Source: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2005/0003870.html
Timestamp: 2020-01-18 11:29:49
Document Index: 146097012

Matched Legal Cases: ['art.\n6', 'art.\n7', 'art.\n10', 'art.\n22', 'art.\n25', 'art.\n27', 'art.\n32', 'art.\n35', 'art 19', 'art 11', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 23', 'art 24', 'art 25', 'art 26', 'art 27', 'art 28', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 35', 'art 22', 'art 35', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22']

Information terminal and program for processing displaying information used for the same - KYOCERA CORPORATION
United States Patent Application 20050003870
Nakano, Masao (Yokohama-shi, JP)
Nakazawa, Masao (Yokohama-shi, JP)
Sasaki, Yoshio (Kawasaki-shi, JP)
Takeuchi, Eiji (Yokohama-shi, JP)
Miho, Yosuke (Yokohama-shi, JP)
Ishikawa, Hajime (Yokohama-shi, JP)
Kobayashi, Takeo (Yokohama-shi, JP)
Myoi, Tomoki (Kawasaki-shi, JP)
Kasakawa, Hiroshi (Yokohama-shi, JP)
Watanabe, Akiko (Tokyo, JP)
Sata, Shinsuke (Kanagawa-ken, JP)
10/609717
455/566, 455/556.2
G06F1/16; G06F3/033; G06F3/048; G06F15/02; H04B1/38; H04M1/00; (IPC1-7): H04M1/00; H04B1/38
Download PDF 20050003870 PDF help
SCHULTE ROTH & ZABEL LLP (919 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10022, US)
1. An information terminal comprising: a control switch part capable of oscillating operation or rotating operation and pushing operation; and a display part displaying a plurality of items, wherein one item is sequentially selected from the items every time the control switch is pushed.
4. An information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the display part displays a plurality of items as a two dimensional array, and comprising: a first selection control means selecting one item from a plurality of the items along one direction of the two dimensional array by oscillating operation or rotating operation of the control switch part; and a second selection control means selecting one item along other direction of the two dimensional array by pushing operation of the control switch part.
6. An information terminal comprising: a control switch part capable of oscillating operation or rotating operation and pushing operation; a display part capable of displaying a first screen page displaying a plurality of items as a one-dimensional array and second screen page displaying a plurality of items as a two-dimensional array; a first selection control means selecting one item from a plurality of the items along the direction of the array on the first screen page by oscillating operation or rotating operation of the control switch part; a second selection control means selecting one item from a plurality of the items along one direction of the array on the second screen page by pushing operation of the control switch part; and a transfer means transferring the first screen page by means of pushing operation of the control switch part to the screen page related to the item selected by oscillating operation or rotating operation of the control switch part.
7. An information terminal according to claim 6, wherein: the first screen page is a menu page consisting of a plurality of menu items; the second screen page is a page consisting of a plurality of tabs; the first selection control means selects sequentially the menu item along up and down direction every oscillating operation or rotating operation of the control switch part; the second selection control means selects sequentially the tab along right and left direction every pushing operation of the control switch part; and the transfer means transfers a screen page by means of pushing operation of the control switch part to the screen page related to the menu item selected by oscillating operation or rotating operation of the control switch part.
10. An information terminal capable of storing at least one information and displaying a list of attribute information which discriminates the stored information on a display part comprising: a first mode which displays or activates an information corresponding to the attribute information pointed by arbitrarily pointing an attribute information from the list of attribute informations; a second mode adding sequentially as a candidate an information corresponding to the attribute information pointed sequentially by arbitrarily pointing an attribute information; and a mode selection means for selectively changing the first mode to the second mode or vise versa, wherein the same process is executed in one lump for at least one information pointed as a candidate on the second mode by predetermined pointing operation.
