter, for convenience, the terms “event” and “events” will be used for referring also to the underlying information concerning such events.

The timeline displayed on the display unit12by the control unit13may have a circular shape, an oval shape, a polygonal shape including a rectangular shape, etc. The timeline may include an AM timeline for representing the forenoon, and a PM timeline for representing the afternoon. Numerical figures for representing time may also be displayed on the timeline.

After events (i.e., information of events, hereinafter, simply referred to as “events”) are collected by the detector11, the control unit13causes the collected events to be displayed on the display unit12on the AM or PM timeline as indicators. Preferably, when displaying the indicators on the timeline, the indicators are shown in correspondence with time slots displayed on the timeline, based on the time of occurrence or setting for each of the events.

Meanwhile, as time elapses, the control unit13updates the timeline displayed on the display unit12. For instance, if the time is changed from AM to PM, the control unit13displays the PM timeline representing the afternoon on the display unit12, instead of the AM timeline representing the forenoon. In addition, the control unit13may be configured to update the timeline every time a predetermined time has passed or when a new event has occurred.

Next, the operation of the event information display apparatus for a mobile terminal according to the present invention will be explained in detail with reference toFIG. 2.

FIG. 2is a flowchart illustrating the steps of an event information display method as implemented in the above-described mobile terminal according to one embodiment of the present invention.

First, when an operation mode of the mobile terminal is changed into an event display mode at step S11, the detector11at step S12detects the various types of events generated by and recorded in the mobile terminal, and then at step S13collects the detected events. For instance, the detector11detects the various events, such as calls sent, received and missed, messages sent and received, schedule information, alarms, a wake-up call, task events, D-day events, reservation message events, etc., and then collects the detected events, and finally outputs the collected events to the control unit13.

The control unit13detects any event groups among the collected events at step S14.

An event group refers to those events which are detected as occurring with more than a predetermined frequency within a predetermined time. When a plurality of events occur in a short time, and if each of the events is to be shown on the timeline based on their occurrence time, in accordance with an earlier display method individual indicators representing each event are overlaid with each other. Accordingly, it would be difficult for a user to easily recognize each of the individual indicators. In order to solve this problem, when a plurality of events occur at adjacent time slots, it is preferable to use separate indicators to display the plurality of events. For such need, an indicator representing an event group is used.

As a result of collecting the detected events, when a plurality of events occur in a short time, an indicator representing an event group is used to display the plurality of events on the display unit12at step S16. Events which do not belong to the event group are each displayed individually on the display unit12by an indicator having a predetermined shape at step S15.

FIG. 3Ais a screen display of a mobile terminal showing events displayed as indicators according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring toFIG. 3A, the timeline31is displayed in a circular shape in the familiar manner of the face of a clock, showing a timeline from noon to midnight. The forms of the indicators may include numerals, characters, diagrams, pictures, moving images, emoticons, icons, and the like. InFIG. 3A, the indicators are displayed iconically on the timeline31, for instance, an event indicator32representing an event for sending/receiving of a short message service (SMS) text message, an event indicator33for an outgoing call, and the like.

In particular, when events are detected in more than a certain number in a short time, such events are displayed by being integrated into an indicator35representing an event group.

For instance, if a scheduled event was set for 5 pm by the user, an incoming call was received at 5:02 PM and a text message was received at 5:03 PM, then if each of the schedule event indicator, the incoming call reception event indicator and the text message event indicator is displayed on the timeline31, such would cause the indicators to be overlapped with or superimposed upon each other. Accordingly, the indicator35representing the event group can be used to display those events as one indicator. When displaying the indicator35representing the event group, the size of the indicator can be set differently, depending on the number of the events represented by the indicator35representing the event group. For instance, the more the events included, the larger the displayed size of the indicator35representing the event group.

