Patent Application
20080167082
The present invention relates generally to an incorporated indicating arrangement for a mobile device and related methods.
A mobile device includes a display to provide a visual interface for interactions with a user. The user may interact with the visual interface using various types of data input arrangements such as keypads, touch pads, etc. The mobile device may also include indicators (e.g., LEDs) providing the user with information as to the state of a utilized functionality. For example, a cellular phone may continuously blink green to indicate a connection to a network, held red to indicate a disconnection to a network or a call being dialed, etc. These indicators are connected to a central processor that determines the nature of indication (e.g., different colors, amount of time between indications, etc.). Advances in mobile device technology have decreased the size/weight of mobile devices allowing users to conveniently utilize the mobile device. However, the size of the mobile device may be restricted because a separate indicator may be disposed at least partially within the mobile device. The separate indicator may further occupy at least one of the limited pins of an integrated circuit incorporating the processor of the mobile device.
The present invention relates to an incorporated indicating arrangement for a mobile device and related methods. The mobile device comprises a housing and a processor situated in the housing. The mobile device further comprises a display arrangement disposed at least partially on a periphery of the housing. The display arrangement performs at least one of displaying first data to a user and receiving second data from the user. The display arrangement further provides an indication to the user, the indication being determined by the processor as a function of one of a functionality of the mobile device, a state of the functionality, preset configurations, and programmed configurations.
The present invention may be further understood with reference to the following description and the appended drawings, wherein like elements are referred to with the same reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention describe an incorporated illumination arrangement for a mobile device (e.g., computing device, personal computer, laptop, pager, mobile device, cell phone, radio frequency identification device, scanner, etc.) to, for example, indicate a state of a functionality. According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the illumination arrangement is incorporated into the display of the mobile device, thereby alleviating the need for a separate indicator (e.g., LED). One exemplary embodiment of the present invention sets to further the convenience of use through incorporation of the indicator with the display of the mobile device. The illumination arrangement will be discussed in more detail below.
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The mobile device 100 may perform a plurality of functionalities. For example, the mobile device 100 may include communication devices (not shown) that, for example, dial outgoing calls or receive incoming calls. In another example, the mobile device 100 may include the DAD 120 that may be, for example, a laser capturing device (e.g., barcode scanner), an image/video capturing device (e.g., camera), a radio frequency identification device (RFID), etc. Depending on the functionality being utilized at a given time, the processor 130 determines the visual interface shown on the display 110 via the data cable 135.
The display 110 may include a backlight consisting of LEDs. The LEDs may include the colors of the visual spectrum (ROYGBIV), select colors of the visual spectrum (RGB), a single color of the visual spectrum (B), etc. The backlight provides an illumination for the display 110 to allow a user to view the contents shown on the display 110. Those skilled in the art will understand that a backlight is often used in an environment where the ambient lighting is insufficient to view the contents on the display 110. The present invention also utilizes the LEDs of the backlight as an indicator. That is, depending on the functionality, the state of the functionality, programmed configurations, and/or preset configurations, the LEDs of the backlight shine a corresponding color, shine in various intervals, etc. For example, if the communication functionality is being utilized, the backlight may shine red to indicate a call being dialed.
It should be noted that the use of the entire backlight is only exemplary. The present invention may utilize portions of the backlight as the indicator. For example, a single corner of the backlight on the display 110 may be used as the indicator. In another example, multiple corners may be used. In an exemplary embodiment, a first corner may signify the DAD is warming up, a second corner may signify the DAD is in use, a third corner may signify a successful scan, and a fourth corner may signify an unsuccessful scan. In yet another example, patterns may be incorporated into the indicator such as the backlight shining predetermined configurations (e.g., words, symbols, etc.). That is, the LEDs that create the predetermined configuration are activated. Furthermore, because the indicator is incorporated in the display, the manner in which the indicator indicates may be adjustable by the user. For example, the corner method discussed above may be selected, the predetermined configuration method may be selected, a combination thereof, etc.