11. An information terminal capable of storing at least one information and displaying a list of the stored information on a display part according to claim 10, comprising: a control switch part capable of oscillating or rotating and pushing; a third mode which displays or activates an information selected by pushing operation of the control switch part after selecting an information on the list of the stored information by oscillating or rotating operation of the control switch part; and a forth mode which adds sequentially the information selected as a candidate by pushing operation of the control switch part after selecting an information on the list of the stored information by oscillating or rotating operation of the control switch part and deletes all of the added candidate information by predetermined other operation, wherein the third mode and the forth mode can be selectively changed each other.
12. An information terminal having a touch panel and capable of displaying e-mails as a list on the touch panel according to claim 10, comprising: a fifth mode which transfers the list screen page to a screen page displaying contents of the e-mail touched by touch operation to an e-mail on the list page; and a sixth mode which adds sequentially the selected e-mail as a candidate by touch operation to an e-mail on the list of the e-mails and deletes all of the added candidate e-mails by predetermined touch operation, wherein the fifth mode and the sixth mode can be selectively changed each other by touch operation.
13. An information terminal capable of displaying a list of stored e-mails received on a display part according to claim 10, comprising: a control switch part capable of oscillating or rotating and pushing; a seventh mode which selects an e-mail on the list page of the e-mails by oscillating or rotating operation of the control switch part and transfers to a screen page displaying contents of the selected e-mail by pushing operation of the control switch part; and an eighth mode which selects an e-mail on the list page of the e-mails by oscillating or rotating operation of the control switch part and after adding sequentially the selected e-mail as a candidate by pushing operation of the control switch part, deletes all of the added candidate e-mails by predetermined other operation, wherein the seventh mode and the eighth mode can be selectively changed each other.
14. A program for processing displaying information which is programmed to run on an information terminal capable of storing at least one information and displaying a list of attribute information discriminating the stored information on a display part, comprising: a first step which displays or activates an information corresponding to the attribute information pointed by pointing operation to an attribute information on the list page of the attribute information; a second step which adds sequentially an information corresponding to a pointed attribute information as a candidate by sequential pointing operation to an attribute information on the list page of the attribute informations; a mode selection step which changes selectively the first step and the second step each other; and a processing step which executes the same step in a lump for at least one information added by the second step as a candidate.
15. A program for processing displaying information which is programmed to run on an information terminal capable of storing at least one information and displaying a list of the stored information according to claim 14, comprising: a third step which selects an information on the list of the information by oscillating or rotating operation of a control switch part capable of oscillating or rotating and pushing and displays or activates the selected information by pushing operation of the control switch part; a forth step which selects an information on the list of the information by oscillating or rotating operation of the control switch part, adds a selected information sequentially as a candidate by pushing operation of the control switch part and delete all of the sequentially added candidate information by predetermined other operation; and a changing step which changes selectively the third step and forth step each other.
16. An information terminal having a display control means displaying a screen page on a display part comprising: a switch capable of oscillating or rotating operation and pushing operation; a horizontal scroll control means which scrolls the screen page in the horizontal direction by oscillating or rotating operation of the switch; and a vertical scroll control means which scrolls the screen page in the vertical direction by oscillating or rotating operation of the switch, wherein the horizontal scroll control means and the vertical scroll control means are selectively activated each other every pushing operation of the switch.
17. An information terminal having a display control means displaying a screen page on a display part according to claim 16, comprising: a page turning control means which turn the screen page by oscillating or rotating operation of the switch; and a control changing means which activates alternatively at least two control means of the horizontal scroll control means, the vertical scroll control means and the page turning control means every pushing operation of the switch..
18. An information terminal having a display control means displaying a screen page on a display part according to claim 16, comprising: a page turning control means which turn the screen page by oscillating or rotating operation of the switch; and a second control changing means which activates alternatively at least two control means of the horizontal scroll control means, the vertical scroll control means and the page turning control means by pushing operation of the switch; and a control change restricting means which restricts a control means changeable by the second control changing means on the screen page displayed on the display part.
