Method and apparatus for modifying skin and theme screens on a communication product

• US 20040216054A1
• Filed: 04/25/2003
• Published: 10/28/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Elwell, Brian M., Ross, Douglas E., Shah, Ketan M., Mathews, Ajit
• Granted Patent: US 7,500,198 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/765
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72448 with means for adapting the functionality of the device according to specific conditions

Abstract

A portable communication device (10) having a customizable skin and theme on a display (30) of the communication device can include a transceiver (38 and 44), a display coupled to the transceiver, a memory (32 or 14) having stored therein at least two skin and theme types (24) and at least one encapsulated data entry associated with each of the skin and theme types, and a processor (12) coupled to the transceiver and the display. The processor can be programmed to dynamically update the display in the communication device based upon a selection of at least one among the skin and theme types and based upon at least one encapsulated data entry associated with a selected skin and theme type.

Claims

1. A portable communication device having a customizable skin and theme on a display of the communication device, comprising:

a transceiver;

a display coupled to the transceiver;

a memory having stored therein at least two skin and theme types and at least one encapsulated data entry associated with each of the at least two skin and theme types;

a processor coupled to the transceiver and the display, wherein the processor is programmed to dynamically update the display in the communication device based upon a selection of at least one among the at least two skin and theme types and based upon the at least one encapsulated data entry associated with a selected skin and theme type.

2. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the portable communication device further comprises a theme manager that updates a theme table using information from a selected one among the at least two skin and theme types from a single theme pack downloaded into the memory.

3. The portable communication device of claim 2, wherein the portable communication device further comprises a graphical user interface.

4. The portable communication device of claim 2, wherein the theme pack includes a plurality of theme types.

5. The portable communication device of claim 2, wherein the theme pack comprises a binary file including at least one among video file, an audio file, and an image file.

6. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the selection of at least one among the at least two skin and theme types occurs upon an event recognizable by the portable communication device.

7. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the portable communication device is selected from the group of devices comprising a cellular phone, a two-way trunked radio, a combination cellular phone and personal digital assistant, a smart phone, a home cordless phone, and a satellite phone.

8. A system of customizing a skin and theme on a display of a portable communication device, comprising:

a memory in the portable communication device for receiving and storing therein a theme pack having multiple theme types;

a theme property table in the memory having information necessary for rendering a screen in accordance with a selected theme type; and

a theme manager for extracting theme information associated with the selected theme type among the multiple theme types and updating the theme property table with the theme information.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the system further comprises a display.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein system further comprises a theme formatter for formatting and updating the display with theme image data derived from the theme property table.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the system further comprises a personal computer based theme generator application having a theme pack dynamic linked list for generating a theme pack and uploading the theme pack to the memory in the portable communication device.

12. A system of customizing a screen on a portable communication device, comprising:

a resource editor for generating a theme pack having multimedia data;

a pack manager for loading the theme pack during a power up of the portable communication device;

a processor in the portable communication device programmed to;

register the theme pack with a theme manager within the portable communication device;

create a theme formatter if a dialog type has a theme associated with the dialog type, wherein the theme formatter updates a display; and

an image manager coupled to the theme formatter that invokes an appropriate decoder for image decoding of at least a portion of the multimedia data.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the theme pack further comprises a plurality of theme nodes, wherein each theme node includes at least one selected among the group of a theme identification, an image location, and an image attribute.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the system further comprises an application that creates a user interface which in turn creates the theme formatter when a dialog type has a theme associated with the dialog type.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the theme formatter checks with the theme manager to determine if a theme exists for the user interface.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein if the theme exists for the user interface, then the application can determine capabilities of the theme.

17. A method of customizing a skin and theme on a display of a portable communication device upon an event, comprising the steps at the portable communication device of:

determining if the event has occurred and if the event has an associated skin and theme; and

if the associated skin and theme exists, updating the display with the associated skin and theme.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises the step of determining if the associated skin and theme has a higher priority than an existing skin and theme.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises the step of displaying the associated skin and theme if the associated skin and theme has a higher priority than the existing skin and theme and otherwise displaying the existing skin and theme.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein if the associated skin and them does not exist, then method further comprises the step of prompting a user to download the associated skin and theme before updating the display.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein if the associated skin and them does not exist, then method further comprises the step of automatically downloading the associated skin and theme before updating the display.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the event is selected from the group of events comprising detecting an attachment of an accessory to the portable communication device, detecting an idle display, detecting a change in location, detecting a user request, detecting a receipt of a message from a predetermined party, detecting a call from a predetermined party, detecting a broadcast, and detecting a given time of day.

23. A method of customizing a screen on a portable communication device, comprising the steps of:

initializing a theme manager;

determining if a valid theme pack exists and drawing a generic user interface for all screen types if a valid theme pack does not exist;

extracting screen related information and updating a theme property table using the theme manager;

upon an event requiring the rendering of the screen, determining if the theme property table has sufficient information to render the screen;

rendering the screen with a selected theme using information from the theme property table if the theme property table has sufficient information to render the screen and otherwise rendering the screen with a default theme.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the event requiring the rending of the screen comprises an event selected from the group of events comprising detecting an attachment of an accessory to the portable communication device, detecting an idle display, detecting a change in location, detecting a user request, detecting a receipt of a message from a predetermined party, detecting a call from a predetermined party, detecting a broadcast, and detecting a particular time of day.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises powering up the portable communication device.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises the steps of generating a valid theme pack having a plurality of themes and uploading the valid theme pack to a pack manager in the portable communication device.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the method further comprises the step of registering a selected theme with the theme manager before updating the screen.

28. A machine readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

specifying a layout of multiple screen elements using a subset of XML scripting language; and

generating a plurality of themes in a single theme pack using an XML parser and a theme pack dynamic linked list by autocode generating binary files representative of the plurality of themes.