Abstract:
Apparatus for indicating mobile electronic device status comprising a database for storing mobile electronic device status information and associated colour information; a set of light emitting diodes (LEDs); a processor for retrieving the colour information based on the mobile electronic device status and transmitting a signal based on the colour information to the set of LEDs; wherein the set of LEDs provide a light corresponding to the colour information to illuminate an area of the mobile communication device to indicate the mobile electronic device status.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to mobile electronic devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for indicating mobile electronic device status and/or state.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The use of mobile electronic, or communication devices has increased dramatically over recent years as users wish to be able to be stay connected when they are away from a landline telephone or desktop computer. Some mobile communication devices also serve as a personal digital assistant for tracking meetings and daily activities. For users who are on the go, ease of use and speed are typical priorities. As speed is important, users typically start to use their device without verifying the status of the device since they are so concentrated on making a call, checking email or their calendar, among other things.  
         [0003]     There are times when users attempt to use their mobile communication device while the device is in a locked mode. Frustration sets in once the user realizes that their mobile electronic device is in the locked mode and has to be unlocked for the user to use the device.  
         [0004]     Typically, users are required to look at their display screen in order to determine the status, or state, of their device. This is, however, not an easy task since the user has to focus on what is being displayed on the display screen and divert their attention away from other tasks at hand. With the size of the screens in mobile communication devices, this information may not be immediately available to the user without having to stare intently at the screen for a few seconds. Furthermore, information concerning the device state, or status, is not readily available to the user.  
         [0005]     It is, therefore, desirable to provide a novel method and apparatus for indicating mobile communication device status. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]     Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached Figures, wherein:  
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a front view of a mobile electronic device;  
         [0008]      FIG. 2  is a schematic view of apparatus for indicating mobile electronic device status; and  
         [0009]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart outlining a method of indicating mobile electronic device status. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0010]     Generally, a method and system for indicating mobile electronic device status is provided.  
         [0011]     Turning to  FIG. 1 , a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a mobile communication device is shown. The mobile communication device  10  includes a display  12  along with a keyboard/keypad area  14  having a keyboard  16  installed. Between the display  12  and the keyboard  16  is a set of keys, or buttons,  18  and a trackball  20 .  
         [0012]     In one embodiment, a set of LEDs is located underneath the trackball of the mobile electronic device. As will be disclosed, the set of LEDs provide a visual indication to a user relating to a status of the mobile communication device. The LEDs may be a single colour LED or may be multi-coloured to provide a spectrum of colours. Other methods of providing visual or colour indicators to a user are also contemplated.  
         [0013]     It will be appreciated that “colour” can be defined in many ways, for example in terms of human perception, pigments used in paint, collections of wavelengths of light, or “colour spaces”. Arguably the most famous colour space for the purposes of video displays is RGB space, so named because each displayable colour is represented by the red, green and blue components (each often, but not necessarily, specified as having integer values in a range from 0 to 255) that, when added together, create a colour. However, the RGB colour space does not always conform to human expectations for a colour system. For example, adding pure red and pure green yields yellow, and the “midpoint” between pure red and green is a very dingy shade of yellow.  
         [0014]     Many other colour spaces are known for defining colours, typically by means of three coordinates, and formulas for mapping one space to another. A system known to many who use popular graphics programs such as Photoshop™ is HSL space, in which the coordinates represent hue, saturation and luminance. Hue is measured on a circular scale corresponding to the additive colour wheel (red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta). Saturation is zero for grey tones (i.e. colours having all RGB components equal) and reaches the maximum value for colours having at least one RGB component equal zero. Luminance is related to the perceived brightness of the colour, but in an inconsistent manner; for example, yellow and blue have the same luminance. There are related systems such Hue-Saturation-Value and Hue-Saturation-Brightness.  
         [0015]     A more faithful representation of perceived brightness is found in the Y coordinate (also called luminance) of YUV space, one version of which is used in the JPEG image compression scheme. In the absence of the two chrominance coordinates U and V, pixel-by-pixel luminance information alone is all that is needed to form a blank-and-white, o.e. grey-tone, version of an image.  
         [0016]     In varying colours to represent changes in the state of a dynamic characteristic, it is frequently advantageous—both conceptually and from a programming standpoint—to represent and transform the colours in HSL or YUV space, even though a conversion of colour coordinates to RGB values will ultimately be needed to drive a video display. As one example, a simple rotation of a hue from one value to another may involve first increasing one of the primary additive colours (red, blue and green) and then decreasing a different one. As another example, ‘greying-out’ a graphic image by decreasing the saturation of each of its pixels typically requires simultaneously changing all three RGB values for each pixel. It will be understood that the discussion relating to the colours in the follow description may also be enhanced by these other colour characteristics or spaces.  
