HAND-HELD DEVICE FOR CONTENT NAVIGATION BY A USER

• US 20090033630A1
• Filed: 05/24/2005
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Pace Micro Technology Ltd. (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Thelen, Eric
• Application Number:
  US11/569,773
• Publication Number:
  US 20090033630A1
• 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 1/1694 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 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42209 for displaying non-command information, e.g. electronic program guide [EPG], e-mail, messages or a second television channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42222 Additional components integrated in the remote control device, e.g. timer, speaker, sensors for detecting position, direction or movement of the remote control, microphone or battery charging device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42224 Touch pad or touch panel provided on the remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43637 involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV

Abstract

This invention relates to a hand-held device (100,200) and a method for content navigation by a user (102). A ball shaped housing (101) having a display area (103) enables a display of information (105) on the surface of the device. To determine the absolute or relative position and/or an absolute or relative orientation of said device (100,200) one or more sensors (402) are used. Based on the sensor data, the change in the absolute or relative position and/or an absolute or relative orientation of said device (100,200) is determined and correlated to the display of information on said at least one display area (103).

Claims

1. A hand-held device (100,200) for content navigation by a user (102) comprising:

a substantially ball shaped housing (101) comprising at least one display area (103) for enabling a display of information (105),

at least one sensor (402) for determining an absolute or relative position and/or an absolute or relative orientation of said device (100,200) resulting in output data (407), and

a transmitter (406) for transmitting said output data (503) or for transmitting processed data being processed on the basis of said output data (503),

where the device is adapted to correlate the change in the absolute or relative position and/or an absolute or relative orientation of said device (100,200) to the content that the user is navigating based on said transmitted data (503).

2. A hand-held device (100,200) according to claim 1 further comprising a receiver (408) for receiving and displaying said information in said display area (103).

3. A hand-held device (100,200) according to claim 1, further comprising a user interface (211) for user interaction with one or more electronic devices (305,307).

4. A hand-held device (100,200) according to claim 3, wherein the user interface (211) comprises at least one from the group consisting of:

buttons (104) on the surface of the device,

touch-sensitive surface (211) on the display surface,

means for registering shaking or squeezing of the device,

speech interface, and

separate interaction device such as remote control.

5. A hand-held device (100,200) according to claim 1, wherein said at least one display area (103) comprises a single display area covering substantially the entire ball shaped housing (101).

6. A hand-held device (100,200) according to claim 1, wherein said at least one display area (103) comprises a single display area (103) where the information (105) is displayed at a predetermined relative position on the device (100,200).

7. A hand-held device (100,200) according to claim 1, further comprising one or more portable electrical devices integrated into the device (100,200).

8. A method for navigating content by a user (102) by using a hand-held device (100,200) having a substantially ball shaped housing (101) with at least one display area (103) for enabling a display of information, the method comprising the steps of:

determining an absolute or relative position and/or an absolute or relative orientation of said device (100,200) resulting in output data (407), and

transmitting said output data (503) or transmitting processed data being processed on the basis of said output data (503), where the device is adapted to correlate the change in the absolute or relative position and/or an absolute or relative orientation of said device (100,200) to the content that the user is navigating based on said transmitted data.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the content that the user is navigating corresponds to the display of information in the display area (103).

10. A method according to claim 8, wherein the display of information in said at least one display area (103) comprises information from one or more external electronic devices (305),(307).

11. A computer readable medium having stored therein instructions for causing a processing unit to execute the method of claim 8.