Personal digital assistant with real time search capability
DCFirst Claim
1. A method for operating a personal digital assistant having an input means, a file storage means, a data base, a search engine means, a display means, and an electronic communication means, comprising the steps of:
- storing in the data base one or more records, each of the records comprising data elements defining an identifier of a party and communication information required for communicating with the party through a communication link;
in response to an input from a user, selecting one of a plurality of directories, each of said directories comprising one or more entries and being related to a respective type of communication, each of said entries corresponding to at least one of said data elements of one of said records;
in response to the selecting step, displaying each of the one or more entries of the selected directory;
inputting a search key corresponding to at least a portion of at least one of the displayed entries of the selected directory;
comparing the search key to at least one data element corresponding to at least one of the displayed entries and further displaying those ones of the entries which correspond to data elements corresponding to the search key; and
in response to another input by the user, selecting one of the further displayed entries for initiating a communication to a party, the party being identified by the identifier defined by data elements corresponding to the selected entry.
5 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Reexaminations
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is a method and an apparatus for searching a personal digital assistant (PDA) data base utilizing a search criteria and displaying the result so that the user can determine whether the search yielded the intended result, whether the search needs to be refined, or whether the outcome should be used to initiate an electronic communication such as a telephone call. After successfully obtaining the specific name and recipient information, such as a telephone number, telefax number, numbers for an Internet server and related E-mail address, the numbers may be applied to a telephone for establishing a PSTN or telephone connection. Thereafter the PDA, utilizing the telephone unit links the user to a line or employs data transmission capabilities of a wireless network to send telefaxes, short messages, E-mail and to connect with remote computers. Using a keyboard the user can store data in a data base, alter the data base and input search criteria. The directory is similar in appearance to a telephone book listing where the information comprises at least a name and telephone number or address associated with a particular field in a data base record. Because names are primarily what interests the personal digital assistant users, searches based on the name field typically yields related phone numbers and other record data, although the user is not precluded from searching on other types of information.
-
Citations
29 Claims
-
1. A method for operating a personal digital assistant having an input means, a file storage means, a data base, a search engine means, a display means, and an electronic communication means, comprising the steps of:
-
storing in the data base one or more records, each of the records comprising data elements defining an identifier of a party and communication information required for communicating with the party through a communication link; in response to an input from a user, selecting one of a plurality of directories, each of said directories comprising one or more entries and being related to a respective type of communication, each of said entries corresponding to at least one of said data elements of one of said records; in response to the selecting step, displaying each of the one or more entries of the selected directory; inputting a search key corresponding to at least a portion of at least one of the displayed entries of the selected directory; comparing the search key to at least one data element corresponding to at least one of the displayed entries and further displaying those ones of the entries which correspond to data elements corresponding to the search key; and in response to another input by the user, selecting one of the further displayed entries for initiating a communication to a party, the party being identified by the identifier defined by data elements corresponding to the selected entry. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A method for operating a personal digital assistant having an input means, a file storage means, a data base, a search engine means, a display means, and an electronic communications means, comprising the steps of:
-
storing in the data base one or more records, each of the records comprising identification information identifying a party and communication information required for communicating with the party through a communication link; in response to an input from a user, selecting one of a plurality of directories, each of said directories comprising one or more entries and being related to a respective type of communication, each of said one or more entries corresponding to a respective one of said records; inputting a message into the personal digital assistant through the input means; and in response to a selection by the user, associating the inputted message with a selected one of the entries of the selected directory, wherein the communication information of the record corresponding to the selected entry is assigned to the inputted message for subsequently communicating to a party the inputted message using the type of communication corresponding to the selected directory, said party being identified by the identification information of the record corresponding to the selected entry. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A personal digital assistant device comprising:
-
a storage means having a data base for storing one or more records, each of the records comprising data elements defining an identifier of a party and communication information required for communicating with the party through an electronic communication link; a first user input means, said first user input means being operable by a user for inputting a search key corresponding to at least one of the data elements of at least one of said records; a search engine for comparing at least one of the data elements of at least one of the records to the search key; a display for displaying at least a portion of those ones of said records having at least one data element corresponding to the search key; a second user input means, said second user input means being operable by the user for selecting one of the records having at least one data element corresponding to the search key; and electronic communication means for initiating an electronic communication to the party identified by the identifier defined by data elements of the selected record, using one of a plurality of types of electronic communication. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A personal digital assistant, comprising:
-
means for storing one or more records, each of the records comprising data elements defining an identifier of a party and communication information required for communicating with the party through a communication link; communication means; input means; a display; control means coupled to said input means, said display, said communication means, and to said storage means, said control means being responsive to receiving from said input means user-input information specifying that a first one of a plurality of directories be selected for retrieving from said storage means at least a portion of those ones of said records corresponding to said first directory and for controlling the display so as to present the retrieved portions of these records to the user as corresponding directory entries, said control means also being responsive to receiving from said input means a user-input search key for comparing the user-input search key to at least one of the data elements of at least one of said records from said storage means, for retrieving from said storage means at least a portion of those ones of said records having data elements corresponding to the user-input search key, and for controlling the display so as to display as further directory entries the retrieved portions of said records having data elements corresponding to the user-input search key, said control means also being responsive to receiving from said input means user-input information specifying that one of the further displayed directory entries be selected for controlling said communication means so as to initiate a communication to the party identified by the identifier defined by data elements corresponding to the user-selected directory entry. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A method for operating a personal digital assistant having an input means, a file storage means, a data base, a search engine means, a display means, and an electronic communication means, comprising the steps of:
-
storing in the data base one or more records, each of the records comprising data elements defining an identifier of a party and communication information required for communicating with the party through a communication link; in response to a directory selecting input from a user, selecting one of a plurality of user selectable directories, each of said directories comprising one or more entries and being related to a respective type of communication, each of said entries corresponding to at least one of said data elements of one of said records; in response to the selecting step, displaying each of the one or more entries of the selected directory; inputting a search key corresponding to at least a portion of at least one of the displayed entries of the selected directory; comparing the search key to at least one data element corresponding to at least one of the displayed entries and further displaying those ones of the entries which correspond to data elements corresponding to the search key; and in response to another input by the user, selecting one of the further displayed entries for initiating a communication to a party, the party being identified by the identifier defined by data elements corresponding to the selected entry.
-
Specification