Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
CA 02648834 2009-03-05
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING MULTIPLE DIAL PADS
ON A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE
RESERVATION OF COPYRIGHT
[0001] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains
material
which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection
to the
facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent document or patent disclosure,
as it appears
in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise
reserves all
copyrights whatsoever.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Embodiments relate generally to the implementation of
multiple dial
pads on a portable electronic device and related methods and apparatuses
disclosed herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Portable electronic devices such as mobile telephones or
personal
digital assistants (PDAs) generally include a keypad for user input.
Traditionally, the
keypad is a set of physical keys or buttons that a user may push in order to
make user
selections. For instance, a cellular telephone may include a grid of physical
keys or buttons
that may be pushed in order to dial a phone number. However, in more recent
portable
electronic devices, the keypad is implemented as a virtual keypad displayed on
a touch
screen. The touch screen of the portable electronic device displays regions
that may be
touched by a user. The regions may be associated with digits 0-9, although
other
associations are possible (e.g., *, #, etc.). Selection of a region by a user
results in the
dialing of the corresponding digit in a phone number. The regions act as
buttons or keys
and generate a signal when touched. The signals generated are interpreted by
the portable
electronic device and result in the dialing of a phone number defined by the
numbers
associated with the touched regions.
[0004] Generally, a touch screen of a portable electronic device
displays the
virtual push button dial pad when the device is in a phone number dialing
mode. In this
mode, not only does the device display a dialing key pad, but the device also
interprets user
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=
input through the dialing keypad in order to assemble and dial phone numbers.
When the
device is not in a phone number dialing mode, the virtual dial pad is not
displayed and user
input does not automatically result in the dialing of a phone number.
[0005] In many cases, the virtual dial pad displayed on a portable
electronic
device touch screen is similar in orientation and function to a standard touch
tone telephone
dialing pad. That is, the numbered buttons are arranged in four rows of keys,
three columns
wide. Numbers 0-9 are represented on the virtual "keys." A "star" ("*") key
and a "pound"
("#") key are usually also displayed. Other alpha-numeric symbols may also be
associated
with the virtual keys. Using this standard orientation, a user may dial a
phone number by
pushing the appropriate virtual keys. Thus, a user may dial a phone number
using a touch
screen of the portable electronic device in a way that is similar to most
other touch tone dial
pads function.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 illustrates a portable electronic device for
communicating with
a network in accordance with an embodiment disclosed herein.
[0007] FIG. 2 illustrates the internal components of the portable
electronic
device in accordance with an embodiment disclosed herein.
[0008] FIG. 3 illustrates a conventional dial pad configuration on
a portable
electronic device.
[0009] FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate dial pad configurations in
accordance with
an embodiment disclosed herein.
[0010] FIG. 5 illustrates a dial pad configuration in accordance
with an
embodiment disclosed herein.
[0011] FIG. 6 illustrates a dialing configuration in accordance
with an
embodiment disclosed herein.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0012] Example embodiments and applications will now be described.
It
should be appreciated that other embodiments may be realized and structural or
logical
changes may be made to the disclosed embodiments.
[0013] An advantage of using a touch screen to display a virtual
dial pad is
that the dial pad need not be limited to a specific orientation such as the
standard dial pad
orientation. Because there is a desire, and even a need, for additional
virtual dial pads to be
used on a portable electronic device with a touch screen, embodiments of
multiple virtual
dial pads integrated into the portable electronic device are disclosed below.
[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates a portable electronic device 210
according to a
disclosed embodiment. The portable electronic device 210 is a dual mode
(simultaneous
data and voice communication capabilities) device, personal digital assistant,
etc. Such
devices include BlackBerryTM devices by Research in Motion Limited of Ontario,
Canada,
or Palm Treo-rm devices by Palm, Inc. of California, U.S.A. to name a few. In
addition, the
portable electronic device 210 may be a cellular telephone. The device 210
includes a
portable housing 212 and a touch screen display 214 such as a capacitive or
resistive touch
screen display. The device 210 may also include a physical keyboard, though,
as explained
below, a physical keyboard can be replaced by a virtual keyboard on the touch
screen
display 214. The device 210 may include additional physical buttons such as a
menu button
216, a go back button 217, a dial button 218 and an end call button 219. The
menu button
216, when pushed, results in the display of a menu on the touch screen display
214. The go
back button 217 allows a user to go back to a previously viewed image or page
on the
display 214. The dial button 218 and end call button 219, as explained in more
detail below,
are used to begin and end phone calls. The device 210 also includes a
plurality of additional
physical buttons 222 that may be used to activate certain default applications
or features of
the device 210 when pushed, or which may be customizable to perform desired
functions
when pushed. The touch screen display 214 displays menus and applications that
may be
selected by a user through touching the appropriate region of the touch screen
display 214.
