WO1997050264A1

WO1997050264A1 - Mobile telephone with integrated multiple communication functionalities

Info

Publication number: WO1997050264A1
Application number: PCT/US1997/010839
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jae H. Shim
Original assignee: Samsung Information Systems America
Priority date: 1996-06-24
Filing date: 1997-06-24
Publication date: 1997-12-31
Also published as: AU3408197A

Abstract

A cellular phone (35), which may include CDPD communication capability, has a built-in editor for wireless data message communication applications, including E-mail. For data entry, a set of icons is provided on a predetermined section of an LCD screen (40). The remainder of the screen is reserved for the message display. The message section has a capacity for displaying several rows of alphanumeric characters. The icons may be displayed representations of the letters of the alphabet punctuation marks and any other symbols that may be desirable from ASCII format. To select a character for entry, a cursor is navigated using any of four direction keys (52) to highlight the selected icon for entry. Numbers are entered through the standard DTMF keys (50).

Description

MOBILE TELEPHONE WITH INTEGRATED MULTIPLE COMMUNICATION FUNCTIONALITIES

Cross-Reference to Related Applications

This application is a continuation-in-part application of application serial number 08/669,708, filed June 24, 1996, for Mobile Telephone With Integrated Multiple Communication Functionalities.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to wireless personal communicator technology and more particularly to integration in a single wireless communication instrument of both analog cellular transmission and Cellular Digital

Packet Data (CDPD) transmission functionality.

Background Art

The functional capabilities of wireless mobile telephones, sometimes called radiotelephones, have advanced well beyond the initially provided voice communication, to the point that these wireless devices are now perceived more broadly as personal communication devices. In addition to analog mobile phone service, known as AMPS, the ability to send and receive wireless data transmissions has been incorporated into the new generation of cellular telephone. Data is transmitted in packet format, known as Cellular Digital Packet Data

(CDPD) , over an unused analog voice channel. Such data transmission is analogous to a fax modem sending fax data over the conventional voice telephone line. A fundamental difference is that CDPD packets are transmitted only when needed without tieing up a circuit switched connection in the manner of fax landline transmissions. With CDPD, only segments of time in a particular channel are accessed by a user, so that multiple users can share the same channel.

Dynamic allocation of transmission channels for data packet transmission is illustrated in Fig. 1. Several voice channels (CH1-CH4) are graphically represented in the figure. Unshaded blocks, labelled AMPS, represent analog voice usage over time periods extending in the horizontal direction. Between these occupied periods the channels are free for data transmissions. The shaded blocks, labelled CDPD, represent packet data transmissions in the associated channels. In channel CHI, CDPD transmission is allocated between the first depicted voice transmission block (a) and the next voice transmission block (b) . As voice transmission is required to be given preference on the analog channel, if data transmission is to continue during the period in which block (b) occurs, the data transmission must be switched to a different channel that is not being used at that time for analog voice transmission. Data transmission is thus switched to the channel designated CH2 during the hiatus between analog transmission blocks (c) and (d) . This dynamic allocation is known as channel hopping. Channel hopping can continue in this manner, as depicted for channels CH3 and CH4, as long as there is an available unused channel.

Fig. 2 is a diagram that represents the cellular infrastructure. The mobile coverage area is exemplified by seven cell areas, each having a base station. Each base station is depicted with an antenna for transmitting to and receiving from mobile users data or analog wireless communications. For illustrative purposes the base station is shown having a shaded portion that handles analog communications and a striped portion, referenced mobile data base station (MDBS) , that handles data communications. The base stations are each connected, as exemplified by TI lines, to mobile telephone switching office (MTSO) 13 and mobile data intermediate system (MDIS) 15. The MTSO is linked to the public switched telephone network 17 through which analog calls may be connected to any served subscriber location 19. The MDIS is linked to an external data network 21, such as Internet, for data communication to a fixed-end system (F-ES) 23.