         [0017]     Turning to  FIG. 2 , apparatus for implementing a method of indicating mobile electronic device status is shown. The apparatus  50 , located within the mobile electronic, or communication, device  10 , includes a processor  52 , which may be a mobile electronic device processor or a separate processor, a database  54  and a set of LEDs  56 .  
         [0018]     The database  54  stores information, preferably in the form of a table, which includes a list of mobile communication device statuses and a colour (or intensity of a colour) associated with each of the device statuses. The processor  52  monitors the status, or state, of the device  10  and communicates with the database  54  to retrieve the information stored in the database  54 . The processor  52  also communicates with the set of LEDs  56  to transmits signals to produce a colour to illuminate the trackball. It will be understood that the area surrounding the trackball may also be illuminated by the set of LEDs as well as the area surrounding the set of buttons  18 . In the following description, whenever there is mention of the trackball being illuminated, it will be understood that the area surrounding the trackball and/or the set of buttons may also be illuminated. It would be beneficial to have a means for indicating mobile communication device status or state whereby the user is provided a visual indication. This visual indication may be enhanced by an audible or tactile indicator.  
         [0019]     In one embodiment, the apparatus  50  is designed to indicate when the trackball  20  can be used to initiate an action. In other words, the user can simply glance at the mobile electronic device to look at the colour of the light illuminating the trackball  20  to determine the state of the electronic device. In this embodiment, the set of LEDs  56  are preferably red, yellow and green with red representing a locked mode whereby use of the device is password protected, yellow representing a password mode whereby a user is entering a password in order to exit the locked mode and green representing an unlocked mode whereby the device may be used. The colours have been arbitrarily selected for this example and it will be understood that other colours may be used. The selection of red, yellow and green in the current embodiment represents traffic light colours with which a user will be more familiar. The database  54  stores the information relating to the various device statuses and the corresponding colour representing the status.  
         [0020]     In this example, it is assumed that the mobile communication device  10  is initially in a locked mode whereby a red LED illuminates the trackball  20 .  
         [0021]     In operation, the processor  52  monitors the status of the mobile electronic, or communication, device  10  and determines that the device is in the locked mode (step  100 ). The processor  52  continues to monitor the mobile electronic device to determine if the status has changed (step  102 ). If no change is sensed, the processor  52  continues to monitor the status (step  100 ). When the user decides to use the device, the processor  52  senses a change in the status from the locked, or password protected, mode to the password mode. The processor  52  then accesses the database  54  (step  104 ) to retrieve the colour (Yellow) associated with the password mode and transmits a signal to the set of LEDs  56  (step  106 ) causing the LEDs to provide a yellow light to illuminate the trackball  20 . The set of LEDs  56  then provide the necessary illumination to the trackball (step  108 ). The yellow-illuminated trackball provides a visual to the user that the mobile communication device is in the password mode. The processor  52  then returns to monitoring the status of the mobile communication device (step  100 ).  
         [0022]     After the user has logged in correctly, by entering the correct password, the mobile communication device  10  is in the unlocked mode. Once the device  10  is in the unlocked mode, the user may freely access the applications within the mobile electronic device and to use the trackball. When the processor  52  senses this status change (step  102 ), the processor  52  accesses the database  54  (step  104 ) to determine the colour (Green) corresponding to the unlocked mode. The processor  52  then transmits a signal to the set of LEDs  56  (step  106 ) to provide a green colour to the trackball  20 , indicating the unlocked mode. The green LED or LEDs are turned on (step  108 ) and the processor  52  then returns to monitoring and determining the mobile communication device status (step  100 ).  
         [0023]     By illuminating the trackball  20  from underneath the trackball, a user is able to quickly glance at their mobile communication device  10  to determine its status which in this case is the mode in which the mobile communication device is in.  
         [0024]     In another embodiment, the set of LEDs  56  are used to indicate different user profiles associated with the ring volume of the mobile communication device  10 . In this embodiment, a single coloured LED may be used to indicate the status, however, the intensity of the illumination provides the indicator status to the user. The table below provides an example of the information stored in the database  54  for this embodiment.  