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[0015] The device 210 also includes internal components that may be
implemented through a combination of both hardware and software. Internal
components
800 of the device 210 are illustrated in FIG. 2. The portable electronic
device 210 includes
a number of components such as a main processor 802 that controls the overall
operation of
the portable electronic device 210. Communication functions, including data
and voice
communications, are performed through a communication subsystem 804. The
communication subsystem 804 receives messages from and sends messages to a
wireless
network 850. In this example embodiment of the portable electronic device 210,
the
communication subsystem 804 is configured in accordance with the Global System
for
Mobile Communication (GSM) and General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) standards.
The
GSM/GPRS wireless network is used worldwide and it is expected that these
standards will
be superseded eventually by Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) and Universal
Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS). New standards are still being
defined, but it
is believed that they will have similarities to the network behavior described
herein, and it
will also be understood by persons skilled in the art that the embodiments
described herein
are intended to use any other suitable standards that are developed in the
future. The
wireless link connecting the communication subsystem 804 with the wireless
network 850
represents one or more different Radio Frequency (RF) channels, operating
according to
defined protocols specified for GSM/GPRS communications. With newer network
protocols, these channels are capable of supporting both circuit switched
voice
communications and packet switched data communications.
[0016] Although the wireless network 850 associated with portable
electronic device 210 is a GSM/GPRS wireless network in one example
implementation,
other wireless networks may also be associated with the portable electronic
device 210 in
variant implementations. The different types of wireless networks that may be
employed
include, for example, data-centric wireless networks, voice-centric wireless
networks, and
dual-mode networks that can support both voice and data communications over
the same
physical base stations. Combined dual-mode networks include, but are not
limited to, Code
Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or CDMA2000 networks, GSM/GPRS networks (as
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mentioned above), and third-generation (3G) networks like EDGE and UMTS. Some
other
examples of data-centric networks include WiFi 802.11, MobitexTM and DataTACTm
network communication systems. Examples of other voice-centric data networks
include
Personal Communication Systems (PCS) networks like GSM and Time Division
Multiple
Access (TDMA) systems.
[0017] The main processor 802 also interacts with additional
subsystems
such as a random access memory (RAM) 806, a flash memory 808, the touch screen
display
214, an auxiliary input/output (I/O) subsystem 812, a data port 814, a speaker
818, a
microphone 820, short-range communications 822, an accelerometer 890 and other
device
subsystems 824 (including, but not limited to a camera).
[0018] Some of the subsystems of the portable electronic device 210
perform
communication-related functions, whereas other subsystems may provide
"resident" or on-
device functions. By way of example, the touch screen display 214 may be used
for both
communication-related functions, such as entering a text message for
transmission over the
network 850, and device-resident functions such as a calculator or task list.
[0019] The portable electronic device 210 can send and receive
communication signals over the wireless network 850 after required network
registration or
activation procedures have been completed. Network access is associated with a
subscriber
or user of the portable electronic device 210. To identify a subscriber, the
portable
electronic device 210 requires a SIM/RUIM card 826 (i.e., Subscriber Identity
Module or a
Removable User Identity Module) to be inserted into a SIM/RUIM interface 828
in order to
communicate with a network. The SIM card or RUIM 826 is one type of a
conventional
"smart card" that can be used to identify a subscriber of the portable
electronic device 210
and to personalize the portable electronic device 210, among other things.
Without the SIM
card 826, the portable electronic device 210 is not fully operational for
communication with
the wireless network 850. By inserting the SIM card/RUIM 826 into the SIM/RUIM
interface 828, a subscriber can access all subscribed services. Services may
include: web
browsing and messaging such as e-mail, voicemail, Short Message Service (SMS),
and
CA 02648834 2009-03-05
Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS). More advanced services may include: point
of
sale, field service and sales force automation. The SIM card/RUIM 826 includes
a
processor and memory for storing information. Once the SIM card/RUIM 826 is
inserted
into the SIM/RUIM interface 828, it is coupled to the main processor 802. In
order to
identify the subscriber, the SIM card/RUIM 826 can include some user
parameters such as
an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI). An advantage of using the
SIM
card/RUIM 826 is that a subscriber is not necessarily bound by any single
physical mobile
device. The SIM card/RUIM 826 may store additional subscriber information for
a mobile
device as well, including datebook (or calendar) information and recent call
information.
Alternatively, user identification information can also be programmed into the
flash memory
808.
[0020] According to a preferred embodiment, the portable electronic
device
210 is a battery-powered device and includes a battery interface 832 for
receiving one or
more rechargeable batteries 830. In at least some embodiments, the battery 830
can be a
smart battery with an embedded microprocessor. The battery interface 832 is
coupled to a
regulator (not shown), which assists the battery 830 in providing power V+ to
the portable
electronic device 210. Although current technology makes use of a battery,
future
technologies such as micro fuel cells may provide the power to the portable
electronic
device 210.
[0021] The portable electronic device 210 also includes an
operating system
834 and software components 836 to 846, 895 which are described in more detail
below.
The operating system 834 and the software components 836 to 846, 895 that are
executed by
the main processor 802 are typically stored in a persistent storage such as
the flash memory
808, which may alternatively be a read-only memory (ROM) or similar storage
element (not
shown). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that portions of the
operating system 834
and the software components 836 to 846, 895 such as specific device
applications, or parts
thereof, may be temporarily loaded into a volatile store such as the RAM 806.
Other
software components can also be included, as is well known to those skilled in
the art.
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[0022] The subset of software applications 836 that control basic
device
operations, including data and voice communication applications, will normally
be installed
on the portable electronic device 210 during its manufacture. Other software
applications
include a message application 838 that can be any suitable software program
that allows a
user of the portable electronic device 210 to send and receive electronic
messages. Various
alternatives exist for the message application 838 as is well known to those
skilled in the art.
Messages that have been sent or received by the user are typically stored in
the flash
memory 808 of the portable electronic device 210 or some other suitable
storage element in
the portable electronic device 210. In at least some embodiments, some of the
sent and
received messages may be stored remotely from the portable electronic device
210 such as
in a data store of an associated host system that the portable electronic
device 210
communicates with.
[0023] The software applications can further include a device state
module
840, a Personal Information Manager (PIM) 842, and other suitable modules (not
shown).
The device state module 840 provides persistence, i.e., the device state
module 840 ensures
that important device data is stored in persistent memory, such as the flash
memory 808, so
that the data is not lost when the portable electronic device 210 is turned
off or loses power.
[0024] The PIM 842 includes functionality for organizing and
managing data
items of interest to the user, such as, but not limited to, e-mail, contacts,
calendar events,
voicemails, appointments, and task items. A PIM application has the ability to
send and
receive data items via the wireless network 850. PIM data items may be
seamlessly
integrated, synchronized, and updated via the wireless network 850 with the
mobile device
subscriber's corresponding data items stored and/or associated with a host
computer system.
This functionality creates a mirrored host computer on the portable electronic
device 210
with respect to such items. This can be particularly advantageous when the
host computer
system is the mobile device subscriber's office computer system.
[0025] The portable electronic device 210 also includes a connect
module
844, and an IT policy module 846. The connect module 844 implements the
communication
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protocols that are required for the portable electronic device 210 to
communicate with the
wireless infrastructure and any host system, such as an enterprise system,
that the portable
electronic device 210 is authorized to interface with.
[0026] The connect module 844 includes a set of APIs that can be
integrated
with the portable electronic device 210 to allow the portable electronic
device 210 to use
any number of services associated with the enterprise system. The connect
module 844
allows the portable electronic device 210 to establish an end-to-end secure,
authenticated
communication pipe with the host system. A subset of applications for which
access is
provided by the connect module 844 can be used to pass IT policy commands from
the host
system to the portable electronic device 210. This can be done in a wireless
or wired
manner. These instructions can then be passed to the IT policy module 846 to
modify the
configuration of the portable electronic device 210. Alternatively, in some
cases, the IT
policy update can also be done over a wired connection.
[0027] The IT policy module 846 receives IT policy data that
encodes the IT
policy. The IT policy module 846 then ensures that the IT policy data is
authenticated by
the portable electronic device 210. The IT policy data can then be stored in
the flash
memory 806 in its native form. After the IT policy data is stored, a global
notification can
be sent by the IT policy module 846 to all of the applications residing on the
portable
electronic device 210. Applications for which the IT policy may be applicable
then respond
by reading the IT policy data to look for IT policy rules that are applicable.
