Portable electronic apparatus

• US 20040051695A1
• Filed: 10/07/2003
• Published: 03/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Tamotsu, Kagami, Kenichi, Fukumura, Toyoshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,274,354 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0338 with detection of limited linear or angular displacement of an operating part of the device from a neutral position, e.g. isotonic or isometric joysticks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons

Abstract

A portable electronic apparatus disclosed has excellent operability, being capable of zooming, scrolling, moving a cursor, selecting an icon and others with one small operation unit. This portable electronic apparatus includes a display unit, the operation unit and a controller. The display unit displays information received or stored. The one operation unit is used for operations including moving of a pointer displayed on the display unit, the zooming and the scrolling of the information displayed on the display unit, the moving of the cursor and the selection of the icon. The controller executes the operations in response to operation of the operation unit.

Claims

1. A portable electronic apparatus comprising:

a display unit for displaying information received or stored;

one operation unit used for operations including moving of a pointer displayed on the display unit, zooming and scrolling of the information displayed on the display unit, moving of a cursor and selection of an icon; and

a controller for executing the operations in response to an operation of the operation unit.

2. The portable electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operation unit includes a multidirectional input device.

3. The portable electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operation unit includes a trackball device.

4. The portable electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the portable electronic apparatus includes a confirmation function following at least one of the operations including the zooming, the scrolling, the moving of the cursor and the selection of the icon.

5. The portable electronic apparatus of claim 4, wherein the operation unit includes a multidirectional input device including a push switch.

6. The portable electronic apparatus of claim 4, wherein the operation unit includes a trackball device including a push switch.

7. The portable electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operation performed on the operation unit in one direction corresponds to a zoom in, and the operation performed on the operation unit in another direction corresponds to a zoom out.

8. The portable electronic apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

another operation member for displaying and erasing the pointer displayed on the display unit.

9. The portable electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the scrolling of the information displayed on a screen of the display unit is performed by placing the pointer on an end of the screen and moving the pointer.

10. The portable electronic apparatus of claim 2, wherein the multidirectional input device undergoes a rolling operation along a plane to specify the zooming.

11. The portable electronic apparatus of claim 3, wherein a ball of the trackball device is rolled along a plane to specify the zooming.

12. The portable electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the zooming of the information displayed on a screen of the display unit is performed by placing the pointer on an end of the screen and moving the pointer.