Patent Publication Number: US-2004051700-A1

Title: Portable touch screen device

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0001] The present invention relates to a portable touch screen device, such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or a smart phone, and is intended to facilitate the operation of the device by a user.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART  
       [0002] Today, the use of portable or hand-held touch screen devices has become increasingly common. Examples of conventional touch screen devices include Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) and smart phones. These devices include a touch sensitive screen for presenting screen information and allowing the input of operational commands and/or data by touching the screen in a certain predefined manner. The screen can be touched by a human finger or, more commonly, by a pen-like pointing tool which is typically attachable to the device by means of some holding mechanism on the device. The pointing tool may be designed to have any shape, but most often it has a shape like a pen or stylus, and is hereafter referred to as a pen.  
       [0003] Presently, there is an increasing demand for touch screen devices which have improved functionality and which are user-friendly.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and a device which facilitates the operation by a user of a portable touch screen device. This object and others are obtained by a method and a touch screen device, in particular a wireless communication device, wherein the presence of a pen in a pen holder of the touch screen device is detected by a mechanism, such as a switch. The appearance of the user interface, in particular the layout of the screen, is changed when the pen is removed from or placed in the pen holder. Also, the illumination characteristics of the screen, such as brightness or colour, may be changed in response to the presence of the pen in the pen holder.  
       [0005] The pen detection mechanism can be used for switching the touch screen between two different modes, such as a passive first mode and an active second mode. For example, removal of the pen from the pen holder may trigger the appearance of an alphabetic keyboard, which can be used for input of alphanumeric characters by also activating touch sensitivity. Further, the change in appearance of the user interface may also depend on the applications used.  
       [0006] The use of the pen detection mechanism will in many applications facilitate the use of a portable touch screen apparatus. For example, when a user of a smart phone removes the pen from the pen holder, the user probably wants to input some kind of information. If the screen is then automatically changed into a layout which is designed for input of information, this will be very helpful to the user. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0007] The present invention will now be described in more detail and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
     [0008]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portable device comprising a touch screen used for input of commands and/or data.  
     [0009]FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating method steps performed when the apparatus of FIG. 1 is used.  
     [0010]FIG. 3 is a front view of a mobile telephone comprising a touch screen being in a first mode.  
     [0011]FIG. 4 is a view similar to that of FIG. 3, the touch screen being in a second mode.  
     [0012]FIG. 5 is a front view of a hand-held electronic device comprising a touch screen.  
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     [0013]FIG. 1 illustrates a view of a portable device  101  comprising a touch sensitive screen display  103  used for input of operational commands and/or data. The device  101  further includesa pen  105  as a pointing tool for touching specific points or areas of the screen display  103  in a predefined manner. When not in use, the pen can be placed in a pen holder  107  of the portable device. In this example, the pen holder is placed on the side of the device, and comprises a ring for receiving the pen. The pen holder may of course be designed and placed in many different ways within the scope of the invention, such as a recess together with some kind of a spring-like element.  
     [0014] The device  101  further comprises a mechanism  109  for detecting whether the penis located in the holder or not, and an electronic control unit  111  connected to the pen detecting mechanism  109 . The control unit  111  operates to control circuits, not shown, for displaying various patterns, pictures and/or information on the screen display  103 .  
     [0015] The flowchart of FIG. 2 illustrates a method performed by the apparatus of FIG. 1 when operated by a user. Thus, when it is detected that the pen  105  is placed in the pen holder  107 , the screen display  103  is in a first mode, see step  201 , which is controlled by the control unit  111  in response to a signal received from the pen detecting mechanism  109 . For example, the device may then be in a sleep mode, i.e., a passive state when the screen display  103  is not responsive to input by touching. However, the screen may in this mode be capable of displaying incoming calls or messages, calendar triggered reminders etc.  
     [0016] When it is detected that the pen has been removed from the pen holder  107  in step  203 , a signal indicating absence of the pen is received by the control unit  111  from the pen detecting mechanism  109 , see step  205 . The control unit ill then controls the screen display  103  to change into a second mode, see step  207 . This second mode may be an active state in which the screen display  103  is responsive to input by touching. The screen may in this mode display various input keys, buttons or symbols, such as an alphanumeric keyboard.  
     [0017]FIG. 3 is a view of an exemplary mobile telephone  301  comprising a touch screen display  303  being in a sleep mode due to the presence of a pen in a pen holder, not shown the layout of the screen display  303  is in a “portrait” format.  
     [0018]FIG. 4 is a view of the mobile telephone  301  of FIG. 3 after the pen has been removed from the pen holder. In this example, the layout of the screen display  303  has been changed into a “landscape” format including a numeric keyboard.  
     [0019] Finally, FIG. 5 is a view of an exemplary electronic device  501 , comprising a touch screen  503 , where the device has changed from a passive first mode into an active second mode in response to the pen being removed from the pen holder, not shown. The user may be alerted of the change into the active mode by illuminating, e.g., the lower part  505  of the screen  503 .  
     [0020] According to one aspect of the invention, the device is in a passive first mode, or sleep mode, when the pen is present in the pen holder  107 . In this state, the touch functionality of the screen is preferably not activated such that data or commands cannot be entered by mistake, e.g., when the device is located in a pocket or a suitcase. The screen may in this mode still be capable of displaying various information, such as phone numbers, e-mails, reminder alerts etc. When the device switches from the passive first mode to an active second mode after the pen has been removed from the pen holder  107 , the screen appearance may change into a layout designed for input of commands and/or data. Also, the touch functionality of the screen is activated.  
     [0021] According to another aspect of the invention, the change of appearance or layout of the screen, as triggered by the pen detecting mechanism  109 , may be different depending on the applications used by the device. Thus, for example, if a telephone application is used, removal of the pen may trigger the appearance of a display layout including a numeric keyboard for entering a telephone number. On the other hand, if an e-mail application is used, removal of the pen may instead trigger the appearance of an alphanumeric keyboard, which can be used for input of alphanumeric characters.  
     [0022] While the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments, the description is only intended to illustrate the inventive concept and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims.