Portable terminal with display capability based on tilt angle

• US 7,162,268 B2
• Filed: 11/05/2002
• Issued: 01/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Innovations Ltd Hong Kong (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Koyama, Yukio
• Primary Examiner(s): Orgad; Edan
• Application Number:
  US10/287,704
• Publication Number:
  US 20030087669A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,526 Days
• Field of Search: 455/556.1, 455/556.2, 455/557, 455/566, 455/344, 455/66.1
• US Class Current: 455/556.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1613 for portable computers cooling arrangements therefor G06F1/203; constructional details or arrangements for pocket calculators, electronic agendas or books G06F15/0216; constructional details of portable telephone sets: with several bodies H04M1/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0233 Character input methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion

Abstract

A detecting unit 5a detects the slope of a portable terminal 10. An input key 4 includes a plurality of keys. A control unit 3 generates a code C based on the slope of the portable telephone terminal 10 as detected by the slope detecting unit for displaying a pattern corresponding to the generated code C on a display unit 6.

Claims

1. A portable terminal comprising:

a detecting unit for detecting the slope of the portable terminal;

a display unit;

an input unit having a plurality of keys;

a control unit for generating a code based on the slope of the portable terminal detected by the slope detecting unit and an operated key among the plurality of keys for displaying a pattern corresponding to the generated code on the display unit;

a code conversion table for storing a code corresponding to the combination of a 1-st sub-code representing the slope of the portable terminal and a 2-nd sub-code representing the operated key; and

the control unit being operative to generate the code based on the combination of the 1-st and 2-nd sub-codes with reference to the code conversion table.

2. A portable terminal comprising:

a slope detecting unit for detecting the slope of the portable terminal;

a display unit;

a plurality of conversion tables;

a control unit for generating an output code based on the slope of the portable terminal detected by the slope detecting unit and an input code train and by using the plurality of code conversion tables for displaying a pattern corresponding to the generated output code train on the display unit;

an input unit having a plurality of keys;

the control unit being operative to generate a code based on the slope of the portable terminal detected by the slope detecting unit and an operated key among the plurality of keys for generating a pattern corresponding to the generated code on the display unit;

a code conversion table for storing a code corresponding to a 1-st sub-code representing the slope of the portable terminal and a 2-nd sub-code representing the operated key; and

the control unit being operative to generate the code based on the combination of the 1-st and 2-nd sub-codes with reference to the code conversion table.

5. The portable terminal according to claim 2, wherein:

the control unit specifies one of the plurality of conversion tables based on the slope of the portable terminal as detected by the slope detecting unit, and converts the input code train to the output code train with reference to the specified conversion table.

3. A portable terminal comprising:

a detecting unit for detecting the position relation between one end and the other end of the portable terminal;

a display unit;

an input unit having a plurality of keys;

a control unit for generating a code based on the position relation detected by the detecting unit and an operated key among the plurality of keys for displaying a pattern corresponding to the generated code on the display unit; and

a code conversion table for storing a code corresponding to the combination of a 1-st sub-code representing the position relation between one end and the other end of the portable terminal and a 2-nd sub-code representing the operated key and the control unit being operative to generate the code based on the combination of the 1-st and 2-nd sub-codes with reference to the code conversion table.

4. A portable terminal comprising:

a detecting unit for detecting the position relation between one end and the other end of the portable terminal;

a display unit;

a plurality of conversion tables; and

a control unit for generating an output code based on the position relation detected by the detecting unit and an input code train and by using the plurality of code conversion tables for displaying a pattern corresponding to the generated output code train on the display unit;

a code conversion table for storing a code corresponding to a 1-st sub-code representing the position relation of the portable terminal and a 2-nd sub-code representing the operated key; and

the control unit being operative to generate the code based on the combination of the 1-st and 2-nd sub-codes with reference to the code conversion table.

6. The portable terminal according to claim 4, wherein:

the control unit specifies one of the plurality of conversion tables based on the position relation detected by the slope detecting unit, and converts the input code train to the output code train with reference to the specified conversion table.