Patent ID: 7202854

Claim:
A data entry and display apparatus, comprising: (a) a keypad including an arrangement of individual keys and a display having a display field that is distinctly provided outside of the arrangement of individual keys, the arrangement of individual keys including a plurality of hard keys and a plurality of soft keys that are covering a portion of the display that is provided at least partially within the arrangement of individual keys; (b) each said hard key having a primary alphanumeric symbol and a set of secondary alphanumeric symbols visibly associated therewith, wherein the data entry and display device further comprises a control system so that by actuating a first said hard key, the set of secondary alphanumeric symbols of that hard key will be displayed selectively on the plurality of soft keys by use of the display portion that is covered by the plurality of soft keys; (c) a memory operatively coupled to said keypad; (d) a direct memory access controller operatively coupled to said memory; and (e) a cyclic redundancy check circuit operatively coupled to said direct memory access controller; wherein said direct memory access controller is configured to transfer data from said memory to said cyclic redundancy check circuit; and said cyclic redundancy check circuit is configured to calculate a check value for said data.