Image display apparatus and operating method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9237296-B2
Application number	US-63047109-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2009
Priority date	Jun 1, 2009
Publication date	Jan 12, 2016
Grant date	Jan 12, 2016

Abstract

A method for operating an image display apparatus includes providing input signals to the image display apparatus, displaying at least one image on a display based on the input signals, generating a plurality thumbnail images based on the input signals, and displaying a thumbnail-image list which includes a plurality of generated thumbnail images.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An operating method of an image display apparatus, comprising:
receiving a first input signal;
displaying a first image on a display based on the first input signal;
receiving a second input signal;
generating a plurality of thumbnail images which includes a thumbnail image of a second image, the thumbnail image of the second image generated based on the second input signal;
displaying a first thumbnail-image list including the plurality of thumbnail images including the thumbnail image of the second image, wherein the first thumbnail-image list is displayed in response to a command signal received during a time when the first image is displayed, the first thumbnail-image list further including a first object indicating a full-view mode;
displaying a second thumbnail-image list comprising a plurality of thumbnail images in response to selection of the first object, wherein the second thumbnail-image list further comprises a second object related to a recently-viewed channels item; and
displaying a third thumbnail-image list comprising a plurality of thumbnail images corresponding to recently viewed channels in response to selection of the second object,
wherein the second object is a channel align item for aligning the plurality of thumbnail images, the method further comprising:
displaying a channel align screen including the recently-viewed channels in response to selection of the channel align item, wherein the third thumbnail-image list is displayed according to the recently-viewed channels item.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of thumbnail images are generated by:
(1) forming the second image based on the second input signal;
(2) forming a thumbnail image corresponding to the second image formed in (1); and
(3) repeating (1) and (2) one or more times for additional images to generate a corresponding number of additional ones of the plurality of thumbnail images.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of thumbnail images are generated by:
(1) decoding the second image from the second input signal;
(2) converting a format of the decoded second image;
(3) encoding the second image in the converted format to generate a corresponding thumbnail image; and
(4) repeating (1) to (3) one or more times for additional images to generate a corresponding number of additional ones of the thumbnail images.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first input signal and the second input signal are received through different channels or from different sources.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
updating at least one of the thumbnail images, and
displaying the updated thumbnail image in the first thumbnail-image list.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying the first thumbnail-image list comprises:
displaying source information corresponding to each thumbnail image in the list,
wherein the source information corresponding to each thumbnail image in the list is different.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a size of the first image is greater than a size of the thumbnail image corresponding to the first image.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein a size of one or more of the thumbnail images displayed in the second thumbnail-image list is different from a size of one or more thumbnail images displayed in the first thumbnail-image list.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein a screen including the thumbnail-images in the first thumbnail-image list includes one or more thumbnail images corresponding to a number of previously-deleted input image signals, and wherein the first thumbnail-image list is displayed by changing at least one of brightness, contrast, fade, or transparency of the thumbnail images corresponding to previously-deleted image signals so that the corresponding thumbnail images are distinguished from other ones of the thumbnail images in the list.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second input signal is received before the first image is displayed.

11. An image display apparatus, comprising:
a display to display at least one image;
an input configured to receive first and second input signals; and
a controller to control the display to display a first image based on the first input signal and to display a first thumbnail-image list including thumbnail images of the first image and a second image generated based on the second input signal, wherein the first thumbnail-image list is displayed in response to a command signal received during a time when the first image is displayed, and the first thumbnail image list displays a first object indicating a full-view mode displaying a second thumbnail image list on the entire display,
wherein the controller controls the display to display a second thumbnail-image list comprising a plurality of thumbnail images in response to selection of the first object, wherein the second thumbnail-image list displays a second object related to a recently-viewed channels item,
wherein the controller controls the display to display a third thumbnail-image list comprising a plurality of thumbnail images corresponding to recently-viewed channels in response to selection of the second object,
wherein the second object is a channel align item for aligning the plurality of thumbnail images, and
wherein the controller further controls the display to display a channel align screen including the recently-viewed channels in response to selection of the channel align item, wherein the third thumbnail-image list is displayed according to the recently-viewed channels item.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising:
a channel-browsing processor to extract the thumbnail images in the first thumbnail-image list in response to the command signal received from an external device.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the second input signal is received before the first image is displayed.

Assignees

• Jung Dae Young
• Bae Hae Jin
• Lee Jae Kyung
• Lee Kun Sik
• Kim Gyu Seung
• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Jung Dae Young
• Bae Hae Jin
• Lee Jae Kyung
• Lee Kun Sik
• Kim Gyu Seung

Classifications

• H04N21/440263

  by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA · CPC title

• H04N21/4263

  involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners · CPC title

• H04N21/4316 Primary

  for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window · CPC title

• H04N21/4622

  Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet (web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859) · CPC title

• H04N21/4755

  for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre (retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306) · CPC title