Information display for a visual communication device

• US 6,222,520 B1
• Filed: 12/31/1997
• Issued: 04/24/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rakuten, Inc. (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gerszberg, Irwin, Walker, Hopeton S., Martin, Jeffrey S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brier, Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): HARRISON, CHANTE E
• Application Number:
  US09/001,906
• Time in Patent Office: 1,210 Days
• Field of Search: 345/342, 345/334, 345/113, 345/155, 345/202, 345/428, 345/344, 345/435, 345/501, 345/115, 364/408, 348/13, 348/14, 348/20
• US Class Current: 715/784
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/247 Telephone sets including user guidance or feature selection means facilitating their use user interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones H04M1/724
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2478 Telephone terminals specially adapted for non-voice services, e.g. email, internet access centralized arrangements where telephones services are combined H04M7/0024; for recording text messages H04M3/5322; for accessing Internet H04M3/4938
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4438 Window management, e.g. event handling following interaction with the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4786 e-mailing message switching systems, e.g. electronic mail systems H04L51/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/445 for displaying additional information H04N5/50 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/142 Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/148 Interfacing a video terminal to a particular transmission medium, e.g. ISDN

Abstract

A screen interface for a communication device is provided. The screen interface includes a screen for displaying information. A control circuit controls the displaying of information. The control circuit controls the screen to have a first display mode in which the screen includes a first display section surrounding a second independently controllable display section.

Claims

1. A screen interface for a communication device, comprising a screen for displaying information, and a control circuit for controlling the displaying of information, said control circuit controlling said screen to have a first display mode in which said screen includes a first display section surrounding a second independently controllable display section and wherein information displayed in said first display section is changed periodically and displayed simultaneously with information displayed in the second independently controllable display section.

2. The screen interface according to claim 1, wherein said first display section is resizable in response to certain input information.

3. The screen interface according to claim 2, wherein said first display section is resizable between a minimum size and a maximum size in response to certain input information.

4. The screen interface according to claim 1, wherein said first display section is responsive to certain input information for changing said first display mode to a second display mode.

5. The screen interface according to claim 4, wherein said second display mode is a full-screen display mode.

6. The screen interface according to claim 1, wherein information displayed in said first display section is scrolled.

7. The screen interface according to claim 1, wherein said screen comprises a touch-sensitive screen which simultaneously displays the information and accepts user input information through touch responsive areas on said screen.

8. The screen interface according to claim 3, said control circuit preventing the first display section size from being smaller than a predetermined minimum size.

10. The screen interface according to claim 7, wherein, responsive to a user selection, the information for display in said first display section is sent to the user by electronic mail.

15. The screen interface according to claim 1, wherein the first display section completely surrounds the second independently controllable display section.

23. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first display section is re-sizable.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein when at least a portion of the first display section is re-sized, an amount of the information displayed in the first display section is one of increased and decreased according to a size of the resized first display section.

9. A screen interface for a communication device, comprising a screen for displaying information, and a control circuit for controlling the displaying of information, said control circuit controlling said screen to have a first display mode in which said screen includes a first display section surrounding a second independently controllable display section and wherein information displayed in said first display section is changed periodically, and said first display section is eliminated upon receipt of a predetermined payment.

11. A method for displaying information comprising the steps of:

displaying first and second independently controllable sections of a screen;

sizing the first section to be larger in size than the second section, said first section surrounding said second section;

displaying periodically changing information in the first section of said screen simultaneously with information displayed in the second section of the screen;

displaying information for selection by a user on said screen; and

receiving said selections from the user through touch responsive areas on said screen.

12. The method of claim 11, furthering comprising the step of:

limiting the size of the first section of the screen to a predetermined minimum.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

displaying scrolling information in the first section of said screen.

22. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of sizing the first section comprises a step of sizing the first section to completely surround the second section.

25. The method of claim 11, further comprising a step of re-sizing at least a portion of the first section of the screen.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising a step of one of increasing and decreasing an amount of the information displayed in the first section of the screen according to a size of the re-sized first section of the screen.

13. A method for displaying information comprising the steps of:

displaying first and second independently controllable sections of a screen;

sizing the first section to be larger in size than the second section, said first section surrounding said second section;

displaying periodically changing information in the first section of said screen;

displaying information for selection by a user on said screen;

receiving said selections from the user through touch responsive areas on said screen; and

eliminating the first section of the screen upon receiving a payment of a predetermined fee.

16. A screen interface for a communication device, comprising a screen for displaying information, and a control circuit for controlling the displaying of information, said control circuit controlling said screen to have a first display mode in which said screen includes a first display section surrounding a second independently controllable display section, and wherein the control circuit accepts user input information from an input device, and the information displayed in the first display section is obtained from a remote site in accordance with the user input information.

17. The screen interface according to claim 16, wherein the user input information is used to build a customer profile and the information obtained from the remote site is in accordance with the customer profile.

18. The screen interface according to claim 16, wherein the user input information is selected from the periodically changed information displayed in the first display section.

19. A method for displaying information comprising the steps of:

displaying first and second independently controllable sections of a screen;

sizing the first section to be larger in size than the second section, said first section surrounding said second section;

displaying periodically changing information in the first section of said screen;

displaying information for selection by a user on said screen;

receiving said selections from the user through touch responsive areas on said screen; and

obtaining the information displayed in the first section from a remote site in accordance with the selections from the user.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of obtaining the information comprises a step of receiving by e-mail the information displayed in the first section from a remote site in accordance with the selections from the user.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of obtaining the information displayed in the first section comprises steps of:

building a customer profile based upon the selections from the user; and

obtaining the information displayed in the first section from a remote site in accordance with the customer profile.