INTERFACE FOR MOBILE DEVICE AND COMPUTING DEVICE

• US 20120036441A1
• Filed: 08/09/2011
• Published: 02/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Value8 Co., Ltd. (Wisefin Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Intelligent Mechatronic Systems Inc. (Trak Global Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Miners, William Ben, Basir, Otman A., He, Yong, Hartwell, Eric Gordon
• Granted Patent: US 9,756,163 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/734
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6075 adapted for handsfree use in a vehicle H04M1/6058 takes precedence; arrangements for holding telephones in a vehicle B60R11/0241
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/642 storing speech in digital form
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs logging of telephone numbers H04M1/56, H04M1/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

An interface between mobile devices and computing devices, such as a PC or an in-vehicle system permits a user to use the better user interface of the computing device to access and control the operation of the mobile device.

Claims

1. A method of handling a voice call including the steps of:

a) receiving an incoming voice call;

b) notifying a user of the incoming voice call;

c) receiving an indication from the user to respond to the incoming voice call with a non-voice message;

d) accessing a contact list in response to said step c);

e) retrieving a contact entry associated with the caller in the incoming voice call in response to said step c); and

f) creating a non-voice message to the caller based upon the contact entry.

2. The method of claim 1 further including the step of ignoring the incoming voice call based upon said step c).

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the non-voice message is an email or a text message.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said step c) is performed on a computing device independent of a mobile device on which the incoming voice call is being received.

5. The method of claim 4 further including the steps of:

establishing a connection between the computing device and the mobile device;

accessing information on the mobile device with the computing device; and

controlling operation of the mobile device with the computing device.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein said step c) includes receiving the indication from the user from a user input device on the computing device.

7. A method of handling a non-voice message including the steps of:

a) receiving a non-voice message;

b) listing the message on a display;

c) receiving a selection of the message from the list;

d) accessing a contact list in response to said step c);

e) retrieving a contact entry associated with the sender of the message in response to said step c); and

f) initiating a new communication to the sender in a different mode from that in which the message was sent based upon the contact entry.

8. The method of claim 7 further including the steps of retrieving a phone number from the contact entry in said step e) and calling the phone number in said step f).

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the non-voice message is an email or a text message.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein said step c) is performed on a computing device independent of a mobile device on which the message is received in said step a).

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said step c) includes receiving the selection from the user from a user input device on the computing device.

12. The method of claim 10 further including the steps of:

establishing a connection between the computing device and the mobile device;

accessing information on the mobile device with the computing device; and

controlling operation of the mobile device with the computing device.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the mobile device and computing device detect proximity of one another via one wireless protocol, but establish the connection between them via a different wireless protocol.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the mobile device and computing device detect proximity of one another via Bluetooth and establish the connection via Wi-Fi.

15. The method of claim 12 further including the step of providing a backup of information on the mobile device to the computing device.

16. A method of accessing a wide area network including the steps of:

establishing a connection between a computing device and a mobile device, the mobile device including a wireless connection to a wide area network;

accessing a browser application on the mobile device with the computing device; and

controlling operation of the browser with the computing device to access the wide area network while displaying the browser application on the computing device.

17. The method of claim 16 further including the step of using a user input device on the computing device to send user input device signals to the mobile device to control operation of the browser application on the mobile device as if the user input device were a user input device of the mobile device.

18. A method of controlling a mobile device including the steps of:

establishing a connection between a computing device and a mobile device, the mobile device including a wireless connection to a wide area network;

accessing information on the mobile device with the computing device; and

displaying the information in the mobile device in a personal information manager (PIM) application on the computing device without copying the information to the computing device.

19. The method of claim 18 further including the step of displaying folders of the information from the mobile device in the PIM application on the computing device.

20. The method of claim 19 further including the step of providing drag and drop capability via the PIM application for information in the folders on the mobile device.