Method and apparatus for integrating phone and PDA user interfaces on a single processor

• US 7,813,486 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2005
• Issued: 10/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Palmsource Incorporated (Access Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: ACCESS Systems Americas Incorporated (Access Company Limited)
• Inventors: Vertaschitsch, Ed, Mercer, Sean, Onorati, Gordon
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramakrishnaiah; Melur
• Application Number:
  US11/301,568
• Publication Number:
  US 20060095849A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,764 Days
• Field of Search: 379/93.17, 379/90.01, 379/93.09, 379/93.05, 379/93.19, 379/93.23, 379/110.01, 379/419, 379/441, 379/442, 379/455, 379/456, 455/556, 455/557, 455/566, 455/555, 455/74, 715/717, 715/864, 715/771
• US Class Current: 379/93.17
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

Separate processors, a PDA processor, and a baseband processor are maintained in a PDA having an integrated telephone device. The PDA processor runs PDA related programs and a user interface for the telephone device. A link between the PDA processor and baseband processor transfers data and commands from the user interface to a phone control program executing on the baseband processor. The base band processor is connected to the telephone device, and the phone control program controls operation of the telephone device. The separation of processors reduces vulnerability of the telephone device to hacker rogue applications that invade or program crashes that occur on the PDA processor.

Claims

1. An electronic device integrating user applications and a user interface to a telephone device, comprising:

a first processor for executing one or more user application programs and a user interface program for the telephone device;

a second processor for executing control operations of the telephone device; and

a communication link coupling said first processor and said second processor for transferring data and command signals from the user interface within the first processor to the second processor, said communication link isolating the control operations of the telephone device from interference by any spurious data and command signals that are received in connection with executing operations of the user application programs on the first processor.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein said first processor has a memory device.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 wherein said memory device is configured for storing an operating system for the electronic device and said user applications.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein said communication link is proprietary and configured to operate with the electronic device.

5. The electronic device of claim 4 wherein said communication link is a proprietary protocol.

6. The electronic device of claim 5 wherein said communication link is a proprietary protocol stack.

7. The electronic device of claim 5 wherein said communication link is a proprietary protocol that is updateable from outside the electronic device.

8. The electronic device of claim 7 wherein said communication link is updateable from a remote device separate from the electronic device.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein said communication link comprises a protocol suite.

10. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein said communication link prevents the spurious data and command signals from adversely affecting telephone operations executed by said second processor.

11. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein said communication link prevents rogue applications from affecting the telephone operations executed by the second processor.

12. An electronic device integrating general purpose computing operations and telephonic operations, comprising:

a display screen;

a first processor for executing user applications and sending output signals of the user applications to the display screen;

a second processor for executing telephone operations;

a link between the first processor and the second processor for communicating data between the first processor and the second processor, the link preventing communication of unwanted signals generated or received by the first processor between the first processor and the second processor.

13. The electronic device of claim 12 wherein the first processor has a memory device.

14. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein the memory device is configured for storing an operating system and said user applications.

15. The electronic device of claim 12 wherein the link is proprietary.

16. The electronic device of claim 15 wherein the link is a proprietary protocol.

17. The electronic device of claim 16 wherein the link is a proprietary protocol stack.

18. The electronic device of claim 16 wherein the link is an updateable protocol.

19. The electronic device of claim 18 wherein the link is updateable from a remote device.

20. The electronic device of claim 12 wherein the link prevents the unwanted signals generated in connection with execution of the user applications from being communicated to affect the operations of the second processor.

21. The electronic device of claim 12 wherein the link prevents rogue applications from affecting the operations of the second processor.

22. A single electronic device integrating telephonic functions, comprising:

a first processor configured to execute a telephone user interface that captures user inputs for telephone related operations and displays current telephone operations information;

a baseband processor connected to a telephone device that separately controls operations of the telephone device; and

a communications link between the first processor and the baseband processor for communicating user input from the telephone user interface to the baseband processor, wherein the communications link is a protocol stack that isolates the baseband processor from harmful commands associated with the first processor.

23. The electronic device of claim 22, wherein the protocol stack further isolates the baseband processor from harmful commands that arise from at least one of:

a hacker program and a program crash.

24. The electronic device of claim 22, wherein the stack prevents spurious radio emissions from the telephone device that can be the result of at least one of a hacker program and a program crash.

25. The electronic device of claim 24, wherein the protocol stack is proprietary.

26. The electronic device of claim 22, wherein the protocol stack is associated with an AT command set.

27. The electronic device of claim 22, wherein the harmful commands associated with the first processor arise from a crash of the first processor.

28. The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the harmful commands associated with the first processor arise from a rogue application on the first processor.

29. The electronic device of claim 22, wherein the protocol stack is updatable from a remote device.

30. The electronic device of claim 22, wherein the communications link is one of a serial or a parallel link.

31. A method for operating general purpose computer user applications and a user interface to a telephone device on a single device, comprising the steps of:

executing one or more user application programs and a user interface program for the telephone device on a first processor;

executing control operations of the telephone device on a second processor; and

providing a communication link between the first and second processor for transferring data and command signals from the user interface within the first processor to the second processor to isolate the control operations of the telephone device from interference by any spurious data and command signals that are received in connection with executing operations of the user application programs on the first processor.

32. A method according to claim 31, further comprising the step of:

providing a memory device for the first processor.

33. A method according to claim 31, further comprising the step of:

storing an operating system for the electronic device and the user applications.

34. A method according to claim 31, further comprising the step of:

configuring the communication link to be flexible to operate with a protocol that may be downloaded from a remote device.