MULTI-FUNCTIONAL HAND-HELD DEVICE

• US 20080088602A1
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: HOTELLING, Steven
• Application Number:
  US11/966,948
• Publication Number:
  US 20080088602A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 1/1637 Details related to the display arrangement, including those related to the mounting of the display in the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1656 Details related to functional adaptations of the enclosure, e.g. to provide protection against EMI, shock, water, or to host detachable peripherals like a mouse or removable expansions units like PCMCIA cards, or to provide access to internal components for maintenance or to removable storage supports like CDs or DVDs, or to mechanically mount accessories mounting of accessories to a computer display G06F1/1607; display hoods G06F1/1603; cooling arrangements for portable computers G06F1/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/02 Input arrangements using manually operated switches, e.g. using keyboards or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04144 using an array of force sensing means position sensing using the local deformation of sensor cells G06F3/0447
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/36 using liquid crystals

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a multi-functional hand-held device capable of configuring user inputs based on how the device is to be used. Preferably, the multi-functional hand-held device has at most only a few physical buttons, keys, or switches so that its display size can be substantially increased. The multi-functional hand-held device also incorporates a variety of input mechanisms, including touch sensitive screens, touch sensitive housings, display actuators, audio input, etc. The device also incorporates a user-configurable GUI for each of the multiple functions of the devices.

Claims

1. A hand-held multi-functional electronic device, comprising:

a combined touch screen and user interface display; and

a processing unit operatively connected to said touch screen and display, said processing unit capable of identifying and tracking a plurality of concurrent moving touch inputs from a user via said touch screen and discriminating a user requested action from the plurality of touch inputs;

wherein the touch screen is adapted for recognition of a plurality of concurrent touchdown locations anywhere on the surface.

2. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein said hand-held electronic device includes two or more of the following functionality modes:

PDA, mobile phone, music player, camera, video player, game player, handtop, Internet terminal, GPS receiver, and remote control.

3. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 2, wherein said hand-held electronic device is capable of reconfiguring or adapting the user interface based on the functionality mode of said hand-held electronic device.

4. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein said display is a substantially full screen display.

5. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein said multi-functional device is adapted for activation of two or more device functionality modes simultaneously and said display operates in a split screen mode when two or functionality modes are activated.

6. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein said touch screen serves as a primary input mechanism for interacting with said hand-held electronic device.

7. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, further comprising one or more further input mechanisms including at least one cross-functional physical button located on a top or side of said device.

8. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein said multipoint touch screen is a multipoint capacitive touch screen.

9. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein said hand-held electronic device is operable to recognize touch gestures applied to said touch screen and wherein the touch gestures are used to control one or more of translation, scaling or rotation of an image displayed on said hand-held electronic device.

10. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein said hand-held electronic device is operable to receive simultaneous inputs from different input mechanisms.

11. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 10, wherein a signal from at least one of the input mechanisms has a different meaning or output based on the functionality mode of said hand-held electronic device.

12. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 10, wherein said user interface display comprises a standard region and a control region, the standard region being used to display data, and the control region including one or more virtual controls for user interaction.

13. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 2, wherein each functionality mode presents a mode specific GUI control panel and at least one of the mode specific GUI control panels is user configurable.

14. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein said touch screen comprises a force sensitivity arrangement, said force sensitive sensitivity arrangement producing one or more input signals when force is exerted thereon.

15. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 14, wherein said force sensitivity arrangement senses a force indication, and wherein said hand-held electronic device distinguishes the force indication into at least a first touch type and a second touch type.

16. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, further comprising a motion sensor whereby the device is able to detect its orientation in a generally horizontal plane.

17. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein said hand-held electronic device provides audio or tactile feedback to a user based on user inputs made with respect to said hand-held electronic device.

18. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein said hand-held electronic device is configurable to actively look for signals in a surrounding environment, and change user interface or functionality mode based on the signals.

19. A hand-held electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the display further comprises a display actuator and the device is configured to generate a signal when the display is moved relative to the housing.

20. A hand-held electronic device, comprising:

a display;

a multipoint touch screen; and

a processing unit operatively connected to said multipoint touch screen, said multipoint touch screen and processing unit adapted to translate, rotate and/or scale images on the display based on a plurality of concurrent touch input gestures applied by a user to the multipoint touch screen.