Visualization supplemented wireless mobile telephony

• US 6,944,482 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2002
• Issued: 09/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Varia Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: Wildseed Ltd. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Engstrom, G. Eric, Nash, Paul R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Corsaro, Nick
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gantt, Alan T.
• Application Number:
  US10/086,954
• Publication Number:
  US 20020098876A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• Field of Search: 455/566, 455/567, 455/550.1, 455/553.1, 455/550, 345/31
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0233 Character input methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3888 Arrangements for carrying or protecting transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 1/00 Secret communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/22 Illumination; Arrangements for improving the visibility of characters on dials
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/23 Construction or mounting of dials or of equivalent devices; Means for facilitating the use thereof by improving visibility H04M1/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7246 by connection of exchangeable housing parts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/047 Vibrating means for incoming calls

Abstract

A wireless mobile phone is provided with the capability to visually convey various information to users, using a number of light emitting devcies (LEDs). The information may include notification of an incoming call, text messages of a call (in Morse code representations), complementary graphics for non-graphics contents, and visual representations of attributes of sound. In various embodiments, the implementations may include a visualization controller to selectively activate and deactivate the LEDs, and applicable ones of an event, text and sound visualization clients. In various embodiments, all or selected combinations of the elements may be part of the base unit of the wireless mobile phone, while the remaining elements, if any, may be part of an interchangeable face plate or a covering skin.

Claims

1. A wireless mobile phone comprising:

a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs);

a visualization controller coupled to the LEDs to selectively activate and deactivate the LEDs as requested; and

at least one visualization client coupled to the visualization controller to request the visualization controller to selectively activate and deactivate the LEDs in at least one desired manner to effectuate visualization of at least one non-visual aspect of wireless mobile telephony;

wherein said at least one visualization client comprises a text visualization client, said at least one non-visual aspect of wireless mobile telephony to be visualized comprises text messages of a non-audible call, and said visualization comprises a pattern of activation and deactivation of the LEDs denoting Morse code representations of the textual contents of the text messages.

2. The wireless mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the wireless mobile phone further comprises display means of a second type, in addition to said LEDs, for displaying alphanumeric data including menu and commands.

3. The wireless mobile phone of claim 1, wherein said at least one visualization client comprises an event visualization client, said at least one non-visual aspect of wireless mobile telephony to be visualized comprises an incoming call being placed to the wireless mobile phone, and said visualization comprises a pattern of activation and deactivation of the LEDs to denote the arrival of the incoming call.

4. The wireless mobile phone of claim 1, wherein said at least one visualization client comprises an event visualization client, said at least one non-visual aspect of wireless mobile telephony to be visualized comprises menu item selection, and said visualization comprises a pattern of activation and deactivation of the LEDs denoting a key stroking pattern corresponding to the menu item selected.

5. The wireless mobile phone of claim 1, wherein said at least one visualization client comprises an event visualization client, said at least one non-visual aspect of wireless mobile telephony to be visualized comprises an idle state, and said visualization comprises a predetermined pattern of activation and deactivation of the LEDs.

6. The wireless mobile phone of claim 1, wherein said at least one visualization client comprises an event visualization client, said at least one non-visual aspect of wireless mobile telephony to be visualized comprises non-graphics contents being rendered, and said visualization comprises a pattern of activation and deactivation of the LEDs depicting various graphics.

7. The wireless mobile phone of claim 1, wherein said at least one visualization client comprises a sound visualization client, said at least one non-visual aspect of wireless mobile telephony to be visualized comprises audio being rendered, and said visualization comprises a pattern of activation and deactivation of the LEDs corresponding to attributes of the audio being rendered.

8. A wireless mobile phone comprising:

a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs);

a visualization controller coupled to the LEDs to selectively activate and deactivate the LEDs as requested; and

at least one visualization client coupled to the visualization controller to request the visualization controller to selectively activate and deactivate the LEDs in at least one desired manner to effectuate visualization of at least one non-visual aspect of wireless mobile telephony;

wherein

said visualizer controller comprises first programming instructions designed to perform said selective activation and deactivation of selected ones of said LEDs as requested;

said at least one visualization client comprises second programming instructions designed to perform said request of the visualization controller to effectuate said visualization of at least one non-visual aspect of wireless mobile telephony; and

said wireless mobile phone further comprises

a processor to execute programming instructions,

a first storage medium having stored therein at least said first programming instructions of said visualization controller, and

a second storage medium having stored therein at least a portion of said second programming instructions of said at least client.

