Programmable mobile device with thumb wheel
First Claim
1. A hand held mobile device, the mobile device comprising:
- a housing;
a user programmable processor within the housing;
a display operatively coupled to the processor, the display being controlled by the processor to display a plurality of functions relating to operation of the mobile device;
a thumb wheel extending from the housing, the thumb wheel including;
a wheel portion rotatable about an axis, the wheel portion being selectably rotatable about the axis to facilitate a user selecting at least one function from the plurality of functions displayed on the display, the wheel portion being transaxially moveable and wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function; and
a control circuit operatively coupled to the thumb wheel, wherein the control circuit provides at least one signal to the processor in response to movement of the wheel portion, the processor executing a predetermined routine corresponding to the at least one signal.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A programmable mobile terminal which includes a thumb wheel for selecting among a plurality of functions executable by the mobile terminal. The programmable mobile terminal allows a user to employ the same hand that is holding the mobile terminal to scroll through and select a function among a plurality of functions via the thumb wheel. The wheel portion of thumb wheel is rotated either clockwise or counter clockwise by the user'"'"'s thumb or other finger to scroll a screen cursor through the functions and once the screen cursor of the mobile terminal is positioned at a desired function, the user can depress the wheel portion in a transaxial direction with the same thumb or finger to select the desired function. Also, the programmable mobile terminal allows a user to scan bar code information and use the thumb wheel for selecting among a plurality of functions relating to the scanned bar code information.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. A hand held mobile device, the mobile device comprising:
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a housing;
a user programmable processor within the housing;
a display operatively coupled to the processor, the display being controlled by the processor to display a plurality of functions relating to operation of the mobile device;
a thumb wheel extending from the housing, the thumb wheel including;
a wheel portion rotatable about an axis, the wheel portion being selectably rotatable about the axis to facilitate a user selecting at least one function from the plurality of functions displayed on the display, the wheel portion being transaxially moveable and wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function; and
a control circuit operatively coupled to the thumb wheel, wherein the control circuit provides at least one signal to the processor in response to movement of the wheel portion, the processor executing a predetermined routine corresponding to the at least one signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of selecting among a plurality of functions executable by a user programmable mobile terminal, comprising the steps of:
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using an interrupt generator to monitor a thumb wheel for movement of a wheel portion of the thumb wheel;
using the interrupt generator to generate an interrupt request upon movement of the wheel portion, and sending the interrupt request to an interrupt handler;
using the interrupt handler to inform a processor that an interrupt relating to movement of the wheel portion has occurred;
using the processor to determine what type of wheel portion movement has occurred, wherein the processor relates a particular wheel portion movement to at least one of the plurality of functions executable by the programmable mobile terminal; and
using the processor to perform a routine corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of functions executable by the programmable mobile terminal. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A mobile device, comprising:
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a housing;
a user programmable processor within the housing, wherein the processor can receive, store and execute programs input thereto by the user;
a display coupled to the housing for displaying a plurality of programs executable by the mobile device; and
a thumb wheel received within the housing, the thumb wheel being employable to select at least one function among the plurality of functions displayed on the display, the thumb wheel including a wheel portion, an encoding device and a control circuit, wherein;
the wheel portion is rotatable about an axis and transaxially moveable, wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function;
the encoding device produces at least one signal indicative of movement of the wheel portion; and
the control circuit is coupled to the encoding device for receiving the at least one signal from the encoding device and outputting a signal to the processor in response thereto, wherein the processor performs a particular routine among a plurality of routines executable by the processor in response to the signal output by the control device.
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16. A hand held mobile device, the mobile device comprising:
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a portable housing;
a user programmable processor within the housing;
a display for displaying a plurality of functions executable by the mobile device;
a thumb wheel extending from the housing, the thumb wheel facilitating selection of at least one function of the plurality of functions displayed on the display, the thumb wheel including;
a wheel portion rotatable around an axis and transaxially moveable, wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function; and
a control circuit operatively coupled to the thumb wheel, wherein the control circuit provides a particular signal to the processor in response to a particular movement of the wheel portion, the processor executing a predetermined routine corresponding to the particular signal. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A portable device, comprising:
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a housing;
a bar code reader; and
a thumb wheel adapted to facilitate user interaction with the portable device, the thumb wheel including a wheel portion rotatable about an axis, the wheel portion being selectably rotatable about the axis to facilitate a user selecting at least one function from a plurality of functions displayed on the display, and at least a portion of the thumb wheel extending from the housing, the wheel portion being transaxially moveable and wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A data collection device comprising:
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a bar code scanner for collecting information; and
a thumb wheel that is rotatable about an axis and is transaxially moveable, the thumb wheel including a wheel portion rotatable about an axis, the wheel portion being transaxially moveable, the wheel portion further being selectably rotatable about the axis to facilitate a user selecting at least one function from a plurality of functions displayed on the display, the plurality of functions comprising at least one of;
scrolling through the collected information, selecting a subset of the collected information, scrolling through a plurality of executable functions, and selecting a subset of the executable functions, wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
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41. A portable inventory control device, comprising:
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means for scanning bar code information; and
means for facilitating user interfacing with the device with a same user hand that is employed to concurrently hold the device, the user interfacing comprising one or more of;
scrolling through functions, scrolling through scanned items, selecting a subset of the functions, and selecting a subset of the scanned items, the means for facilitating user interfacing being selectably rotatable about an axis to facilitate a user selecting at least one function from a plurality of functions displayed on the display, the means for facilitating user interfacing including a wheel portion, the wheel portion being transaxially moveable and wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function.
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42. A method of using a portable inventory control device comprising:
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collecting information via a bar code reader;
displaying the information via a display of the device; and
selecting a displayed function and/or item via a thumb wheel that is rotatable about an axis, the thumb wheel including a wheel portion rotatable about an axis, the wheel portion being transaxially moveable, the wheel portion further being selectably rotatable about the axis to facilitate a user selecting at least one function from a plurality of functions displayed on the display, and wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45)
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46. An inventory control system, comprising:
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a network backbone;
a computer operatively coupled to the network backbone; and
a portable data collection device operatively coupled to the computer via the network backbone, the device comprising;
a bar code reader adapted to facilitate collecting information;
a thumb wheel that is rotatable about an axis, the thumb wheel facilitating user interaction with the device, the thumb wheel including a wheel portion rotatable about an axis, the wheel portion being transaxially moveable, the wheel portion further being selectably rotatable about the axis to facilitate a user selecting at least one function from a plurality of functions displayed on the display, the thumb wheel being transaxially moveable and wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function; and
a transceiver adapted to communicate to the computer a subset of the collected information that a user selected via the thumb wheel.
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Specification