Patent Publication Number: US-2004041848-A1

Title: Marking machine user interface enhancement via portable electronic device

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
     [0001] This application is based on a Provisional Patent Application No. 60/407,231, filed Aug. 29, 2002. 
    
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] Embodiments relate to marking machine user interfaces (UIs). More particularly, embodiments relate to allowing interaction and supplementation of a marking machine user interface through portable electronic devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular/wireless telephones, hybrid PDA/telephones, and portable computers, among other devices.  
       BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY  
       [0003] The local UIs on most marking machines, such as multifunction devices and electrophotographic and xerographic printers and copiers, are tradeoffs between functionality and size/cost. One outcome of this tradeoff is that the local UI design makes it easy for the user to enter numeric data, but more difficult to enter text data. Hard buttons are typically used for entering numeric data only, with alternate entry interfaces being used for text data. Typically, devices display a keyboard on a touch screen that allows users to select each letter to be entered. However, the touch area for each letter is small, making it easy to select the wrong letter. Thus, existing methods for entering text can be cumbersome to use.  
       [0004] This situation was not a problem when users did not need to enter much text information. However, as new functionality has been added to marking machines, the need for users to enter text data has increased. For example, the “scan to email” feature allows users to enter one or more email addresses as the destination for a scanning job. Using a touch screen as described above to enter an email address (such as “donald.wegeng@usa.xerox.com”) is cumbersome. Since it is not practical to replace the local UI hardware on these products with something that is more text-friendly, an alternative means for entering text data would be useful.  
       [0005] The use of electronic devices, such as portable computers, hand-held Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), cellular/wireless telephones, and PDA/phone hybrids, has become commonplace in many office environments. Laptop computers allow data entry in a number of ways, including keyboard, speech-to-text, and stylus-based entry. PDAs and hybrids usually provide a stylus-based mechanism for entering data, though small keyboards are also employed on some models. As an example, Palm OS based devices support text data input using a stylus-based pen stroke interface. Users of these devices quickly become proficient at entering text. Thus, electronic devices provide many ways to enter data that are much easier to use than those provided in typical marking machine UIs. Additionally, many electronic devices can store databases of contact information in the form of address books and the like. It would be advantageous for a user to select a contact entry and have the device automatically send contact information to the marking machine.  
       [0006] Further, most electronic device include at least one communications port that can be used to transfer data to a marking machine connected to a compatible communications port. Such communications ports can be wireless, such as Infrared Data Association (IrDA) compatible interfaces or BlueTooth interfaces, which can provide a wireless method for transferring data between the electronic device and the marking machine.  
       [0007] Embodiments provide for the use of electronic devices, such as, for example, laptop computers, hand-held Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), cellular/wireless telephones, and PDA/telephone hybrids, as alternative interfaces for entering data, such as text data, into the local user interface of a device, such as a marking machine. The portable electronic device effectively acts as an extension of the interface of the marking machine. Embodiments employ communications ports, such as infrared ports and other wireless communications ports, of electronic devices for transmitting data from the electronic device to the marking machine. Data, such as text, can be entered into the electronic device using its normal method, such as with a stylus. Software on the electronic device accepts the data and transmits it to the marking machine via the communications port of the electronic device. A compatible communications port connected to the marking machine receives the data, and software on the marking machine inserts the data into an active entry field on the local UI.  
       [0008] The user uses the marking machine UI to select appropriate job options and brings up a data entry field. At this point, the UI presents an element, such as a graphically-rendered button, that instructs the marking machine to read the data from the connected communications port when activated. When this selection is made, the marking device monitors data coming in via the communications port and the user starts an application on the electronic device. Once the application is going, the user can select appropriate data from their address book or enter the appropriate data using the text entry mechanism on the electronic device. The application also provides a way for the user to indicate data entry completion, at which point the application transmits the data via the electronic device&#39;s communications port. The data is read by the marking machine and inserted into the recipient field on the local UI.  
