Patent Application
20120149433
The present invention relates to smart phone accessories and more particularly to a device for connecting with a smart phone to provide improved screen and keyboard usage with the smart phone itself providing the computer processing capability.
In recent years mobile telephones have become much more than just telephones. Advanced mobile telephones, commonly referred to as “smart phones” have become powerful, ubiquitous computing devices, providing portable internet access, powerful computer processing ability and media storage. Such devices can access, store and play various media such as movies, photos, music, etc.
Advances in smart phone technology have reached a point that, for many users such smart phones provide their primary access to the internet. It may even come to pass in the foreseeable future that such smart phones may replace to some extend standard desktop or laptop computer systems. Their small size allow these devices to be always accessible, becoming an invaluable tool for a variety of applications including social networking, GPS based navigation, entertainment, communication in a variety of media, etc.
While the small size of such devices provides unprecedented convenience and accessibility for users, such devices suffer from certain limitations as a result of their very small size. For example, the display of such a device is limited by the size of the device. Therefore, no matter what resolution image can be achieved, the small screen size makes many viewing functions difficult, impractical or impossible. This can be an even greater problem for users who have difficulty viewing very small print or images, such as the visually impaired or elderly.
In addition, the physical input of data to such devices is limited by the size of the device itself. While many smart phones have keyboard capability, either by physical keys or a touch-screen, such pseudo-keyboards can be difficult to use especially for lengthy data input such as typing a document, entering data to a spreadsheet or other such data input. And, once again, the small size of such pseudo-keyboards can be even more problematic for users with visual impairment or problems with dexterity.
Therefore, while the evolution of smart phone technology presents a virtually unlimited growth in computer power, functional capability and wireless data speed, data input and display using such device continues to be limited.
The present invention provides a device for providing an external display and keypad for a smart-phone. The device has a port for receiving the smart phone, and has a keypad and a display.
The device does not have its own computing power, but uses the computing power of the smart phone itself, thereby allowing the device to be smaller, lighter and less expensive than a standard lap-top computer or notebook device. The device is configured with a port for receiving a smart-phone and preferably holds the smart phone so that it does not extend above the surface of the device or is flush with the surface of the device.
The device can also be configured to allow the smart phone itself to act as a numerical keypad adjacent to the keypad provided on the device. This advantageously saves space by allowing the smart-phone, which is already being held within the device, to provide some of the keyboard function. This also, advantageously, provides a numerical keypad function that is not provided on standard laptop computers.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent upon reading of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the Figures in which like reference numerals indicate like elements throughout.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of this invention, as well as the preferred mode of use, reference should be made to the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which are not to scale.
The following description is of the best embodiments presently contemplated for carrying out this invention. This description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of this invention and is not meant to limit the inventive concepts claimed herein.
With reference to
The display/keyboard device 102 differs from a conventional laptop computer in that the device 102 does not, in and of itself, provide any significant computing ability. That is, the device 102 does not have a central processing unit (CPU). The computing power is provided solely or predominantly by the smart phone 104 itself. Therefore, the device 102 is only an extension of the smart phone for providing a more convenient data input and output interface.
This lack of any significant computing power (such as lack of a CPU) allows the device to be much lighter and much less costly than a conventional laptop. Therefore, a user who has already invested in a smart phone having all of the computing power needed by the consumer does not have to incur addition expense to purchase a separate laptop computer. The device 102 can also be constructed with a very small profile for additional convenience in transporting and handling the device 102. Therefore, since the device 102 can be much lighter and much thinner, a user can much more easily have such device accessible for use whenever needed such as at a coffee shop, when waiting at an airport, etc. The device can even be made small and light enough to be carried in a purse or other bag.
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The present invention, as shown in
The device can also have the capability to automatically sync with a smart phone to which it is connected. Such sync capability can be provided by software loaded on the memory of the device 102. This software can include computer readable instructions for recognizing the smart phone device that has been connected with the device 102 and for causing the smart phone 104 to display the number pad 302 (
In addition, the device 102 can have its own internal graphics enhancement unit. This graphics enhancement unit can receive digital input from the smart phone 104 that is coded for use in the small display of the smart phone, and enhance this input for use by the display screen 106 so that the image displayed on the display screen 106 can effectively have the same quality as if it had been generated by a standard lap-top computer, desktop computer or notepad device.
While various embodiments have been described, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Other embodiments falling within the scope of the invention may also become apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the breadth and scope of the invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.
