Abstract:
An apparatus for playing content is provided, including: a message receiving unit receiving a short message; a message interpreting unit extracting position information of multimedia content contained in the short message; a content receiving unit accessing a content server through the position information to download the content; an alpha blender blending the content with a background image; and a display unit receiving and playing the content blended with the background image.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2005-066142, filed on Jul. 21, 2005, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.  
         [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for playing multimedia content downloaded or generated by users on a background image of a mobile terminal.  
         [0004]     2. Description of Related Art  
         [0005]     In general, a mobile communication terminal, such as mobile phone or PDA (personal digital assistant), displays a variety of content, such as flash image or VIS content, as a background image. For instance, users can set multimedia content downloaded from a content server or pictures or moving images taken with their cameras as background images of their mobile communication terminals.  
         [0006]     However, there is a problem in that when the multimedia content is displayed on the background image or is set as the background image, an existing background image needs to be deleted or temporarily stored and the multimedia content needs to be reset as a new background image.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     The present invention provides a method and apparatus for playing a background image of a mobile terminal blended with multimedia content downloaded or generated by a user.  
         [0008]     According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for playing content, including: a message receiving unit receiving a short message; a message interpreting unit extracting position information of multimedia content contained in the short message; a content receiving unit accessing a content server through the position information to download the content; an alpha blender blending the content with a background image; and a display unit receiving and playing the content blended with the background image.  
         [0009]     The message receiving unit may receive and transmit an SMS message or a Common SMS message to the message interpreting unit with no interaction with a user.  
         [0010]     The message interpreting unit may receive the position information of the multimedia content in URL (Uniform Resource Locator) form and extract the position information from the short message.  
         [0011]     The message interpreting unit may extract from the short message at least one of IP address of a multimedia content server and ID of content to be downloaded.  
         [0012]     According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for playing content, including: a determination unit accessing a content server according to predetermined time intervals or user&#39;s setup to determine whether or not content is updated; a content receiving unit downloading content when the content is updated; an alpha blender blending the content with a background image; and a display unit receiving and playing the content blended with the background image.  
         [0013]     According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of playing content, including: receiving position information of multimedia content including animation, news and current stock prices that are produced by content providers and are contained in a short message; accessing a server storing the multimedia content through the position information contained in the short message and downloading the multimedia content; and displaying the content blended with a background image.  
         [0014]     The operation of accessing a server may extract the position information of multimedia content contained in the short message in URL form, and access the server through the extracted position information to download the multimedia content.  
         [0015]     The operation of accessing a server may receive at least one of IP address of a server and ID of content that are contained in the short message and download the content.  
         [0016]     According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of playing content, including: accessing a content server according to predetermined time intervals or user&#39;s setup to determine whether or not content is updated; downloading content when the content is updated; and displaying the content blended with a background image. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]     The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:  
         [0018]      FIG. 1  is a view for explaining a method of playing a background image blended with content downloaded from a server, according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0019]      FIG. 2  is a process and system for receiving position information of content in an SMS form, accessing a content server to download the content, and displaying the content blended with a background image;  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  is a process and system for receiving address of a content server and ID of content in an SMS form, accessing the content server to download the content, and displaying the content blended with a background image;  
         [0021]      FIG. 4  is a process and system for regularly checking whether or not content stored in a content server is updated, downloading updated content, and displaying the content blended with a background image;  
         [0022]      FIGS. 5A  to  5 D are views of a process of playing content blended with a background image;  
         [0023]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a content player according to an embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0024]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram of a content player according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0025]     Exemplary embodiments in accordance with the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0026]      FIG. 1  is a view for explaining a method of playing a background image blended with content downloaded from a server, according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0027]     When a content  130  downloaded from a server or generated by a user is read on a background image  110 , an agent  120  blends objects constituting the content  130  with the background image  110  and plays the blended image. If the content  130  has a transparency value, the content  130  is displayed together with the background image  110 . Unless it has a transparency value, the content  130  is displayed, covering the background image  110 .  
         [0028]     The transparency value may be newly applied or changed so that the background image  110  can be viewed under the content  130 .  
         [0029]     When a transparent content  130  is blended with the background image  110  and displayed to a user, color values of pixels constituting the blended image are calculated according to Equation 1. Equation 1 indicates R, G, and B values of each of the pixels constituting the blended image. The color value is calculated with respect to each of R, G, and B. 
 
Color value ( R, G, B )=[(255−transparency value)/255]*color value of background image+color value of content  [Equation 1]
 
         [0030]     In Equation 1, the term ‘transparency value’ is also referred to as an alpha value. A ‘transparency value’ of 0 implies a fully transparent state, and a ‘transparency value’ of 255 implies a fully non-transparent state. The agent  120  reads the content  130 , blends the content with the background image  110  based on a predetermined transparency value of the content, and plays the blended image.  
         [0031]      FIG. 2  is a process and system for receiving position information of content in an SMS form, accessing a content server to download the content, and displaying the content blended with a background image.  