       [0009] In embodiments, the application simply reads and transmits the data; it is not aware of the context in which the data was being used. This allows the application to be generic in nature, since all knowledge about the specific application is contained in the software running on the marking machine  10 . 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0010]FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a marking machine with which embodiments could be employed.  
     [0011]FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a prior art user interface (UI) of a marking machine, such as that of FIG. 1.  
     [0012]FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a laptop/portable computer according to embodiments.  
     [0013]FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a personal digital assistant (PDA) according to embodiments.  
     [0014]FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of a personal digital assistant (PDA) according to additional embodiments.  
     [0015]FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of a cellular/wireless telephone according to embodiments.  
     [0016]FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of a UI of a marking machine according to embodiments.  
     [0017]FIG. 8 is a schematic representation of a communications port connected to a marking machine according to embodiments. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
     [0018] Embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying FIGS.  1 - 8 . As shown in FIG. 1, a marking machine  10  can include a media supply  11 , a marking section  12 , and an output section  13 , as well as an input section  14  and a user interface section  15 . The media a supply  11  can include paper, transparency media, or any other media as appropriate for use by the marking section  12 . The marking section  12  can be liquid ink jet based, phase change ink jet based, electrophotographic, xerographic, or based on other technologies as appropriate. The output section  13  can include a simple output tray, multiple bins, and/or media handlers and finishers as appropriate. The input section  14  can include a platen, a scanner, or any combination thereof as appropriate.  
     [0019] The UI section  15  will typically include a touch screen display  150 , such as an LCD panel on which a graphically-represented keyboard including GUI elements  151 , such as buttons, for the characters that can be entered. Additionally, data entry fields  152  will be presented on the display  150  in certain circumstances, and a submission element  153  will be included to indicate that the user is done entering data in the fields  152 . Physical buttons  154  are typically provided for entry of numerical data and elemental control of the marking machine  10 .  
     [0020] As seen in FIGS.  3 - 6 , electronic devices  100 ,  100 ′,  100 ″,  100 ′″ can comprise a portable computer  100 , varieties of PDAs  100 ′,  100 ″, and cellular/wireless telephones  100 ′″. A portable computer  100 , such as that shown schematically in FIG. 3, can include a keyboard  101 , a display  102 , a pointer control device  103 , and a “mouse” button  104 . The portable computer can include an address book or other database from which data  105  can be withdrawn, or the data  105  can be entered on demand with the keyboard. Such portable computers also include at least one communications port, such as IrDA port  110  and BlueTooth port  120 .  
     [0021] As seen particularly in FIG. 4, a PDA  100 ′ can include a stylus  106  that can be used in conjunction with a specialized area  107  of its touch screen  102 ′ for entry of data  105 . The specialized area  107  is monitored for handwritten strokes that software on the PDA can translate into characters on the screen. Other PDAs, such as an alternative PDA  100 ″ schematically illustrated in FIG. 5, can include a small keyboard  108  for data entry. Such alternative PDAs can still include a touch screen  102 ′ and employ a stylus  106  for other functions, but will typically substitute the keyboard for a specialized area  107  for handwritten character recognition. In either case, PDAs  100 ′,  100 ″ can include address books or the like from which the data  105 ′ can be withdrawn, or the data  105 ′ can be entered on demand with the stylus  106  or keyboard  108 .  
     [0022] The electronic device can also take the form of a cellular/wireless telephone  100 ′″. Such a telephone  100 ′″ can include a display  102 ″, such as an LCD or OLED, a keypad  101 ′, and an antenna  109 . Telephones  100 ′″ often include implementation of the Short Message Service (SMS) protocol to send short messages from one telephone to another. An excellent tutorial in SMS can be found at the International Engineering Consortium web site and is hereby incorporated by reference. The particular URL is &lt;http://www.iec.org/online/tutorials/wire_sms/&gt;. The SMS protocol can be used in embodiments to allow data  105 ″ to be sent from a telephone  100 ′″ to the marking machine with the inclusion of SMS protocol in the marking machine. Additionally, a cellular/wireless telephone  100 ′″ often includes a communications port to which an accessory device can be attached, which can include an infrared port  110  or a radio frequency port  120  through which data  105 ″ can be transmitted. Other communications protocols can also be used, wireless and otherwise, with embodiments.  
