Abstract:
It is presented a method for synchronizing theme parameters between a mobile terminal and a personal computer. The method comprises the steps of: detecting that a connection exists between the mobile terminal and the personal computer; sending a signal from the mobile terminal, the signal comprising at least one theme parameter; and modifying theme settings in at least one program on the personal computer to modify its appearance to correspond to at least one of the at least one theme parameter.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention generally relates to mobile terminals and more particularly to improving personalization in the context of mobile terminals.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Mobile terminals, or mobile (cellular) telephones, for mobile telecommunications systems like GSM, UMTS, D-AMPS and CDMA2000 have been used for many years now. In the older days, mobile terminals were used almost only for voice communication with other mobile terminals or stationary telephones. With added functionality, such as calendar/organizer/time planner, www/wap browsing, video telephony, electronic messaging (e.g. SMS, MMS, email, instant messaging), digital image or video recording, FM radio, music playback, electronic games, and word processing, mobile terminals are nowadays more like small computers.  
         [0003]     With the improved user interface, including color screens, users have been given the ability to change the appearance of the user interface in the mobile terminal, typically as part of a theme. A theme is a collection of configuration settings affecting the user interface, such as background color and text color in a main screen area, title bar, etc. A background image may also be part of a theme. For example, one theme may be a theme for a particular football team and another theme may be a theme for the group “Outkast”.  
         [0004]     A key factor in making the experience of using mobile terminals as familiar as possible and still unique, is personalization. Themes allow personalization to some degree, but there is a general problem of how to enhance and improve personalization to make the user experience as pleasant and easy as possible.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     In view of the above, an objective of the invention is to solve or at least reduce the problems discussed above.  
         [0006]     Generally, the above objectives are achieved by the attached independent patent claims.  
         [0007]     According to a first aspect of the invention there has been provided a method for synchronizing theme parameters between a mobile terminal and a personal computer, the method comprising the steps of: detecting that a connection exists between the mobile terminal and the personal computer; sending a signal from the mobile terminal, the signal comprising at least one theme parameter; and modifying theme settings in at least one program on the personal computer to modify its appearance to correspond to at least one of the at least one theme parameter. In other words, personalization using themes on the mobile terminal expand the impact by affecting themes on the personal computer, increasing the range of personalization.  
         [0008]     The step of modifying theme settings may include modifying at least one program selected from a group consisting of a program for synchronizing data between the personal computer and the mobile terminal, a program for storing data from the mobile terminal on the personal computer, and a program for producing an appearance of the operating system of the personal computer. It is beneficial for mobile terminal related programs to benefit from the mobile terminal theme. Additionally, operating system themes have greater scope and create a larger impact.  
         [0009]     The signal may comprise data representing text color and background color. The signal may further comprise textual data and binary data. The binary data may be selected from a group consisting of image data, audio data and video data. All these data types are beneficial when creating a theme and the signal is therefore capable of conveying these data types.  
         [0010]     The method may be started automatically after a connection between the mobile terminal and the personal computer is established. This allows for simple and user friendly operation.  
         [0011]     The connection may be a connection selected from a group consisting of a Bluetooth connection, an infrared connection, a Universal Serial Bus connection, a Firewire connection, a wireless local area network connection, RS-232 serial communication, a Wireless Universal Serial Bus connection, an Ethernet connection and a connection over the Internet. Any suitable connection type may be used in this invention.  
         [0012]     The step of detecting that a connection exists may be performed in the mobile terminal, the step of sending a signal may be performed in the mobile terminal, and the step of modifying theme settings may be performed in the personal computer.  
         [0013]     A second aspect of the invention is a mobile terminal capable of sending theme data to a personal computer, the mobile terminal comprising: means for detecting that a connection exists between the mobile terminal and the personal computer; and means for sending a signal from the mobile terminal, the signal comprising at least one theme parameter. In other words, personalization using themes on the mobile terminal expand the impact by affecting themes on the personal computer, increasing the range of personalization.  
         [0014]     The signal may be adapted to be received by the personal computer and cause modification of theme settings in at least one program on the personal computer to modify its appearance to correspond to at least one of the at least one theme parameter.  
