Patent Publication Number: US-2005138574-A1

Title: Interactive icon

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
      This invention relates in general to the field of electronic device user interfaces and more particularly to an interactive icon for use in an electronic device.  
     BACKGROUND  
      Electronic devices such as radio communication devices (e.g. cellular telephones) are becoming multimedia rich when it comes to Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). With the acceleration of new features, new GUIs are including sounds and animations to provide the electronic device users a better interactive experience while operating his/her radio communication device. Although current GUI&#39;s include icons that are displayed on the radio communication device display, they simply serve as static graphical pointers which help a user navigate the radio communication device&#39;s menu. A need exists in the art for an icon that can provide an improvement over static icons presently in use. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The features of the present invention, which are believed to be novel, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention may best be understood by reference to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which like reference numerals identify like elements, and in which:  
       FIG. 1  shows a diagram of an icon with on-line multimedia capability in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 2  shows a diagram of an icon with user interaction profile in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 3  shows a diagram of an icon with network interface in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 4  shows a block diagram of a radio communication device in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 5  shows a diagram of a radio communication device in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 6  shows how an icon may change over time in accordance with an embodiment if the invention.  
       FIG. 7  shows how an icon may change from text to voice in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      While the specification concludes with claims defining the features of the invention that are regarded as novel, it is believed that the invention will be better understood from a consideration of the following description in conjunction with the drawing figures.  
      Java enabled mobile handsets can contain many types of Java applications, including networked applications. The present invention provides for a user-selectable icon that can be implemented as networked Java applications with on-line multimedia capability. This new framework turns a passive data-only icon into an active program that can interact with a user and self-update based on context and/or time information. Although the invention is described using the Java language, other programming languages can also support the interactive icons described.  
      The icon is represented as a program based on Java (or other programming languages) which include one or more of the following elements: 
          Navigation logic to launch the associated application. The icon interacts with the user to collect additional inputs to launch the application;     One or more multimedia representations that are rendered when selected.        

      The representation to be graphically rendered can be context aware (e.g., location, time, etc.); 
          One or more associated URL&#39;s that provide update information to the user, for example, new video clips or visual icon;     Meta data about the application, including licensing, digital rights, update site, etc;     A log on the usages and updates of the application. This log is used to build a usage profile(s) that contain such things as most recently or most used user inputs, etc; and/or     Language dependent resources.        

