METHOD FOR ENTERING COMMANDS AND/OR CHARACTERS FOR A PORTABLE COMMUNICATION DEVIC EQUIPPED WITH A TILT SENFOR

• US 20090278820A1
• Filed: 07/17/2009
• Published: 11/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DRNC Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: IPG Electronics 504 Limited (Coller IP Capital Limited)
• Inventors: Fourquin, Xavier, Balley, Nicolas
• Granted Patent: US 7,810,247 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/70 methods for entering alphabetical characters, e.g. multi-tap or dictionary disambiguation methods for entering alphabetical characters per se G06F3/0237

Abstract

Portable communication devices are disclosed. The devices each include a motion detector configured to measure a movement of the device relative to a neutral position of the device, an indicating unit configured to provide an indication that a current position of the device is to be set as the neutral position of the device, and a control unit configured to set the current position as the neutral position responsive to the indicating unit providing the indication. In an embodiment of the portable communication device, the control unit is further configured to associate the measured movement of the device relative to the neutral position of the device with an associated command and execute the associated command. In another embodiment of the portable communication device, the control unit is further configured to associate the measured movement of the device with an associated character and enter the associated character as an input character.

Claims

1. A portable communication device comprising:

a motion detector configured to measure a movement of the device relative to a neutral position of the device;

an indicating unit configured to provide an indication that a current position of the device is to be set as the neutral position of the device; and

a control unit configured to;

set the current position as the neutral position responsive to the indicating unit providing the indication,

associate the measured movement of the device relative to the neutral position of the device with an associated command, and

execute the associated command.

2. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein the indicating unit is a keypad.

3. The portable communication of claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to set the current position as the neutral position responsive to the motion detector measuring a predetermined movement of the device relative to the neutral position of the device.

4. The portable communication device of claim 1, further comprising a display, a first indicator representing the neutral position of the device and a second indicator representing any further position of the device.

5. A portable communication device comprising:

a motion detector configured to measure a movement of the device relative to a neutral position of the device;

an indicating unit configured to provide an indication that a current position of the device is to be set as the neutral position of the device; and

a control unit configured to;

set the current position as the neutral position responsive to the indicating unit providing the indication,

associate the measured movement of the device with an associated character, and

enter the associated character as an input character.

6. The portable communication device of claim 5, wherein the indicating unit is a keypad.

7. The portable communication device of claim 5, wherein the control unit is further configured to set the current position as the neutral position responsive to the motion detector measuring a predetermined movement of the device relative to the neutral position of the device.

8. The portable device of claim 5, further comprising a display a first indicator representing the neutral position of the device and a second indicator representing any further position of the device.