KR100328860B1 - Method of intelligent icon interface and apparatus employing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A user interface method is provided in which the user is informed not only of the type of service but also the current quality of the service so that the user can predict the situation of the service to be received before accessing or executing the service. The method includes a display unit for displaying a plurality of functions selectable by a user, an input unit for allowing a user to select a function, a communication interface unit for communicating with an external device, and a control unit for controlling the operation of the device. In the user interface method provided in the communication terminal, the control unit is characterized in that for displaying only the function selectable from the plurality of functions on the display unit.

Description

Method of intelligent icon interface and apparatus employing the same

The present invention relates to a user interface in a communication terminal. In particular, the present invention notifies the user of not only the type of service but also the current quality of the service, so that the user can predict the situation of the service to be received before accessing or executing the service. A user interface in a communication terminal.

Recently, as is seen in web phones, smart phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs), application services supported by fixed and mobile communication services are diversifying and increasing in capacity. As the service types are diversified as described above, these communication terminals employ a large screen such as a TFT LCD to make the user interface available by displaying icons as convenient icons.

In addition to these traditional communication terminals, many communication terminals are appearing in restaurants and the like, such as terminals capable of ordering food wirelessly and terminals capable of trading stocks wirelessly at securities companies. For convenience, a touch screen method using a large screen is frequently used.

An example of an ordering terminal for a restaurant is shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2A shows a variety of menus that can be ordered by a user as an initial screen. When the user presses the desired menu, the user can select the option again from the food selected by the user as shown in (b) of FIG. 2. When the user selects the desired specification and presses the order button, the user-selected menu is directly brought to the kitchen. Will be delivered.

However, existing terminals of various fields provide a static and blind service menu or input button regardless of whether a user provides a service. For example, as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, all services available to the terminal are uniformly displayed on the screen.

However, as can be seen in voice and video services on smartphones and PDAs, the required communication bandwidth can vary greatly depending on the type of service. If not, it can happen.

However, the user interface of the communication device up to now shows only the available services without considering this, so that the user presses the desired application service button without knowing whether the application service is actually provided, and only after the channel is connected. It was possible to know if the service was actually provided. This approach could be efficient if the bandwidth differences of the services provided were not significant. However, as the bandwidth difference of the provided services increases, the probability that only a part of the total services can be provided increases, and this method becomes very inefficient.

In addition, in recent years, the construction of a 'future land mobile communication system' that integrates the existing global wired / wireless networks and satellite networks with the IMT-2000 standardization project has been realized. When such a system is established, the user of personal information can use the application information service regardless of time and space.

However, this integrated information transmission environment provides the user with dynamic and unstable connections according to time and space, particularly in a wireless network environment. Therefore, the existing blind user access method allows the user to access the application information service irrespective of the state of the components of the integrated network environment (for example, service server, wireless channel, buffer capacity, cache information, etc.). Allow access.

Therefore, the user accesses the service by believing that the information service he requested is properly provided, but such access may fail due to the poorness of some application service components. In addition, even if the connection is successful, the user may not be provided with a high quality service smoothly (for example, noise of a voice service that the user cannot accept, distortion of a video service, etc.). And the progress of the service may be frequently interrupted. As a result, users are offended by such unexpected unstable access of information service and failure of service. In addition, there is a disadvantage in that service resources are inefficiently used by a user accessing a limited resource, in particular, a wireless channel unnecessarily and repeatedly.

In addition, even in a terminal dedicated to data communication, such as a food ordering terminal, as shown in the example of FIG. 2, only a menu that can be ordered in the restaurant is displayed, and what foods are currently orderable and each food comes out. Information such as how long it will take is not displayed. Therefore, when the orderer presses the desired menu, if the food is not currently serving or takes a long time, the waiter informs the orderer of this fact, and there is an inconvenience that the orderer needs to order again.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to overcome these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a user interface indicating not only the type of support service but also the quality of service according to wired and wireless network environments.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a user interface that can provide convenience to a user by preventing repetitive and unnecessary user access.

It is yet another object of the present invention to prevent users from unnecessarily connecting to the service server so that the server is not placed in a busy standby state unnecessarily.

Another object of the present invention is to maximize the utilization of the service by reducing the use of limited radio channel resources by minimizing unnecessary uplink usage of the user as much as possible.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an icon interface with improved convenience in providing various information to a user in a menu state.

1 is a view showing an example of a user interface screen in a conventional communication terminal device.

2 is a view showing an example of a user interface screen in a conventional food ordering terminal.

3 is a schematic diagram schematically showing a structure of a communication network to which a portable communication terminal device of the present invention is connected.

4 is a schematic block diagram showing the internal structure of a conventional portable communication terminal device.

5 is a view showing an example of a user interface screen employing the intelligent icon interface method of the present invention.

6 is a view showing another example of a user interface screen employing the intelligent icon interface method of the present invention.

7 is a view showing another example of a user interface screen employing the intelligent icon interface method of the present invention.