         [0015]     A third aspect of the invention is a personal computer capable of receiving theme data from a mobile terminal, the personal computer comprising: means for detecting that a connection exists between the mobile terminal and the personal computer; and means for receiving a signal from the mobile terminal, the signal comprising at least one theme parameter. In other words, personalization using themes on the mobile terminal expand the impact by affecting themes on the personal computer, increasing the range of personalization.  
         [0016]     The personal computer may further comprise means for modifying theme settings in at least one program on the personal computer to modify its appearance to correspond to at least one of the at least one theme parameter.  
         [0017]     A fourth aspect of the invention is a system for exchanging theme data comprising a mobile terminal and a personal computer, the mobile terminal comprising: means for detecting that a connection exists between the mobile terminal and the personal computer; and means for sending a signal from the mobile terminal, the signal comprising at least one theme parameter; and the personal computer comprising: means for detecting that a connection exists between the mobile terminal and the personal computer; and means for receiving a signal from the mobile terminal, the signal comprising at least one theme parameter. In other words, personalization using themes on the mobile terminal expand the impact by affecting themes on the personal computer, increasing the range of personalization.  
         [0018]     The personal computer may further comprise means for modifying theme settings in at least one program on the personal computer to modify its appearance to correspond to at least one of the at least one theme parameter.  
         [0019]     Other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following detailed disclosure, from the attached dependent claims as well as from the drawings.  
         [0020]     Generally, all terms used in the claims are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical field, unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references to “a/an/the [element, device, component, means, step, etc]” are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of said element, device, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless explicitly stated. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0021]     Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in more detail, reference being made to the enclosed drawings, in which:  
         [0022]      FIG. 1  is a schematic illustration of a cellular telecommunication system, as an example of an environment in which the present invention may be applied.  
         [0023]      FIG. 2  is a schematic front view illustrating a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0024]      FIG. 3  is a schematic block diagram representing an internal component, software and protocol structure of the mobile terminal shown in  FIG. 2 .  
         [0025]      FIG. 4  is a schematic block diagram showing some key software and hardware components of the personal computer shown in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0026]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart diagram that illustrates the operation of a method according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0027]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example of a cellular telecommunications system in which the invention may be applied. In the telecommunication system of  FIG. 1 , various telecommunications services such as cellular voice calls, www/wap browsing, cellular video calls, data calls, facsimile transmissions, music transmissions, still image transmissions, video transmissions, electronic message transmissions and electronic commerce may be performed between a mobile terminal  100  according to the present invention and other devices, such as another mobile terminal  106  or a stationary telephone  132 . It is to be noted that for different embodiments of the mobile terminal  100  and in different situations, different ones of the telecommunications services referred to above may or may not be available; the invention is not limited to any particular set of services in this respect.  
         [0028]     The mobile terminals  100 ,  106  are connected to a mobile telecommunications network  110  through RF links  102 ,  108  via base stations  104 ,  109 . The mobile telecommunications network  110  may be in compliance with any commercially available mobile telecommunications standard, such as GSM, UMTS, D-AMPS, CDMA2000, FOMA and TD-SCDMA.  
         [0029]     The mobile telecommunications network  110  is operatively connected to a wide area network  120 , which may be Internet or a part thereof. An Internet server  122  has a data storage  124  and is connected to the wide area network  120 . The server  122  may host a www/wap server capable of serving www/wap content to the mobile terminal  100 .  
         [0030]     A personal computer  126  according to the present invention is also connected to the wide area network  120 , and is further connected to the mobile terminal  100  via a local connection  127 . The local connection  127  may be of any suitable type, be it a wireless connection such as Bluetooth, Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Wireless USB (WUSB), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), etc, or a wire-based connection such as USB, RS-232 serial communication, FireWire, Ethernet, etc. Typically, this local connection may be used to synchronize data such as contacts, calendar items, to-do items, and/or messages between the personal computer  126  and the mobile terminal  100 . Also file items such as images and ring signals may be transferred over the local connection.  
         [0031]     A public switched telephone network (PSTN)  130  is connected to the mobile telecommunications network  110  in a familiar manner. Various telephone terminals, including the stationary telephone  132 , are connected to the PSTN  130 .  
