Patent Publication Number: US-2007110037-A1

Title: Apparatus and method for displaying Web page in mobile communication terminal

Description:
PRIORITY  
      This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to an application entitled “Apparatus and Method for Web Page Display in Mobile Communication Terminal” filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Nov. 11, 2005 and assigned Serial No. 2005-107806, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for displaying a wireless Internet Web page in a mobile communication terminal, and in particular, to an apparatus and method for displaying a Web page in a mobile communication terminal, which divides the Web page into a plurality of sub-sections and maps the sub-section of the Web page in one-to-one correspondence with keybuttons of the mobile communication terminal, thereby enabling a user to scroll to display a desired sub-section from among the sub-sections of the Web page rapidly using a simple key manipulation.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Mobile communication terminals are easy to carry and thus their use is rapidly increasing. Accordingly, communication service providers and communication terminal manufacturers are competitively developing mobile communication terminals with more convenient functions in order to attract more users.  
      For example, the mobile communication terminals provide a variety of additional functions/services such as a phone book function, a game function, a scheduler function, a short message service, a multimedia message service, a cell broadcasting service, an Internet service, an e-mail service, a morning call function, an MP3 (MPEG Layer 3) function, and a digital camera function.  
      Recently, typical mobile communication terminals have begun to provide means for receiving an Internet service. Accordingly, the use of a wireless Internet accessed via the mobile communication terminals is gradually increasing.  
      Due to their size, it is difficult to display conventional Internet Web pages (that are designed for display on large screens such as a seventeen-inch display screen) on small display screens of typical mobile communication terminals (e.g., a 2½″ display). Accordingly, two methods are typically used to display a Web page of the wireless Internet on the display screens of typical mobile communication terminals. In the first method, the Web page is reduced in size according to the display screen size of the mobile communication terminal. In the second method, only a section of the large Web page is displayed in the mobile communication terminal and navigation keybuttons are used to scroll the large Web page up, down, left, and/or right so as to view the entire section of the large Web page.  
      However, the first method may distort information in the large Web page. Also, the second method is inconvenient in that the navigation keybuttons must be frequently manipulated to selectively display a desired section of the large Web page.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      An object of the present invention is to substantially solve at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages below. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for displaying a Web page of a wireless Internet in a mobile communication terminal, which makes it possible for a user to rapidly scroll to display a desired subsection from among a plurality of sub-sections of the Web page.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for displaying a Web page of a wireless Internet in a mobile communication terminal, which makes it possible for a user to rapidly scroll to display a desired sub-section from among a plurality of sub-sections of the Web page using keybuttons that are mapped in a one-to-one correspondence with each of the plurality of sub-sections of the Web page.  
      According to an aspect of the present invention, in a method for displaying a Web page of a wireless Internet in a mobile communication terminal, the Web page is divided into a plurality of sub-sections and the sub-sections of the Web page are mapped in one-to-one correspondence with keybuttons of the mobile communication terminal. When one of the keybuttons is pressed (or otherwise selected), the sub-section of the Web page mapped to the pressed keybutton is detected. Thereafter, the sub-section of the Web page corresponding to the detected keybutton is displayed.  
      According to another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for displaying a Web page of a wireless Internet in a mobile communication terminal includes a keypad, a controller, and a display unit. The keypad includes a plurality of keybuttons. The controller divides the Web page into a plurality of sub-sections, maps the sub-sections of the Web page in a one-to-one correspondence with keybuttons of the mobile communication terminal, and outputs one of the Web page sub-sections mapped to the keybutton. The display unit displays the Web page sub-section outputted from the controller. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for dividing a Web page into a plurality of sub-sections and mapping the sub-sections to keybuttons of the mobile communication terminal, according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for displaying a Web page in the mobile communication terminal, according to the present invention; and  
       FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating a display screen of a mobile communication terminal where keybuttons are mapped in a one-to-one correspondence with the sub-sections of the Web page, according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described herein below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail because they would obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail.  
      The present invention is intended to provide a technique for dividing a Web page into a plurality of sub-sections in a mobile communication terminal and mapping the sub-sections of the Web page in a one-to-one correspondence with keybuttons of the mobile communication terminal, thereby making it possible for a user to scroll to display a desired sub-section from among the sub-sections of the Web page rapidly by simple key manipulation.  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention. A mobile communication terminal described below includes a cellular phone, a personal communication system (PCS) terminal, a personal data assistant (PDA), and/or an international mobile communication  2000  (IMT- 2000 ) terminal. The following descriptions will be made with a general structure of the above terminals.  
      Referring to  FIG. 1 , the mobile communication terminal includes a controller (e.g., an MPU)  100 , a read only memory (ROM)  102 , a random access memory (RAM)  104 , a flash ROM  106 , a keypad  108 , a display unit  110 , a coder-decoder (CODEC)  112 , a microphone  114 , a speaker  116 , an antenna  118 , a radio frequency (RF) module  120 , and a baseband processor  122 .  
      The controller  100  controls an overall operation of the mobile communication terminal. For example, the controller  100  processes and controls voice communication and data communication. In addition to the general functions, the controller  100  performs a function of moving to a predetermined sub-section of the Web page, which is mapped to an input keybutton, and displaying the predetermined sub-section of the Web page. A detailed description about the general control operation of the controller  100  will be omitted for conciseness.  