When the user communicates with another party through text messaging, a plurality of text messages may typically be exchanged within a short time. In this case, as shown inFIG. 3A, the occurrence of the plurality of events caused by the exchange of text messages can be shown as one indicator34, and the number of sent/received messages can also be displayed on the single text message indicator34. The indicator34with the number “5” contained therein indicates that 5 text messages were sent and received within a predetermined time period. InFIG. 3A, the indicator34displayed with the number is configured to have a larger size, compared to the indicator32representing another text message event. With such configuration, the user may easily recognize the time slot in which the plurality of text messages have been exchanged and the number of the text messages sent and received.

As shown inFIG. 3B, if the user selects the indicator34on the screen ofFIG. 3Adisplayed with the number therein so as to check the contents of the messages included in exchange event represented by the indicator34displayed with the number, the individual message contents included therein are displayed on the display screen.FIG. 3Bshows an example where5text messages have been sent to the same person (e.g., ‘Hong Bo Ram’ inFIG. 3B) in adjacent time slots.

Further, if the user selects a specific indicator located on the timeline, the control unit13executes a program corresponding to the selected indicator. The functionality necessary for executing a program corresponding to a specific indicator, and the implementation of a process for executing a program associated with the specific indicator are within the capability of a person of ordinary skill in the art, and thus detailed explanations therefor are omitted.

FIGS. 4A through 4Cillustrate respect screen displays of a mobile terminal showing one embodiment of setting/registering an event at a particular time.

When a user selects a particular time on the timeline, the control unit13provides a function to set/register an event required by the user at the particular time. As shown inFIG. 4A, a pointer42for setting/registering an event is displayed on the timeline31. An indicator41for a scheduled event which has already been registered is separately displayed. If the user moves the pointer42to a certain location along the timeline31, time-related information corresponding to the location is displayed on a central portion of the display unit12. If the user locates the pointer42on a time slot where an event is to be set and then selects or actuates a ‘menu’ button or key, event setting menu items are displayed as shown inFIG. 4B. If the user selects the menu item ‘2. set an alarm’, an alarm clock indicator43is then displayed as shown inFIG. 4C. Accordingly, when setting an alarm, the user can easily set and register the alarm event by selecting a particular time on the timeline31without performing an additional time setting or time entry operation manually.

Further, the control unit13may provide separate menu selection items such that the user may select a particular indicator displayed on the timeline31, and execute and/or change an event associated with the selected particular indicator. The control unit13may display detailed information related to the selected particular event on the display unit12.

FIG. 5is an illustration of a screen display showing one example of displaying various events on a circularly-shaped timeline.

As shown inFIG. 5, the control unit13displays the circularly-shaped timeline31on the display unit12. In addition, the control unit13displays an indicator33notifying an outgoing call event, an indicator54notifying a missed call event, an indicator51notifying a sent/received message event, an indicator41notifying a scheduled event, an indicator53notifying an alarm event, an indicator notifying an event such as a wake-up call/task/D-day, etc., an indicator notifying a reservation message event, an indicator35notifying a group of events occurring with more than a predetermined frequency within a predetermined time, etc. on the circularly-shaped timeline31, based on the events detected by the detector11. The circularly-shaped timeline may display time slots in various forms, such as the time slot representing either the forenoon or the afternoon, or the time slot representing one day with the hours numbered from 0 to 24, or the like.

The timeline31as shown inFIG. 5displays the afternoon (post meridian) time slot from noon to midnight of the day in a clockwise direction, additionally displaying the letters ‘PM’ at the upper left corner of the display screen. As shown inFIG. 5, if a user places the cursor or pointer55on or adjacent an indicator such as the text message indicator51, summary information related to the type of event, is date and time that the event has occurred, and the like is displayed at the central portion of the timeline display31. And, the specific information concerning the event, such as the contents of the text message, are briefly displayed below the timeline31. InFIG. 5, the cursor55is formed in a circular shape having a pointer protrusion only at a part needing to be indicated. However, the shape of the cursor55may be variously modified according to the form of the timeline, manner of user input, etc.

