Abstract:
The invention discloses an apparatus, method and system to change display direction. As the size of electronic devices, e.g. PDAs, become smaller and smaller, peripherals thereof, e.g. keyboards, take separable form to flexibly downsize the electronic devices. Compared to a first display direction as separable peripherals are connected to electronic devices, a second display direction as separable peripherals are not connected is capable to provide more convenience to users. The connecting apparatus of electronic devices accept separable peripherals connections and status thereof. If electronic devices detect the existence of separable peripherals, the first display direction is used to display data on display devices, else the display devices present data in the second direction.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to an apparatus, method, and system for displaying data, and more particularly, relates to an apparatus, method, and system for displaying data with variable display directions.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    As rapid development of nowadays-electronic technology, more and more electronic devices are equipped with display devices. These display devices have various types, and two examples of the display devices are Cathode Ray Tube(CRT) and Liquid Crystal Display(LCD). These display devices are not only applied in computers but also applied in sorts of electronic devices to provide the status of the electronic devices to users or for the interaction purpose.  
           [0003]    With the advancement of technology, the design of electronic devices keeps downsizing. Many examples can be found in our lives, like mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), translators, notebook computers, and recorders, etc. Small size of design facilitates users to carry such electronic devices. However, when performing input or output to the electronic devices, inconvenience for users occurs unfortunately.  
           [0004]    First, as concerning the part of input operation, though it is possible to shrink the size of input devices in technical aspect, the size of human fingers brings up the limitation. Several alternative devices are therefore created, like stylus, mouse, and panel. However, problems still exist.  
           [0005]    Second, as concerning the part of output operation, it is very critical to provide an efficient and effective display as the size of display is under some level. It is found that even the size remains unchanged, adjusting the display direction brings a significant effect. The demand of display direction variance may not yet become an issue in desktop computer displays, but for various electronic devices with sorts of functions, it is attractive to provide capability of flexible display directions.  
           [0006]    In addition, as concerning the input operations, a solution is suggested that input devices may be separable from the electronic devices. In other words, input devices become separable peripherals. For example, for those products such as mobile phones or PDAs, external keyboards or other peripherals are more and more popular. However, if we can adjust display direction according to the existence of such peripherals, more advantages will be obtained.  
           [0007]    Nevertheless, the present electronic devices either lack flexible display directions or need a manual operation to switch the display directions. These bring complexity for users.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    Therefore, the invention discloses an apparatus, method and system for changing display direction automatically. One embodiment of the present invention includes a display device, a connecting device, and a processing device. The status of the connecting device is presented. As the peripheral device, e.g. a keyboard, is connected to the connecting device, the status is set as a first status. As the peripheral device is not connected to the connecting device, the status is set as a second status. If the status detected by the processing device is the first status, a first direction is used to display data on the display device. If the status detected by the processing device is the second status, a second direction is used to display data on the display device.  
           [0009]    A preferred embodiment of the present invention is applied in PDAs, wherein the connecting device is a Universal Serial Bus (USB). As a peripheral device, such as a keyboard, is connected to the USB interface, the USB interface presents the existence of the peripheral device. The PDA detects the status of existence of the external keyboard, and the data is then displayed in the horizontal direction. If the USB interface presents that no external keyboard is connected to the USB interface, PDA displays data on its screen in the vertical direction. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 illustrates the architecture diagram of one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart of the embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 illustrates a architecture diagram of one exemplary embodiment;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4A illustrates one status of the exemplary embodiment; and  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4B illustrates another status of the exemplary embodiment. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]    The present invention may be described herein in terms of functional block components, screen shots, optional selections, and various processing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocks may be realized by any number of hardware and/or software components configured to perform the specified functions. For example, the present invention may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g. memory elements, processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the software elements may be implemented with any programming or scripting language such as C, C++, Java, COBOL, assembler, PERL, or the like, with the various algorithms being implemented with any combinations of data structures, objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, it should be noted that the present invention may employ any number of conventional techniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, network control, and the like.  
         [0016]    It should be appreciated that the particular implementations shown and described herein are illustrative to the invention and its best mode and are not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the present invention in any way. Indeed, for the sake of brevity, conventional data networking, application development, and other functional aspects of the systems (and components of the individual operating components of the systems) may not be described in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplary functional relationship and/or physical couplings between the various elements.  
         [0017]    It should be noted that the embodiment coupled within a PDA with related drawings described herein are not intended as limitations of the invention.  
         [0018]    It should be also noted that many applications of the present invention could be formulated. One skilled in the art will appreciate that all kinds of input apparatus, like keyboard, mouse, stylus, and/or the like, are allowed for users to use to interact with the system of the invention. Similarly, it is feasible to couple the invention within various computers, PDAs, handheld computers, notebook computers, mobile phones, digital cameras, and/or the like. These electronic devices may be loaded with various operating systems, like Windows of all versions, Palm OS, MacOS, OS/2, BeOS, Linux, and/or the like.  