[0028] The IT policy module 846 can include a parser (not shown),
which
can be used by the applications to read the IT policy rules. In some cases,
another module
or application can provide the parser. Grouped IT policy rules, described in
more detail
below, are retrieved as byte streams, which are then sent (recursively, in a
sense) into the
parser to determine the values of each IT policy rule defined within the
grouped IT policy
rule. In at least some embodiments, the IT policy module 846 can determine
which
applications are affected by the IT policy data and send a notification to
only those
applications. In either of these cases, for applications that aren't running
at the time of the
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notification, the applications can call the parser or the IT policy module 846
when they are =
executed to determine if there are any relevant IT policy rules in the newly
received IT
policy data.
[0029] All applications that support rules in the IT Policy are
coded to know
the type of data to expect. For example, the value that is set for the "WEP
User Name" IT
policy rule is known to be a string; therefore the value in the IT policy data
that corresponds
to this rule is interpreted as a string. As another example, the setting for
the "Set Maximum
Password Attempts" IT policy rule is known to be an integer, and therefore the
value in the
IT policy data that corresponds to this rule is interpreted as such.
[0030] After the IT policy rules have been applied to the
applicable
applications or configuration files, the IT policy module 846 sends an
acknowledgement
back to the host system to indicate that the IT policy data was received and
successfully
applied.
[0031] The dial pad module 895 may be a part of the connect module
844 or
may be a separate module, as illustrated in FIG. 2. In either scenario, the
dial pad module
895 is used by the connect module 844 when a user of the portable electronic
device desires
to dial and connect to a telephone number. The dial pad module 895 includes
instructions to
implement one or more telephone number dialing methods. Examples of dialing
methods
that may be implemented are described below.
[0032] Other types of software applications can also be installed
on the
portable electronic device 210. These software applications can be third party
applications,
which are added after the manufacture of the portable electronic device 210.
Examples of
third party applications include games, calculators, utilities, etc, as well
as third party APIs.
Other examples of third party applications include updates to the dial pad
module 895. The
updates to the dial pad module 895 may include embedded software applications
that
provide replacement dialing instructions for the dial pad module 895.
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[0033] The additional applications can be loaded onto the portable
electronic
device 210 through at least one of the wireless network 850, the auxiliary I/O
subsystem
812, the data port 814, the short-range communications subsystem 822, or any
other suitable
device subsystem 824. This flexibility in application installation increases
the functionality
of the portable electronic device 210 and may provide enhanced on-device
functions,
communication-related functions, or both. For example, secure communication
applications
may enable electronic commerce functions and other such financial transactions
to be
performed using the portable electronic device 210.
[0034] The data port 814 enables a subscriber to set preferences
through an
external device or software application and extends the capabilities of the
portable electronic
device 210 by providing for information or software downloads to the portable
electronic
device 210 other than through a wireless communication network. The alternate
download
path may, for example, be used to load an encryption key onto the portable
electronic device
210 through a direct and thus reliable and trusted connection to provide
secure device
communication.
[0035] The data port 814 can be any suitable port that enables data
communication between the portable electronic device 210 and another computing
device.
The data port 814 can be a serial or a parallel port. In some instances, the
data port 814 can
be a USB port that includes data lines for data transfer and a supply line
that can provide a
charging current to charge the battery 830 of the portable electronic device
210.
[0036] The short-range communications subsystem 822 provides for
communication between the portable electronic device 210 and different systems
or devices,
without the use of the wireless network 850. For example, the subsystem 822
may include
an infrared device and associated circuits and components for short-range
communication.
Examples of short-range communication standards include standards developed by
the
Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Bluetooth, and the 802.11 family of
standards developed
by IEEE.
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[0037] In use, a received signal such as a text message, an e-mail
message, or
web page download will be processed by the communication su*stem 804 and input
to the
main processor 802. The main processor 802 will then process the received
signal for
output to the display 214. A subscriber may also compose data items, such as e-
mail
messages, for example, using a virtual keyboard on the display 214 or a
physical keyboard
816 in conjunction with the display 214 and possibly the auxiliary 1/0
subsystem 812. The
auxiliary subsystem 812 may include devices such as: a mouse, depressible
trackball,
infrared fingerprint detector, a depressible thumb navigator or other buttons.
