Personal digital assistant with streaming information display

• US 6,727,930 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2001
• Issued: 04/27/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Currans, Kevin G., Bertani, John A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thomas T.
• Application Number:
  US09/861,108
• Publication Number:
  US 20020171691A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,075 Days
• Field of Search: 345/864, 345/745, 345/744, 345/747, 345/854, 345/774, 715/501.1, 709/219, 709/203, 705/14
• US Class Current: 715/864
• 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 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

A personal digital assistant can display large amounts of information as well as advertising by scrolling information and advertising in a ticker-tape format scrolled or rotated across a limited portion of the screen. Soft keys or other input mechanisms can be used to toggle the solicitation and display of additional advertising information if necessary. Large amounts of information, or local information of interest to a PDA user can be sent in real time or hot linked into the PDA for consumption by the PDA user at a later time.

Claims

1. A personal digital assistant (PDA) that displays information, comprising:

a receiver for receiving signals that carry stream information sent to the personal digital assistant (PDA) from an information service provider by a PDA communications device, and for coupling the stream information to the PDA;

a display and input device included within the PDA for displaying the stream information sent to the PDA in a confined and predetermined region of said display and input device included within the PDA;

wherein the stream information delivered to the PDA is selected for delivery according to PDA-user criteria;

wherein the receiver additionally recovers from the signals, the first and second stream information to be displayed on the display and input device;

a processor for processing at least a portion of the first and second stream information so that the portion of the first and second stream information is scrolled in a confined region of a display device, the processing causing at least one different stream information to be displayed in response to a received user input;

wherein the first stream information displayed includes advertising information and content information, the first stream information being obtained from the Hewlett-Packard Instant Delivery service; and

wherein the second stream information displayed is obtained via an Internet hyperlink and in response to an input signal from a user interacting with the display and input device of the PDA, the input signal being responsive to the first stream information displayed on the display device;

wherein the display device receives the user input in response to displayed information and scrolls the first and second stream information as ticker tapes in the confined and predetermined region of the display device; and

a transmitter for transmitting a second signal from the PDA communications device in response to an input signal from the user of the PDA, the input signal from the user being responsive to the first stream information that is displayed on the display device.

2. The PDA of claim 1, wherein the display device scrolls at least one of the first and second stream information horizontally.

3. The PDA of claim 1, wherein the display device scrolls at least one of the first and second stream information vertically.

4. The PDA of claim 1, wherein the receiver receives the signals by way of one of the group consisting of:

a radio link, an infrared link, and a wired network connection.

5. The PDA of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first and second stream information is selected from the group consisting of:

transportation schedules, fares and discount information;

publicly traded securities and equities;

Internet domain names and related stream of information obtained from Internet resources;

weather forecasts and related climate data;

published telephone numbers and e-mail addresses;

local time;

date;

schedules and appointments;

e-mail; and

geographic location.

6. A method of displaying information on a personal digital assistant (PDA) comprising the steps of:

receiving signals that carry stream information sent to the personal digital assistant (PDA) from an information service provider by a PDA communications device;

displaying the stream information sent to the PDA on a display and input device included within the PDA, wherein the stream information delivered to the PDA is selected for delivery according to PDA-user criteria;

recovering from the signals, the first and second stream information to be displayed on the display and input device;

processing at least a portion of a first and a second stream information so that the portions of the first and second stream information are scrolled in a confined region of a display device, the processing step causing at least one different stream information to be displayed in response to a received user input;

wherein displaying the first stream information includes displaying advertising information and content information, the first stream information is obtained from the Hewlett-Packard Instant Delivery service; and

wherein the second stream information is obtained via an Internet hyperlink and in response to an input signal from a user interacting with the display and input device of the PDA, the input signal being responsive to the first stream information displayed on the display device;

wherein the display device receives the user input in response to displayed information and scrolls the first and second stream information as ticker tapes in a confined and predetermined region of the display device; and

transmitting a second signal from the PDA communications device in response to an input signal from the user of the PDA, the input signal from the user being responsive to the first stream information that is displayed on the display device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the displaying on a display and input device step includes at least one of the first and second stream information scrolling horizontally.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the displaying on display and input device step includes at least one of the first and second stream information scrolling vertically.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the receiving step includes receiving the signals by way of one of the group consisting of:

a radio link, an infrared link, and a wired network connection.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one of the first and second stream information is selected from the group consisting of:

transportation schedules, fares and discount information;

publicly traded securities and equities;

Internet domain names and related stream of information obtained from Internet resources;

weather forecasts and related climate data;

published telephone numbers and e-mail addresses;

local time;

date;

schedules and appointments;

e-mail; and

geographic location.