Handheld electronic device responsive to tilting

• US 8,831,644 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2009
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Khokhlov, Vladimir
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisner, Ronald
• Application Number:
  US12/618,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20100203904A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,758 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-457, 455/566, 4555501- 903, 455/404.2, 715/764, 715810-845, 340/539.13, 340988-996, D10/104.2, 705/319
• US Class Current: 455/457
• 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 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• 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 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27475 using interactive graphical means or pictorial representations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

PDAs can be used to provide their users with various functions. One such function is the ability to contact other users who are stored in the PDA as contacts, for example by telephone of text message. The decision as to whether or not a particular user should be contacted may be influenced by the location of that user. For example, if a contact is nearby, then it may be more likely that the user of the PDA would want to contact them. The present invention provides a PDA on which the location of one or more contacts can be displayed. Furthermore, the location of a particular contact can be shown on a map on the screen of the PDA simply by tilting the PDA through a predetermined angle about a horizontal axis. Thus, the map can be displayed in an intuitive and straightforward manner.

Claims

1. A handheld electronic device comprising:

a substantially planar screen configured to display information to a user of the handheld electronic device;

a tilt sensor for use in determining the angle between the substantially planar screen and the horizontal; and

processing circuitry configured to;

operate in a contacts mode for displaying contacts of the user of the handheld electronic device on the substantially planar screen,

select a predefined contact in response to detection of tilting alone of the handheld electronic device to an angle where the angle between the substantially planar screen and the horizontal is in a predefined range,

trigger operation of a mapping mode in response to said selecting of the predefined contact, and

show the location of the electronic device of the contact on the substantially planar screen when operating in the mapping mode.

2. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, further configured to display status information about the electronic device of said pre-defined user.

3. The handheld electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the status information comprises at least one of:

(i) what function the electronic device is performing; and

(ii) the power status of the electronic device.

4. The handheld electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the function includes at least one of:

displaying videos;

displaying photographs;

taking photographs;

playing music;

sending emails;

accessing the internet;

playing games;

acting as a telephone.

5. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, further configured to obtain information regarding the electronic device of said pre-defined user from a server.

6. The handheld electronic device according to claim 5, wherein the handheld electronic device is configured to obtain said information from the server as XML data forming an RSS feed.

7. The handheld electronic device according to claim 5, wherein the obtained information comprises information relating to the location of the electronic device of said pre-defined user.

8. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a receiver unit configured to receive information regarding said pre-defined users of other electronic devices.

9. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising:

locating means for determining its own location, wherein the locating means optionally uses a triangulation method.

10. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a transmitter unit configured to transmit information from the handheld electronic device, wherein the transmitter unit is optionally configured to transmit information in the form of an RSS feed.

11. The handheld electronic device according to claim 10, wherein the transmitter unit is configured to transmit information regarding at least one of:

(i) the location of the handheld electronic device; and

(ii) the status of the handheld electronic device.

12. The handheld electronic device according to claim 11, wherein the status information comprises at least one of:

(i) what function the handheld electronic device is performing; and

(ii) the power status of the handheld electronic device.

13. The handheld electronic device according to claim 12, wherein the function includes at least one of:

displaying videos;

displaying photographs;

taking photographs;

playing music;

sending emails;

accessing the interne;

acting as a telephone.

14. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the tilt sensor is arranged to measure the angle between the substantially planar screen and the horizontal directly.

15. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the tilt sensor comprises a gyroscope.

16. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the handheld electronic device is configured to provide one or more of the following functions:

displaying videos;

displaying photographs;

taking photographs;

playing music;

sending emails;

accessing the interne;

providing a telephone function;

acting as a navigation device;

playing games;

acting as an electronic diary.

17. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the pre-defined user, whose electronic device location is displayed when the handheld electronic device is in mapping mode, is a user who is currently indicated as selected on the substantially planar screen at the time the handheld electronic device enters the mapping mode.

18. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the handheld electronic device is configured such that, in mapping mode, the location of the electronic devices of more than one of the pre-defined users can be displayed.

19. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the handheld electronic device is configured such that, in mapping mode, the location of a predetermined number of geographically closest contacts can be displayed.

20. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the substantially planar screen is rigidly mounted in the handheld electronic device, such that the angle between the substantially planar screen and the horizontal is the same as the angle between the handheld electronic device and the horizontal.

21. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the predefined range is between one of 0 degrees and ±

45 degrees, 0 degrees and ±

30 degrees, 0 degrees and ±

15 degrees, 0 degrees and ±

10 degrees, and 0 degrees and ±

5 degrees.

22. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the handheld electronic device is configured to operate in the mapping mode when the angle between the substantially planar screen and the horizontal is substantially zero degrees.

26. The handheld electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the tilting of the handheld electronic device to the angle is an only user input at a moment of triggering of the operation of the mapping mode.

23. A method of viewing on a substantially planar screen of a handheld electronic device, the location of an electronic device belonging to at least one pre-defined user, the method comprising:

selecting, by a user of the electronic device, a pre-defined contact whose electronic device location is to be displayed;

tilting the substantially planar screen so that its angle to the horizontal is within a predefined range;

selecting the predefined contact in response to detection of said tilting alone when said angle is within said pre-defined range; and

automatically triggering display of a map showing the location of the electronic device of the predefined contact on the substantially planar screen in response to said selecting of the predefined contact.

24. The method of viewing the location of an electronic device according to claim 23, wherein the tilting the substantially planar screen comprises tilting the handheld electronic device itself.

25. The method of viewing the location of an electronic device according to claim 24, wherein the tilting comprises rotating the handheld electronic device about an axis that lies substantially horizontal and substantially parallel to the plane of the planar screen.