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EP0651544A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Personal communicator having a touch sensitive contol panel

Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1994-10-28
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2014-10-28
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Abstract

Abstract A handheld, mobile personal communicator 10 has a user interface comprising a touchscreen display 28. The communicator 10 also has an editing function. In an editor mode, a first screen 150 is displayed containing a limited data entry area 152 and a full keyboard 156. By selecting a predetermined key, the screen is changed to second screen 160 having an enlarged data display area and a collapsed keyboard having a single line of keys. The first screen 150 can be restored by selecting a predetermined key. The enlarged data display area 162 shows more lines of text and allows a user to readily select different portions of the document being edited.

Inventors

  • 👤 David Joseph Allard
  • 👤 Francis James Canova, Jr.
  • 👤 Debra Ann Gawne Johnson
  • 👤 Charles Sterling Lanier
  • 👤 James Robert Lewis
  • 👤 William Villafana
  • 👤 James Christian Wulf

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-02 16:48
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04M; H04M11/00; H04M11/06; H04M11/066; H04M1/00; H04M1/26; H04M1/27; H04M1/274; H04M1/2745; H04M1/27467; H04M1/27475; H04M1/72; H04M1/724; H04M1/72403; H04M1/72469; H04M2250/00; H04M2250/22; H04M2250/56

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 8
Claim 1
Independent Claim 276 words
A personal communicator (10) comprising: a casing (12) of a size adapted to be held in the hand of a user; a touchscreen display (26) mounted on said casing, said touchscreen display forming a user interface for entering information into and outputting information from said communicator, said touchscreen display comprising a pressure sensitive overlay (28) coupled with a display device for displaying different screens of information; processing means mounted in said casing, said processing means being connected to said touchscreen display for receiving information entered through said overlay and outputting information to said display device, said processing means comprising screen management means (80) for painting different screens on said display device including a first screen (150) and a second screen (160); said first screen displaying a full qwerty keyboard (156) having a plurality of rows of alphameric keys, a collapsed data entry area (152), and a first set of selectively actuated function keys including a first key for initiating switching from said first screen to said second screen; said second screen presenting an expanded data display area (162) and a collapsed keyboard having a single row of selectively actuated function keys including a second key for initiating switching from said second screen to said first screen, said expanded data display area being larger than said collapsed data entry area for displaying more information than is displayable in said data entry area; and said processing means further comprising key selection detecting means for detecting actuation of said first key and said second key and operating said screen management means to switch between said first and second screens in response to actuation of said first and second keys.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 73 words
A personal communicator (10) as claimed in claim 1 wherein: said casing (12) is elongated and has a speaker (22) mounted adjacent one end and a microphone (44) mounted adjacent another end; and said touchscreen display (26) has rectangular shape elongated in a direction similar to said casing, said display device being a liquid crystal display (LCD) on which said first (150) and second (160) screens are presented for viewing by the user.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 36 words
A personal communicator (10) as claimed in claim 2 wherein said screen management means (80) selectively paints screens on said LCD in portrait and landscape orientations, said first (150) and second (160) screens having landscape orientations.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 50 words
A personal communicator (10) as claimed in claim 2 wherein each key is selectable by a user first touching said overlay adjacent to such key and then releasing said overlay; and said processing means further comprises means operable in response to releasing said overlay to process such key so selected.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 43 words
A personal communicator (10) as claimed in claim 4 wherein said processing means detects when said overlay is touched and highlights said such key to provide visual feedback to said user indicative of which key is to be selected upon releasing said overlay.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 45 words
A personal communicator (10) as claimed in claim 1 wherein said data entry area of said first screen (150) contains a predetermined number of lines of information, and said data display area of said second screen (160) contains a larger number of lines of information.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 71 words
A personal communicator (10) as claimed in claim 6 wherein said screen management means displays a cursor (154) in said data entry area indicating a point of next data entry, said screen management means is operative to insert a cursor into said data display area of said second screen (160) in response to said user selecting a line in said second screen by touching said overlay adjacent said line so selected.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 49 words
A personal communicator (10) as claimed in claim 7 wherein said screen management means is further operative in response to said key selection means detecting actuation of said second key, to display a first screen (150) that includes said line, and cursor therein, selected from said second screen (160).

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