Pager with rotating dial for inputting messages
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A pager comprising:
- an electronic controller;
a character dial rotatably mounted to said pager with characters disposed thereon;
a rotary encoder which encodes rotation of said dial and outputs an encoder signal indicating said rotation to said controller; and
an input device which, when actuated by a user, signals said controller to identify a character from among those disposed on said dial, wherein the character identified is determined by said controller based on the rotational position of said dial at a time when said signal is received from said input device;
wherein said identified character is stored by said controller as part of a message.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A novel pager allows the input and transmission of a virtual unlimited range of messages. The pager has a character dial on the periphery of which are printed the letters of the alphabet and digits 0 to 9. A rotary encoder encodes the movement of the dial. When a selection key is pressed, the character showing through a window in the housing of the pager is selected and entered. When the message is completed, the pager may transmit the message to a paging system by radio transmission to a base station or by emitting a series of sounds in which the message is encoded. In the case of emitted sounds, the sounds are conveyed along an open phone line to the paging system where they are decoded.
40 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A pager comprising:
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an electronic controller; a character dial rotatably mounted to said pager with characters disposed thereon; a rotary encoder which encodes rotation of said dial and outputs an encoder signal indicating said rotation to said controller; and an input device which, when actuated by a user, signals said controller to identify a character from among those disposed on said dial, wherein the character identified is determined by said controller based on the rotational position of said dial at a time when said signal is received from said input device; wherein said identified character is stored by said controller as part of a message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of using a pager to transmit a message comprising:
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rotating a character dial rotatably mounted to said pager with characters disposed thereon; encoding rotation of said dial with an encoder; indicating said encoded rotation to a controller with an encoder signal from said encoder; identifying a character from among those disposed on said dial by signaling said controller by actuating an input device, wherein the character identified is determined by said controller based on the rotational position of said dial as indicated by said encoder at a time when said signaling occurs; and storing said identified character as a part of a message being input. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification