System and method for initiating a call using a phone hard-button and a screen dialer of a personal digital assistant

• US 8,214,769 B2
• Filed: 05/11/2009
• Issued: 07/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Palmsource Incorporated (Access Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Access Company Limited
• Inventors: Maes, Stephane, Robertson, Ryan, Vialle, Benoit, Twerdahl, Tim
• Primary Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US12/463,988
• Publication Number:
  US 20090220068A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,149 Days
• Field of Search: 715/701, 715/702, 715/717, 715/718, 715/727, 715/835, 715/839, 715/840, 715/846, 715/864, 345/156, 345/169, 345/173, 379/90.01, 379/93.05, 379/93.19, 379/93.23, 455/344, 455/403, 455/414, 455/422
• US Class Current: 715/864
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2745 using static electronic memories, e.g. chips
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2748 by matching character strings
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/56 Arrangements for indicating or recording the called number at the calling subscriber's set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones

Abstract

A system and method is described for managing phone calls initiated from a phone device of a personal digital assistant. In one example, a system for managing a phone call is described. The system comprises, among other things, a personal digital assistant. The personal digital assistant includes the following: a display device; a phone device; a call device configured to control the phone device and to display a selectable interface on the display device; a hard button configured to initiate the call device; and a selection mechanism configured to receive user selections from the selectable interface.

Claims

1. A method of managing phone calls initiated from a portable computing device incorporating, telephone capability and a call initiation button, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a dial signal initiated by a user touching the call initiation button of the portable computing device to initiate a phone call;

determining the presence of digits received prior to receiving the dial signal;

selectively initiating the phone call to a last called phone number if digits were not received from the computing device before the dial signal was received and, placing a call to a phone number corresponding to received digits when digits were received from the computing device before the dial signal was received.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

searching a memory of the computing device for a name associated with the received digits.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

initiating a timer on the initiation of a call configured to clock a duration of the call with the other phone device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising a steps of:

receiving an ended connection signal; and

initiating a lapse time routine in response to receiving the ended connection signal.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising a steps of:

receiving a save signal to save received digits; and

initiating an address entry application in response to receiving the save signal.

6. A portable computing device for integrating phone functions comprising:

a telephone communication capability for wireless communication;

a display device including a selectable interface configured to display a call initiation button;

a selection mechanism including a processor configured to receive user selection data from the selectable interface, wherein;

when activated, the selectable interface initiates a phone call to a last called phone number when digits were not received from the selectable interface before the call initiation button is activated, and initiating a phone call to a phone number corresponding to digits received from the selectable interface when the digits are received before the call initiation button is activated.

7. The portable computing device of claim 6, further configured to control phone calls placed and received by the computing device according to the user selections.

8. The portable computing device of claim 6, wherein the display is a touch-sensitive screen, and wherein the selection mechanism includes a tap recognizer configured to identify a tap input from a user.

9. The portable computing device of claim 8, wherein the tap recognizer is further configured to initiate a phone call in response to identifying the tap input.

10. The portable computing device of claim 8, wherein the tap recognizer is further configured to initiate an address entry application in response to identifying the tap input.

11. The portable computing device of claim 8, wherein the telephone communication capability is connected to the processor and is configured to receive audio input from a user of the portable processor computing device, wherein the tap recognizer is further configured to deactivate the telephone communication capability for received telephone signals in response to identifying the tap input.

12. The portable computing device of claim 6, wherein activation of the call initiation suspends a current application.

13. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions for managing a phone call initiated from a portable computing device with telephone capability for integrating phone functions, the sequence instructions including instructions which, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform a process comprising the steps of:

displaying a selectable interface in response to a call signal;

receiving a dial signal in response to a selection by a user of a call initiation button on the selectable interface to initiate a phone call on the portable computing device;

determining whether digits were received from the selectable interface before the dial signal was received in response to the user selecting the call initiation button on the selectable interface; and

initiating the phone call in response to the dial signal wherein the phone call is placed to a last called phone number if digits were not received from the selectable interface before the dial signal was received in response to the user selecting the call initiation button of the selectable interface, and

the phone call is placed to a phone number corresponding to received digits when the digits are received from the selectable interface before the dial signal were received in response to the user selecting the call initiation button of the selectable interface.

14. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 13, wherein the call signal is received from a hard button of the computing device.

15. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 13, wherein the call initiation button is a talk button icon.

16. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to suspend a current application, wherein the current application is not a calling application.

17. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to search a memory of the computing device for a name associated with received digits.

18. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to perform the step of:

initiating a timer configured to clock the duration of the connection with the other phone device.

19. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to perform the steps of:

receiving an ended connection signal; and

initiating a lapse time routine in response to receiving the ended connection signal.

20. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to perform the steps of:

receiving a save signal to save the received digits; and

initiating an address entry application in response to receiving the save signal.