REORIENTING DISPLAY ON PORTABLE COMPUTING DEVICE

• US 20090015597A1
• Filed: 09/25/2008
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Tessier, Ronald, Nicolas, Regis
• Granted Patent: US 8,031,212 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/649
• 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 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1698 the I/O peripheral being a sending/receiving arrangement to establish a cordless communication link, e.g. radio or infrared link, integrated cellular phone details of antennas disposed inside a computer H01Q1/2266
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode

Abstract

An electronic system includes an electronic display device and a communication port. Each display mode corresponds to a particular position of the communication port relative to a line of sight of a user. In one embodiment, the communication port is an infrared communication port. Each display mode corresponds to a particular display orientation. The electronic display device displays visual data in the particular display orientation corresponding to the display mode of the electronic system. In one embodiment, the electronic system is a palmtop computer system such as a personal digital assistant.

Claims

1. A portable electronic device, comprising:

a portable housing configured to be held in a hand;

a processing circuit configured to provide voice communication functionality and a plurality of personal digital assistant functions;

a wireless communication interface coupled to the processing circuit configured to communicate with a network for at least one of the voice communication functionality and personal digital assistant functions; and

a display, the processing circuit configured to adjust the display orientation.

2. The portable electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a user input device, wherein the processing circuit is configured to adjust the display orientation based on a user input received from the user input device.

3. The portable electronic device of claim 2, wherein the user input device comprises a touch screen interface comprising a graphical element displayed on the display to receive the user input.

4. The portable electronic device of claim 3, wherein the graphical element comprises a label indicating a display orientation which can be activated with the graphical element

5. The portable electronic device of claim 2, wherein the user input device comprises a key configured to receive the user input.

6. The portable electronic device of claim 5, wherein the key has a preprogrammed function other than display reorientation.

7. The portable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the device is configured to provide an Internet browser to the user via the display to browse web pages located on the Internet using the wireless communication interface.

8. The portable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to provide an address data functionality, a calendar data functionality, and an electronic mail functionality.

9. The portable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit comprises a general purpose networked computer system.

10. The portable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to adjust the display orientation approximately 90 degrees based on a user input.

11. A portable electronic device, comprising:

a portable housing;

a processing circuit configured to provide e-mail functionality and internet browsing functionality;

a display; and

a user input device configured to receive a user input, wherein the processing circuit is configured to adjust the display orientation approximately 90 degrees based on the user input.

12. The portable electronic device of claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to provide voice communication functionality.

13. The portable electronic device of claim 12, wherein the user input device comprises a touch screen interface comprising a graphical element displayed on the display to receive the user input.

14. The portable electronic device of claim 13, wherein the processing circuit is configured to provide an address data functionality and a calendar data functionality.

15. The portable electronic device of claim 14, wherein the processing circuit is configured to exchange updated information with a computer.

16. The portable electronic device of claim 15, wherein the processing circuit comprises a general purpose networked computer system.

17. A method, comprising:

determining an orientation of a portable computing device configured to provide voice communication functionality and a plurality of personal digital assistant functions; and

changing an orientation of images on a display of the portable computing device to correspond to the orientation of the portable computing device.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving an input from a user input device, wherein the orientation of images on the display is changed based on the input from the user input device.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving a signal from a second portable computing device, wherein the orientation of images on the display is changed based on the signal from the second portable computing device.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising providing internet browsing functionality.