22. A program for processing displaying information which is programmed to run on an information terminal displaying a screen page comprising: a horizontal scroll controlling step which scrolls horizontally the displayed screen page by oscillating or rotating operation of a switch capable of oscillating or rotating and pushing; a vertical scroll controlling step which scrolls vertically the displayed screen page by oscillating or rotating operation of the switch; and a changing step which activates selectively the horizontal scroll controlling step and vertical scroll controlling step every pushing operation of the switch.
23. A program for processing displaying information which is programmed to run on an information terminal displaying a screen page comprising: a horizontal scroll controlling step which scrolls horizontally the displayed screen page by oscillating or rotating operation of a switch capable of oscillating or rotating and pushing; a vertical scroll controlling step which scrolls vertically the displayed screen page by oscillating or rotating operation of the switch; a page turning control step which turns the screen page by oscillating or rotating operation of the switch; and a control changing step which activates alternatively at least two control steps of the horizontal scroll control step, the vertical scroll control step and the page turning control step every pushing operation of the switch.
24. A program for processing displaying information which is programmed to run on an information terminal displaying a screen page according to claim 23, comprising: a second control changing step which activates alternatively at least two control steps of the horizontal scroll control step, the vertical scroll control step and the page turning control step every pushing operation of the switch; and a control change restricting step which restricts a control step changeable by the second control changing step on the screen page displayed on the display part.
25. An information terminal comprising a display controlling means capable of displaying at least one part of a plurality of items on a display part, the display controlling means further comprising: an item selecting means which selects an item from a plurality of items; an item determining means which determines the selected item; and an instructing means which instructs to display related informations linked to a plurality of related information groups, wherein at least one part of related informations of the related information groups related to the item determined by the item selecting means and the item determining means is displayed on the display part and another related information is displayed instead of at least one part of related information on display by the instructing means.
26. An information terminal according to claim 25, comprising a switch part capable of oscillating or rotating and pushing operation, wherein: the item selecting means selects an item from a plurality of items by oscillating or rotating operation of the switch part; the item determining means determines the selected item by pushing operation of the switch part; and the instructing means instructs to display the related information linked to the related group of the determined information by pushing operation of the switch part at least after determining operation of the item by the switch part.
27. An information terminal according to claim 25, comprising: a switch part capable of oscillating or rotating and pushing operation; a display part capable of displaying various types of information by oscillating or rotating and pushing operation of the switch part; and a related information group display controlling means which displays on the display part a related information group consisting of a plurality of related informations linked each other and to the related information group, wherein the related information group display controlling means displays sequentially on the display part a plurality of related informations linked to the related information group every pushing operation.
28. An information terminal comprising: an item displaying area which displays a plurality of items; a related information displaying area which displays related informations of a plurality of related information groups related to the plurality of items; an item selecting means which selects an item from a plurality of the items by putting a cursor thereon; an item determining means which determines the selected item, an instructing means which instructs to display related informations linked to the related information group; and a display controlling means which, in case an item of the item displaying area is determined by the item selecting means and the item determining means, displays at least one part of related information groups related to the determined item on the related information displaying area and, transferring a cursor to the related information displaying area, displays another linked related informations on the related information displaying area with the instructing means instead of at least one related information on display.
31. An information terminal according to claim 25, comprising: a switch part capable of oscillating or rotating and pushing operation; a display area of tabs of the 50-character kana syllabary which displays tabs of the 50-character kana syllabary; a display area of personal information which displays linked personal data for a plurality of persons consisting of at least personal names, telephone numbers and addresses; and a means for selecting tabs of the 50-character kana syllabary which selects a kana character tab from the tabs of the 50-character kana syllabary by oscillating or rotating operation of the switch part, wherein at least personal name data of personal data of personal names which begin with the kana letter selected by pushing operation of the switch part are displayed on the display area of personal information and other linked personal data is displayed on the display area of personal information every pushing operation of the switch part.
