(12) Ulllted States Patent
Contents
1. 5 082 520 11 1999 Weiser et al WO WO9937025 7 1999 5 995 026 11 1999 Sellers NO OSE KI 50000 6 006 351 12 1999 Peretz et al WO WO0030381 5 2000 1 2000 LaPorta et al 2 2000 Fullam et al cited by examiner 6 014 429 6 023 779 U S Patent Mar 5 2013 Sheet 1 of 7 US 8 391 468 B2 OAH AHAB EP CE TET E TS E ETC EYE CELL Fig l 6666 00999 S0000 2 08020 6 092909 DC m CET Fig 2 Patent Mar 5 2013 Sheet 2 of 7 US 8 391 468 B2 30 CD CUP U S Patent Mar 5 2013 Sheet 3 of 7 US 8 391 468 B2 U S Patent Mar 5 2013 Sheet 4 of 7 US 8 391 468 B2 Fig 5b 802 2081 01 tS 701 0 0 70 290073801 87 7 015 0 1171 E Tum 700 105 02 0 TM 3008 1 30015 03 80 0 71 9 37125 Jy 0 727 I t V c 05 95 3V08A 39 03 13258 38 80301305 ONY 19 TL NOLLVIIIST NOD 10 1320080001 NOT NN LINN 3010 5 210 a c9 US 8 391 468 B2 Sheet 5 of 7 Mar 5 3 U S Patent 2 Diy 8 911 33S 21 Y1Y0 0 8 313 335 30018 ANOHd3131 8 313 33S 3001 7 31825 ANOHd3 131 03413234 3399131 je w E 6 26 US 8 391 468 B2 Sheet 6 of 7 Mar 5 20132. U S Patent U S Patent Mar 5 73 Sheet 7 of 7 US 8 391 468 B2 I2 ENTER MODE USER HITS A KEY 116 GENERATE SOUND GENERATE CHARACTER AND OR TONE SIGNAL 114 APPLICATION FINISHED Je EXIT MODE Fig 8 US 8 391 468 B2 2 FIG 2 is another exemplary multifunctional keyboard in which the keys are arranged for optimal use with a hand held device FIGS 3a and 3 illustrate an additional exemplary multi functional keyboard for a communication device in which a plurality of character entry keys can function as either letter entry keys or number entry keys FIG 4is atop perspective view ofa mobile communication device utilizing a multifunctional keyboard FIG 5 is a bottom perspective view ofthe mobile commu nication device shown in FIG 4 FIG 5a is a top view of an additional mobile communica tion device utilizing a multifunctional keyboard FIG 55 is a side view of the additional mobile communi cation device shown in FIG 5a FIG 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile commu nication device utilizing a multifunctional keyboard FIG 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for controlling the operational mode of the multifunctional keyboard in a communication device and FIG 8 is a flow diagram illustrating the modes of operation for the multifunctional keyboard DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawing figures FIG 1 is an exem plary multifunctional k
3. and a 1 printed on the key The numbers shown in paren theses represent the telephony tone signals corresponding to the letter or number character and would preferably not be printed on the key It should be understood however that other printing arrangements are contemplated In addition the keyboard 30 31 or the communication device utilizing the keyboard 30 31 preferably includes some means to indi cate whether the keyboard is in number or letter entry mode For example when the keyboard 30 31 is in one ofthe letter or number entry modes an icon may appear on a display a particular audible tone may sound when a key is pressed an LED may light or some other indication means may be activated In an alternative embodiment the multifunctional key board 30 31 may be provided in conjunction with a displayed software user interface For instance the multifunctional key board 30 31 may by represented on a display such as a liquid crystal display LCD In this embodiment touching the LCD within the boundaries of a drawn key representation is equivalent to pressing a key on the keyboard 30 31 In addi tion an LCD embodiment of the multifunctional keyboard 30 31 may include a function in which the symbols displayed on each drawn key change with the operational mode to US 8 391 468 B2 6 cessed to execute the call and the character codes may for example be further processed to log the call The tone signal
4. a selection by the user of the device 50 or possibly based on some other triggering event The keyboard mode control software 54 may for example set the device 50 to a particular keyboard mode when a software application is executed on the device 50 and possibly when a particular operation is executed by the soft 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 3 mode and correspond to a telephony tone signal while the keyboard 20 is in telephony or joint mode In addition one or more of the specialized keys 26 may have functions that vary depending upon the mode of the multifunctional key board 20 For instance one specialized key 26 may perform a line feed function while the keyboard 20 is in data mode and a talk function while the keyboard 20 is in telephony mode In addition the multifunctional keyboard 20 may include one or more mode keys 29 that switch the keyboard 20 from one operational mode telephony data or joint to another FIGS 3a and 35 illustrate an additional exemplary multi functional keyboard 30 31 for a communication device in whicha plurality of character entry keys can function as either letter entry keys 32 or number entry keys 35 Similar to the multifunctional keyboards 10 20 described above with ref erence to FIGS 1 and 2 this multifunctional keyboard 30 31 may operate in telephony mode data mode and possibly joint mode In addition however this multifunctional keyboard 30 3