                                                   Profile   Colour Intensity                           Loud   100%           Vibrate   Flashing           Quiet    0%           Default    50%                      
 
         [0025]     In operation, assuming that the mobile communication device  10  is in the default user profile, the set of LEDs  56  provides illumination at an intensity of 50% to the trackball  20 . When the processor  52  senses that the user has changed their user profile (step  102 ), the processor  52  accesses the database  54  (step  104 ) to retrieve the intensity level corresponding to the new user profile. If the user profile is changed to Loud, the processor  52  retrieves the intensity level (100%) corresponding to the loud user profile and transmits a signal to the set of LEDs  56  (step  106 ) to provide light at an intensity of 100%. Similarly, if the new user profile is the Vibrate user profile, the LEDs receive a signal from the processor  52  to provide a flashing light to illuminate the trackball  20  and if the new user profile is Quiet, the set of LEDs is turned off so that no light is provided to illuminate the trackball  20  (step  108 ).  
         [0026]     The intensities which have been selected above are for example only and are not meant to be restrictive to the implementation of the method or system. It will be understood that for this embodiment, the selected intensities must be distinguishable to the human eye such that the user can simply glance at the mobile communication device to determine the current user profile.  
         [0027]     In yet a further embodiment, the method and apparatus are provided for indicating a status of an application on the mobile communication device. For instance, if a user has a meeting set up in a calendar application, the colour green may indicate that the user has a meeting coming up within the next hour, more specifically that there are between 10 and 60 minutes before the meeting. The colour yellow may be used to indicate that there is between 5 and 10 minutes left before the meeting. The colour red may be used to indicate that there is less than five minutes before the meeting. A flashing red light may be used to indicate that the scheduled meeting time has passed. Therefore, when the user sees a red light illuminating the trackball  20 , the user knows that the meeting is starting within 5 minutes and therefore needs to proceed to the meeting in order to ensure they are not late. Although solid colours are preferred, the colours may be mixed to indicate different time frames within the ranges provided. Furthermore, different light characteristics such as saturation or intensity may be used to provide the necessary visual indication to the user.  
         [0028]     As with the examples above, the processor  52  continuously monitors the time frame status of the meeting and accesses the database  54  whenever the time frame status has changed to retrieve the colour corresponding with the new time frame status. The new colour (or colour intensity) is then used to illuminate the trackball  20 . This provides the user with a visual indicator on the face of the mobile communication device allowing the user to quickly glance at their device to determine the amount of time before their meeting or appointment or more broadly, the time frame status. There is no need for the user to look at the display to find out the exact time of day to determine the amount of time before the meeting as the colour illuminating the trackball provides a general visual indicator with the necessary information to the user in a quicker manner.  
         [0029]     In yet a further embodiment, the method and apparatus may be used to indicate a status of the mobile communication device battery. In one example, a possible colour representation may be if the battery has a battery life of 50% or more, the set of LEDs provides a green light, if the battery has a battery life of between 15 and 50%, the set of LEDs provides a yellow light and if the battery has a battery life of less than 15% (indicating a need for recharging), the set of LEDs provides a red light.  
         [0030]     It will be understood that other mobile communication device statuses and states such as connectivity or email status may also be displayed using the methods and apparatuses described in this specification.  
         [0031]     Along with visual indications, the mobile electronic device may also provide audible or tactile indicators to enhance the method and system. For example, tactile indicators such as altering the temperature of the device to indicate device state, or status to a user. Also, vibration of the mobile communication device or the provision of a message on the display may be provided to enhance the visual indicators.  
         [0032]     In an alternative embodiment, the illumination of the trackball  20  may be used to indicate one mobile communication device status, or state, such as the device state, the illumination of the area surrounding the trackball  20  may be used to indicate a second mobile communication device status, or stat, such as user profile information while the illumination of the area surrounding the set of buttons  18  may be used to indicate a third mobile communication device status, or state, such as the battery level. Depending on the number of areas available for illumination, any number of different mobile communication device statuses may be displayed for the user.  
         [0033]     In a further embodiment, instead of constantly monitoring the mobile communication device status, each time a status changes, a signal may be transmitted to the processor  52  indicating the change thereby causing the processor  52  to access the database  54  for the colour information, or indicator information. In this manner, the processor does not have to constantly monitor the status of the mobile communication device.  
         [0034]     In yet a further embodiment, the indicators may be associated with any type of user input apparatus and is not restricted to simply a trackball. For instance, the button area or under the keys of the keypad/keyboard.  
         [0035]     The above-described embodiments are intended to be examples only. Alterations, modifications and variations may be effected to the particular embodiments by those of skill in the art without departing from the scope, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.