32. A program for processing displaying information which is programmed to run for a display controlling means comprising the steps of: displaying at least a part of a plurality of items on a display part; selecting an item from a plurality of the items; displaying at least one part of linked related informations of a plurality of related informations groups, the related information group having a plurality of related informations linked to each other and to the related information group; and displaying other linked related information instead of at least one part of the related informations on display by instruction to display linked related informations of the related information group.
33. A program for processing displaying information which is programmed to run for a display controlling means according to claim 32, comprising the steps of: displaying on a display part at least one related information of the related information group by operation of a switch part capable of oscillating or rotating and pushing operation; and displaying sequentially on the display part a plurality of related informations linked to the related information group every pushing operation of the switch.
34. A program for processing displaying information which is programmed to run for a display controlling means according to claim 32, comprising the steps of; selecting an item on an item displaying area of a display part displaying a plurality of items by oscillating or rotating operation of a switch part capable of oscillating or rotating and pushing operation; displaying a part of linked related informations of the related information group related to the selected item among a plurality of related information groups on the related information displaying area by pushing operation of the switch part; and displaying other linked related information on the related information displaying area by pushing operation of the switch part instead of at least one related information on display by pushing operation of the switch part.
35. A program for processing displaying information which is programmed to run for a display controlling means according to claim 32, comprising the steps of: selecting one kana character tab from tabs of the 50-character kana syllabary displayed on a tabs of the 50-character kana syllabary displaying area of a display part by oscillating or rotating operation of the switch part; displaying at least personal name data of personal data of personal names which begin with the selected kana character on a personal information area of the display part by pushing operation of the switch part; and displaying other linked personal informationws on the personal displaying area every pushing operation.
Referring to FIG. 1, a portable information terminal (PDA) is as large as a user can hold in his or her palm of the hand. A liquid crystal panel 12 having a touch panel 12a is provided throughout nearly all of the front face of a case 11 (The touch panel 12a is disposed, for example, on the surface of the liquid crystal panel 12.). Further, as described later, a control switch (hereinafter referred to as a side controller) 13, an escape switch 14, a power source on-off switch (hereinafter referred to as a power switch) 15, an insert slot 16 into which an external memory medium such as a memory card, a communication device such as a communication card or an external device such as an external hard disc is inserted, an external connection terminal 17 used for communication of a variety of data with a personal computer or power charging, and a storage part 19 for storing a touch pen (a stylus pen) 18 are provided on the case 11.
A protruded part 11a extending toward outer direction is formed at the upper part of the side controller 13. A part of the side controller 13 is exposed from the side face of the case 11. The side controller 13 is supported by an axis (unshown) extending from the anterior (front) to the back face of the case 11 so as to be capable of oscillating or rotating in the direction shown by a solid arrow A (up and down direction) in the figure within a predetermined range and to be capable of pushing in the direction orthogonal to the axis (in the direction from the lateral side to the inside of the figure) (in the direction of the solid arrow B). The range of rotation (oscillation) is restricted within the range capable of rotating (oscillating) operation by nearly one upward push or downward push with a thumb of the left hand. Wave formed protrusions 13a are formed on the exposed surface of the side controller 13.
The side controller 13 is rotated (oscillated) or pushed, for example, by a thumb of the left hand. The thumb of the left hand touches the protrusion 13a in this regard. The side controller 13 stays at a predetermined position (hereinafter referred to as a standard position) under the condition of non-operation. When it is pushed upward from the standard position with a thumb of the left hand, the side controller 13 is rotated (oscillated) by predetermined rotating amount and is not rotated (oscillated) more. When the thumb is released from the side controller 13 (i.e., a force to rotate (oscillate) is removed), the side controller 13 returns to the standard position (approximately center position of the rotating range) by itself. Identically, when it is pushed downward from the standard position with a thumb of the left hand, the side controller 13 is rotated (oscillated) by predetermined rotating amount and is not rotated (oscillated) more. When the thumb is released from the side controller 13, the side controller 13 returns to the standard position by itself. It is preferable that pushing operation can be carried out only at the standard position. That is because wrong operation of pushing needs to be prevented in case of rotating (oscillating) operation. Since the side controller 13 is operated by the thumb of the left hand which holds the PDA itself, movement of the thumb is limited so that complicated operation is difficult. Therefore, as oscillating operation is easy to operate than rotating operation which needs more complicated operation, the side controller 13 is preferably operated by oscillating operation.
