Personal digital assistant with wireless telephone

• US 6,434,403 B1
• Filed: 02/19/1999
• Issued: 08/13/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Citadel Partners Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Bodycom, Inc.
• Inventors: Ausems, Michiel R., Barrett, Lee Ann, Ausems, Jan B., Akveld, Felix N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hunter, Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOW, CHARLES CHIANG
• Application Number:
  US09/253,304
• Time in Patent Office: 1,271 Days
• Field of Search: 455/556, 455/557, 455/569-575, 455/90, 248/289.1, 248/291, 248/923, 395/2.4, 707/3, 361/610, 364/705.05, 368/10, 379/428, 379/432, 379/433
• US Class Current: 455/556.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1634 Integrated protective display lid, e.g. for touch-sensitive display in handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0214 Foldable telephones, i.e. with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position combined with translation movement H04M1/0235
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/04 Supports for telephone transmitters or receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/271 controlled by voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724092 Interfacing with an external cover providing additional functionalities
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera

Abstract

A wireless telephone engine, smart-card engine and Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) engine are integrated in a single device, wherein an address book is shared by the wireless telephone engine and PDA engine. An associated display unit including a touch screen is coupled to the PDA. The smart-card engine is configured to communicate with external devices via a short-range transceiver. Additionally, the PDA engine is configured to automatically balance an electronic account ledger based upon point of sale transactions, and control a remote device by transmitting signals to the device via the short-wave transceiver and/or the wireless telephone engine. The PDA engine is also configured to receive signals from the remote device regarding the status of the remote device. Further, the PDA engine is configured to exchange data with a remote computer via the wireless telephone engine. The exchanged data includes information stored within the PDA engine and the address book.

Claims

1. A communication device comprising:

a housing having a front side and a back side;

a cover rotatably attached to the housing and being rotatable from a first position to a second position, wherein when the cover is in the first position, the cover is in contact with the front side of the housing at least partially covering a display of the communication device and the communication device is operable in a phone mode, and when the cover is in the second position the cover is disposed at an angle relative to the housing and is prevented from further rotation towards the back side of the housing thus functioning as a stand for speakerphone operation of the communication device; and

a speaker located on the back side of the housing.

2. The communication device of claim 1 further comprising:

a wireless telephone engine housed within the housing; and

a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) engine housed within the housing and coupled to the wireless telephone engine.

3. The communication device of claim 1 further comprising an electronic address book configured to be accessible by both the wireless telephone engine and the PDA engine.

4. The communication device of claim 3 further comprising a display coupled to the PDA engine.

5. The communication device of claim 4, wherein the display comprises a touch screen.

6. The communication device of claim 5 wherein when the cover is in the first position, the cover covers the display.

7. The communication device of claim 6, wherein the wireless telephone engine may be accessed to place or receive a telephone call while the cover is covering the display.

8. The communication device of claim 3, further comprising a smart-card engine housed within the housing.

9. The communication device of claim 8, wherein the PDA engine is configured to automatically balance an electronic account ledger based upon point of sale transactions.

10. The communication device of claim 8 further comprising input/output (I/O) circuitry coupled to the wireless telephone engine, smart-card engine and the PDA engine.

11. The communication device of claim 8, comprising:

a slot in the housing adapted for storing smart-cards.

12. The communication device of claim 8, further comprising a short-range transceiver coupled to the smart card engine.

13. The communication device of claim 12, wherein the PDA engine is configured to exchange information with a remote device via the short-range transceiver.

14. The communication device of claim 3 further comprising speech recognition circuitry housed within the housing.

15. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the speech recognition circuitry is configured to access the wireless telephone engine, the address book and the PDA engine.

16. The communication device of claim 3 further comprising a digital camera.

17. The communication device of claim 3 further comprising a modem coupled to the wireless telephone engine and the PDA engine.

18. The communication device of claim 3, wherein the PDA engine is configured to exchange data with a remote computer via the wireless telephone engine.

19. The communication device of claim 1 further comprising:

a Global Positioning System (GPS) antenna attached to the housing; and

a GPS engine housed within the housing and coupled to the GPS antenna.

20. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising:

a biometric sensor coupled to the PDA engine.

21. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising:

a first microphone located on the front side of the housing.

22. The communication device of claim 21, further comprising a second microphone located on the back side of the housing.

23. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising a microphone located on the back side of the housing.