In addition, when events, such as unidentified messages, missed calls, alarms, etc. exist, the control unit13controls the indicator54corresponding to the event (e.g., missed call) to flash (blink), thereby informing a user about the presence of the event (e.g., missed call). When the user places the cursor54adjacent to the flashing indicator, a pop-up window may appear or summary information related to the event may be displayed at the lower end of the timeline31such that the user may be provided with detailed information.

Further, if the user places the cursor55next to the text message indicator and clicks the menu button, the mobile terminal may be configured to provide additional menu selections including creating a reply message, blocking message reception, deleting a message, and the like. In addition, if the user places the cursor55next to a sent/received call indicator and clicks the menu button, the mobile terminal may be configured to provide additional menu selections including calling the corresponding number, storing the telephone number received, blocking reception from the corresponding telephone number, and the like.

FIG. 6is a diagram showing an example of the movement directions of user input keys of a mobile terminal for searching events.

A user may select one of the direction keys (right, left, up and down) disposed on a keypad of the mobile terminal to move to a past or future timeline, and thus the user may easily check memos, settings or schedules of the past or the future.

After selecting a timeline displayed on the display unit12, the user may move to a specific time slot on the timeline by manipulating the direction keys disposed on the keypad. For instance, the user may move the cursor55along the circularly-shaped timeline to select a particular indicator, thereby easily checking and managing the corresponding event.

Referring toFIG. 6, the direction keys may include separate right, left, up and down directional arrow keys or may be implemented by a multi-directional key or joystick or touch-sensitive input pad or touchpad display screen equipping the mobile terminal. Here, each of the direction keys and the time slot representing a respective timeline can be intuitively matched for facile use in a manner that the left direction key is to select the AM time line, the right direction key is to select the PM time line, the up direction key is to select a future date, and the down direction key is to select a past date.

For instance, if today's date and time is Sep. 28, 2006 in the AM, and if the user desires to check on an event set for Sep. 30, 2006 in the PM, the user clicks the up direction key twice to move to the time slot of Sep. 30, 2006, and then clicks the right direction key once to select the PM timeline.

Preferably, the initial setting of the displayed timeline is set to the present time.

Further, if the user selects the AM or PM timeline, the left direction key is then configured to move towards the past time (counterclockwise direction), and the right direction key is then configured to move towards the future time (clockwise direction).

FIGS. 7A through 7Dillustrate respective screen displays showing a process for checking an indicator representing an event group by using the event information display device of a mobile terminal according to the invention.

Referring toFIG. 7A, to check the contents of an event among those events included in an indicator35representing an event group on the timeline31displayed on the display unit12, the user moves the cursor55to the indicator35representing the event group.

As shown inFIG. 7B, if the user selects the indicator35representing the event group, indicators72showing each of the individual events which are included in the event group indicator35representing the event group are outspread. Here, the control unit13expands the display of the portion of the timeline where the indicators are outspread, so as to prevent the overlapping of the outspread indicators72and to enable the user to easily distinguish each indicator. The arrows shown inFIG. 7Bindicate that the timeline is expanded. As shown inFIG. 7B, while the timeline of the time slot from 9:00 PM to 11:59 PM is expanded, the displayed timelines of the time slots from 6 PM to 9 PM and from 12:01 PM to 3 PM are compressed.

Referring toFIGS. 7B and 7C, the user may move the cursor55to easily check the contents of each of the outspread indicators72. Information of an event related to the indicator on or adjacent to which the cursor55is located is displayed at the central portion of the display unit12, and thus the user may easily recognize the information of each event.

When the user has checked all desired contents of those events included among the events indicated by the indicator35representing the event group or desires to check the contents of another event indicator on the timeline31, and if the cursor55is moved to the outside of the outspread indicators72, as shown inFIG. 7D, the outspread indicators72revert to the initial form of the one event group indicator35and the expanded timeline is also returned to its original non-expanded state.

The foregoing embodiments and advantages are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. This description is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims. Many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.