Portable information terminal

• US 6,882,326 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2002
• Issued: 04/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer Design Corporation (Pioneer Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer Design Corporation (Pioneer Corporation)
• Inventors: Tomono, Mizuki, Hirayama, Naofumi, Funayama, Tatsufumi, Suma, Daisuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Liang, Regina
• Assistant Examiner(s): DINH, DUC Q
• Application Number:
  US10/167,611
• Publication Number:
  US 20020196228A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,041 Days
• Field of Search: 345/1.1, 345/1.3, 345 21- 23, 345/156, 345/169, 379/110.01, 379/142.15, 379/355.03
• US Class Current: 345/1.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1622 with enclosures rotating around an axis perpendicular to the plane they define or with ball-joint coupling, e.g. PDA with display enclosure orientation changeable between portrait and landscape by rotation with respect to a coplanar body enclosure
• 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 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1677 for detecting open or closed state or particular intermediate positions assumed by movable parts of the enclosure, e.g. detection of display lid position with respect to main body in a laptop, detection of opening of the cover of battery compartment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1698 the I/O peripheral being a sending/receiving arrangement to establish a cordless communication link, e.g. radio or infrared link, integrated cellular phone details of antennas disposed inside a computer H01Q1/2266
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0229 The hinge comprising input and/or output user interface means
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0233 Including a rotatable display body part
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0243 using the relative angle between housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72409 by interfacing with external accessories hands-free H04M1/60
• 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

Abstract

A portable information terminal 1 includes a primary terminal 2 and a secondary terminal 3 which are combinable and separable from each other, and individually have displays 2A, 3Ba, operation keys 2B, 3Aa, RAMs 24, 36, antennas 26, 37, and CPUs 20, 30. The RAMs 24, 36 of the respective terminals 1, 2 store application programs and the CPUs 20, 30 individually control to operate a required function and display an image on the displays 2A, 3Ba. The CPUs 20, 30 are connected through communication between the antennas 26, 37 to systematically share an operation for a required function and to display images associated with each other on the respective displays 2A and 3Ba.

Claims

1. A portable information terminal comprising:

a primary terminal including a display, a manipulation element, a memory section for storing application programs, a communication element, and a control section for controlling the display, the manipulation element, the memory section and the communication element, and performing a control operation under an activated application program of the application programs stored in the memory section to operate a required function and allow the display to display an image in accordance with manipulation of the manipulation element; and

a secondary terminal separably combined with said primary terminal, and including a display, a manipulation element, a memory section for storing application programs, a communication element, and a control section for controlling the display, the manipulation element, the memory section and the communication element, and performing a control operation under an activated application program of the application programs stored in the memory section to operate a required function and allows said display to display an image in accordance with manipulation of the manipulation element,

wherein through communication between said communication elements of said primary terminal and said secondary terminal, said control sections of the primary and secondary terminals are connected to each other for a systematic link between said respective manipulation elements in terms of manipulation, to perform a linked operation for a required function and allow said respective displays to display mutually associated images in accordance with the manipulation of the respective manipulation elements under an application program of the application programs stored in one or both of the memory sections of the primary and secondary terminals.

2. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein said primary terminal further includes a secondary-terminal mounting base for attaching said secondary terminal for combination, and a combination detection member provided, in the secondary-terminal mounting base, for detecting attachment of said secondary terminal and then connecting said control section of the primary terminal to said control section of the secondary terminal.

3. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein said primary terminal further includes an interface for mounting an external storage medium.

4. A portable information terminal according to claim 3, wherein said interface is a DVD drive.

5. A portable information terminal according to claim 3, wherein said interface of said primary terminal is a memory-card interface.

6. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein said display of said primary terminal has a display screen area larger than that of said display of said secondary terminal.

7. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein said communication element of said primary terminal performs Bluetooth communication to communicate with said communication element of said secondary terminal.

8. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein said secondary terminal further includes an interface for mounting an external storage medium.

9. A portable information terminal according to claim 8, wherein said interface of said secondary terminal is a memory-card interface.

10. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein said secondary terminal further includes a digital photographing member.

11. A portable information terminal claim 1, wherein said manipulation element of the secondary terminal includes a key-button member, a jog dial member and a joystick member.

12. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein said display of said secondary terminal is fitted movably in relation to a portion of the secondary terminal attached to said primary terminal, to be set in a position selected from a plurality of selectable positional patterns with respect to said display of the primary terminal when said secondary terminal is combined with said primary terminal.

13. A portable information terminal according to claim 12, wherein said secondary terminal further includes a positional detection member for detecting the positions of said display of the secondary terminal, and said control section of the secondary terminal is switched into a predetermined functional mode corresponding to the position of the display detected by the positional detection member.

14. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein said communication element of said secondary terminal performs Bluetooth communication with said communication element of said primary terminal, and communication with a mobile communication network.

15. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein said secondary terminal includes a microphone and a speaker, and is installed with an application program for performing a telephone function for communication with a mobile communication network through said communication element of the secondary terminal.