The present invention relates to a portable communication apparatus with a controller and a user interface coupled to said controller, said user interface including a display and a manual input device, said display having a limited presentation area, said manual input device comprising a rotary element. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method of controlling the user interface of such an apparatus.
A mobile terminal in the form of a mobile (cellular) terminal for a telecommunications system like GSM, UMTS, D-AMPS or CDMA2000 is a familiar example of a portable communication apparatus according to the above.
WO02/39712 discloses an image control system for controlling a menu on a display in a television system. The menu comprises a plurality of simultaneously displayed menu items. A selector is arranged to select an item from the menu. A user input device comprises a control device for generating a control signal to move the selector relative to the menu. Further, a rotary control is disclosed, wherein rotation of the control causes a corresponding rotation of the menu. Alternatively, a cursor is viewed on the menu screen that follows the menu items as a user operates the control device.
More specifically, WO02/39712 discloses applicability to mobile telephone menus. The menu on a screen of a telephone handset is shown as a two-dimensional circle. A rotary dial is provided on the front face of the handset. The handset has the usual features of a mobile telephone with the addition of the rotary dial positioned on the front face. On activation of the menu of the mobile telephone handset, the dial operates as the control device described above with reference to the television system. Of course, there is no transmission of a remote control signal as in the television system; instead the signal is coupled to the display within the handset. To select an item from the menu a user rotates the dial until either the cursor has moved into association with the desired menu item or the menu has been rotated so that the desired item has come into alignment with a selector region on the screen of the mobile telephone handset.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,396,006 discloses a push and rotary operating type electronic device for a communication terminal. The mechanical and electrical design of this input device is described in detail. Again, the intended use of the device is specified as scrolling through menu items, etc, (rotary operation), followed by selection (push operation).
Thus, even if portable communication apparatuses having rotary input devices are known from the prior art, the practical use thereof is restricted to (circular/linear) scrolling through menu items or similar lists.
Almost all contemporary portable communication apparatuses have one thing in common: they have a small size and shape, due to strong market demands for miniaturization. An inherent problem is that the display will have a limited size too. A particular problem with a display of limited size is difficulties in presenting graphical data which represents a required presentation area larger than the available presentation area of the display. For instance, digital images are often provided in a size and resolution that require a larger presentation area than the available one.
The known approach to handle such situations is to down-scale (i.e., reduce the resolution of) the image to a size that fits within the available presentation area of the display. This approach has a drawback in the inevitable loss of resolution which is caused by the down-scaling. Such loss of resolution may cause loss of perceptivity of details in the image. There is a risk that important details, e.g. ones that represent vital information to the intended viewer, are lost or at least obscured.
As an alternative, the image may be scrolled step-wise in a conventional manner in down/up/left/right directions, much like the way in which a window is scrolled in a graphical user interface of a computer. Such four-directional or “arrow-key” scrolling is a rough manner of navigation; a large number of scrolling steps may be required in order to arrive at the desired portion of the graphical data to be presented.
In view of the above, an objective of the invention is to solve or at least reduce the problems discussed above. In more particular, a purpose of the invention is to provide an improved and efficient manner of controlling the user interface of a portable communication apparatus, so that graphical data, requiring a presentation area which is larger than the available limited presentation area of the display, may be navigated and presented flexibly and accurately with few steps of manual intervention.
Generally, the above objectives are achieved by a portable communication apparatus and a method of controlling a user interface thereof according to the attached independent patent claims.
A first aspect of the invention is a method of controlling a user interface of a portable communication apparatus, said user interface including a display and a manual input device, said display having a limited presentation area, said manual input device comprising a rotary element, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving graphical data to be presented, wherein said graphical data represents a required presentation area which is larger than said limited presentation area of said display;
presenting a first sub area of said required presentation area on said display;
accepting a first user input through said manual input device in the form of a rotary movement of said rotary element, said first user input indicating a desired navigation direction within said required presentation area;
accepting a second user input through said manual input device in the form of a rotary movement of said rotary element, said second user input indicating a desired navigation distance within said required presentation area in said desired navigation direction; and
presenting a second sub area of said required presentation area on said display,
wherein the angular displacement of said second sub area with respect to said first sub area is determined by said first user input and wherein the vectorial displacement of said second sub area with respect to said first sub area is determined by said second user input.