         [0019]    As illustrated in FIG. 1, in an exemplary embodiment, the system of the present invention comprises a processing device  10 , a display device  11 , and a connecting device  12 . The processing device  10  is electrically connected to the display device  11  and the connecting device  12 . The connecting device  12  provides connection to the peripheral device  13 . The connection of the connecting device  12  and the peripheral device  13  may be wired or wireless.  
         [0020]    For example, in one embodiment of PDA, processing device  10  includes hardware, i.e. processors, memory, and bus, etc. and software, i.e. driving programs, operation systems, and application programs, etc. In addition, display device  11  is an LCD in one of the embodiment. The connecting device  12  includes an interface of PCMCIA and an interface of USB. A peripheral device  13  may be a keyboard, a stylus, and any other indicator and the like. A peripheral device  13  may also include any possible peripheral device which is allowed to be connected to the connecting device  12 .  
         [0021]    The processing device  10  displays the data on the display device  11  in different directions. For example, the data may be displayed in a horizontal direction or in a vertical direction. There is certain software and hardware to display the data on the display device  11  in different directions. Software, for example, can change the coding of the driving program, the operation system, or the application program so that the output data is switched to a different display direction. Hardware, on the other hand, can change the memory of the coordinates to achieve the same result. People skilled in the art should know the above-mentioned technology.  
         [0022]    When a peripheral device  13 , such as an input device including a keyboard, a stylus, a mouse, a panel, and the like or other peripheral devices including a disk drive and a digital camera, etc., is connected to the connecting device  12 , the status of the connecting device  12  is changed. One of the embodiments of the connecting device  12  is an interface of the USB. When a peripheral device  13  is connected to the USB, the connecting status of the peripheral device  13  is recorded. The processing device  10  then detects the connecting status by hardware or software. When the detected status is the first status, processing device  10  displays the data on the display device  11  in the first direction. For the illustrative purpose, the first status is the status when the peripheral device  13  is connected, and the second status is the status when the peripheral device  13  is not connected. When the connecting status is detected as the second status, processing device  10  displays the data on the display device in the second direction. The first direction in one of the embodiments is a horizontal direction, and the second direction is a vertical direction. Thus, the apparatus is more user-friendly.  
         [0023]    Please now refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates the present invention in a flow chart. First, the processing device  10  displays the data on the display device  11  in a predetermined direction (step  21 ). The processing device  10  then detects whether the peripheral device  12  is connected (step  22 ). If the peripheral device  13  is connected to the connecting device  12 , the status of the connecting device  12  is shown as the first status (step  23 ); if the peripheral device  13  is not connected to the connecting device  12 , the status of the connecting device  12  is shown as the second status (step  24 ). The processing device  10  then checks the status of the connecting device  12  (step  25 ). If the status is the first status, the processing device  10  displays the data on the display device  11  in the first direction (step  26 ). If the status is the second status, the processing device  10  displays the data on the display device  11  in the second direction (step  27 ).  
         [0024]    Please refer to FIG. 3, which illustrates the present invention according to another embodiment. The electronic apparatus nowadays usually provides an image output module. The image output module as a display system includes an output interface to display the data on the display device. In a Window operation system, for example, different GUI interfaces are provided to other application programs to output the data to the display device. The image output module can be combined with the operation system, exist in the form of the driving program, or be recorded as a hardware device. One of the embodiments of the image output module includes the image output module adopted in a PDA.  
         [0025]    According to FIG. 3, the processing device  10  includes a display system  31 . The display system  31  checks with the connecting device  12  to determine whether the peripheral device  13  is connected or not. When the display system  31  detects the existing of the peripheral device  13 , the display system  31  then processes and displays the data in the first direction. On the other hand, the display system  31  processes and displays the data in the second direction when the display system  31  does not detect the existing of the peripheral device  13 . The embodiment of the connecting device  12  may check the existing status of the peripheral device  13  by the interface of the USB. When the peripheral device  13  is connected, the interface of the USB transmits a value of the status. The display system  31  then determines whether the peripheral device  13  exists by this value. The display direction of the data is further determined according to the result.  
         [0026]    Please refer to FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. FIG. 4A illustrates the PDA  41  and its display screen when the keyboard  43  is not connected thereto. FIG. 4B illustrates the PDA  41  and its display screen when the keyboard  43  is connected thereto. According to FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, the convenience and result of the present invention should be demonstrated clearly.  
         [0027]    It will be understood that certain features and sub-combinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and sub-combinations as they are outlined within the claims. While the preferred embodiment and application of the invention has been described, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the objects and features of the present invention are only limited as set forth in claims attached hereto.