While a single MTSO and MDIS is shown for simplicity of illustration, a plurality of these stations may be provided as needed to handle communication traffic. The MDIS may interface with a plurality of intermediate systems (IS) 25 as exemplified in Fig. 3. Each IS may terminate at a fixed-end system 23 or interface with an additional IS. Mobile-end system (M-ES) 9, which communicates wirelessly with MDBS 11, may comprise a computer having a modem and antenna for air transmission or a cellular telephone equipped for CDPD communication.

The CDPD radiotelephone is useful, for example, for sending and receiving messages. Through CDPD transmission as an underlying wireless data protocol, the user can access E-mail at any time. Enlarged LCD display screens having a large capacity of characters are provided message display. Messages to be transmitted later, as well as messages received, can be stored for future review or editing. In order to transmit messages, editing capabilities must be present in the telephone instrument .

Conventionally, cellular portable radiotelephones include an alphanumeric display, such as an LCD matrix, for indicating telephone numbers, names or a combination of both. The display is activated when such items are composed for entry in memory or when accessing prestored items, such as for memory dialing. The display may comprise several rows of LCD characters in cellular 97/50264 PC17US97/10839

4 phones that have a more comprehensive data storage capability.

Entry and editing of alphanumeric characters in prior art devices involves individual manual selection of the appropriate keys, 0 through 9, from the standard telephone key set, illustrated in Fig. 4. Each of the keys 2 through 9, may represent a number or any of three alpha characters. To compose a message, each alphanumeric character is keyed in to be displayed, whereupon another key is depressed to advance to the next character. If an alpha character is to be selected, up to three depressions are required for display, depending upon which of the letters associated with the 2 through 9 keys is desired. For example, in order to display the letter "C" , the 2 key would have to be pressed three times or some other combination of keys must be used to distinguish among "A", "B" and "C" as they share the same key. If either of the letters Q or Z is to be selected, letters that do not appear on the key pad, a plurality of different key depressions must be entered. A mode key, which can toggle between alpha mode and number mode for the keypad, would require activation if the desired alphanumeric character does not correspond to the current operating mode. The same procedure is involved in editing displayed messages.

The prior art data entry mode described above may be acceptable for analog cellular phones wherein each data entry block is generally limited to a name or telephone number. However, in a cellular phone equipped with a larger capacity display screen for transmission of wireless data via CDPD, such data entry mode is extremely cumbersome to use for messages of any significant length. The number of key depressions necessary to complete a message greatly exceeds the number of key strokes necessary to enter the same message from a standard keyboard. The typical DTMF keys on cellular phones are close together with small identifying labels that are prone to entry errors .

The casual user who has not completely memorized the layout must pause with each message character to locate the appropriate key and determine the appropriate sequence for the desired letter, after determining whether the current alpha or number mode is appropriate for the type of character to be displayed. Such operation can readily lead to entry errors. For each mistake or editing operation, a plurality of additional key activations may be required. If the enlarged display screen is to be navigated to change a previously entered character at a relatively distant location, many additional key depressions are required. Disadvantages of increased or wasted time and raised frustration level attendant with such data entry operation in a wireless handheld device are self-evident.

An additional disadvantage of the prior art data entry operation is that there is no provision for punctuation mark entry. While such characters are not necessary for name or telephone number storage in conventional analog cellular phones, such operation would not be satisfactory in expanding the use of the cellular phone to other personal communication applications, such as E-mail . Various other symbols that are commonly used in text, such as the percentage symbol, ampersand, etc., also are unavailable in conventional cellular phone pads, but would be desirable.

Disclosure of the Invention The foregoing drawbacks in the described prior art devices are overcome by the present invention with the provision of a cellular CDPD phone having a built-in editor for wireless data message communication applications, including E-mail. Rather than using the standard telephone dialing keys for entry data, a set of icons is provided on a predetermined section of the LCD screen. The remainder of the screen is reserved for the message display. The message section has a capacity for displaying several rows of alphanumeric characters. The icons may be displayed representations of the letters of the alphabet, punctuation marks and any other symbols that may be desirable from ASCII format.