         [0032]     A content server  230   a  stores information, such as animation, news, and current stock prices, produced by a content provider (operation S 310 ). The information may be uploaded by the content provider periodically or non-periodically. The content server  230   a  informs an SMS center  240   a , which is located on a mobile communication network, of newly uploaded content and storage position of content. The storage position of content may be URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of content containing domain name of the server  230   a  (operation S 320 ). The SMS center  240   a  transmits it to a terminal  200   a  in an SMS message form (operation S 330 ). An agent  210   a  included in the terminal accesses the content server  230   a  through the URL information of the content contained in the SMS message (operation S 340 ). The SMS message may be a typical SMS message or a Common SMS message. The Common SMS message is received by the agent  210   a  even though a user does not check whether or not a message has been received. The Common SMS message is a message internally used without notifying a user that the message has been received.  
         [0033]     The content accessed through URL is downloaded (operation S 350 ). The agent  210   a  alpha-blends the content with the background image (operation S 360 ) and transmits it to a display unit  220  (operation S 370 ). The alpha-blending is described above in detail with reference to  FIG. 1 .  
         [0034]      FIG. 3  is a process and system for receiving address of a content server and ID of content in an SMS form, accessing the content server to download the content, and displaying the content blended with a background image.  
         [0035]     It can be seen from  FIG. 3  that the content uploaded in the operation S 410  is configured in a table form indicating content ID and content storage path. Thus, the message transmitted from the content server  230   b  to the SMS center  240   b  may include only IP address of the content server  230   b  or both IP address and content ID of the content server  230   b  (operation S 420 ). The agent  210   b  receives the SMS message (operation S 430 ), and uses the IP address and content ID contained in the SMS message to access the content server  230   b  (operation S 440 ). The agent  210   b  downloads content using content ID of the content required by the user (operation S 450 ), and conducts alpha-blending (operation S 460 ). The alpha-blended data is transmitted to the display unit  220  (operation S 470 ).  
         [0036]      FIG. 4  is a process and system for regularly checking whether or not content stored in a content server is updated, downloading updated content, and displaying the content blended with a background image.  
         [0037]     Operation of uploading content (operation S 510 ) is the same as the operation described in  FIG. 3  or  4 . The content server  230   c  stores the uploaded content. The agent  210   c  accesses the content server  230   c  at predetermined times or at times determined by users and checks whether or not the content has been updated (operation S 520 ). If the content has been updated, the agent  210   c  downloads the content (operation S 530 ), conducts alpha-blending with the background image (operation S 540 ), and transmits the content blended with the background image to the display unit  220  (operation S 550 ).  
         [0038]      FIGS. 5A  to  5 D are views of a process of playing content blended with a background image.  
         [0039]     It can be seen from  FIGS. 5A  to  5 D that the background image does not disappear and the content is played on the background image. When content with a predetermined transparency value is played, a background image is seen through objects constituting the content.  
         [0040]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a content player according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0041]     The content player includes a message receiving unit  610 , a message interpreting unit  620 , a content receiving unit  630 , an alpha blender  640 , and a display unit  650 . The agent  210   a ,  210   b , or  210   c  shown in FIGS.  2  to  4  includes the message receiving unit  610 , the message interpreting unit  620 , the content receiving unit  630 , and the alpha blender  640 .  
         [0042]     The message receiving unit  610  receives URL indicating content storage position, IP address of the content server, or content ID in SMS message or Common SMS message form. The message interpreting unit  620  extracts the URL, IP address, or content ID from the SMS message, and transmits it to the content receiving unit  630 . The content receiving unit  630  accesses the content server using the URL or IP address, and downloads content. If the content ID is received through the SMS message, the content can be more easily downloaded.  
         [0043]     The alpha blender  640  alpha-blends the content with the background image and transmits it to the display unit  650 . The alpha-blending is described above in detail with reference to  FIG. 1 .  
         [0044]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram of a content player according to another embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0045]     In a case when the agent  210   c  checks whether or not content stored in the content server  230   c  has been updated, without passing through the SMS center as shown in  FIG. 4 , the content player needs not to include the message receiving unit and the message interpreting unit.  
         [0046]     Thus, the content player may include a determination unit  710 , a content receiving unit  720 , an alpha blender  730 , and a display unit  740 . The determination unit  710  accesses the content server at regular intervals or at times determined by users and determines whether or not content has been updated. If content has been updated, the content receiving unit  720  downloads the updated content and transmits it to the alpha blender  730 . The alpha blender  730  alpha-blends the content with the background image and transmits it to the display unit  740 .  
         [0047]     The above-mentioned content playing method may be written with computer programs. Codes and code segments constituting the programs can be easily deduced by computer programmers skilled in the art. In addition, the programs are stored in computer readable media, read and executed by computers, thereby implementing the text search method. Examples of the computer readable media include magnetic recording media, optical recording media, and carrier wave media.  
         [0048]     As apparent from the above description, it is possible to automatically download new content by receiving position information of content, address information of content server, and content ID in SMS message form without interference of users, or checking at regular intervals whether or not content stored in the content server has been updated. Further, since it is possible to blend the downloaded content with a background image and to display the content blended with the background image, it is not necessary to make a reset of the background image.  
         [0049]     While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary 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 scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.