Personal organizer with interface for recording digital voice files

• US 5,812,870 A
• Filed: 11/22/1996
• Issued: 09/22/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Inpro II Licensing SARL
• Original Assignee: Elonex IP Holdings Limited
• Inventors: Kikinis, Dan, Dornier, Pascal, Seiller, William J.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAH, ALPESH
• Application Number:
  US08/755,247
• Time in Patent Office: 669 Days
• Field of Search: 395/892, 395/882, 395/835, 395/828, 395/822, 395/800, 395/162, 395/155, 395/800.01, 395/800.32
• US Class Current: 712/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• 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 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1635 Details related to the integration of battery packs and other power supplies such as fuel cells or integrated AC adapter
• 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 3/023 Arrangements for converting discrete items of information into a coded form, e.g. arrangements for interpreting keyboard generated codes as alphanumeric codes, operand codes or instruction codes

Abstract

A digital assistant computer device has an audio input interface and a memory adapted to receive audio input of significant time extent, and to convert the input and store it as a digital sound file. The digital assistant in one embodiment has a CPU and bus, input and display apparatus, on-board memory, and a microphone and digital signal processor for accepting and converting audio input. In some such embodiments the on-board memory is flash memory

Claims

1. A digital assistant comprising:

an enclosure for enclosing and supporting internal elements;

a CPU within the enclosure for managing functions of the digital assistant;

a memory connected to the CPU by a memory bus for storing data and executable routines;

input apparatus adapted for a user to input information to the digital assistant;

a display apparatus adapted to display text and graphic information to a user; and

voice input apparatus adapted to accept audible sound, to convert the audible sound to digital representation, and to store the input in the memory as digital sound files; and

wherein the digital assistant further comprising a host interface comprising a host interface bus coupled to the CPU and a bus controller, and to a first portion of a host interface connector at a surface of the enclosure for connection to a bus of a host computer, the host interface bus comprising conductors and signals for addresses, data, and control signals, the control signals including at least one memory control signal.

2. A digital assistant as in claim 1 wherein the voice input apparatus comprises a microphone and a digital signal processor (DSP) coupled to the memory.

3. The digital assistant of claim 1 wherein the memory comprises a flash memory chip.

4. The digital assistant of claim 1 wherein the input apparatus is a keyboard.

5. The digital assistant of claim 1 wherein the display comprises an LED display.

6. The digital assistant of claim 1 wherein the input and display apparatus is combined into a touchscreen display incorporated on a surface of the disclosure.

7. The digital assistant of claim 1 wherein the digital assistant is in the form factor of a PCMCIA card, and the host interface bus conforms to a PCMCIA standard.

8. A digital assistant as in claim 1 additionally comprising an expansion bus interface comprising an expansion bus connected to the CPU and to a first portion of an expansion bus connector for connecting the CPU to a peripheral device.

9. A digital assistant as in claim 1 additionally comprising a nonvolatile storage device connected to the CPU, the non-volatile storage device storing a code unique to the digital assistant, for uniquely identifying the personal digital assistant to connecting digital devices.

10. A digital assistant as in claim 1 additionally comprising a power supply, wherein the power supply comprises a user-accessible well having electrical connections for a storage battery for powering power-using elements of the digital assistant.

11. A digital assistant as in claim 10 wherein the power supply comprises a solar energy conversion panel having electrical connections for attaching to and recharging a storage battery.

12. A digital assistant as in claim 1 further comprising a pointer device implemented in a surface of the enclosure for providing positional and directional input for control operations performed in conjunction with the display apparatus.

13. A digital assistant as in claim 12 wherein the pointer device comprises a thumbwheel implemented at one corner of the enclosure.

14. A digital assistant as in claim 12 wherein the pointer device comprises a four-way pressure-sensitive region on a surface of the enclosure.

15. A digital assistant as in claim 1 wherein the memory comprises a ROM portion for storage of executable routines and a RAM portion for storage of data.