9. The wireless mobile phone of claim 8, wherein said first programming instructions of said visualization controller are designed to accept a request to activate/deactivate selected ones of said LEDs in at least one of a first form singularly specifying one round of activation and deactivation of said LEDs, and a second form simultaneously specifying a series of rounds of activations and deactivations of said LEDs.

10. The wireless mobile phone of claim 8, wherein

said wireless mobile phone further comprises a body having one of at least two designs, a first design where at least a face plate of said body is substitutable with any one of a plurality of embodiments of said face plate and a second design where said body is at least partially coverable by a selected one of a plurality of embodiments of a covering skin;

and

each of said embodiments of said face plate and covering skin comprises an electronic component including at least said second storage medium.

11. The wireless mobile phone of claim 10, wherein electronic component further comprises said first storage medium.

12. The wireless mobile phone of claim 11, wherein first and second storage medium are the same storage medium.

13. The wireless mobile phone of claim 10, wherein each of said embodiments of said face plate and covering skin comprises a front facing exterior surface, and said LEDs being disposed on said front facing exterior surface.

14. The wireless mobile phone of claim 8, wherein said wireless mobile phone further comprises a body having an exterior surface, and said LEDs being disposed on said exterior surface.

15. The wireless mobile phone of claim 14, wherein said exterior surface is a selected one of a front exterior surface, a back exterior surface, a side exterior surface, a top exterior surface, and a bottom exterior surface of said body of said wireless mobile phone.

16. The wireless mobile phone of claim 8, wherein said wireless mobile phone further comprises a key pad having a plurality of keys, and said LEDs being integrally disposed with said keys.

17. The wireless mobile phone of claim 8, wherein said LEDs comprises single color LEDs of a plurality of colors, organized into groups.

18. The wireless mobile phone of claim 8, wherein said LEDs comprises at least one multi-color LED.

19. A wireless mobile phone comprising:

a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs);

a first plurality of programming instructions implementing a visualization controller operatively coupled to the LEDs to selectively activate and deactivate the LEDs as requested; and

a second plurality of programming instructions implementing an event visualization client operatively coupled to the visualization controller to request the visualization controller to selectively activate and deactivate the LEDs in a desired manner to effectuate visualization of an event of wireless mobile telephony;

a processor to execute programming instructions;

a first storage medium having stored therein at least said first programming instructions of said visualization controller

a second storage medium having stored therein said second programming instructions of said event visualization client

a body having one of at least two designs, a first design where at least a face plate of said body is substitutable with any one of a plurality of embodiments of said face plate and a second design where said body is at least partially coverable by a selected one of a plurality of embodiments of a covering skin; and

each of said embodiments of said face plate and covering skin comprises an electronic component including at least said second storage medium.

20. The wireless mobile phone of claim 19, wherein the wireless mobile phone further comprises display means of a second type, in addition to said LEDs, for displaying alphanumeric data including menu and commands.

21. The wireless mobile phone of claim 19, wherein the event comprises at least a selected one of an incoming call, and a selection of a menu item.

22. A wireless mobile phone comprising:

a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs);

a visualization controller coupled to the LEDs to selectively activate and deactivate the LEDs as requested; and

a text visualization client coupled to the visualization controller to request the visualization controller to selectively activate and deactivate the LEDs in a desired manner to effectuate visualization of textual contents of wireless mobile telephony;

wherein said textual contents comprise at least a selected one of textual messages of a non-audible call, and textual contents of a web page.

23. The wireless mobile phone of claim 22, wherein the wireless mobile phone further comprises display means of a second type, in addition to said LEDs, for displaying alphanumeric data including menu and commands.

24. The wireless mobile phone of claim 22, wherein

said wireless mobile phone further comprises a processor to execute programming instructions;

said visualizer controller comprises first programming instructions designed to perform said selective activation and deactivation of selected ones of said LEDs as requested; and

said text visualization client comprises second programming instructions designed to perform said request of the visualization controller to effectuate said visualization of textual messages of wireless mobile telephony.

25. The wireless mobile phone of claim 24, wherein said wireless mobile phone further comprises a first storage medium having stored therein at least said first programming instructions of said visualization controller.

26. The wireless mobile phone of claim 25, wherein said wireless mobile phone further comprises second storage medium having stored therein said second programming instructions of said text visualization client.