In one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, as discussed above, the indicator may also show the state of the functionality. For example, if the DAD 120 is a scanner, the backlight may shine a first color (e.g., blue) to indicate that the scanning engine is preparing. A second color (e.g., green) may be shown to indicate that the scanning engine is capturing a scan. A third color (e.g., white) may be shown to indicate that the DAD 120 successfully captured the scan while a fourth color (e.g., red) may be shown to indicate that the DAD 120 did not capture the scan. It should be noted that the use of different colors is only exemplary and single color backlights may also accomplish the indication of state. For example, the backlight may shine a single color with various timed gaps (e.g., constant shining indicates the DAD 120 is scanning, rapid shining with short gaps indicates the DAD 120 did not capture a scan, slow shining with long gaps indicates the DAD 120 successfully captured the scan, etc.).
In the exemplary embodiment of the second view, the backlight of the display 110a also serves as an illumination feature for users. The incorporated indicator may be embodied in the further display area 110b. For example, LEDs may shine a different color to indicate a state of a functionality, a common color may be shown at various intervals, a combination thereof, etc. In such an embodiment, the display 110a is still responsible for the indicating arrangement.
The method 200 first identifies the functionality being used at step 205. The processor 130 may perform this identification. Upon identifying the functionality, step 210 determines if the functionality includes any indications. Those skilled in the art will understand that it may be inefficient to run indications for every functionality available on the mobile device 100. However, a user may utilize a functionality more efficiently if the functionality includes a simple indication (e.g., connection/disconnection for cell phone networks) or a complex indication (e.g., state of scan for a scanner).
If step 210 determines that the functionality does not include indications, the method 200 ends. If step 210 determines that the functionality does include functionalities, the method 200 continues to step 215. At step 215, a determination is made whether the indication option is activated. It should be noted that the indicator may be toggled on/off depending on the user. For example, if a user finds that the indicator is distracting, the user may toggle the indicator off. This may lengthen battery life. However, it should also be noted that the indicator may be a permanent feature of the mobile device 100 and step 215 may be absent.
If step 215 determines that the indicator is deactivated, the method 200 ends. If step 215 determines that the indicator is activated, the method 200 continues to step 220. At step 220, a corresponding indication is displayed. As discussed above, because the indicator is incorporated into the backlight of display 110 or the further display area 110b of display 110a, the processor 130 sends a signal to the respective display via the data cable 135. Also as discussed above, the signal may be a function of the functionality, the state of the functionality, programmed configurations, preset configurations, display restrictions/limitations (e.g., certain areas must be used for display purposes only), etc.
The present invention affords further advantages over conventional mobile devices. The incorporation of the indicator into the display allows the elimination of a separate indicator (e.g., LEDs). An overall smaller, compact design for the mobile device 100 may thus be achieved. In addition, the processor is relieved of a connection to the indicator. The processor is only required to send the appropriate signal to the display, rather than to the display and the indicator. Furthermore, if the processor includes an integrated circuit, at least one pin may be freed to allow a connection to another hardware device. It should be noted that the above described advantages are only exemplary and that other advantages exist for the incorporated indicating arrangement. For example, the mobile device is not restricted to the colors available on the indicator but may utilize the colors available on the display. Furthermore, preconfigured arrangements (e.g., words, shapes) may be used as the indication instead of being limited to an activation/deactivation of a single LED.
Although the present invention is described with reference to incorporating the indicator into the display of the mobile device, those skilled in the art will understand that the indicator may be incorporated according to the above described exemplary embodiments into any component that utilizes, for example, a lighting arrangement with LEDs. For example, the mobile device may include a data input arrangement with keys that illuminate, thereby allowing a user to utilize the data input arrangement in any ambient lighting condition. The keys may be illuminated with LEDs. Thus, according to the present invention, the LEDs of the data input arrangement may further function as the incorporated indicating arrangement. Similar to the above described exemplary embodiments, the indicator may be incorporated into a single key, multiple keys (allowing predetermined configurations to be used), a combination thereof, etc.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the present invention, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
This application claims the priority to the U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/884,324, entitled “System and Method for an Incorporated Indicating Arrangement,” filed Jan. 10, 2007. The specification of the above-identified application is incorporated in its entirety herewith by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60884324 | Jan 2007 | US |
