Intelligent copy and paste operations for application handling units, preferably handsets

• US 6,309,305 B1
• Filed: 06/12/1998
• Issued: 10/30/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Mobile Phones UK Limited (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Kraft, Christian A
• Primary Examiner(s): Hunter, Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thuan T.
• Application Number:
  US09/096,692
• Time in Patent Office: 1,236 Days
• Field of Search: 455/566, 455/550, 455/565, 455/575, 455/95, 455/414, 345/133, 707/100
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/543 User-generated data transfer, e.g. clipboards, dynamic data exchange [DDE], object linking and embedding [OLE]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2747 Scrolling on a display
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27485 Appending a prefix to or inserting a pause into a dialling sequence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons

Abstract

A phone including a CPU controlling a plurality of applications, a working storage that holds data and programs used in said applications and storage means acting as a clipboard when copying and pasting data from one application to another. Via the keyboard of the phone data contained in one application may be selected for copying to a clipboard. The CPU identifies predetermined types of subitems in the contents of the data copied to the clipboard. When pasting, said types of subitems may be displayed for individual pasting from the clipboard into the position in said another application appointed by the pasting command.

Claims

1. A method of transferring data from one application to another in an application handling unit of a mobile telephone controlling a plurality of applications, the transfer being handled by copying data from a message received in the phone and pasting only a portion of the data corresponding to a format of a receiving application of the phone, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying predetermined types of subitems in the contents of the data in the clipboard;

analyzing each subitem to determine if the subitem has a data format corresponding to a data format of the receiving application; and

displaying only the subitems that are available for pasting into the receiving application for selection by the user, wherein upon activating a pasting command the user can paste one or more of the displayed subitems into the receiving application without having to individually copy and paste each subitem.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of identifying further comprises the steps of splitting the data into words divided by a space and classifying each word as having a format corresponding to a format of one or more receiving applications of the phone, wherein if the word does not have a format corresponding to the format of one or more of the receiving applications of the phone, the word is classified as an ordinary word and is not automatically selectable for pasting into a receiving application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein if a word is not recognized as having a format corresponding to the format of the receiving application, the method further comprises the step of comparing the non-corresponding word with a list of possible word syntax rules, wherein if the non-corresponding word conforms to one of the word syntax rules, the non-corresponding word is autoconverted into the format of the receiving application.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of identifying further comprises the step of comparing each subitem in the data of the message with syntax rules for words allowable in the present context of the receiving application when pasting into the receiving application, and wherein only allowable words are displayed for selection and pasting.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the subitems are compared with syntax rules for subitems allowable in the present context of the receiving application when pasting, and only allowable words are displayed for selection, wherein if a word does not have a format corresponding to the format of the receiving application, the word is classified as an ordinary word and is not automatically available for pasting into the receiving application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying predetermined types of subitems further comprises the steps of:

reading each data item in the contents of the data copied to the clipboard;

determining if each read data item is a number, a phone number, an address or a date; and

excluding from the predetermined types of subitems all data items that are other than a number, phone number, address or date.

7. An application handling unit of a mobile telephone including a CPU controlling a plurality of applications, a working storage that holds data and programs used in the applications and a storage device acting as a clipboard when copying and pasting data from one application to another, the unit further comprising:

a selection device for selecting a receiving application into which selected data contained in one application can be copied from the clipboard;

a data format identifying device for identifying a data format of subitems in the contents of the data copied to the clipboard; and

a display for displaying only those subitems having a data format corresponding to a data format of the receiving application for selection by the user upon reception of a pasting request for pasting the data on the clipboard into the receiving application.

8. An application handling unit according to claim 7, wherein the identifying device splits each data string in the data in the clipboard into words divided by a space and classifies each word as having a format corresponding to a format of one or more receiving applications of the phone, wherein if the word does not have a format corresponding to the format of one or more of the receiving applications of the phone, the word is classified as an ordinary word and is not automatically selectable for pasting into the receiving application.

9. An application handling unit according to claim 8, wherein the identifying means compares said word with syntax rules for words allowable in the present context of the application when pasting;

and

said displaying means as default displays words which are allowable according to said comparison.

