Personal handheld electronic device with a touchscreen on a peripheral surface

• US 9,229,476 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2013
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ActivBody, Inc.
• Original Assignee: EZ As A Drink Productions Incorporated
• Inventors: Yanev, Kostadin Dimitrov, Yanev, Ivo Kostadinov, Vassilev, Angel Georgiev
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisen, Alexander
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yang, Nan-Ying
• Application Number:
  US13/890,149
• Publication Number:
  US 20140333543A1
• Time in Patent Office: 972 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1622 with enclosures rotating around an axis perpendicular to the plane they define or with ball-joint coupling, e.g. PDA with display enclosure orientation changeable between portrait and landscape by rotation with respect to a coplanar body enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1624 with sliding enclosures, e.g. sliding keyboard or display
• 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 1/165 the additional display being small, e.g. for presenting status information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1692 the I/O peripheral being a secondary touch screen used as control interface, e.g. virtual buttons or sliders

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a personal handheld electronic device with a touchscreen on a peripheral surface. In some implementations, the device may comprise one or more of a primary interface, a touchscreen, a processor, one or more information collection systems, electronic storage, a power supply, and/or other components. One or more components of the device may be disposed in or on a first housing body. In some implementations, one or more components of the device may be disposed in or on one or more housing bodies. The device may be configured such that the touchscreen is disposed on a peripheral surface of a housing body. The touchscreen being disposed on a peripheral surface may enable the device to receive information from a user and/or display information to the user when the device is in an open configuration and/or in a closed configuration.

Claims

1. A personal handheld electronic device, the device comprising:

a first housing body generally shaped as a rectangular prism such that the first housing body has a first length, a first width, and a first thickness, the first length being greater than the first width and the first width being greater than the first thickness, wherein the first housing body includes;

a first broad surface opposing a second broad surface, both being defined by the first length and the first width;

a first peripheral surface opposing a second peripheral surface, both being defined by the first length and the first thickness; and

a third peripheral surface opposing a fourth peripheral surface, both being defined by the first width and the first thickness,

a primary interface disposed on the first broad surface, the primary interface being configured to receive information from a user and provide information to the user;

a first touchscreen disposed on the first peripheral surface, the first touchscreen being configured to receive information from the user and provide information to the user, the information provided to the user by the first touchscreen being visually represented as text and/or graphics; and

one or more physical processors configured by machine-readable instructions to;

facilitate receiving and providing information via the primary interface; and

facilitate receiving information from the user and providing information to the user via the first touchscreen, the information provided to the user by the first touchscreen being visually represented as text and/or graphics; and

a second housing body generally shaped as a rectangular prism such that the second housing body has a second length, a second width, and a second thickness, the second length being greater than the second width and the second width being greater than the second thickness, wherein the second housing body includes;

a third broad surface opposing a fourth broad surface, both being defined by the second length and the second width;

a fifth peripheral surface opposing a sixth peripheral surface, both being defined by the second length and the second thickness; and

a seventh peripheral surface opposing an eighth peripheral surface, both being defined by the second width and the second thickness;

a second touchscreen disposed on the fifth peripheral surface, the second touchscreen being configured to receive information from the user and provide information to the user, the information provided to the user by the second touchscreen being visually represented as text and/or graphics;

wherein the first touchscreen adjacent to the second touchscreen with the two housing bodies in the closed configuration, and wherein, responsive to the first touchscreen being adjacent to the second touchscreen with the two housing bodies in the closed configuration, the first touchscreen and the second touchscreen appear to merge or nearly merge to form a single continuous display.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured by machine-readable instructions to coordinate operation of the first touchscreen with operation of the primary interface.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured by machine-readable instructions to coordinate operation of the first touchscreen with operation of the primary interface based on one or both of user preferences or information related to use of the device by the user.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein information related to the use of the device includes information related to one or more of a compressive force exerted on the device, a geo-location of the device, a motion of the device, an orientation of the device, a distance traveled by the device, sound recorded by the device, or biometric information from the user.

5. The device of claim 2, wherein coordinating operation of the first touchscreen with operation of the primary interface includes causing the first touchscreen to provide the same information provided by the primary interface to the user.

6. The device of claim 2, wherein coordinating operation of the first touchscreen with operation of the primary interface includes causing the first touchscreen to provide different information than the information provided by the primary interface to the user.

7. The device of claim 2, wherein coordinating operation of the first touchscreen with operation of the primary interface includes causing the first touchscreen to provide a subset of information provided by the primary interface to the user.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the first length approximately equals the second length and the first Width approximately equals the second width.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the second housing body is movably coupled to the first housing body by way of a coupling mechanism such that the two housing bodies are reconfigurable between an open configuration and a closed configuration, the first broad surface or the second broad surface of the first housing body being adjacent and approximately parallel to the third broad surface or the fourth broad surface of the second housing body with the two housing bodies in the closed configuration.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the coupling mechanism includes one or more of a hinge, a joint, a swivel, or a sliding track.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured by machine-readable instructions to determine whether the two housing bodies are in the open configuration or the closed configuration.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured by machine-readable instructions to power the first touchscreen on and/or off based on the determination of whether the two housing bodies are in the open configuration or the closed configuration.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured by machine-readable instructions to cause the information provided via the first touchscreen to change based on the determination of whether the two housing bodies are in the open configuration or the closed configuration.

14. The device of claim 11, wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured by machine-readable instructions to facilitate receiving, via the first touchscreen, information including first information and second information, the first information being receivable responsive to a determination that the two housing bodies are in the open configuration, the second information being receivable responsive to a determination that the two housing bodies are in the closed configuration.

15. The device of claim 1, further comprising one or more information collection systems, the one or more information collection systems being configured to generate output signals conveying information related to use of the device by the user, wherein information related to the use of the device includes information related to one or more of a compressive force exerted on the device, a geo-location of the device, a motion of the device, an orientation of the device, a distance traveled by the device, sound recorded by the device, or biometric information from the user.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured by machine-readable instructions to cause the first touchscreen to provide information to the user based on the information conveyed by the output signals.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured by machine-readable instructions to coordinate operation of the first touchscreen with operation of the second touchscreen to receive information from the user and provide information to the user, the information provided to the user by the first touchscreen and the second touchscreen being visually represented as text and/or graphics, the one or more physical processors configured such that coordinating operation of the first touchscreen and the second touch screen includes one or more of:

causing the first touchscreen to provide the same information provided by the second touchscreen;

causing the first touchscreen to provide different information than the information provided by the second touchscreen;

or

causing the first touchscreen to provide a subset of information provided by the second touchscreen.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein the first housing body and the second housing body are movably coupled by way of a pivot coupling mechanism, the pivot coupling mechanism configured to movably couple a portion of the third broad surface with a portion of the first broad surface such that a first corner of the second housing body rotates toward or away from a second corner of the first housing body about an axis of rotation formed by the pivot coupling mechanism.

19. The device of claim 1, wherein the second length is longer than the first length, the second width is wider than the first width, and the second thickness is thicker than first thickness,

wherein the first housing body and the second housing body are movably coupled by a sliding coupling mechanism, the sliding coupling mechanism configured to provide linear translation of the first housing body relative to the second housing body between an open configuration and a closed configuration such that the first peripheral surface slides toward or away from the second housing body, and

wherein, in the closed configuration, the second housing body encases the first housing body except for the first peripheral surface.