A composed
item may be transmitted over the wireless network 850 through the
communication
subsystem 804.
[0038] For voice communications, the overall operation of the
portable
electronic device 210 is substantially similar, except that the received
signals are output to
the speaker 818, and signals for transmission are generated by the microphone
820.
Alternative voice or audio I/0 subsystems, such as a voice message recording
subsystem,
can also be implemented on the portable electronic device 210. Although voice
or audio
signal output is accomplished primarily through the speaker 818, the display
214 can also be
used to provide additional information such as the identity of a calling
party, duration of a
voice call, or other voice call related information.
[0039] An accelerometer 890 is provided for measuring the magnitude
and
direction of acceleration of the portable electronic device 210. Methods of
manufacturing
accelerometers are known in the art. One common type of accelerometer 890 is a
micro-
electrical-mechanical system (MEMS) that includes a cantilever beam and a
proof mass.
Under the influence of gravity or acceleration, the proof mass deflects from
its neutral
position. This deflection is measured in an analog or digital manner, which is
sent to the
main processor 802 as data signals. However, it is appreciated that other
types of
accelerometers with similar properties may be suitable, as known in the art.
[0040] The touch screen display 214 communicates with the main
processor
802 via an LCD controller 214a and a sensor 214b. In the illustrated
embodiment, the touch
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screen display 214 is a capacitive touch screen display and the sensor 214b is
a capacitive
sensor. The LCD controller 214a operates to control the rendering of images,
text, data, etc.
on the display 214. The capacitive sensor 214b indicates to the main processor
802 if the
touch screen display 214 has been touched and where it has been touched in
relation to the
images and text rendered by the LCD controller 214a.
[0041] The process for dialing a phone number using the portable
electronic
device 210 will now be described. Generally, when a user of the device 210
desires to dial a
phone number, the user will first instruct the device 210 to enter a dialing
mode, as defined
by the dial pad module 895. The dialing mode may be entered by touching an
appropriate
new item or key on the device 210. The key may be a virtual key on the touch
screen
display 214, or a physical key such as one of the customizable buttons 222.
The dialing
mode may also be entered by the user speaking a command such as "Dial" when
the device
210 is in a voice activated mode.
[0042] Once the dialing mode has been entered, a default dialing
pad is
displayed on the touch screen display 214. The default dialing pad may be one
of any
number of dialing pads that are available to the user. The user may change the
default
dialing pad by navigating the appropriate menus and options displayed on the
display 214.
However, the selected default dialing pad will always be the dialing pad that
is displayed
when the dialing mode is entered.
[0043] The traditional dialing pad configuration 310 is illustrated
in FIG. 3.
In FIG. 3, the portable electronic device 210 is displaying a dialing pad
configuration 310
within dialpad area 340 on its touch screen display 214. The configuration 310
includes a
standard layout of digits in rows and columns of virtual keys. As a user
presses the first
digit of the desired phone number, the pressed digit appears in input field
320 on the display
214 (in FIG. 3, above the dial pad) as confirmation that the digits have been
selected for
dialing. Input field 320, located above dialpad 340, contains delete button
316, which can
be pressed to delete the last-entered digit. A series of tabs or buttons 315
are positioned
above input field 320, and can be configured as user-selectable shortcuts to
other telephone
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related applications, such as the call log or contact list, or as send or end
buttons. A banner
of status information 330 is optionally displayed above input field 320 and
can include
information such as a battery life indicator, clock, or signal strength
display. Generally, the
user first selects all digits in the phone number and then presses a dial or
send button 315 (or
physical button 218 of FIG. 1). Alternatively, the user may press the dial or
send button 315
and then select the digits to be dialed. Once all necessary digits have been
selected by the
user and the dial or send button 315 has been touched, the device 210 will
dial the desired
telephone number.
[0044] Other dialing pad configurations are also available for
display and use
in dialpad area 340. FIG. 4A illustrates a virtual rotary dial pad
configuration 410A on the
device 210. The rotary dial pad is meant to resemble the rotary dial
telephones that were
prevalent before touch-tone telephones became popular. The configuration 410A
includes a
horseshoe-like arc 412 over stationary numbers 413 on the display 214. The arc
412
includes finger holes 414, which are initially aligned with the numbers 413.