10. An application handling unit according to claim 7, wherein the identifying device compares each word with syntax rules for words allowable in the present context of the application when pasting;

and the display, in a default mode displays only those words which are allowable according to the comparison.

11. The application handling unit of claim 7, wherein the means for identifying predetermined types of subitems in the contents of the data copied to the clipboard further comprises:

means for reading each data item in the contents of the data copied to the clipboard;

means for determining if each read data item is a number, a phone number, an address or a date; and

means for excluding from the predetermined types of subitems all data items that are other than a number, phone number, address or date.

12. A handset for a mobile phone allowing a user to establish a connection via a telecommunications network, said handset comprising:

a transceiver for communication with the network;

an input device for inputting information into the phone;

a display for displaying information;

a controller unit controlling the input device and the display, the activity of the transceiver and a plurality of applications available to the user;

the controller unit being provided with memory storage for temporarily storing data used in the applications;

the controller unit giving a data set used in one of the applications a status according to which the data set may be pasted into a receiving application upon request from the user via the input device; and

the controller unit being adapted to analyze the data set for identifying subitems having a data format corresponding to a data format of the receiving application included in the data set, the controller unit being further adapted to offer to the user only those subitems having the format corresponding to the format of the receiving application for pasting into the receiving application.

13. A handset according to claim 12, wherein the memory storage for temporary storage includes a RAM-like memory in which data for the receiving applications and data for the display are stored, the mobile phone being provided with a menu structure including a copy and paste option, the controller unit, upon the presence of a copy request, establishing a link to the data set selected for copying, the controller, upon the presence of a paste request, splitting the data set string into words divided by a space and transferring only those words having the format of the receiving application to a display memory for displaying the word in the display as individually selectable items for pasting, and the controller unit, upon the presence of a select request, copying a selected word into a position in the receiving application identified in the paste request.

14. A handset according to claim 13, wherein the controller unit compares said word with syntax rules for words allowable in the present context of the application when pasting;

and

said controller unit only transfers words which are allowable according to said comparison to the displaying memory for display.

15. A handset according to claim 12 and used as a mobile terminal in a cellular communications network.

16. The handset of claim 12 wherein the subitems offered for pasting includes only data comprising numbers, phone numbers, addresses, e-mail addresses, Internet addresses and dates.

17. A method of automatically copying and pasting portions of information stored in a storage medium to a receiving application, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting a request to paste data from the information into a receiving application;

analyzing a content of the information to identify ordinary data words in the information and data items that have a format corresponding to a format of the receiving application;

identifying each data item in the information having a format corresponding to the format of the receiving application; and

activating a data transfer function to transfer one or more of the identified data items into corresponding portions of the receiving application.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of identifying further comprises the step of displaying the message to a user, wherein each identified data item is highlighted as being available for pasting into the receiving application.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of identifying further comprises the step of displaying to a user only the identified data items of the message, each displayed identified data item being available for pasting into the receiving application.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the storage medium and receiving application are stored in a mobile telephone.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of analyzing further comprises the steps of:

reading each data item in the message sign by sign until all data items in the message are read and storing words formed by the reading of the signs; and

classifying each word in the message as corresponding to one of a plurality of pre-determined data formats.

22. The method of claim 17 wherein the data format of the receiving application is a time, a phone number, an e-mail address, a date, or an Internet address.

23. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of analyzing further comprising the steps of:

determining that a data item does not have a syntax that corresponds to one of a plurality of pre-determined data formats; and

storing each data item that does not have a syntax that corresponds to one of a plurality of pre-determined data formats as a non-corresponding data item in a second storage medium, the non-corresponding data item being selectable from a list of non-corresponding data items.

24. The method of claim 17 wherein upon activation of a paste request, a cursor in the display automatically jumps to a next data item that is available for pasting into the receiving application.

25. The method of claim 17 further comprising the step of using a scroll function to toggle between each identified data item in order to select a certain data item for transfer into the receiving application, wherein the selected data item is transferred into a corresponding destination in the receiving application upon activation of a paste command without having to copy the selected data item.