Patent ID: 7414613

Claim:
A method of changing the input states of an electronic device, having an input portion, the device capable of carrying out user operations, and the device having input states including a locked state, wherein the use of the input portion is significantly restricted, and an unlocked state, wherein the use of the input portion is not restricted comprising: entering the locked state by a locking input, entering the unlocked state by an unlocking input, entering an intermediate unlocked state of said electronic device, in which a limited operational use of said input portion is possible, from the locked state, based on an intermediate unlocking user input which is different from the unlocking input required for entering the unlocked state; detecting the termination of a user operation in said intermediate unlocked state, the user operation being other than said locking input and including the completion of at least one task by a number of input operations greater than one; and entering said locked state, in response to said detection.