HYBRID TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK CONNECTION INDICATOR

• US 20150271317A1
• Filed: 03/19/2014
• Published: 09/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Nelson, Jason, Fong, Jeffrey C., Woodman, Aaron, Arnett, Jon, Hull, Eric, Howard, Gregory, Skovron, John, Raykovich, Christopher, Speicher, Stephen
• Granted Patent: US 9,560,185 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72448 with means for adapting the functionality of the device according to specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/06 including a wireless LAN interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/56 including a user help function

Abstract

A mobile device having capabilities to access connections to cellular and Wi-Fi portions of a hybrid telecommunications network is configured to display a variety of different icons that graphically indicate a current connection status for both data usage and voice calling on a graphical user interface (GUI). A user can put the GUI into an expanded state to show additional information about the connection status including textual descriptions of icons to instruct the user as to the specific meaning of a given icon. The textual descriptions enable an association between the iconography and the connection state to be established for the user. The icons can then quickly and effectively convey connection state to the user in a comprehensive manner while efficiently using the available display space on the device.

Claims

1. A method for associating a textual description to a graphical icon that indicates connection state to a hybrid telecommunications network, comprising:

displaying the graphical icon on a graphical user interface (GUI) supported on a mobile device, the graphical icon indicating a state of a current connection to the hybrid telecommunications network comprising loosely coupled network portions, the network portions including at least a mobile operator network portion and a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) network portion;

receiving an input from a user of the mobile device for additional information to be displayed on the GUI; and

displaying the additional information responsively to the user input, the additional information including the textual description of the current connection state that corresponds to the displayed graphical icon.

2. The method of claim 1 further including removing the additional information from the display in response to additional user input or in response to expiration of a predetermined time interval.

3. The method of claim 1 further including showing one or more of cellular signal strength, Wi-Fi signal strength, mobile device battery charge state expressed graphically, date, time, mobile device battery charge state expressed numerically, or cellular carrier identification as a portion of the additional information.

4. The method of claim 1 further including monitoring a current state of connection to the hybrid telecommunications network, the current state of connection including at least one of i) Wi-Fi calling and Wi-Fi data access;

ii) cellular calling and Wi-Fi data access;

iii) no calling and Wi-Fi data access;

iv) cellular calling and cellular data access;

v) no calling and cellular data access;

vi) cellular calling and no data access;

or, vii) no calling and no data access.

5. The method of claim 4 further including updating the displayed graphical icon to a different graphical icon so as to match the current connection state when the monitoring indicates a change in connection state.

6. The method of claim 1 further including showing the graphical icon in a system tray displayed on a portion of the GUI.

7. The method of claim 6 further including showing the additional information in an expanded system tray displayed on a portion of the GUI.

8. The method of claim 7 further including animating the textual description when displayed in the expanded system tray.

9. The method of claim 7 further including receiving the user input at a touchscreen supported by the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9 in which the user input at the touchscreen comprises one of tap or scrub to cause the expanded system tray to be displayed.

11. The method of claim 7 further including receiving the user input as a voice command at a voice command recognition system supported by the mobile device or as a gesture received at a gesture recognition system supported by the mobile device.

12. A mobile device having connectivity to a hybrid telecommunications network comprising loosely coupled network portions, the network portions including at least a mobile operator network portion and a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) network portion, the mobile device comprising:

one or more processors;

a display that supports a graphical user interface (GUI); and

a memory device storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, perform a method for creating an association for a user of the mobile device between non-language-based iconography and different connection states to the hybrid telecommunications network, comprising

displaying the graphical icon on an unexpanded portion of the GUI, the graphical icon indicating a state of a current connection of the mobile device to the hybrid telecommunications network, the current state of connection including one of i) Wi-Fi calling and Wi-Fi data access;

ii) cellular calling and Wi-Fi data access;

iii) no calling and Wi-Fi data access;

iv) cellular calling and cellular data access;

v) no calling and cellular data access;

vi) cellular calling and no data access;

or, vii) no calling and no data access,

displaying a textual description of the current connection state graphical icon on an expanded portion of the GUI to associate the graphical icon with the current connection state for the user,

monitoring for changes in the current connection state,

displaying a new graphical icon when the connection state changes,

displaying a new textual description of the changed connection state on the expanded portion of the GUI to associate the new graphical icon with the changed connection state for the user.

13. The mobile device of claim 12 further including displaying the expanded portion of the GUI in response to a user request.

14. The mobile device of claim 13 further including an input device for capturing the user request, the input device including one of touchscreen, voice command recognition system, or non-contact gesture recognition system.

15. A memory device storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors disposed in a mobile device, perform a method comprising:

displaying non-textual iconography on a system tray portion of a graphical user interface (GUI) supported on the mobile device, the displayed iconography representing a connection state between the mobile device and a hybrid telecommunications network capable of providing access for calling and data over a cellular network and over a Wi-Fi network;

changing the displayed iconography as the connection state changes so that the changed displayed iconography represents the changed connection state between the mobile device and the hybrid telecommunications network; and

providing a textual description of a current connection state in an expanded system tray portion of the GUI to thereby correlate the connection state with the iconography, the expanded system tray being accessible in response to user input to the mobile device.

16. The memory device of claim 15 further including enabling user access to the expanded system tray through a gesture on a touchscreen on which the GUI is displayed, the gesture being one of a tap or scrub in the area of the system tray.

17. The memory device of claim 15 further including displaying information pertaining to characteristics of the mobile device along with the textual descriptions in the expanded system tray, the characteristics including one or more of network signal strength, battery charge state, date, and time.

18. The memory device of claim 15 in which the cellular network and Wi-Fi networks are loosely coupled in the hybrid telecommunications network.

19. The memory device of claim 15 further including configuring the iconography to show connection types for each of voice calling and data access.

20. The memory device of claim 15 further including graying out portions of the iconography when particular connection types are unavailable.