When in the message formulation or editing mode, an icon cursor may be displayed in the icon screen section and a message area cursor may be displayed in the message screen section. Through use of a toggle key, a respective section of the LCD display screen is selectively activated. The selected section may be indicated by a flashing cursor. The message cursor indicates the current position in the message that a character will be added or edited. The icon cursor highlights an icon that may be selected for display of that character at the current position in the message. In either toggled mode, the cursor is easily navigable using any of four arrow direction keys (up, down, right and left) . Any position in the message may thus be made current for insertion of a character by cursor selection of an appropriate icon. A displayed message character may be deleted easily by positioning the message area cursor appropriately and activating a clear key.

Construction of an E-mail message can be facilitated by providing standard E-mail prompts, such as "From:", " To:", "Subject;", and the range of other prompts that are part of the standard Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) . An E-mail mode that provides these prompts may be automatically invoked by depression of an edit key to activate the icon screen display. Formulation of the appropriate data for display can take place by appropriately toggling between display sections, cursor navigation and selection. Entry of the desired data for the E-mail prompt will automatically advance to the next E-mail prompt and proceed successively until all information, including the message, has been displayed and entered. When complete, the message can be immediately transmitted using a send key, retained temporarily in a scratchpad memory, or stored in a permanent memory for future transmission. The telephone contains a memory that can store a plurality of E-mail addresses preset by the subscriber to correspond to address names that may be used in E-mail messages. The icon display section may contain a specialized

E-mail icon for indicating that the subscriber has one or more E-mail messages stored by the E-mail provider. In an automatic E-mail mode, the E-mail provider server is periodically poled by transmissions from the cellular phone to see if there are stored received messages. If there are, header file information for all such stored messages are retrieved, transmitted to the cellular phone for storage therein, and the E-mail icon will be^' activated to flash. The user can thereafter display header information for all received E-mail messages and retrieve any desired messages.

Brief Description of Drawings

Fig. 1 is a chart illustrating dynamic allocation of voice transmission channels for data packet transmission. Fig. 2 is a diagram that represents the cellular infrastructure for voice analog and CDPD transmission.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram in which CDPD network elements are illustrated.

Fig. 4 is a drawing of a standard telephone keypad set.

Fig. 5 is an illustration of the cellular radiotelephone keypad and display layout in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 6 is a block diagram of the elements of the cellular radiotelephone in accordance with the present invention.

Figs. 7A and 7B are flowcharts, taken together, that illustrate the editing mode operation in accordance with the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying out the Invention

A preferred embodiment of the cellular radiotelephone instrument of the present invention is illustrated in Fig. 5. The instrument includes, in addition to conventional speaker 31, microphone 33 and antenna 35, enhanced LCD display 40 and enhanced keypad 50. LCD display 40 contains an alphanumeric character entry display section 42 and an icon display section, or icon window, 44. Display section 42 is larger than typical cellular telephone displays to accommodate more readily the viewing of user entered messages and received messages. Conventional indicators, such as autodial telephone numbers and names, instrument functionalities, etc., in their respective modes of operation are also displayed. The figure, by example only, shows a capacity of four rows of sixteen LCD cells that are each selectable by appropriate driver circuits to display any of a plurality of selected characters. While these characters are represented by numbers in the drawing figure, it is to be understood that the character that will be displayed may be a number or any of those characters that corresponds to a selected icon representation. The icon window 44 includes an embedded set of icons representing the alphabet, with additional representations of other more frequently used ASCII characters, such as punctuation marks. The icon window may be expanded if desired to include additional ASCII characters. The icons are displayed only m specific operational modes used for selecting characters to be displayed in character display section 42, as explained more fully hereinafter. When icon section 44 is displayed, each icon will occupy its same respective position. Also included in this section is an icon 45 that indicates when an incoming E-mail message has been received by the subscriber's E-mail provider.

Keypad 50 contains, in addition to the conventional telephone touchtone keys shown in Fig. 4., several mode keys and four arrow keys 52 for LCD cursor navigation in the up, down, right and left directions. M/EDIT key 54 enables the formulation and editing of messages on the LCD display in an editing operational mode. In this mode, the FCN/TG key 56 enables toggling between the two sections of the LCD display to make active cursor navigation. The active screen section may be indicated, for example, by a flashing cursor.