     [0023] It is foreseeable that telephones and other electronic devices that do not currently will come with such ports built in and/or with expansion ports to which such communications ports can be attached, especially in light of the trend of late for telephones and PDAs to be merged into hybrid electronic devices. It is also foreseeable that other radio frequency, infrared, and visible light communications protocols will arise to which embodiments could be adapted and which thus fall within the scope of the invention.  
     [0024] The electronic device  100 ,  100 ′,  100 ″,  100 ′″ is used as an extension to marking machine  10  local UI  15  by sending data  105 ,  105 ′,  105 ″ from the electronic device to an entry field  152  of the UI  15 . A user who needs to enter data, such as an email address, into the marking machine UI could enter the data into the electronic device and transmit (“beam”) the data to the marking machine  10 . The marking machine  10  can then insert the text into the appropriate field on the local UI.  
     [0025] Thus, with reference particularly to FIG. 7, embodiments comprise initiating an action on a marking machine  10  via its UI  15 , reaching a point at which data entry into a data entry field  152  must take place, and notifying the marking machine  10  that the data will come from a source other than the UI  15  proper with, for example, a GUI element  140 , such as a “Go” button. Activating the GUI element  140  starts an application on the marking machine  10  that monitors communications ports  111 ,  121  for the data  105 ,  105 ′,  105 ″ to be entered.  
     [0026] The user continues by entering data  105 ,  105 ′,  105 ″ on the electronic device, such as one of the devices  100 ,  100 ′,  100 ″,  100 ′″ illustrated in FIGS.  3 - 6 . Once the data is ready, the user indicates that the data entry is complete/ready, as with a GUI element  130  on the electronic device. An example of a transaction according to embodiments is the use of a PDA (the electronic device) to transmit a fax number (the data) to the GUI of a multifunction device (the marking machine), though many other scenarios fall within the scope of the invention, as will be apparent to one of skill in the art.  
     [0027] The data can be entered using a stylus  106 , a specialized handwriting recognition section  107  of the electronic device display  102 ′, by a keyboard  101 ,  101 ′,  108 , by speech-to-text software, or by any other suitable methods or combination of entry methods. Alternatively, embodiments allow the user to continue by selecting an entry from a contact database, address book, or the like as the data  105 ,  105 ′,  105 ″. The selection can be accomplished using a stylus  106 , keyboard  101 ,  101 ′,  108 , pointing device, or any other suitable input device.  
     [0028] Once the GUI element  130  on the electronic device has been triggered, an application on the electronic device transmits the data  105 ,  105 ′,  105 ″ to the marking machine  10  via a communications port, such as an infrared communications port  110  or a radio frequency communications port  120 . The application on the marking machine  10  detects the transmission and inserts the data into data entry field  152 . The user can then confirm the entry of the data in the data entry field  152  and submit the data to the marking machine with, for example, a GUI element  153 , such as an “ENTER” virtual button.  
     [0029] In additional embodiments, the communications port  111 ,  121  of the marking machine  10  is part of the marking machine, but the communications port  111 ,  121  can also be directly connected to the marking machine  10 . Further, an alternative, as shown in FIG. 8, is to use a network module  200  to which the communications port  111 ,  121  is connected. The network module  200  can then be plugged into a network  20  to which the marking machine  10  is connected. Such a network module  200  could then be used by more than one marking machine  10  on the network  20 .  
     [0030] The preceding description of the invention is exemplary in nature as it pertains to particular embodiments disclosed and no limitation as to the scope of the claims is intended by the particular choices of embodiments disclosed. Currently unforeseeable modifications of the present invention may occur to those skilled in the art in the future, and these modifications, including equivalents thereof, are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.