Method of providing celestial information and a mobile terminal having a function of providing the celestial information

Abstract

A mobile terminal and a method of outputting celestial information using the terminal are disclosed. The mobile terminal includes a memory unit storing celestial information, an information acquiring unit acquiring terminal position information, terminal direction information including an azimuth and an altitude of the terminal, and time information, and an information processing unit searching the memory unit and outputting the celestial information corresponding to the position information, the direction information and the time information received from the information acquiring unit. It is possible to provide the celestial information of the sky located in a direction corresponding to the azimuth and the altitude of the terminal and to rapidly and conveniently find a celestial body a user wishes to observe.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a mobile terminal having a celestial direction guiding function according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of outputting celestial information according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 3A to 3D are views showing examples of constellations displayed according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of outputting celestial information according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a view showing an embodiment of a method of acquiring terminal direction information;

FIG. 6 is a view showing an embodiment of a method of comparing celestial position information and terminal direction information;

FIG. 7 is a view showing another embodiment of the method of comparing celestial position information and terminal direction information;

FIG. 8 is a view showing an example of celestial observation using the mobile terminal according to the present invention; and

FIGS. 9A and 9B are views showing an example of outputting a change in terminal direction according to the present invention.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising: an input unit for receiving a name of a celestial body;a memory unit for storing celestial information including position information of the celestial body on a celestial sphere matched to the name of the celestial body;an information acquiring unit for acquiring terminal position information, terminal direction information, and time information; andan information processing unit for comparing the position information of the celestial body and the terminal direction information, determining whether a difference between the position information of the celestial body and the terminal direction information falls within an error range, and outputting information on a change in terminal direction if the difference falls outside the error range.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the position information of the celestial body and the terminal direction information are represented in different coordinate systems.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further comprising an operation recognizing module recognizing movement of the terminal and a direction recognizing module recognizing the direction of the terminal.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein the operation recognizing module is any one of an acceleration sensor and a gyro sensor.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein the direction recognizing module is a geomagnetic sensor.

6. The mobile terminal of to claim 1, further comprising: a global positioning system (GPS) signal receiving unit for receiving a GPS signal; anda mobile communication module for transmitting/receiving data to/from a mobile network,wherein the information acquiring unit acquires the terminal position information using the GPS signal received via the GPS signal receiving unit and acquires the time information using a mobile communication base station system parameter received via the mobile communication module.

7. A mobile terminal comprising: a memory unit for storing celestial information;an information acquiring unit for acquiring terminal position information, terminal direction information including an azimuth and an altitude of the terminal, and time information; andan information processing unit for searching the memory unit and outputting the celestial information corresponding to the position information, the direction information and the time information received from the information acquiring unit,wherein the information processing unit updates and outputs the celestial information depending on a change in at least one of the position information, the direction information, and the time information.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 7, wherein the information acquiring unit acquires the direction information by measuring a change in the azimuth and the altitude, using an operation recognizing module and a direction recognizing module connected to the information acquiring unit.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 7, wherein the information acquiring unit acquires at least one of the position information, the direction information and the time information via an input unit included in the terminal.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 7, wherein the direction information includes three-dimensional direction information.

11. A method of outputting celestial information, the method comprising: acquiring terminal position information, terminal direction information including an azimuth and an altitude of the terminal, and time information; andoutputting the celestial information corresponding to the position information, the direction information, and the time information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the direction information includes three-dimensional direction information.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the position information is acquired using a GPS signal or a system parameter transmitted from a mobile communication base station.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the direction information is acquired by measuring a change in the azimuth and the altitude using an operation recognizing module and a direction recognizing module.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the time information is acquired using a GPS signal or a system parameter transmitted from a mobile communication base station.

16. A method of outputting celestial information using a mobile terminal, the method comprising: receiving a name of a celestial body;acquiring position information of the mobile terminal, celestial position information indicating the position of the celestial body on a celestial sphere corresponding to the received name of the celestial body, and a terminal direction position information indicating the position of the celestial sphere toward which the terminal is directed;comparing the acquired celestial position information and the acquired terminal direction position information; andoutputting information on a change in terminal direction necessary for matching the celestial position information and the terminal direction position information, if the celestial position information and the terminal direction position information are not matched as the result of comparison.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the direction information includes three-dimensional direction information.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the direction information is acquired by measuring a change in an azimuth and an altitude using an operation recognizing module and a direction recognizing module.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the position information of the terminal is latitude/inclination information.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein, in the step of outputting the information on the change in the terminal direction, the information on the change in the terminal direction is audibly output.