During icon window activation, cursor navigation among the icons is easily managed through the use of the arrow keys to highlight the desired icon position. Pressing ENT button 58 selects the character represented by the icon to be displayed in the message section. A previously entered character may be deleted by pressing CLR key 59. When character entry for a message has been completed, the message may be transmitted by pressing the SEND key 60 or stored by pressing the STO key 62. The editing operational mode can be terminated at any time by pressing the END key 64.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of the cellular radiotelephone system architecture of the present invention. Elements that have been depicted in a previous drawing figure are identified by the same reference numerals. System functionality is under the control of logic and control block 71. This block includes a microprocessor or equivalent and associated memory and logic circuitry. Conventional radio receiver 73 and radio transmitter 75 communicatively interact with speaker 31, microphone 33 and antenna 35 in a conventional voice analog cellular operating mode. Logic and control block 71 responds to entries from keypad 50 through keypad interface 77 to establish an operational mode and to administer its performance. LCD 40 is activated and controlled, through LCD driver 79, in response signals received from the keypad interface and the logic and control block. Under this control the LCD will display characters that correspond to key entries from keypad 50 or to data signals received by receiver 73. Key entry signals are input to the control microprocessor, which outputs appropriate signals for driving the LCD display. Operation in the editing mode of the present invention may be understood with reference to the flow charts of Figs. 7A and 7B. Step 101 indicates that power has been applied to the radiophone instrument. To activate the LCD display, the STO key 62 or the M/EDIT key 54 is pressed. In response to such activation, a cursor will blink in message display section window 42 and the icons will be displayed in the icon window, at step 103. The blinking cursor identifies the current location at which a character will be entered. Default initial cursor locations can be set, for example, at the top left corner of the LCD matrix for a blank screen or at the end of a retrieved message that had been stored. If the user wishes to exit the edit mode at this time or any subsequent point in the routine, the editing mode can be quit by pressing the END key.

Any one of several possible alternative entries may be desired for the current cursor location. The message may call for a character represented by one of the icons in the icon window or a number. Further, the LCD cell at the current location may already have a character displayed that is to be cleared and replaced with an icon character or number or a space. While several equivalent methods may be used for insertion and deletion of data within a message, in the preferred embodiment data to be added at a particular point in the message is entered without deleting, or "typing over", existing data. To delete data at a particular cursor location, the CLR key is pressed.

To select an alpha character to be displayed, the FCN/TG key is pressed. In response, an icon cursor will blink in the icon window at step 105. In the icon selection mode, the display cursor will continue to blink to indicate the position in the display that the selected character will be placed. The icon cursor and display cursor may blink in alternative sequence during this mode of operation.

The initial default position of the icon cursor may be at the "A" icon. With a different arrangement of icons from that shown by example in Fig. 5, the default cursor position may be set elsewhere. At step 107 it is determined whether the icon cursor is correctly located to highlight the icon that represents the alpha or ASCII character that is to be entered in the display section. If not, the arrow keys are pressed at step 109 until the cursor has been appropriately located, as determined in step 111. Upon such determination, the ENT key is pressed and the character is displayed at the current display cursor position and the display cursor is advanced to the next location in the display section, at step 113. At step 115, the user can decide whether to delete the previously displayed character. If so, the CLR key can be pressed to delete the character before the cursor at step 117. The display cursor position then reverts to the previous location. Additional characters can be deleted in the same manner by repetitive pressing of the CLR key. Multiple characters can be deleted simultaneously by keeping the CLR key depressed for a sustained time period, for example, greater than 0.5 seconds. If displayed characters are not to be deleted, as decided in step 115, a decision is made at step 119 of whether the editing mode is complete. If more characters are to be entered, the routine proceeds back to step 107 and the process continues as previously described until it is decided at step 119 that editing is complete. The user will then press the STO key to store the entered characters in memory, step 121. The icon display will be turned off at this time. If the user needs no further editing mode activity, as determined at step 123, pressing the END key will terminate this mode at step 125. The display cursor will then cease blinking. If further editing activity is required, pressing the M/EDIT key will again turn on the icon display. The process returns to step 105 to toggle to the icon cursor and further editing operations.