      The ROM  102  may stores a variety of reference data and microcode of one or more programs for the process and control operation of the controller  100 . According to the present invention, the ROM  102  may store one or more program for dividing a Web page into a plurality of sub-sections and mapping the sub-sections in a one-to-one correspondence with keybuttons and one or more programs for moving to the sub-section of the Web page corresponding to the keybutton inputted and displaying the corresponding sub-section of the Web page. The RAM  104  is a working memory of the controller  100 , which may also store temporary data that is generated during the execution of various programs. The flash ROM  106  may store a variety of updatable data such as a phone book, an outgoing message, and an incoming message picture files, movies, etc. According to the present invention, the flash ROM  106  stores data about the sub-sections of the Web page, which are mapped in a one-to-one correspondence with the keybuttons.  
      The keypad  108  includes numeric keybuttons of digits 0-9 and a plurality of function keybuttons, such as a Menu keybutton, a Cancel (delete) keybutton, a Confirmation keybutton, a Talk keybutton, an End keybutton, an Internet connection keybutton, Navigation keybuttons (▴/▾/ / ), and/or a character input keybutton. The keypad  108  provides the controller  100  with key input data that corresponds to a keybutton pressed by a user.  
      The display unit  110  displays status information generated during operations, numerals and characters, moving pictures and still pictures, and so on. The display unit  110 A may be a color liquid crystal display (LCD). According to the present invention, the display unit  110  displays a Web page divided by the controller  100 .  
      The CODEC  112  connected to the controller  100 , and the speaker  116 , and the microphone  114  connected to the CODEC  112  constitute an audio input/output block that is used for a telephone communication and voice recording. The CODEC  112  converts PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) data received from the controller  100  into analog audio signals and outputs the analog audio signals to the speaker  116 . Also, the CODEC  112  converts audio signals received through the microphone  114  into PCM data and provides the PCM data to the controller  100 .  
      The RF module  120  down-converts an RF signal received through the antenna  118  and provides the resulting baseband signal to a baseband processor  122 . Also, the RF module  120  up-converts a baseband signal provided from the baseband processor  122  and transmits the resulting RF signal through the antenna  118 . The baseband processor  122  processes the baseband signals that are exchanged between the RF module  120  and the controller  100 . For example, in the case of data transmission, the baseband processor  122  performs channel coding and spreading on data to be transmitted. In the case of data reception, the baseband processor  122  performs despreading and channel decoding on received data.  
       FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for dividing a Web page into a plurality of sub-sections and mapping the sub-sections to the keybuttons of the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention.  
      Referring to  FIG. 2 , in step  201 , the controller  100  connects to a wireless Internet. In step  203 , the controller  100  displays a Web page of the wireless Internet on the display unit  110 .  
      In step  205 , the controller  100  divides the displayed Web page into a plurality of sub-sections each having a predetermined size. In step  207 , the controller  100  maps the sub-sections of the Web page in a one-to-one correspondence with a 3×4 matrix of keybuttons of the keypad  108 , as illustrated in  FIG. 4 .  
      In step  209 , the controller  100  stores data about the sub-sections of the Web page, which are mapped in a one-to-one correspondence with the 3×4 matrix of keybuttons.  
      Thereafter, the controller  100  ends the procedure.  
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for displaying a Web page in the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention.  
      Referring to  FIG. 3 , in step  301 , the controller  100  determines whether a Web page divide/scroll mode is set. If the Web page divide/scroll mode is set, the controller  100  proceeds to step  303 , and if not, the controller  100  proceeds to step  313 .  
      In step  313 , the controller  100  performs a scroll mode for scrolling the Web page in an up, down, left, right directions using navigation keybuttons or performs a mode for adjusting the size of the Web page to the size of the display unit  110 .  
      In step  303 , the controller  100  displays the sub-section of the Web page that is mapped to the keybutton designated as a default keybutton. The default keybutton can be set and changed by a user.  
      In step  305 , the controller  100  periodically determines whether a predetermined keybutton is pressed by a user. When a predetermined keybutton is pressed by a user, the controller  100  proceeds to step  307 .  
      In step  307 , the controller  100  determines whether a character input window exists in the displayed Web page and whether a character input focus exists in the character input window. If the character input focus exists in the character input window, the controller  100  proceeds to step  315 , and if not, the controller  100  proceeds to step  309 .  
      In step  315 , the controller  100  displays a character or a numeral corresponding to the pressed keybutton on the character input window.  
      Thereafter, the controller  100  ends the display procedure.  
      In step  309 , the controller  100  detects position data about the sub-section of the Web page that is mapped to the pressed keybutton.  
      In step  311 , the controller  100  scrolls to display the detected sub-section of the Web page on the display unit  100 .  
      Thereafter, the controller  100  ends the display procedure.  
      In addition, a key (e.g., a confirmation key) for determining whether the character input focus exists in the character input window may be used in the display procedure. That is, when the character input focus does not exist in the character input window, the confirmation key can be used to create the character input focus in the character input window. On the other hand, when the character input focus exists in the character input window, the confirmation key can be used to remove the character input focus from the character input window.  
      As described above, the present invention divides the Web page into the sub-sections in the mobile communication terminal during use of the wireless Internet, maps the sub-sections of the Web page in a one-to-one correspondence with the keybuttons, and displays a desired one of the sub-sections. Accordingly, it is possible to scroll to display a desired one among the sub-section of the Web page rapidly by simple key manipulation. Therefore, it is possible to conveniently display a Web page designed for larger screens.  
      While the present invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.