It should be
appreciated that the arc 412 could be a circle (e.g., circle 4123 illustrated
in FIG. 4B), or
other desirable shape. To select a number to dial, a user will touch the
finger hole 414 over
the desired digit and then drag counterclockwise along the arc of numbers
until the selected
digit has been dragged to a stopping point 415 near the lower left-hand corner
of the display
214. As the user drags their finger towards stopping point 415, the finger
holes 414 of arc
412 over the numbers will appear to rotate. Alternatively, the digits
themselves will rotate
so that the dragging of the selected digit results in turning of the arc 412.
Once the user has
dragged the arc 412 to stopping point 415, the selected dialed digit will
appear in input field
320. The selected dialed digit may also appear at another predetermined region
420 on the
display 214. The user repeats this dialing process with each desired digit.
Once all digits
have been dialed the device 210 will dial the telephone number represented by
the selected
digits.
[0045] Of course, the digits displayed in configuration 410A could
be
rearranged or dialing could be performed in a clockwise manner, as is
illustrated in FIG. 4B.
The virtual rotary dial pad configuration 410B in FIG. 4B illustrates how the
digits may be
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reversed and dialing may also be reversed. FIG. 4B also illustrates the use of
a circle 412B
comprising finger holes 414 as described above. Other variations may be made
as well.
[0046] FIG. 5 illustrates an additional virtual dial pad
configuration 510. In
configuration 510, dialing is effectuated by using a stylus 520 or a finger to
"write" the
digits to be dialed. Stylus 520 may be used with a resistive touch screen, and
a finger with a
capacitive touch screen. The touch screen display 214 on the device 210
includes a large
writing area 515 in which a user may touch the display 214 and write a digit.
In FIG. 5, the
user is in the process of writing a "2" with the stylus 520. The dialing pad
module 895
includes software that allows the device 210 to recognize letters written by a
user.
Optionally, dialing pad module 895 can learn how the user "writes" a
particular digit. Once
the device 210 recognizes the digit (for example, the 2 in FIG. 5) being drawn
by the user,
the determined digit is displayed in input field 320 on the display 214.
Optionally, the
recognized digit can be displayed in predetermined area 525. Incorrectly
recognized digits
can be deleted from input field 320 with delete key 316. In an alternative
embodiment, the
user can be given an opportunity to confirm that the device 210 has correctly
displayed the
written digit by waiting for the user to press the displayed digit before
moving on to the
next desired digit to be written. If the device displays a wrong digit,
meaning that the
device 210 failed to properly interpret the writing of the user, the user can
simply rewrite the
digit. Once all digits have been dialed the user can dial the telephone number
represented
by the selected digits by pressing the physical send button 218 of FIG. 1.
Dialing pad
module 895 is also adapted to recognize natural language digits, as well as so-
called
"unistroke" alphanumeric symbols (such as that described in U.S. Patent
5,596,656).
[0047] The device 210 may also be programmable to associate
different
symbols drawn on the display 214 with various digits. As an example, the
device 210 may
interpret a vertical line made in a downward motion as a "1," and a vertical
line made in an
upward motion as a "2." Other symbols could represent digits 3-0.
[0048] Yet another virtual dial pad configuration 610 is
illustrated in FIG. 6.
In configuration 610, the user holds the portable electronic device 210 and
waves the device
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=
in the air as if the user were using the device to write the digits of the
telephone number. To
"write" a first digit of the number, the user presses a key (either a virtual
key on the touch
screen display 214 or a customizable physical button 222) on the device 210 to
indicate to
the device 210 that it should begin recording the physical movement of the
device 210. The
user continues to press the key until the user has completed "writing" the
digit. Physical
movement is recorded using the accelerometer 890. In FIG. 6, the user is
waving the device
210 so as to write a "2" in the air. The user indicates that he or she has
completed writing a
digit by releasing the pushed key. The device 210 then displays on the touch
screen display
214 the drawn number, as the device 210 interpreted it. In this way, the user
can confirm
that the device 210 correctly understood the user's actions and, if it did
not, the user is able
to redraw any incorrect digits. The configuration 610 clearly requires that
the dial pad
module 895 be in communication with the accelerometer 890. Also, although a
touch
screen display 214 has been used in the device 210 to aid in the description
of configuration
610, a touch screen display is not necessary for the configuration 610 to
function properly.
[0049] The device 210 may also be programmable to associate
different
symbols drawn in the air with various digits. As an example, the device 210
may interpret a
vertical line made in a downward motion as a "1," and a vertical line made in
an upward
motion as a "2." Other symbols could represent digits 3-0. Alternatively,
shaking the
device 210 a single time could represent a "1;" shaking the device 210 twice
could represent
a "2;" and so forth.