The invention described above offers advantages derived to a large extent from the use of icons that can be selected in an easily navigable manner to enter characters on the cellular telephone display screen. The ability to enter data for digital transmission is thus greatly enhanced. Only the preferred embodiment of the invention and but a few examples of its versatility are shown and described in the present disclosure. It is to be understood that the invention is capable of use in various other combinations and environments and is capable of changes or modifications within the scope of the inventive concept as expressed herein. For example, the icon assisted data entry scheme can find advantageous use in a portable, compact, personal data device.

Claims

1. A cellular radiotelephone comprising: a transmitter; a receiver; a plurality of manually actuatable keys; a display, said display comprising an entry window for displaying a plurality of characters and an icon window activatable to simultaneously display a plurality of icons, each one of said icons representing a corresponding character; selecting means for selecting one of said plurality of icons; and entry means for displaying the character corresponding to the selected icon in said entry window.

2. A cellular radiotelephone as recited in claim 1, wherein said characters comprise alpha characters, said icons comprise a mutually exclusive set of like images of said characters, and said selecting means comprises: positioning means responsive to manual actuation of any one of a set of said keys, collectively comprising navigation keys, in a first operational mode for positioning an icon cursor to identify one of said icons.

3. A cellular radiotelephone as recited in claim 2, wherein said entry means is responsive to manual actuation of one of said keys.

4. A cellular radiotelephone as recited in claim 3, further comprising; toggling means responsive to manual actuation of a toggle key for toggling operation of said navigation keys between positioning said icon cursor in said first mode and positioning a display cursor at a location in said entry window in a second mode; and wherein said selected icon is displayed at the location of said display cursor.

5. A cellular radiotelephone as recited in claim 4, wherein said manually actuatable keys comprise a set of number keys for placing telephone calls from said cellular radiotelephone in a communication mode; and said entry means is responsive to manual actuation of one of said number keys for displaying a corresponding number character in said entry window.

6. A cellular radiotelephone as recited in claim 4, further comprising memory means for storing entered characters as data; and means responsive to manual actuation of one of said keys for transmitting said data in digital format to a remote location.

7. A cellular radiotelephone as recited in claim 4, wherein said entry window comprises a plurality of rows of LCD cells capable of displaying alphanumeric characters and other ASCII format characters and further comprising LCD driver means for activating selected LCD cells to display selected characters, and scrolling the display in response to character entry exceeding the entry window display capacity.

8. A cellular radiotelephone as recited in claim 1, further comprising means responsive to a received data message for displaying the received message in said entry window and means for setting an editing mode whereby said received message may be edited by said selecting means and entry means .

9. A cellular radiotelephone as recited in claim 2, wherein the mutually exclusive set of icons are displayed in the icon window at the same respective positions each time the cellular radiotelephone is in an editing mode of operation.

10. In a cellular radiotelephone having a transmitter, receiver, manually actuatable keys and display, a method for entering characters on said display comprising the steps of: activating an editing mode; displaying a set of mutually exclusive icons in an icon window portion of said display, each of said icons representing an alpha or ASCII character; positioning a display cursor at a selected position in an entry display window portion of said display; positioning an icon cursor to highlight a selected icon in said icon window; displaying the character represented by the selected icon at the display cursor position.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, comprising repeating the steps of positioning the display cursor, positioning the icon cursor and displaying the selected icon represented character, until a completed message has been entered m the entry display window.

12. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the steps of positioning the display cursor and icon cursor each comprises one or more of a set of four of said keys for moving a respective cursor in up, down, right and left directions on the display.

13. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein said entry display portion comprises a plurality of LCD cells in a plurality of rows and further comprises the step of scrolling the display upon exceeding the entry display window capacity.

14. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising the step of storing said message in digital format .

15. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising the step of transmitting said message in digital format.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein said digital format is CDPD format.