Abstract:
A cellular telephone may be equipped with a compartment that slidingly receives upgrade modules, such as PC or memory cards. The modules may provide added functionality, such as wireless Ethernet connection, additional memory, pre-programmed memory, additional processing, better displays, and the like. By simply unplugging an existing card from its compartment and inserting in its place a new card, upgraded features may be pluggingly provided to cellular telephones.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
         [0001]    This invention relates generally to cellular telephones.  
           [0002]    Existing cellular telephones come in a variety of price ranges. Cell phones at the bottom price ranges come with very rudimentary features. For example, basic cell phones may include a baseband processor or a digital signal processor, but they may not include an application processor to provide advanced features, such as address books, phone directories, and advanced call features, to mention a few examples. The hope of the cellular telephone providers is that ultimately the cell phone users will progress to ever more advanced cellular telephones.  
           [0003]    However, when a cellular telephone user decides to upgrade to a more advanced cellular telephone, his or her existing cellular telephone becomes largely useless. The market for resale of basic cellular telephones is relatively limited.  
           [0004]    Therefore, it would be desirable to enable cellular telephones that may be both mass produced and user configurable.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 2 is an exploded front elevational view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 3 is a schematic depiction of the cellular telephone shown in FIG. 1 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 5 is a rear elevational view of still another embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0011]    Referring to FIG. 1, a cellular telephone  10  may include a housing  11  that slidingly receives a replaceable module  12   a.  The housing  11  may also include a keyboard  16  in some embodiments.  
         [0012]    Thus, referring to FIG. 2, the replaceable module  12   a  is slidingly received into a compartment  18  through the front surface of the housing  11 .  
         [0013]    In some embodiments, this slideably received module  12   a  may include a display  14   a  and a variety of other upgrade components including upgraded memory, an upgraded processor, an upgraded display, as well as upgraded software in some embodiments. Thus, by simply replacing one module  12   a  with another module, the cellular telephone  10  may be upgraded to attain new and/or different functionalities.  
         [0014]    Referring to FIG. 3, a basic cellular telephone may include a bus  50  that communicates with a baseband controller  56  and a storage  60  for the baseband controller  56 . In some embodiments, a digital signal processor (DSP)  62  may be coupled to the bus  50 . The DSP  62  may include its own storage  64 . An interface  52  may be provided to interact with one or more modules  12 . The module  12  may be a PC card or a memory card, or any of a variety of cards that provide upgraded capabilities to the cellular telephone  10 .  
         [0015]    A card  66  may also be coupled into the bus  50  through contacts  68   a  and  68   b.  The contacts  68   a  and  68   b  may be slideable contacts so that the card  66  simply plugs into the connectors  70   a  and  70   b  that in turn couple the card  66  electrically to the bus  50 . In one embodiment, the contacts  68  may be provided on the rear side of the module  12   a.    
         [0016]    The card  66 , in one embodiment, may include a general purpose or applications processor  54  and a storage  58  for the processor  54 . Thus, in some embodiments, a variety of additional functions, beyond simply completing cellular telephone calls, may be provided using the card  66 . For example, the general purpose processor  54  and storage  58  may include software to implement personal information manager (PIM) functions, such as address books, games, scheduling, calculator functions and the like. Thus, the user may simply replace an existing module  12  with an upgrade module  12  and/or provide a new upgrade card  66  that provides additional processing capabilities.  
         [0017]    As a result, in some embodiments, users may custom configure their cell phones to include that hardware and software that the user actually wants. In addition, a user may purchase a relatively basic cellular telephone and then may upgrade with those capabilities the user desires.  
         [0018]    Referring to FIG. 4, in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a slideably received module  12   b  may slide sideways into the housing  11   a  into a compartment  18   a  that opens on one side of the housing  11   a.  The module  12   b  may include an enhanced display  14   b  that provides more functions than the module  12   a  in one embodiment. Thus, one module  12  may simply be unplugged and another module  12  slidingly plugged into the compartment  18   a.    
         [0019]    Turning next to FIG. 5, a cellular telephone  10   b  may receive a slidably pluggable module  12   c  through the battery compartment  18   b  with the battery removed. In other words, the module  12   c  may be plugged in with the battery removed, the battery may then be replaced over the module  12   c  and then the cover (not shown) may be secured on the housing  11 .  
         [0020]    Referring finally to FIG. 6, in accordance with still another embodiment, a compartment  18   c  may slidingly receive a module  12   d  through the bottom end  22  of the cellular telephone  10   c.  A catch  26  may be provided to releasably lock the module  12   d within the compartment  18   c.  The upgrade modules  12  may be flash memory cards in one embodiment, or they may be PC cards in another embodiment. PC or memory cards may be plugged in as cards with new functions are developed.  
         [0021]    For example, a cellular telephone with a PC card can use an Ethernet adapter to plug into a local area network, for example, through an 802.11 wireless connection for fast access to data (IEEE Standard 802.11 available from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, N.Y.). In addition, memory cards, such as flash memory cards that are either programmable or pre-programmed with desired data, may be plugged into the cellular telephone  10 .  
         [0022]    In some embodiments, the cellular telephone  10  may receive memories that were programmed to store data at other processor-based devices, such a laptop or desktop computer. The memory can then simply be removed from the other processor-based system and plugged into the cellular telephone  10  to provide enhanced features for the cellular telephone  10 . This operation may enhance the use of the cellular telephone  10  because it is not necessary to use a limited keyboard  16  to enter the data. Instead, the data can be loaded through a more fully featured processor-based system. The pre-programmed memory can then be plugged into the phone  10 .  
         [0023]    While the present invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate numerous modifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications and variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of this present invention.