One advantage with the first aspect of the invention is that it allows two-dimensional navigation in virtually all directions, in contrast to traditional navigation in merely four rectangular directions, in graphical data that requires a larger presentation area than is available. The actual number of selectable directions will of course depend on the resolution of the rotary element, i.e. the number of detectable steps of rotation that are included in one full 360° turn.
Another advantage is that such way of navigation will typically require less manual intervention (less number of navigation control inputs) than the traditional way.
Still one advantage is that the accuracy of navigation will be improved compared to traditional navigation. The user is more likely to arrive at the desired portion of the graphical data without mis-navigation, since the proposed invention allows for a more intuitive, albeit hitherto not recognized, way of navigation in the user interface of a portable communication apparatus.
One embodiment involves the further step, after said step of accepting a first user input, of accepting a third user input through said manual input device, wherein said third user input indicates a confirmation of the navigation direction as selected by said first user input.
One embodiment involves the further step, after said step of accepting a second user input, of accepting a fourth user input through said manual input device, wherein said fourth user input indicates a confirmation of the navigation distance as selected by said second user input.
The third and fourth user inputs may be accepted in the form of respective selections of a key element included in said manual input device. The key element may be a depressible key positioned adjacently to said rotary element. The third and fourth user inputs may also be accepted in the form of respective selections of a depressible rim section of said rotary element. To avoid confusion, it is to be noticed that the first to fourth user inputs are not made in the order first-second-third-fourth but rather first-third-second-fourth.
As an alternative to said third and fourth user inputs, confirmation of said selected navigation direction and said selected navigation distance, respectively, may be effected by activating a timeout function when a predetermined time has elapsed since the last manual input. In other words, if the user has not performed any additional rotational movement for a given time, it is assumed that the current input is what the user intends and desires.
In one embodiment the method is applied to a portable communication apparatus which further comprises a wireless communication interface, wherein said graphical data to be presented is received over said wireless communication interface. The wireless communication interface may be at least one of a short-range supplementary radio data interface such as Bluetooth; a short-range infrared data interface such as IrDA; a WAP compatible interface; a HTTP compatible interface; and an RF interface for a mobile telecommunications system such as GSM, UMTS, D-AMPS or CDMA2000.
The graphical data to be presented may be a digital image. Furthermore, the graphical data to be presented may pertain to hypertext data such as hypertext markup language data (HTML) or wireless markup language data (WML).
The graphical data to be presented need not necessarily have to be received from an external source (e.g. through aforesaid wireless communication interface); it may alternatively originate from the portable communication apparatus itself. For instance, an image may be captured by a local integrated camera and stored in local memory as graphical data to be presented.
In one embodiment, during input of said second user input, the vectorial displacement of said second sub area with respect to said first sub area is repeatedly determined and an updated second sub area is responsively presented on said display. A position indicator may be shown within said second sub area to indicate its current vectorial displacement. In one embodiment said position indicator is shown at the center of said second sub area.
Particularly when said graphical data to be presented pertains to hypertext data, it may further be determined whether said position indicator coincides with a hyperlink, whereupon, in response to accepting a fifth user input through said manual input device, said hyper-link may be activated. Hence, there is provided an expedient manner of navigation through e.g. a WAP or WWW page (WML or HTTP document) with the concurrent option of exploring hyperlinks at the user's desire.
A second aspect of the invention is a portable communication apparatus with a controller and a user interface coupled to said controller, said user interface including a display and a manual input device, said display having a limited presentation area, said manual input device comprising a rotary element. The portable communication apparatus further has:
means for receiving graphical data to be presented, wherein said graphical data represents a required presentation area which is larger than said limited presentation area of said display;
means for presenting a first sub area of said required presentation area on said display;
means for accepting a first user input through said manual input device in the form of a rotary movement of said rotary element, said first user input indicating a desired navigation direction within said required presentation area;
means for accepting a second user input through said manual input device in the form of a rotary movement of said rotary element, said second user input indicating a desired navigation distance within said required presentation area in said desired navigation direction;
means for determining, from said first user input, an angular displacement of a second sub area of said required presentation area with respect to said first sub area;
means for determining, from said second user input, a vectorial displacement of said second sub area with respect to said first sub area; and
means for presenting said second sub area on said display.