With the external connection terminal 17, the PDA shown in the figure can be connected to a charging device (so called a cradle device) having a communication function so as to communicate data with personal computers and battery can be charged through the external connection terminal 17. The liquid crystal panel 12 is, for example, a color liquid crystal display provided with a backlight if necessary. The touch panel 12a has touch sensors, which detect touch positions and touch lines when touched (tapped) with the touch pen 18.
Referring to FIG. 2, a PDA has an central processing unit (CPU) 21 which controls the entire PDA in accordance with control programs stored in a memory part 22 such as ROM and executes a variety of processes, which is described later, in accordance with application programs. Application programs are downloaded from an external memory medium inserted in the insert slot 16 or from outside by communication as the case may be. A memory part 22a capable of writing or reading, which consists of such as RAMs is connected to the CPU 21. (contents stored to the memory part 22a do not disappear even if power is off.)
As shown in the figure, the CPU 21 is connected to the side controller 13 through a side controller operation detecting part 23 and further to the escape switch 14 through an escape switch operation detecting part 24. Further, the CPU 21 is connected to the power switch 15 through a power switch operation detecting part 25. The CPU 21 is also connected to the touch panel 12a through a touch panel operation detecting part 26 and to the liquid crystal panel 12 through a liquid crystal panel driving part 27.
The PDA has a mail communicating part (a mail communicating function) 28 (it may be provided to a communication card inserted in the insert slot 16), which is connected to the CPU 21. The mail communication part 28 sends or receives mails through communication devices such as cellular phones or communication cards. Every time a mail is received or sent, the CPU 21 stores the received or sent mail in the memory part 22a. The stored received or sent mails can be read out from the memory part 22a to consult.
Again referring to FIG. 3, when one of the tabs 33 displayed on the tab column 34 is tapped, the CPU 21 selects the tab tapped by tap operation (hereinafter referred to as a selected tab) and displays an item content (a set screen page) corresponding to the selected tab on the setting window part 35 by having access to the memory part 22a. After that, when a tab 33 which is not currently selected (hereinafter referred to as a non-selected tab) is tapped, the CPU 21 displays an item content (a set screen page) corresponding to the selected tab on the setting window part 35 by recognizing the taped non-selected tab 33 as a selected tab 33.
As described above, when, after given newly arrived mails aimed to delete are selected, an execute button 53 is tapped, the CPU 21 deletes a block of newly arrived mails aimed to delete by the tap operation from a memory part 22a. Instead of tapping operation of the execute button 53, a block of newly arrived mails aimed to delete may be delete by pushing the side controller 13 for a time longer than a predetermined time.
As stated above, when a delete mode button, which is a selecting function button is tapped on the list screen page of newly arrived mails, the CPU 21 turns into delete mode so as to display a screen page of a list of delete mode newly arrived mails on the liquid crystal panel 12. Since CPU 21 further selects sequentially a mail to be selected from the screen page of a list of delete mode newly arrived mails as a selected newly arrived mail (i.e. a newly arrived mail aimed to be deleted), a plurality of given discontinuous newly arrived mails can be selected as delete targets. After that, when a execute button is tapped, the newly arrived mails are deleted from the memory part 22a which is a function of memory.
