HAND-HELD DEVICE WITH CHARACTER INPUT ROTARY WHEEL

• US 20070279257A1
• Filed: 11/22/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Chen, Chin-Feng, Lin, Tay-Yang, Li, Xiao-Guang, Yeh, Te-Yao, Hsieh, Kuan-Hong
• Application Number:
  US11/562,966
• Publication Number:
  US 20070279257A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 341/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0235 using chord techniques G06F3/0234 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts

Abstract

A hand-held device is provided. The hand-held device includes a rotary wheel, a plurality of switches, a plurality of character regions corresponding to the switches, and a controller. The rotary wheel has a plurality of positioning inputs. Each character region comprises a plurality of icons corresponding to the positioning inputs, wherein each icon comprises a character. The controller is responsive to operations on the rotary wheel and the switch, and input a corresponding character. The above-mentioned rotary wheel can replace keyboard in the hand-held device.

Claims

1. A hand-held device comprising:

a rotary wheel having a plurality of positioning inputs;

a plurality of switches;

a plurality of character regions corresponding to the switches, wherein each character region comprises a plurality of icons corresponding to the positioning inputs, and each icon comprises a character; and

a controller responsive to operations on the rotary wheel and the switch for inputting a corresponding character.

2. The hand-held device of claim 1, further comprising an indicator for indicating the positioning input that the rotary wheel locates.

3. The hand-held device of claim 2, wherein the indicator is placed out of the rotary wheel.

4. The hand-held device of claim 1, further comprising three indicators.

5. The hand-held device of claim 4, wherein the indicators are placed on the rotary wheel.

6. The hand-held device of claim 1, wherein the switches are buttons.

7. The hand-held device of claim 6, wherein the buttons are placed on the rotary wheel.

8. A hand-held device comprising:

a rotary wheel having a plurality of positioning inputs;

a plurality of switches;

an encoder responsive to operations on the rotary wheel and outputting positioning codes;

a memory storing a plurality of input modes corresponding to the switches, wherein each input mode includes a plurality of characters corresponding to the positioning codes; and

a controller, wherein the controller is responsive to operations on the rotary wheel and the switch, and selects a corresponding character from the memory and inputs the character.

9. The hand-held device of claim 8, further comprising a plurality of character regions, each character region including a plurality of icons corresponding to the positioning inputs of the rotary wheel, each icon including a character.

10. The hand-held device of claim 8, further comprising an indicator to indicate the positioning input the rotary wheel locates.

11. The hand-held device of claim 10, wherein the indicator is placed out of the rotary wheel.

12. The hand-held device of claim 8, further comprising three indicators.

13. The hand-held device of claim 12, wherein the indicators are placed on the rotary wheel.

14. The hand-held device of claim 8, wherein the switches are buttons.

15. The hand-held device of claim 14, wherein the buttons are placed on the rotary wheel.