8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user interface screen when a button is used instead of a touch screen as an input device.

Figure 9 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the entire system connected to the portable food ordering terminal of the present invention.

10 is a view showing an example of a user interface screen in the food ordering terminal employing the intelligent icon interface method of the present invention.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a display unit for displaying a plurality of functions selectable by the user, an input unit for allowing the user to select a function, a communication interface unit for communicating with an external device, and operation of the device In the user interface method of the communication terminal having a control unit for controlling the, characterized in that the control unit displays only a function selectable from the plurality of functions on the display unit.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a communication terminal apparatus provides a service button and a menu having an adaptive user access function as an intelligent graphic user connection on a terminal (see FIGS. 5 to 7).

3 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a communication network to which a portable communication terminal device is connected. In FIG. 3, the mobile communication terminal device 100 is connected to the communication network 300 through the base station 200, connected to another mobile communication terminal device 500 connected to the other base station 400 through the communication network 300, or It may be connected to a server 600 that provides a specific service, to a computer 700 through a modem, or to a general telephone 800.

4 is a schematic diagram showing an internal configuration of such a mobile communication terminal device. The portable communication terminal device 100 is connected to an external communication network through the communication interface 140, and the audio processor 150 performs voice processing for a call. The user performs operations such as function selection, option selection, and function setting through the input unit 130, and the display unit 140 displays various information to inform the user. In addition, the display unit 140 may display image data such as still images and moving images. In addition, although not shown, a battery for supplying power for the operation of the mobile communication terminal device is included. The controller 110 includes a memory for storing a plurality of functions and a data for storing data, and a micro for executing a program. A processor is included. The controller 110 divides a plurality of functions into a combination of a text service, a voice service, an image service, and a video service, and detects a current communication environment, a free space of a memory, and a free battery, which are detected through the communication interface 140. Depending on the power and the possibility of access to the server to provide services detected through the communication interface, the icons can be distinguished from the functions that can be fully serviced, those that can be serviced only partially, and those that cannot be serviced. The display unit 120 serves to display 120.

Since the portable communication terminal device 100 simply transmits and receives only voice data to and from a general phone 800, communication is possible if only a bandwidth enough to transmit voice data is secured. On the other hand, if the server 600 provides a video service such as video-on-demand, a bandwidth sufficient to send video data should be secured. However, even if it is not enough bandwidth to send video data, if the bandwidth enough to send voice data is secured, the user may unfortunately think of receiving the voice data.

Therefore, in the present invention, the service level currently provided by each application service under various environments is shown on an icon, so that the user can predict the situation of the service to be received before accessing or executing the service. As a result, unnecessary connection attempts can be prevented, and unnecessary waste of communication costs and load on the communication network can be greatly reduced.

As such, the present invention considers the quality state of each information service resource for adaptive user access. Examples of the variables representing the quality state of each service resource include the following. Based on these variables, information services of various qualities can be provided.

1. Accessibility of servers by service: P ₁

Server status: idle / on (I), busy / on (B), off (O)-The server can notify the terminal whether the server can be accessed by each service or the terminal tries to connect to the server. You can also pay.

2. Whether communication channels (especially wireless channels in any area) are available: P ₂

Communication channel status: cold (C), warm (W), hot (H)-The status of the communication channel is continuously checked at the terminal to confirm that the communication channel is not available.

3. Whether the buffer space of the terminal is sufficient: P ₃

The buffer margin of the terminal: large (L), medium (M), small (S), null (N)-From the margin of the memory element of the terminal is determined. Since the capacity of the buffers varies depending on the service, the services that can be supported vary according to the buffer margin.

4. Mobile terminal power margin: P ₄

Terminal power margin: large (L), medium (M), small (S), null (N)-The power margin of the terminal is determined from the remaining battery capacity of the terminal. Since the time and power required by the service are different, the service that can be supported will depend on the remaining battery power.

5. Radio signal sensitivity of mobile terminal: P ₅

Propagation (Signal) Intensity of Terminal: large (L), medium (M), small (S), null (N)-The sensitivity of radio signal of the terminal is determined according to the size of the signal received from the wireless circuit of the terminal.

In order to provide an adaptive user interface for the various information services presented in this embodiment, the cost function (f _c ) for each media service that supports each of the media services provided is defined as follows.

1. Character service cost function: f _{c, text}

2. Voice service cost function: f _{c, audio}

3. Image service cost function: f _{c, image}

4. Video service cost function: f _{c, video}

The symbols '∧', '∨' and '=' used in these cost functions mean logical operations AND, OR and EQUIVALENCE (EQ), respectively. If the result value of each function is '0', it means that the media can be serviced properly. If '1', the service of the media can't be provided. 'Anyvalue' is the other case. The value of each variable (P ₁ , P ₂ , P ₃ , P ₄ , P ₅ ) to be determined is dynamically changing, and whether the service is provided is determined by the improvement or deterioration of the dynamic service environment. As a result of the dynamic change in the service environment, the use of services such as text, voice, image, and video may change from time to time. The composition of various multimedia information services combining these media is shown in Table 1 below.