         [0032]     An embodiment  200  of the mobile terminal  100  is illustrated in more detail in  FIG. 2 . The mobile terminal  200  comprises a speaker or earphone  202 , a microphone  205 , a display  203  and a set of keys  204  which may include a keypad  204   a  of common ITU-T type (alpha-numerical keypad representing characters “0”-“9”, “*” and “#”) and certain other keys such as soft keys  204   b,    204   c  and a joystick  211 .  
         [0033]     The internal component and software structure of the mobile terminal  200  will now be described with reference to  FIG. 3 . The mobile terminal has a controller  300  which is responsible for the overall operation of the mobile terminal and is preferably implemented by any commercially available CPU (“Central Processing Unit”), DSP (“Digital Signal Processor”) or any other electronic programmable logic device. The controller  300  has associated electronic memory  302  such as RAM memory, ROM memory, EEPROM memory, flash memory, or any combination thereof. The memory  302  is used for various purposes by the controller  300 , one of them being for storing data and program instructions for various software in the mobile terminal. The software includes a real-time operating system  320 , drivers for a man-machine interface (MMI)  334 , an application handler  332  as well as various applications. The applications include a browser application  350 , as well as various other applications  360  and  370 , such as applications for voice calling, video calling, sending SMS, MMS or email, an instant messaging application, a phone book application, a calendar application, a control panel application, a camera application, a media player, one or more video games, a notepad application, etc.  
         [0034]     The MMI  334  also includes one or more hardware controllers, which together with the MMI drivers cooperate with the display  336 / 203 , keypad  338 / 204  as well as various other I/O devices such as microphone, speaker, vibrator, ringtone generator, LED indicator, etc. As is commonly known, the user may operate the mobile terminal through the man-machine interface thus formed.  
         [0035]     The software also includes various modules, protocol stacks, drivers, etc., which are commonly designated as  330  and which provide communication services (such as transport, network, connectivity and synchronization). There is further an RF interface  306 , and optionally a Bluetooth interface  308 , an Infrared Data Association (IrDA) interface  310  and/or other local communication interfaces  312 , such as USB, RS-232 serial communication, FireWire, Ethernet, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and/or Wireless USB (WUSB). The RF interface  306  comprises an internal or external antenna as well as appropriate radio circuitry for establishing and maintaining a wireless link to a base station (e.g. the link  102  and base station  104  in  FIG. 1 ). As is well known to a man skilled in the art, the radio circuitry comprises a series of analog and digital electronic components, together forming a radio receiver and transmitter. These components include, i.a., band pass filters, amplifiers, mixers, local oscillators, low pass filters, AD/DA converters, etc.  
         [0036]     The mobile terminal also has a SIM card  304  and an associated reader. As is commonly known, the SIM card  304  comprises a processor as well as local work and data memory.  
         [0037]      FIG. 4  shows a personal computer  400  according to an embodiment of the invention, such as personal computer  126  in  FIG. 1 . The personal computer  400  has a controller  410  with associated memory  404 . The controller is responsible for the overall operation of the personal computer  400  and may be implemented by any commercially available CPU (Central Processing Unit) or any other electronic programmable logic device. The associated memory may be internal and/or external to the controller  410  and may be RAM memory, ROM memory, EEPROM memory, flash memory, hard disk, or any combination thereof.  
         [0038]     The memory  404  is used for various purposes by the controller  410 , one of them being for storing data and program instructions for various pieces of software in the personal computer  400 . The software includes an operating system, such as Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS, Linux, Unix, etc, and also includes drivers e.g. for a user interface  401  or local communication  408 , as well as various applications  407 .  
         [0039]     Many if not all of these applications will interact with a user  409  both by receiving data input from him, such as text input through an input device  403 , and by providing data output to him, such as visual output in the form of e.g. text and graphical information presented on a display  402 . Non-limiting examples of applications are an Internet browser application, an email application, an organizer application including a calendar and contacts, a video game application, a calculator application, a word processing application, a spreadsheet application, a presentation application, a code memory application, a music player application, a media streaming application, and a control panel application. Only imagination sets the limit on what type of applications can run on the personal computer  400 . GUI (graphical user interface) functionality  406  in the user interface  401  controls the interaction between the applications  407 , the user  409  and the elements  402 ,  403  of the user interface  401 . The GUI includes a program to control the operative environment and appearance of user interface elements using theme parameters. An application (or program) may be responsible for the operative environment, including implementing all theme parameters. The theme parameters may include wallpapers, colors of text and user interface elements, sounds and videos. Consequently, the user  409  may personalize the appearance according to the preferences of the user. Typically, the GUI functionality is part of, or closely related to, the operating system of the personal computer  400 .  