The portable communication apparatus may be a mobile terminal for a mobile telecommunications system, such as GSM, UMTS, D-AMPS or CDMA2000, or a portable digital assistant (PDA), or another type of similar device.
The second aspect has generally the same advantages as the first aspect.
Other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following detailed disclosure, from the attached dependent claims as well as from the drawings.
Generally, all terms used in the claims are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical field, unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references to “a/an/the [element, device, component, means, step, etc]” are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of said element, device, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless explicitly stated.
The present invention will now be described in more detail, reference being made to the enclosed drawings, in which:
a-5d illustrate how a sub area of a larger presentation area than is available is selected and presented on a limited-sized display according to one embodiment.
First, with reference to
In the telecommunications system of
The mobile telecommunications network 110 is operatively connected to a wide area network 120, which may be Internet or a part thereof. A web server 122 is connected to the wide area network 120 and may be accessed, in accordance with specified protocols (such as TCP, IP and HTTP), from the portable communication apparatus 100 through appropriate client software therein (such as a WAP or WWW browser).
The apparatus 100 also has a manual input device 250 which is accessible to the user at the front surface 220 and by means of which the user may control the mobile telephone through manual input. As seen in
As seen further in
Additionally, the manual input device 250 comprises a set of additional keys 254 which are equidistantly disposed adjacently to an outer perimeter of the rotary element 252. The additional keys 254 may have different preprogrammed functions in different applications. The rotary element 252 may have a rim section which is depressible towards the front surface 220, i.e. in the same direction as the additional keys 254. By depressing the rim section at different points around the circumference of the rotary element 252, the user may select different preprogrammed functions, as is the case with the additional keys 254.
The software also includes various modules, protocol stacks, drivers, etc., which are commonly designated as 330 and which provide communication services (such as transport, network and connectivity) for an RF interface 306, a Bluetooth interface 308 and an IrDA interface 310. The RF interface 306 comprises an internal or external antenna as well as appropriate radio circuitry for establishing and maintaining a wireless link to a base station (e.g. link 102 to base station 104 in
The portable communication apparatus also has a SIM card 304 and an associated reader. As is commonly known, the SIM card 304 comprises a processor as well as local work and data memory.
As seen in
Whenever such graphical data requires a presentation area 350 which is too large to fit in the available presentation area 352 of the display 336, the display navigation method of the present invention may be used, as will be described in more detail below with reference to
Then, again by rotation of the rotary element 252, the user will select a desired scrolling distance, in the selected direction within the required presentation area 350, for the sub area to be presented. In response, the selected sub area of the required presentation area 352, located at the position determined by the selected direction and distance, will be presented on the display 336.
Reference is now made to the flow chart of
In step 410, the user of the portable communication apparatus 100 enters a display navigation mode which may be referred to as “Navigate in Picture”. This mode may be selected in various ways, for instance by long press on a certain key 254 or 256 (or on a certain point on a depressible rim section of the rotary element 252), selection of a certain menu item, etc. Upon entry into this mode, a sub area 510 of the full required presentation area 500 is shown on the display 336. As seen in
In step 420 the user may select a desired picture navigation direction by turning the rotary element 252 of the manual input device 250. In response, the angular position of the center arrow is updated, as shown in
Now, in step 430, the user may select a desired picture navigation distance, again by turning the rotary element 252 of the manual input device 250. As the rotary element 252 is turned, new sub areas 510′, 510″ of the full presentation area 500 may be determined along the selected navigation direction and shown sequentially on the display 336 (step 432), until the user arrives at the desired navigation distance and confirms the selection (steps 440, 442) by pressing a certain key 254 or 256 (or a certain point on a depressible rim section of the rotary element 252). The thus selected sub area 510′″ remains on the display 336, until the user again enters the Navigate in Picture mode or selects another action. If the user is not satisfied with the navigation distance and sub area thus reached, he may press another certain key 254 or 256 (or a certain point on a depressible rim section of the rotary element 252) in step 444 in order to return to step 420 and be given a new opportunity of selecting a navigation direction.
As shown in
The invention has mainly been described above with reference to one embodiment. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art, other embodiments than the one disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended patent claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IB03/03926 | 9/15/2003 | WO | 3/7/2006 |