Examples of application information services applicable to mobile communication devices are shown in Table 2, and each of these services shows various combinations of media combinations based on the media services such as text, voice, image, and video described above. Given.

As a result, the application services shown in Table 2 can provide various types of services to users depending on the combination of various media services. The present invention adopts an 'adaptive user access' method as an essential user access method for providing various types of services for each application service. At this time, there may be a wide variety of ways to employ.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, in view of various current situation variables, a method may be adopted in which only functions that can be provided are displayed as icons. In this case, the user can select only the functions that can be serviced at present, thereby reducing unnecessary communication connection attempts.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, a method of displaying a function only available to a partial service may be employed. That is, in FIG. 6, only part of the audio-on-demand (AOD) function is operated. There can be a wide variety of conditions under which only a certain function works. That is, for example, a temporary overload in a server providing a corresponding function or a decrease in bandwidth due to a temporary increase in traffic on a communication line with the corresponding server may be mentioned. In this case, the user may know that the quality of the service is not very good, and even if the service quality is not good, the user may select the service.

7 is an example of an interface that also displays a service for which service provision is completely impossible. In other words, it can be seen that the video-on-demand service and the TV service in dark colors are not provided at all.

5 to 7 illustrate an example in which a touch screen is used as an input unit and an output unit in the portable communication terminal device, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, it is applicable also to the terminal apparatus which has a button beside a display part. In this case, the adaptive user interface as described above may be provided by distinguishing the color or the color density of the icon representing each service.

Next, an example in which the adaptive user interface of the present invention is applied to a food ordering terminal device will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

Figure 9 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the entire system connected to the portable food ordering terminal of the present invention.

In FIG. 9, the plurality of food ordering terminals 100a... 100n are wirelessly connected to the wireless interface device 210. The wireless interface device 210 mediates communication between the central processing unit 220 and the plurality of food ordering terminals 100a .. 100n.

The central processing unit 220 is also connected to the counter terminal device 230 is installed in the counter serves to calculate or display the food value by calculating the food value according to the order from the food order terminal.

The central processing unit 220 is also connected to the kitchen terminal 240 installed in the kitchen to display the order from the food ordering terminal, it is possible to input the time required to service each menu. The input time required as described above is transferred to each food order terminal through the central processing unit 220 and reflected in the icon of the food order terminal.

FIG. 10A illustrates an example in which the service availability of each menu and the time required for the service are displayed as the color density of each icon. That is, a menu that is not currently provided is not displayed, and a menu that takes a long time is displayed in bold.

FIG. 10B illustrates an example in which a time required for service of each menu is displayed on an icon. That is, when the service time data is sent to each food order terminal from the central processing unit 220 based on the service time data input from the kitchen terminal device 240, the respective menus are provided on the screen of each food order terminal. The time it takes to display is displayed together.

Thus, by showing the time it takes for each menu to be provided to the user, when the user selects the menu, the user's time can be considered.

As described above, according to the present invention, only the functions that can be provided when the various situation variables are present are iconized, so that the user can select only the functions that can be currently serviced, thereby greatly reducing unnecessary communication connection attempts.

In addition, by displaying on the icon a service which is available only for partial services or whose quality is currently lower than the original quality, it is possible for a user to predict the situation of the service to be received before accessing or performing the service. By suppressing the connection, communication cost can be reduced and unnecessary congestion of the communication network can be prevented.

In addition, by showing the time it takes for each menu to be provided to the user, not only does the service time become too long after the user selects the menu, but also the user is required to apply for the menu and correct it later. Can be reduced.

Claims (4)

A display unit for displaying a plurality of functions selectable by the user; An input that allows the user to select a function, A communication interface for communicating with an external device, A memory for storing programs and data for performing the plurality of functions; A battery for supplying power required for the operation of the device, It has a control unit for controlling the operation of the device, The control unit divides the plurality of functions into a combination of a text service, a voice service, an image service, and a video service, and detects a current communication environment, a free space of the memory, and a spare power of the battery. And icons that can be fully serviced, functions that can only partially service, and functions that cannot be serviced, according to the possibility of access to a server for providing a service detected through the communication interface. Communication terminal device adopting a user interface, characterized in that the display on the display. A display unit for displaying a plurality of functions selectable by a user, an input unit for allowing a user to select a function, a communication interface unit for communicating with an external device, a program and data for performing the plurality of functions A user interface method in a communication terminal device having a memory for storing, a battery for supplying power required for the operation of the device, and a control unit for controlling the operation of the device, The control unit divides the plurality of functions into a combination of a text service, a voice service, an image service, and a video service; The current communication environment sensed through the communication interface, the free space of the memory, the spare power of the battery, and the possibility of access to a server for providing a service detected through the communication interface may be fully serviced. And displaying, on the display unit, a function capable of providing a service, a function capable of serving only a part, and a function that cannot be serviced by an icon. delete delete