      Referring now to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a block diagram of an icon  108  with on-line multimedia capability in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The multimedia networked icon will be referred to as an iconLet. The iconLet  108  interacts with user input(s)  102 , such as the user activating a key on the radio telephone, context information  104  such as information presently being accessed by the user, time, date, etc., and network information  106  such as information sent to the radio communication device by the communication network the radio is operating in. The iconLet  108  is associated to one or more Java (or other programming language) applications  110 .  
      The iconLet  108  includes a user interaction profile section  112  and navigation logic  114  that interacts with the user with stored profile information to minimize the key presses in collecting user input. It then uses the information to launch the Java application  110 . The navigation logic  114  can also provide the ability to launch the Java application  110  automatically given some local or network triggers (e.g., user selecting a specific menu item on the radio telephone GUI, user enters a specific network coverage area, etc.).  
      Shown in  FIG. 2  is a further breakdown of the user interaction profile which includes items such as the most recent user inputs, most used inputs by the user and context-input associations (e.g., user always inputs certain information after 9:00 P.M.). The user interaction profile  112  can comprise one or more software routines associated with the IconLet  108  and can also include stored user input history information.  
      Referring back to  FIG. 1 , the iconLet  108  also includes one or more multimedia presentations  116  that are stored and rendered when selected. What representation is to be rendered can be context aware (e.g., radio telephone location, time, etc.). As an illustrative example, when the flip housing of a “flip-phone” is closed, the rendering can be sound only. The multimedia presentations  116  are again software routines that are linked to the iconLet  108  and activated by user input  102 , context information  104  or network interaction  106 , or a combination of these items.  
      The iconLet  108  as shown in  FIG. 1  also includes network interfaces  118  that can gather information such as information from linked URL addresses  302  as further detailed in  FIG. 3 . Referring back to  FIG. 1 , the iconLet  108  can also be linked to meta data  120  about the application, including licensing, digital rights information, licensing update sites, etc.  
      Also shown as part of iconLet  108  are language specific resources  122 . Language specific resources  122  can for example comprise voice icons in different languages that get activated when the radio communication device is physically located in different locations (e.g., different countries).  
      Referring to  FIG. 4 , there is shown a block diagram of an electronic device such as a radio communication device  400  that can take advantage of the interactive icon  108  of the present invention. Cellular telephone  400  includes an antenna  418  which is selectively coupled to conventional receiver  404  and transmitter  406  sections. A controller  402 , such as a microprocessor and/or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), provides the overall control for telephone  400 . Controller  402  also executes programs required by the icon  108  and acts as the icon generator by taking inputs from the user input  102 , context information  104  and network information  106  and using the inputted information along with the user interaction profile  112 , navigation logic  114 , etc. to generate the iconLet  108 . Memory  414  coupled to the controller  402  such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), FLASH, etc. stores all of the algorithms and variables needed by cellular telephone  400 . Memory  414  also stores the user interaction profile  112  information as well as any other information related to the generation of iconLet  108 .  
      A display  416  provides visual information to the cellular telephone user. Display  416  is used to graphically display the iconLet  108 . An audio processing block  408  which can include a vocoder and Analog-to-Digital (A/D) and Digital-to-Analog (D/A) block provides all the necessary audio processing for both incoming and outgoing voice traffic. Coupled to the audio processing block  408  is a speaker  412  and microphone  410 .  
      One or more context capturing devices such as Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver section  420  and light sensor  422  are coupled to controller  402  and provide some of the necessary context information  104  used by the iconLet  108 . Other context information such as time can be provided by the communication system to the radio  400  or the radio can further include a clock provided by either hardware and/or software controlled by controller  402 . Controller  402  executes all of the necessary routines necessary to perform the iconLet functions, while memory  414  stores all of the software routines needed by the iconLet  108 . User controls  424  such as a keypad and other switches located on the radio communication provide the user input  102  used by the iconLet  108 . Other user inputs  102  can be received by the microphone  410  in the form of audio or voice signals from the user or the radio&#39;s environment (e.g., radio user providing voice commands, or the radio measuring the ambient noise).  
      Referring to  FIG. 5 , there is shown a radio communication device such as a cellular telephone  500  having a display for displaying an iconLet  504 . In  FIG. 6 , there is shown a graphical iconLet  602  depicting a sun which informs the user that the weather for the day is sunny. The iconLet  602  may have been generated after the iconLet  108  had used its network interfaces  118  to gather information from a weather URL that the radio communication device  500  communicated with wirelessly (e.g., requested information from the URL address from the communication system). After gathering the weather information the iconLet  108  presented the information in a visual form. The iconLet  602  based on changes in context such as a change in time or location of the cellular telephone  500  provides an updated graphical view of the weather in updated iconLet  604 . This change in graphical information could have been prompted by the cellular telephone  500  traveling to a new location as determined by GPS  420  and the GPS  420  interacting with the network interface  118  to find out the weather conditions in the new location.  
      In  FIG. 7 , there is shown a text based iconLet  702 . Using the context information  104  gathered by the microphone  402  the iconLet  108  automatically switches to a voice or audio iconLet  704  under low light conditions as determined by the context information  104  provided by light sensor  422  (e.g., cellular telephone user entered a dark room).  
      Although a few situations have been described above, the iconLet of the present invention can perform many different functions. For example, an iconLet that changes over time could be an iconLet that changes according to the latest market index information gathered by the network interface  118  interacting with a financial website to gather stock prices information and display it as part of the icon. The information can change automatically as the day goes on at predetermined periods of time (e.g., every hour, etc.). The iconLet  108  replaces conventional passive icons with active (Java or other programming language) programs that are multimedia rich and can interact with the user intelligently. The IconLet  108  also “learns” to improve future interaction with the user by profiling pass usages and minimizing the key presses required to complete often repeated tasks.  
      While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be clear that the invention is not so limited. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.