METHOD AND PORTABLE APPARATUS

• US 20100207871A1
• Filed: 06/20/2007
• Published: 08/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Kauko, Jarmo, Hakkila, Jonna, Ronkainen, Sami, Reponen, Erika
• Application Number:
  US12/596,703
• Publication Number:
  US 20100207871A1
• 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 1/1694 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 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• 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

Abstract

A method for a portable apparatus includes detecting a movement of the portable apparatus, and determining that the movement is associated with a user input for retrieving a value of a status of the portable apparatus; determining a value of the status; and presenting the value to the user. Corresponding portable apparatuses and computer program product are also presented.

Claims

1. A method for a portable apparatus comprising:

detecting a movement of said portable apparatus, and determining that said movement is associated with a user input for retrieving a value of a status of said portable apparatus;

determining a value of said status; and

presenting said value to said user.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein in said presenting, a plurality of indicators are presented on a display of said portable apparatus, and the appearance of said plurality of indicators indicates said value.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said presenting comprises presentation of moving particles.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein icons are displayed on said display and said presenting comprises presentation of a subset of said particles proximate one of said icons and presented with an appearance representing a status of an application related to said icon.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein in said presenting, the movement of said particles are affected by the orientation of said portable apparatus.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein in said presenting, the movement of said particles are affected by a time elapsed since a last detected movement of said portable apparatus and by an intensity of said last detected movement of said portable apparatus.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein in said presenting, said value is indicated by a characteristic of at least some of said indicators, said characteristic selected from the group consisting of color, size, shape, movement behavior or any combination of these characteristics.

8. The method according to claim 2, wherein in said presenting, the number of indicators are associated with said value.

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein said indicators are indicators selected from the group consisting of snowflakes, shining stardust, pearls, jewels, dust, flies, butterflies or any combination of these indicators.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein

in said detecting a movement, said user input is associated with a user input for retrieving values of a plurality of statuses of said portable apparatus;

in said determining, values are determined for all of said plurality of statuses; and

in said presenting, said values are presented to said user.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein in said presenting, vibration pulses are generated, said vibration pulses indicating said value.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein said presenting comprises generating vibration pulses at specific intervals, the duration of said intervals being indicative of said value.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein said presenting comprises generating vibration pulses with a specific duration, said duration being indicative of said value.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein in said presenting, audio effects are generated, said audio effects indicating said value.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said presenting comprises generating audio effects at specific intervals, the duration of said intervals being indicative of said value.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein said presenting comprises generating audio effects with a specific duration, said duration being indicative of said value.

17. The method according to claim 14, wherein in said presenting, said audio effect differs for different statuses.

18. The method according to claim 10, wherein in said detecting a movement, other movements of said portable apparatus are associated with other user inputs, and each of these other user inputs are used for retrieving other statuses of said portable apparatus.

19. The method according to claim 10, wherein said status is a status selected from the group consisting of battery level, available memory, reception level for a mobile communication network, reception level for a wireless local area network, number of unread messages and number of missed calls.

25. A computer program product comprising software instructions that, when executed in a portable apparatus, performs the method according to claim 1.

20. A portable apparatus comprising:

a controller;

a motion sensor capable of detecting a movement of said apparatus,

wherein said controller is configured to determine if said movement is associated with a user input for retrieving a value of a status of said apparatus; and

said controller is further configured to, when it is determined that said movement is associated with said user input, determine a value of said status and present said value to said user, as a response to said user input.

21. The portable apparatus according to claim 20, wherein

said controller is further configured to present a plurality of indicators on a display of said portable apparatus, and the appearance of said plurality of indicators indicates said value.

22. The portable apparatus according to claim 20, wherein:

said user input is associated with a user input for retrieving values of a plurality of statuses of said portable apparatus;

said controller is configured to determine values for all of said plurality of statuses and present said values said user.

23. The portable apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said portable apparatus is an apparatus selected from the group consisting of a mobile communication terminal, a digital music player a pocket computer and a digital camera.

24. A portable apparatus comprising:

means for detecting a movement of said portable apparatus, and determining that said movement is associated with a user input for retrieving a value of a status of said portable apparatus;

means for determining a value of said status; and

means for presenting said value to said user.

26. A user interface comprising:

a movement detector, and

an output device,

wherein said user interface is arranged to;

detect a movement of said portable apparatus, and determine that said movement is associated with a user input for retrieving a value of a status of said portable apparatus; and

presenting a value of said status to said user.