27. The wireless mobile phone of claim 26, wherein

said wireless mobile phone further comprises a body having one of at least two designs, a first design where at least a face plate of said body is substitutable with any one of a plurality of embodiments of said face plate and a second design where said body is at least partially coverable by a selected one of a plurality of embodiments of a covering skin;

and

each of said embodiments of said face plate and covering skin comprises an electronic component including at least said second storage medium.

28. A wireless mobile phone comprising:

a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs);

a visualization controller coupled to the LEDs to selectively activate and deactivate the LEDs as requested; and

a sound visualization client coupled to the visualization controller to request the visualization controller to selectively activate and deactivate the LEDs in a desired manner to effectuate visualization of audio of wireless mobile telephony;

wherein said audio comprises at least a selected one of audio output of a radio, audio being rendered by a MPx player, and audio being streamed to the wireless mobile phone.

29. The wireless mobile phone of claim 28, wherein the wireless mobile phone further comprises display means of a second type, in addition to said LEDs, for displaying alphanumeric data including menu and commands.

30. The wireless mobile phone of claim 28, wherein

said wireless mobile phone further comprises a processor to execute programming instructions;

said visualizer controller comprises first programming instructions designed to perform said selective activation and deactivation of selected ones of said LEDs as requested; and

said sound visualization client comprises second programming instructions designed to perform said request of the visualization controller to effectuate said visualization of audio of wireless mobile telephony.

31. The wireless mobile phone of claim 30, wherein said wireless mobile phone further comprises a first storage medium having stored therein at least said first programming instructions of said visualization controller.

32. The wireless mobile phone of claim 31, wherein said wireless mobile phone further comprises second storage medium having stored therein said second programming instructions of said sound visualization client.

33. The wireless mobile phone of claim 32, wherein

said wireless mobile phone further comprises a body having one of at least two designs, a first design where at least a face plate of said body is substitutable with any one of a plurality of embodiments of said face plate and a second design where said body is at least partially coverable by a selected one of a plurality of embodiments of a covering skin;

and

each of said embodiments of said face plate and covering skin comprises an electronic component including at least said second storage medium.

34. An article of manufacture comprising

a skin designed to at least partially cover a body of a wireless mobile phone;

and

an electronic component embedded in said skin, the electronic component including storage medium having stored therein at least first programming instructions implementing a visualization client that requests a visualization controller to selectively activate and deactivate a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) to visualize a non-visual aspect of wireless mobile telephony.

35. The wireless mobile phone of claim 34, wherein said visualization client is one of an event visualization client, a text visualization client, and a sound visualization client.

36. The wireless mobile phone of claim 34, wherein said storage medium further has stored therein second programming instructions implementing said visualization controller.

37. The wireless mobile phone of claim 34, wherein said storage medium further has stored therein second programming instructions implementing a MPx player.

38. The wireless mobile phone of claim 34, wherein each of said embodiments of said face plate and covering skin comprises a front facing exterior surface, and said LEDs being disposed on said front facing exterior surface.

39. A methods comprising:

monitoring a non-visual aspect of wireless mobile telephony; and

selectively activating and deactivate a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) to visualize the non-visual of wireless mobile telephony based at least in part on the result of said monitoring;

wherein said non-visual aspects comprise an incoming event, and said visualization comprises a pattern of selective activation and deactivation of the LEDs denoting the arrival of the incoming call.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein said non-visual aspects comprise a menu item selection event, and said visualization comprises a pattern of selective activation and deactivation of the LEDs corresponding to a key stroking pattern to effectuate said menu item selection via the key stroking pattern.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein said non-visual aspects comprise an idle event, and said visualization comprises a pattern of selective activation and deactivation of the LEDs corresponding to a theme.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein said non-visual aspects comprise textual content of a non-audio call, and said visualization comprises a pattern of selective activation and deactivation of the LEDs corresponding to Morse code representations of the textual content.

43. The method of claim 39, wherein said non-visual aspects comprise textual content of a web page, and said visualization comprises a pattern of selective activation and deactivation of the LEDs depicting one or more graphics to complement the textual content.

44. The method of claim 39, wherein said non-visual aspects comprise sounds being rendered, and said visualization comprises a pattern of selective activation and deactivation of the LEDs corresponding to one or more attributes of the sound being rendered.

45. The method of claim 39, wherein said sounds are being rendered by a selected one of a radio of the wireless mobile phone, and a MPx player of the wireless mobile phone.