[0050] Configurations 310, 410, 510, and 610 are each embedded in
the dial
pad module 895. Additional configurations are possible and may be added by
third party
applications or APIs.
[0051] Although the embodiments and applications as described
above relate
to a portable electronic device with data and voice communication capacity, it
should be
understood that they may also be embodied in and applied with any portable
electronic
device with an ability to dial telephone numbers.
CA 02648834 2009-03-05
[0052] Specific embodiments and applications related to the above
description include, but are not limited to, a portable electronic device that
includes a
display, a communication system, and a first dial pad configuration selected
from more than
one dial pad configuration stored in a memory of the portable electronic
device. The first
dial pad configuration enables a user of the portable electronic device to
dial and call a
telephone number using the display and the communication system. The display
can be a
capacitive touch screen display, and the first dial pad configurations can
include a rotary dial
configuration and a writing zone configuration. The portable electronic device
may also
include an accelerometer, in which case the first dial pad configuration may
also include a
configuration that requires a user to wave the portable electronic device in
the air as if to
write a digit.
[0053] An additional embodiment includes a method of dialing a
telephone
number using a portable electronic device. The method includes selecting a
first dial pad
configuration for dialing telephone numbers using the portable electronic
device. The first
dial pad configuration is selected from more than one configuration embedded
in a memory
of the portable electronic device. In the case where the first dial pad
configuration is a
rotary dial pad configuration, a touch screen display is used. A touch screen
display can also
be used in the case where the first dial pad configuration is a writing zone
and wherein a
finger or a stylus is used to write the desired digits on the touch screen
display. The
display is optionally a capacitive touch screen display. An accelerometer is
used when the
first dial pad configuration requires the user of the portable electronic
device to wave the
device in the air as if to write the desired digits.
[0054] A system for using hardware of a portable electronic device
to dial a
telephone number is also described. The system includes a portable electronic
device that
includes a touch screen display, a processor, a memory and an accelerometer.
The display is
optionally a capacitive touch screen display. The system also includes
instructions stored in
the memory and acted upon by the processor to render on the touch screen
display one of
multiple dial pad configurations that utilizes either the touch screen display
or the
accelerometer in order to dial a phone number. The instructions might direct
the processor
16
CA 02648834 2009-03-05
to render on the touch screen display a rotary dial pad and to dial digits
selected by a user
using the rotary dial pad. Alternatively, the instructions may direct the
processor to dial
digits written using a finger or a stylus on the touch pad display. The
instructions may also
direct the processor to dial digits written by the portable electronic device
being waved in
the air in the shapes of the desired digits.
[0055] A further embodiment is a computer medium that comprises a
software module to perform a method of dialing a telephone number using a
portable
electronic device. The medium includes instructions for selecting a first dial
pad
configuration for dialing telephone numbers using the portable electronic
device. The first
dial pad configuration is selected from more than one configuration embedded
in a memory
of the portable electronic device. In the case where the first dial pad
configuration is a
rotary dial pad configuration, a touch screen display is used. A touch screen
display is also
used in the case where the first dial pad configuration is a writing zone and
wherein a finger
or a stylus is used to write the desired digits on the touch screen display.
The display is
optionally a capacitive touch screen display. An accelerometer is used when
the first dial
pad configuration requires the user of the portable electronic device to wave
the device in
the air as if to write the desired digits.
[0056] Yet another embodiment includes a method of dialing a
telephone
number using a portable electronic device using a touch screen display. The
display is
optionally a capacitive touch screen display. The method includes selecting a
first dial pad
configuration for dialing telephone numbers using the portable electronic
device. The first
dial pad configuration is selected from more than one configuration embedded
in a memory
of the portable electronic device. The first dial pad configuration may either
be a rotary dial
pad configuration or a writing zone and wherein a finger or a stylus is used
to write the
desired digits on the touch screen display.
[0057] A further embodiment includes a method of dialing a
telephone
number using a portable electronic device using an accelerometer. The method
includes
17
CA 02648834 2009-03-05
waving the device in the air in motions that correspond to digits to be dialed
by the portable
electronic device.
[0058] Other
examples, embodiments and applications related to the above
= description but not heretofore explained in detail are nevertheless
considered pertinent and
are to be considered within the scope of the following claims.
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