Cellular communication terminals and methods that sense terminal movement for cursor control

• US 7,643,850 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2005
• Issued: 01/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nilsson, Jan, Thijssen, Jeroen
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost; Dwayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mehra; Inder P
• Application Number:
  US11/247,789
• Publication Number:
  US 20070207834A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,547 Days
• Field of Search: 455/556.1, 455/557, 455/66.1, 455/115.1, 455/456.1, 455/457, 455/466, 455/458, 370/310, 345/156, 235/385, 235/472.02, 715744-745, 715/747
• US Class Current: 455/557
• 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 1/1698 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 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• 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 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion

Abstract

A cellular communication terminal is configured to function as a mouse for a proximately located computer. The cellular communication terminal includes a cellular transceiver, a communication interface, an accelerometer, and a controller. The cellular transceiver is configured to communicate over a wireless cellular interface with a cellular network. The communication interface is configured to be communicatively coupled to the proximately located computer. The accelerometer is configured to generate acceleration information that is indicative of movement of the terminal. The controller is configured to communicate through the cellular transceiver with the cellular network according to a cellular communication protocol, and to selectively operate in a mouse mode during which the controller generates terminal movement information based on the acceleration information from the accelerometer and communicates the terminal movement information through the communication interface to the proximately located computer. The communication interface may be a short-range wireless communication transceiver and/or a wired interface, such as a USB interface. Related terminals and methods are disclosed for using the terminal to provide mouse type functions for a user application in the terminal and/or an application on a remotely located communication device.

Claims

1. A cellular communication terminal comprising:

a cellular transceiver that is configured to communicate over a wireless cellular interface with a cellular network;

a communication interface that is configured to be communicatively coupled to a proximately located computer;

an accelerometer that is configured to generate acceleration information that is indicative of movement of the terminal, the accelerometer is configured to generate acceleration information that is indicative of movement of the terminal along directions that are substantially parallel to a surface on which the terminal resides and to generate acceleration information that is indicative of movement of the terminal in a direction away from and toward the surface; and

a controller that is configured to communicate through the cellular transceiver with the cellular network according to a cellular communication protocol, and to selectively operate in a mouse mode during which the controller generates terminal movement information based on the acceleration information from the accelerometer and communicates the acceleration information through the communication interface to the proximately located computer, and the controller is configured to determine from the acceleration information when the terminal has been lifted from the surface and then placed back on the surface, and configured to stop communicating the terminal movement information through the communication interface when the terminal is determined to have been lifted from the surface and to resume communicating the terminal movement information through the communication interface when the terminal is determined to have been placed back on the surface.

2. The cellular communication terminal of claim 1, wherein:

the communication interface comprises a short-range communication transceiver that is configured to communicate over a wireless interface with the proximately located computer; and

the controller is configured to transmit the terminal movement information through the short-range communication transceiver to the proximately located computer.

3. The cellular communication terminal of claim 2, wherein the short-range communication transceiver comprises a Bluetooth transceiver that is configured to communicate over a Bluetooth wireless interface.

4. The cellular communication terminal of claim 2, wherein the short-range communication transceiver comprises a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver that is configured to communicate over a WLAN wireless interface.

5. The cellular communication terminal of claim 2, wherein the short-range communication transceiver comprises an optical transceiver that is configured to communicate optical wireless interface via infra-red signals.

6. The cellular communication terminal of claim 1, wherein:

the communication interface comprises a Universal Serial Bus (USB) module; and

the controller is configured to communicate the terminal movement information through the USB module to the proximately located computer.

7. The cellular communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the accelerometer is configured to generate acceleration information that is indicative of movement of the terminal along three orthogonal axis, wherein two of the axis form a plane that is substantially parallel to the surface on which the terminal resides and the third axis is substantially orthogonal to the surface.

8. The cellular communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to respond to a scale value in the terminal to scale how fast the terminal is indicated to be moving based on the acceleration information, and to vary the scale value responsive to input from a user and/or the computer.

9. The cellular communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the terminal movement information indicates movement of the terminal along at least two axis, and the controller is configured to reverse one or more of the at least two axis and/or to swap its displayed response to terminal movement along two of the axis for one another responsive to input from a user and/or the computer.

10. The cellular communication terminal of claim 1, further comprising a keypad with a plurality of keys, wherein the controller is configured to communicate a representation of a mouse button click through the communication interface responsive to a user actuation of at least one of the keys.

11. The cellular communication terminal of claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to vary an assignment of one or more of the keys as representing one or more mouse buttons responsive to button assignment information from a user and/or the computer.

12. The cellular communication terminal of claim 1, further comprising a scroll wheel, wherein the controller is configured to communicate through the communication interface information that is indicative of movement of the scroll wheel.

13. A cellular communication terminal comprising:

a cellular transceiver that is configured to communicate over a wireless cellular interface with a cellular network;

a display device;

an accelerometer that is configured to generate acceleration information that is indicative of movement of the terminal, wherein the accelerometer is configured to generate acceleration information that is indicative of movement of the terminal along directions that are substantially parallel to a surface on which the terminal is placed and to generate acceleration information that is indicative of movement of the terminal in a direction away from and toward the surface; and

a controller that is configured to communicate through the cellular transceiver with the cellular network according to a cellular communication protocol, and to display on the display device information an indicative of a user'"'"'s selection among the displayed information, and configured to selectively operate in a mouse mode during which the controller moves the displayed indication responsive to the acceleration information from the accelerometer, the controller is configured to determine from the acceleration information when the terminal has been lifted from the surface and then placed back on the surface, and configured to stop moving the displayed indication of a user'"'"'s selection among displayed information responsive to the acceleration information when the terminal is determined to have been lifted from the surface and to resume moving the displayed indication responsive to the acceleration information when the terminal is determined to have been placed back on the surface.

14. The cellular communication terminal of claim 13, further comprising a short-range communication transceiver that is configured to communicate over a wireless interface with a proximately located device, and the controller is further configured to generate terminal movement information based on the acceleration information from the accelerometer and to transmit the terminal movement information through the short-range communication transceiver to a proximately located computer when the terminal is operating in the mouse mode.

15. The cellular communication terminal of claim 14, wherein the short-range communication transceiver comprises a Bluetooth transceiver that is configured to communicate over a Bluetooth wireless interface.

16. The cellular communication terminal of claim 14, wherein the short-range communication transceiver comprises a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver that is configured to communicate over a WLAN wireless interface and/or an optical transceiver that is configured to communicate over an optical wireless interface through infra-red signals.

17. The cellular communication terminal of claim 13, further comprising a Universal Serial Bus (USB) module, and wherein the controller is further configured to generate terminal movement information based on the acceleration information from the accelerometer and to communicate the terminal movement information through the USB module to a proximately located computer when the terminal is operating in the mouse mode.

18. The cellular communication terminal of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to generate terminal movement information based on the acceleration information from the accelerometer and to transmit the terminal movement information through the cellular transceiver to the cellular network when the terminal is operating in the mouse mode.

19. The cellular communication terminal of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to respond to a scale value in the terminal to scale how fast the displayed indication is moved responsive to the acceleration information, and to vary the scale value responsive to input from a user.

20. The cellular communication terminal of claim 13, wherein the acceleration information is indicative of movement of the terminal along at least two axis, and responsive to input from a user the controller is configured to reverse a direction it moves the displayed indication when terminal movement is sensed relative to the at least two axis and/or to swap its response to terminal movement along two of the axis for one another.

21. The cellular communication terminal of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to display on the display device a portion of information, and to change what portion of the information is displayed on the display device responsive to the acceleration information.