Patent ID: RE43931

Claim:
A radiotelephone, comprising: a housing having a front surface, a rear surface and first and second side surfaces adjoining respective opposite edges of the front surface and extending from the respective opposite edges of the front surface to respective opposite edges of the rear surface, the housing configured to be held in a user's hand such that the rear surface confronts the user's palm; a radiotelephone communications transceiver, supported by the housing; a display, supported by the housing, that displays an image at the front surface of the housing; a contact-sensitive transducer, supported by the housing and having a contact-sensitive surface disposed at at least one of the first and second side surfaces said front surface , which produces an output signal that characterizes in response to moving contact of an object along the contact-sensitive surface of the contact-sensitive transducer; and a controller, responsive to the output signal and operatively associated with the display and the radiotelephone communications transceiver, which controls at least one of the display and the radiotelephone communications transceiver according to and which scrolls displayed rows along an axis of the display based upon the output signal of the contact-sensitive transducer , the controller having a first mode wherein the controller is responsive to contact with the contact-sensitive transducer and a second mode wherein the controller is unresponsive to contact with the contact-sensitive transducer, the second mode being entered in response to an input from a user .