Though an example of deletion of mails is explained above, information other than mails can be deleted. For example, a list of various data stored in the memory part 22a or file data of application programs in themselves is displayed and targets to delete are selected by tap operation or side controller operation to be deleted. In addition, apart from deletion, an process corresponding to a predetermined mode (a predetermined process) can be executed by touch operation of the execute button after selecting information on a predetermined mode transferred by touching the selecting function button. For example, when the execute button is touched after information is selected, the selected information is copied from a memory to another file. Further, a file data can be automatically opened or activated by tap operation or rotating or oscillating and pushing operation of the side controller 13 on a list screen page such as a file data.
In a launcher screen page shown in FIG. 8 which is displayed on a portable information terminal shown in FIG. 1, when a file viewer is selected by tap operation or side controller operation, a screen page of selecting file is displayed on a liquid crystal panel 12. When a requested file is selected from the screen page of selecting file by tap operation or side controller operation, a screen page indicative of a content of the file is displayed. A file herein denotes each mail file, each schedule file, each memo file, or other variety of files which are made by a PDA or a personal computer. These files are stored, for example, in memory part 22a.
As an example shown in the figure, the tool bar 35 has a mail attaching button 35a, an enlarging button 35b, a standard button 35c, a reducing button 35d, a page turning button (forward) 35e, a page turning button (backward) 35f, and a tool bar off button 35g as a function button. Page turning buttons 35e and 35f are displayed only when the file content has a plurality of pages.
When the mail attaching button 35a is tapped here, a file on consulting can be attached to a mail. When the enlarging button 35 is tapped, a file on consulting is enlarged to display. When the reducing button 35d is tapped, a file on consulting is reduced to display. When the standard button 35c is tapped, a file on consulting is displayed by predetermined ratio. (A file is displayed usually by standard ratio.)
When the page turning button 35e or 35f is tapped, a page is turned backward or forward. When the tool bar off button 35g is tapped, i.e. the tool bar 35 is turned off, the tool bar off button 35g is lighted on. When the tool bar off button 35g, which is lighted on, is tapped, the tool bar 35 is turned on so that tool bar off button 35 is turned off. The CPU 21 performs these controls.
When a return icon 33a in the group name column 33 is tapped, CPU 21 displays a group selecting screen page shown in FIG. 8 on the liquid crystal panel 12. For example, all groups, company, colleague, family, friend and others are displayed as group names. When one of the group names is selected by operation of the side controller, the CPU 21 returns to the screen page of a list of addresses and a selected group is displayed on the group name column 33.
As for a group selecting screen page, a requested group name may be selected from a group list by tap operation or operation of the side controller after calling the group list by tapping a group selecting list button 33b provided in the group name column 33.
Assuming that all group is selected as a group name as shown in FIG. 3, when “ALL” is tapped in the display area of tabs of the 50-character kana syllabary 34, “ALL” is selected as a selected tab so that the CPU 21 displays all addresses in the address displaying area 35 by searching an address book stored in the memory part 22a. In this regard, each address is displayed in a right and left direction (a second direction) and a plurality of addresses are sequentially arrayed in an-up and down direction (the first direction). The selected tab is reversely colored such as black.
As apparent from the above explanation, when “a-line” is tapped in the display area of tabs of the 50-character kana syllabary 34 so that addresses belonging to a-line of the address book are displayed in the address displaying area 35 by searching the address book stored in the memory part 22a. (See FIG. 4. When other tab is selected, addresses are displayed likewise.)
When a scroll button 35a or 35b which is provided at upper end or lower end of the display area of tabs of the 50-character kana syllabary 34 is tapped, a cursor moves upward and downward.
When a scroll button 35a or 35b which is provided in the address displaying area 35, the address displaying area 35 is scrolled upward or downward.
Detailed explanation is omitted with regard to these functions. A changing display button 35cis provided in the displaying address area 35 so as to be able to change a contact point in the displaying address area 35 to, for example, a company name. Although a variety of function buttons are provided, explanation with this regard is omitted.
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