Mobile terminal and controlling method thereof

Abstract

A mobile terminal and controlling method thereof are disclosed. The present invention includes a touchscreen; a memory configured to store access point (AP) information; a 1 st wireless communication unit configured to perform a communication with an AP (access point); and a controller configured to control a user interface for remotely controlling an external device to be displayed on the touchscreen or to be in a displayable state when the AP connected to the 1 st wireless communication unit matches the stored AP information.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A mobile terminal comprising:
 a touchscreen;   a memory configured to store access point (AP) information;   a 1 st  wireless communication unit configured to perform a communication with an AP (access point); and   a controller configured to control a user interface for remotely controlling an external device to be displayed on the touchscreen or to be in a displayable state when the AP connected to the 1 st  wireless communication unit matches the stored AP information.   
     
     
         2 . The mobile terminal of  claim 1 , wherein if the mobile terminal escapes from a power saving mode while the 1 st  wireless communication unit is connected to the AP, the controller configured to control the user interface to be displayed or to be in the displayable state while the touchscreen is in locked state. 
     
     
         3 . The mobile terminal of  claim 2 , wherein, if a prescribed user input is applied to the user interface while the touchscreen is in the locked state, the controller controls the touchscreen to be escaped from the locked state. 
     
     
         4 . The mobile terminal of  claim 1 , wherein if a prescribed user input is applied to a status bar for displaying an state of the mobile terminal when the user infterface is in the displayable state, the controller controls the user interface to be displayed on the touchscreen. 
     
     
         5 . The mobile terminal of  claim 1 , wherein the controller generates a control signal for remotely controlling the external device based on a user input to the user interface. 
     
     
         6 . The mobile terminal of  claim 5 , further comprising a 2 nd  wireless communication unit configured to communicate with the external device. 
     
     
         7 . The mobile terminal of  claim 6 , wherein the controller transmits the control signal using either the 1 st  wireless communication unit or the 2 nd  wireless communication unit. 
     
     
         8 . The mobile terminal of  claim 7 , wherein if the touchscreen is set to a landscape mode, the controller controls the control signal to be transmitted via the 1 st  wireless communication unit and wherein if the touchscreen is set to a portrait mode, the controller controls the control signal to be transmitted via the 2 nd  wireless communication unit. 
     
     
         9 . The mobile terminal of  claim 8 , wherein the 1 st  wireless communication unit comprises a wireless LAN (WLAN) communication module and wherein the 2 nd  wireless communication unit comprises an infrared communication (IrDA) module. 
     
     
         10 . The mobile terminal of  claim 5 , wherein the controller controls a feedback to be outputted in response to the user input to the user interface. 
     
     
         11 . The mobile terminal of  claim 10 , wherein the feedback comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of an output of vibration, an output of an alarm sound and a flickering of an LED. 
     
     
         12 . The mobile terminal of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface comprises a tab button region for selecting a kind of the external device to control and a control button region for generating a control signal for remotely controlling the external device. 
     
     
         13 . The mobile terminal of  claim 1 , wherein the AP information comprises at least one of an service set identifier (SSID) and a network address. 
     
     
         14 . The mobile terminal of  claim 1 , wherein if the 1 st  wireless communication unit is disconnected from the AP, the controller controls an output of the user interface to be ended. 
     
     
         15 . A method of controlling a mobile terminal, comprising the steps of:
 saving access point (AP) information;   requesting an access to an AP (access point);   determining whether the AP matches the AP information; and   if the AP matches the AP information, displaying a user interface for remotely controlling an operation of an external device or enabling the user interface to be in a displayable state.