Patent ID: 7643850

Claim:
A cellular communication terminal comprising: a cellular transceiver that is configured to communicate over a wireless cellular interface with a cellular network; a communication interface that is configured to be communicatively coupled to a proximately located computer; an accelerometer that is configured to generate acceleration information that is indicative of movement of the terminal, the accelerometer is configured to generate acceleration information that is indicative of movement of the terminal along directions that are substantially parallel to a surface on which the terminal resides and to generate acceleration information that is indicative of movement of the terminal in a direction away from and toward the surface; and a controller that is configured to communicate through the cellular transceiver with the cellular network according to a cellular communication protocol, and to selectively operate in a mouse mode during which the controller generates terminal movement information based on the acceleration information from the accelerometer and communicates the acceleration information through the communication interface to the proximately located computer, and the controller is configured to determine from the acceleration information when the terminal has been lifted from the surface and then placed back on the surface, and configured to stop communicating the terminal movement information through the communication interface when the terminal is determined to have been lifted from the surface and to resume communicating the terminal movement information through the communication interface when the terminal is determined to have been placed back on the surface.