         [0040]     Text is typically input via a keyboard, and a mouse, trackball or touch sensitive screen is used to receive positional input from the user  409 .  
         [0041]     The personal computer  400  also typically has at least one interface  405  for access to network resources on at least one digital network, such as the wide area network  120  in  FIG. 1 . Means for local communication  408 , such as adapters for Bluetooth, IrDA, USB, RS-232 serial communication, FireWire, Ethernet, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and/or Wireless USB (WUSB), may also be connected to or be part of the personal computer  400 . Consequently, the means for local communication  408  allows the personal computer  400  to establish a contact with a mobile terminal, such as mobile terminal  100  in  FIG. 1 , in the proximity of the personal computer  400 . Typically, this type of local connection is used to synchronize data such as contacts, calendar items, to-do items, and/or messages between the personal computer  400  and the mobile terminal  100 . Moreover, file items such as images and ring signals may be transferred over the local connection.  
         [0042]     With reference to  FIG. 5 , a method involving the mobile terminal  100  and personal computer  126  for exchanging theme data according to an embodiment of the invention will now be described. In general, a theme from the mobile terminal  100  is to be transferred and applied to the personal computer  126 . The method may be triggered manually, either on the personal computer  126  or the mobile terminal  100 , or the method may be configured to start automatically as soon as a connection between the mobile terminal  100  and the personal computer  126  is present.  
         [0043]     In step  500 , the presence of a connection is detected. This step may be performed in either the mobile terminal  100  or the personal computer  126 . The invention is not limited to use of a particular type of connection; any type of suitable connection between the personal computer  126  and the mobile terminal  100  is consistent with the present invention, such as the local connection types previously mentioned or a connection over the Internet.  
         [0044]     A signal is then sent from the mobile terminal  100  to the personal computer  126  in step  502 . The signal contains theme parameters, and can be a separate theme signal or may be incorporated in a signal having a wider use. The theme parameters included may for example relate to color of backgrounds or text for several contexts. Images may also be transmitted, to form part of a background (also known as wallpapers), title decorations, etc., as well as audio and/or video to be included in the theme. Moreover, applications may also be transmitted in this step. For example, if the user has a football theme on the mobile terminal  100  that should be transmitted to the personal computer  126 , applications providing recent football news, results or easy access to team info, etc. could be transmitted. In one embodiment, in this step the phone may first check what theme is currently active in the personal computer  126 , and only push the theme by sending the signal if the theme to be sent is not the theme currently active in the personal computer  126 . The currently active theme in the personal computer  126  may for example be determined by checking a name of the currently active theme, a theme id, or by checking individual theme components. If it is determined that the theme signal should not be sent, the method ends immediately.  
         [0045]     The theme is then applied in step  504 . Depending on how much of the GUI of the personal computer  126  is to be personalized according to the theme of the mobile terminal  100 , different combination of programs on the personal computer  126  may be affected. For example, in one embodiment, only applications related to the mobile terminal are affected, such as a program for synchronizing data between the personal computer  126  and the mobile terminal, and a program for storing data from the mobile terminal on the personal computer  126 . In other words, once this method has been executed, the affected programs have a theme corresponding to the current theme in the mobile terminal. In another embodiment, the appearance of the whole operating system is affected, to be the same as the theme of the mobile terminal  100 . The user may be able to configure different degrees of personalization to be affected. Optionally, it may be determined by parameters in the theme itself how much personalization should be affected in the personal computer  126 .  
         [0046]     In case the theme parameters provided in the signal are not sufficient to exactly match each required theme parameter for the personal computer program, the missing parameters are set to a value derived from a parameter or parameters in the signal yielding an acceptable end result or to a default value.  
         [0047]     The invention has mainly been described above with reference to a few embodiments. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art, other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended patent claims.