Patent Application
20080146210
The following relates to a system and method for associating items from a group with features provided by a mobile device.
Computer applications are typically accessible to a user via an operating system of a computing device. The applications are either stored directly on the device or loaded via a portal, e.g. a web browser etc. Most often, the applications are loaded by selecting an icon presented on a display using an selection tool such as a mouse or toggle button. The icons and applications themselves can be organized into folders and the organization can be visualized on one or more screens.
The organization of the applications (and associated icons) can involve moving, grouping, deleting, adding etc. Options for adding and removing features and associated information with an application may also be provided. Typically these options are provided in a menu that is displayed in response to a user command. The user can scroll through the menu and if applicable, load a sub-menu to access further features associated with a general feature and/or to enter information.
The presentation of menus and sub-menus can often require loading new screens and when sub-menus are accessed, further screens are loaded. If the user is forced to navigate through these menus they may become confused or forget what they originally intended to do. When an unfamiliar or seemingly unrelated menu appears, the user may choose to exit the menu entirely because they feel they have done something incorrect. For mobile devices, where the displays are relatively small and the interface mechanisms more limited, these concerns can be exacerbated.
It is therefore an object of the following to obviate or mitigate at least one of the above disadvantages.
Embodiments will now be described by way of example only with reference to the appended drawings wherein:
Referring first to
Positioning device 14 may serve as another input member and is both rotatable to provide selection inputs to the processor 238 (see
It will be appreciated that the mobile device 10 shown in
Mobile station 202 will normally incorporate a communication subsystem 211 which includes a receiver 212, a transmitter 214, and associated components such as one or more (preferably embedded or internal) antenna elements 216 and 218, local oscillators (LOs) 213, and a processing module such as a digital signal processor (DSP) 220. As will be apparent to those skilled in field of communications, particular design of communication subsystem 211 depends on the communication network in which mobile station 202 is intended to operate.
Mobile station 202 may send and receive communication signals over a network after required network registration or activation procedures have been completed. Signals received by antenna 216 through the network are input to receiver 212, which may perform such common receiver functions as signal amplification, frequency down conversion filtering, channel selection, and like, and in example shown in
Network access is associated with a subscriber or user of mobile station 202, and therefore mobile station 202 requires a Subscriber Identity Module or “SIM” card 262 to be inserted in a SIM interface 264 in order to operate in the network. SIM 262 is one type of a conventional “smart card” used to identify an end user (or subscriber) of the mobile station 202 and to personalize the device, among other things. Without SIM 262, the mobile station terminal is not fully operational for communication through a wireless network. By inserting SIM 262 into mobile station 202, an end user can have access to any and all of hisser subscribed services. SIM 262 generally includes a processor and memory for storing information. Since SIM 262 is coupled to a SIM interface 264, it is coupled to microprocessor 238 through communication lines. In order to identify the subscriber, SIM 262 contains some user parameters such as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI). An advantage of using SIM 262 is that end users are not necessarily bound by any single physical mobile station. SIM 262 may store additional user information for the mobile station as well, including datebook (or calendar) information and recent call information.
Mobile station 202 is a battery-powered device so it also includes a battery interface 254 for receiving one or more rechargeable batteries 256. Such a battery 256 provides electrical power to most if not all electrical circuitry in mobile station 202, and battery interface 254 provides for a mechanical and electrical connection for it. The battery interface 254 is coupled to a regulator (not shown) which provides a regulated voltage V to all of the circuitry.
Mobile station 202 includes a microprocessor 238 which controls overall operation of mobile station 202. Communication functions, including at least data and voice communications are performed through communication subsystem 211. Microprocessor 238 also interacts with additional device subsystems such as a display 222, a flash memory 224, a random access memory (RAM) 226, auxiliary input/output subsystems 228, a serial port 230, a keyboard 232, a speaker 234, a microphone 236, a short-range communications subsystem 240, and any other device subsystems generally designated at 242. Some of the subsystems shown in
Microprocessor 238, in addition to its operating system functions, preferably enables execution of software applications on mobile station 202. A predetermined set of applications which control basic device operations, including at least data and voice communication applications, as well as the inventive functionality of the present disclosure, will normally be installed on mobile station 202 during its manufacture. A preferred application that may be loaded onto mobile station 202 may be a personal information manager (PIM) application having the ability to organize and manage data items relating to users such as, but not limited to, e-mall, calendar events, voice mails, appointments, and task items. Naturally, one or more memory stores are available on mobile station 202 and SIM 262 to facilitate storage of PIM data items and other information.
The PIM application preferably has the ability to send and receive data items via the wireless network. In the present disclosure, PIM data items are seamlessly integrated, synchronized, and updated via the wireless network, with me mobile station user's corresponding data items stored and/or associated with a host computer system thereby creating a mirrored host computer on mobile station 202 with respect to such items. This is especially advantageous where the host computer system is the mobile station user's office computer system. Additional applications may also be loaded onto mobile station 202 through network, an auxiliary subsystem 228, serial port 230, short-range communications subsystem 240, or any other suitable subsystem 242, and installed by a user in RAM 226 or preferably a non-volatile store (not shown) for execution by microprocessor 238. Such flexibility in application installation increases the functionality of mobile station 202 and may provide enhanced on-device functions, communication-related functions, or both. For example, secure communication applications may enable electronic commerce functions and other such financial transactions to be performed using mobile station 202.
In a data communication mode, a received signal such as a text message, an e-mail message, or web page download will be processed by communication subsystem 211 and input to microprocessor 238. Microprocessor 238 will preferably further process the signal for output to display 222 or alternatively to auxiliary 110 device 228. A user of mobile station 202 may also compose data items, such as e-mail messages, for example, using keyboard 232 in conjunction with display 222 and possibly auxiliary I/O device 228. Keyboard 232 is preferably a complete alphanumeric keyboard and/or telephone-type keypad. These composed items may be transmitted over a communication network through communication subsystem 211.
For voice communications, the overall operation of mobile station 202 is substantially similar, except that the received signals would be output to speaker 234 and signals for transmission would be generated by microphone 236. Alternative voice or audio I/O subsystems, such as a voice message recording subsystem, may also be implemented on mobile station 202. Although voice or audio signal output is preferably accomplished primarily through speaker 234, display 222 may also be used to provide an indication of the identity of a calling party, duration of a voice call, or other voice call related information, as some examples.
Serial port 230 in
Short-range communications subsystem 240 of
Turning back to
As shown in
In
Movement, navigation, and/or scrolling with use of a cursor/view positioning mechanism is beneficial given the relatively large size of visually displayed information and the compact size of display 12, and since information and messages are typically only partially presented in the limited view of display 12 at any given moment. As previously described, positioning device 14 is one helpful cursor/view positioning mechanism to achieve such movement. Positioning device 14, which may be referred to as a scrollwheel or scroll device, specifically includes a circular disc which is rotatable about a fixed axis of housing and may be rotated by the end user's index finger or thumb. When the information or message is being partially displayed an upwards rotation of positioning device 14 causes an upwards scrolling such that display 12 presents viewing of an upper portion of the information or message. Similarly, a downwards rotation of positioning device 14 causes a downwards scrolling such that display 12 presents viewing of a lower portion of the information or message. Positioning device 14 is mounted along a fixed linear axis such that the end user can depress positioning device 14 inwards toward housing for selection of information.
Referring now to
Referring to
The exceptions list 58 lists any contact person that the user may wish to distinguish from the other contacts. For example, a different ring tone can be associated with that contact, or vibration can be added to the ring only for that contact. When a message, phone call etc. comes into the device 10 from any contact that is not in the exceptions list 58 (or those who are not in the contacts list 40) the active profiles as defined in the profiles list 53 is typically used by default. When a message, phone call etc. comes in that can be correlated to a contact that has been placed in the exceptions list 58, a profile specific to that contact can be used rather than the default or active profile. The user can select a profile 54 or a “create new exception” option 60 by scrolling and selecting the desired text for that option with a highlighting bar 62.
By selecting the create new option 60, a create exception application 63 is loaded by the processor 238 and displayed as shown in
In this example, the create exception application 63 provides both a step-by-step assistant option 64 and a quick create option 66. The assistant option 64 takes the user through each step in order to enable them to completely customize the profile for the new exception that is to be created. The quick create option 66 enables the user to forego the learning process offered in the assistant option 64 by enabling the user to select the options from a single convenient list as described below. Preferably, previous or default settings are “pre-selected” and the user can choose to alter these settings or leave them as they are. In this way, the user only needs to modify the particular options for the exception that they wish to be different from other exceptions, such as a custom ring tone. As can be seen in screen (a) of
The user is preferably provided with an opportunity to name the new exception by entering such name in an entry box 76, seen in screen (b) of
The assistant option 64 continues by enabling the user to enter the contact or group of contacts that they wish to associate with the exception as shown in screen (c). Traditionally, to associate a contact or other item from a group to a feature such as an exception, a sub-menu similar to the contacts screen 32 is accessed and displayed by the processor 238. The user would then search for or scroll to and select an item or sub-group of items and then the display would return to the feature being modified. Rather than navigate through submenus, the assistant option 64 provides an input mechanism that directly filters and displays a sub-list of items 79 as one or more identifiers are entered. In this example, the input mechanism is an entry box 78 and the identifiers are characters that are associated with a desired contact, e.g. first name 42, last name 44, company name 46 etc. As the user types the characters that are believed to be related to the desired contact, the processor 238 receives the characters as an input from the keyboard interface 232, and accesses the contacts application 430 to obtain items stored in that application 430. A pop-up list box 80 is preferably displayed by the microprocessor 238, that contains any contact that can be identified or is associated with the entered identifiers (sub-list 79). The microprocessor 238 therefore uses the identifiers to search within the stored items of the contacts application 430 to determine which ones should form the sub-list 79. This effectively integrates a look-up function into the exception application 63, which is in turn part of the profiles application 428.
As can be seen in screen (c), when the user types in the characters “D-o”, three related contacts, namely Jane Doe, John Doe, and My Boss from Don Industries populate the list box 80 to create a sub-list of items 79 related to the identifiers entered into the entry box 78. Preferably, when the user selects the entry box 78 using an appropriate input device provided by the mobile device 10, and prior to any characters being entered, the processor 238 accesses all contacts from the contacts program 430 and populates the list box 80 such that it displays each and every contact that is stored on the mobile device (i.e. all members of the group of items). In 22 this way, the user may scroll through the entire list when they cannot decide on a particular contact, or cannot recall the manner in which that contact is identified in their device 10. For example, the user's mother may be entered under “Mom” rather then in a first name 42/last name 44 format and in order to determine this, they may scroll through the entire list rather than attempting each variation.
As the group is filtered by the processor 238 to create the sub-list 79, the user can at any time scroll, highlight and select a desired item, in this example a desired contact for the new exception as shown in screen (d), which then preferably displays the entire contact name in the entry box 78 and enables the user to add the contact by selecting the next button 68. Alternatively, selection of the contact in the sub-list 79 may instead cause the processor 238 to load the next screen on the display 12.
Once the contact has been added, the application 63 proceeds to screen (d), which enables the user to select a profile to associate with the exception and in turn the contact. In this example, a number of profiles 86 are listed and the active profile (preferably selected as a default profile) is selected. The active profile (which can also be changed outside of the exception application 63) is then used when a phone call, email, text message etc. comes in and can be identified as originating from the selected contact, in this example, Jane Doe. A “Continue” button 84 is preferably provided to enable the user to continue selecting the various options for the new exception, and a “Done” button 82 to enable the user to finalize the exception. If the user selects the done button 82, default settings are preferably added for the other options that may be available.
In this example, the user selects the continue button 84, which then displays screen (e), which is used to select a custom ring tune or tone 88 if so desired. As can be seen from screen (e), the user can choose to use the default ring tone or, as shown, can select to associate a custom ring tone 88, e.g. Ringer_a. In this way, when a phone call is identified as originating from a number associated with Jane Doe, Ringer_a will be played rather than the predefined tune that has been selected for other incoming calls. By selecting a specific ring tune 88 and selecting the next button 68, screen (f) is displayed, which provides a summary 90 of selected options. If the user wishes to make a change, they can select the back button 72. If the user is satisfied with the selected options, they may select the next button 68 as shown in screen (f), and screen (g) is then loaded.
Screen (f) provides an acknowledgment message regarding the newly created exception. Preferably, an “Add Another” button 92 is provided, which enables the user to return to screen (a) or screen (b) to begin the process again.
The methods described above may be embodied in a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium and computer instructions stored in the computer readable medium which are executable by one or more processors, e.g., the processor 238 of the mobile station 202. In particular, the methods may be executable on the mobile device 10 which has a wireless transmitter 214 and receiver 212; one or more processors coupled to the wireless transmitter 214 and receiver 212, and a user interface such as that described above; wherein the one or more processors are operative to execute the method.
Preferably, the selection menu lists either default selections for an exception, or the previous selections chosen by the user. This may be done as a guide for the user but the selection menu should allow the user to change these settings as desired. In this example, if the box 102 is selected by the user, the menu provides the previous name 96, profile 106, and custom ring tune 104. The user may then opt to select the box 104 using, e.g. the scroll device 14, and enter a name using a similar input mechanism as described in detail above with respect to
The user may then choose to save the settings by selecting the scroll device 14, which loads an options menu 108, may change another option, or exit without making changes. It is therefore seen that the quick create option 66 can also utilize the directly accessible filtered list 79 provided by the input mechanism (e.g. entry location 178), similar to the input mechanism shown in
As mentioned above, the user may wish to associate a group of contacts with an exception. In order to create a group of contacts, a similar input mechanism can be used as shown in
The group creation application 110 is loaded by the processor 238 and displayed similar to the other applications described above, which includes providing an entry box 176 for naming the group. The name entered by the user is then preferably stored and searchable as an individual item in the list of contacts 40. Similar to the above examples, a next button 168 and cancel button 170 are provided, as well as a back button 172, add another button 192 and done button 182 where appropriate. As can be seen in screen (b), once the group has been named, the user is prompted to begin entering the desired contact in the entry box 278, which, as before, causes the processor 238 to access and search the items in the contacts application 430, an prepare and display a filtered list 279 in a pop-up list box 280 directly within the application 110. The user may then select a desired contact and select the next button 168, which then causes the processor 238 to load and display screen (c).
In screen (c), a name label 112 is displayed along with an up to date group list box 114, which displays each and every contact that has been added to the group, e.g. “Family” in this example The user may then choose to finish the group creation process by selecting the done button 182, or, as shown, select the add another button 192, which causes the processor 238 to load the entry screen as shown in screen (d). In screen (d), the user is now provided with the opportunity to enter a more specific string of characters (e.g. “Doe, Jo”) and selects John Doe to add to the family group in a manner similar to that described above As shown in screen (e), the list box 114 is now populated by the processor 238 with both Jane Doe and John Doe and associates these contacts with the group “Family”. As such, this group is then added by the processor 238 to the list of contacts 40 by accessing the contacts application 430 in memory 224, and can be selected by the user from the sub-list 79 using an input device when appropriate, e.g. when the character series “F-A” is received as an input and processor by the processor 238.
As shown in screen (b), the user can add songs to the play list using the input 22 mechanism, in this example an entry box 378, which is similar to those described above. As the user begins to enter characters associated with the song title, artist or any other identifying information, the processor 238 accesses the music program, searches the stored music files based on the entered characters, and creates a sub-list 379 that is provided using a pop-up list box 380. The user may then view the current state of the play list in a list box 126 that identifies the play list with a label 124 as shown in screen (c), and can choose to add further songs to the play list if desired as shown in screens (d) and (e).
The screens shown in
It can therefore be seen that the input mechanism 178 can be used to associate items that form part of a grouping of items, with an application in a mobile device for creating a feature. For example, an entry box 78 can be used by the user to cause the processor 238 to associate a contact with an exception as shown in
It will be appreciated that the examples provided herein are for illustrative purposes only and that the principles outlined above, in particular with respect to the input mechanism (e.g. boxes 78, 178, 278 and 378) can be applied to the association of any suitable item with any applicable feature in a mobile device.
It will also be appreciated that the above principles are also applicable to non-mobile devices, such as computer programs for personal computers (PCs) and should not be considered as applicable only to mobile devices.
Although the above has been described with reference to certain specific embodiments, various modifications thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as outlined in the claims appended hereto.