5. may include a specialized key that triggers a keyboard mode change or a mode change may be automatically triggered by the detection of some event such as the activation of a soft ware application or a selection by the user of the device Once a mode change has been triggered in step 94 the type of service data telephony or joint required by the device 50 is determined in steps 96 and 100 The required service may be determined for example by accessing the service store 63 locally maintained in a memory location 62 on the device 50 The service store 63 preferably includes a log indicating the type of service required by each software application on the device 50 and also preferably includes a default service For the purposes of the illustration shown in FIG 7 the default service is the data mode It should be understood however 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 5 ware application For instance if an address book application is executed the keyboard mode control software 54 will pref erably automatically set the multifunctional keyboard 51 to a preferred mode When entering or editing an address book entry data mode is the preferred mode for editing or entering a name email address or street address field whereas joint modeis the preferred mode for editing or entering a telephone number field Conversely when retrieving an address book entry data mode is the preferred mode for retrieving a name emai
6. output character codes the input char acter codes being interpreted as if they were generated by use of a multifunctional keyboard thus enabling the communi cation device to be easily adapted to a variety of sources of input characters of which a keyboard is but one example This written description uses examples to disclose the invention including the best mode and also to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention The patentable scope ofthe invention is defined by the claims and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art We claim 1 A communication device comprising twenty six keys that are each labeled with a different letter of the alphabet and are each assigned a number the device being configured in a joint mode for each key pressed by a user to simultaneously generate both a telephony tone signal corresponding to the number assigned to the pressed key and a character code corre sponding to the letter assigned to the pressed key wherein the numbers 2 9 are assigned respectively to keys A C D F G I J L M O P S T V and W Z 2 The device of claim 1 wherein the keys are arranged in a QWERTY configuration 5 a 30 35 40 45 65 7 that either the telephony mode or the joint mode could also be the default service for the mobile device 50 In a preferred embodiment the system also accesses the configuration store 61 maintained in the memory locat
7. 1 utilizes less keys by providing a letter entry mode shown in FIG 3a and a number entry mode shown in FIG 36 While in letter entry mode the keyboard 30 preferably comprises a QWERTY style keyboard 30 although other keyboard styles may be utilized having a plurality of letter entry keys 32 specialized keys 33 and a space bar 34 If a letter entry key 32 is pressed while the keyboard 30 is in letter entry mode a telephony tone signal and or a character code corresponding to the letter on the key may be generated depending upon the operational mode telephony data or joint ofthe keyboard 30 When the keyboard 31 is in number entry mode however a number of the keys are remapped to provide a numerical keypad preferably comprising a plural ity of number entry keys 35 specialized keys 33 a space bar 34anda plurality of non functional keys 36 If a number entry key 35 is pressed while the keyboard 31 is in number entry mode a telephone tone signal and or a character code corre sponding to the number on or represented by the key may be generated depending upon the operational mode of the key board 31 telephony data or joint Preferably the character entry keys that function as both number entry and letter entry keys depending upon the entry mode have both a number and a letter printed on the key For example the Q key shown in FIG 3a and the corresponding 1 key shown in FIG 35 would preferably have both a Q
8. NT DOCUMENTS 6 046 732 A 4 2000 Nishimoto 6 047 047 A 4 2000 Aldridge et al Sugano 6 047 196 A 42000 Makela et al 101223 rant 6 049 697 A 4 2000 Scozzarella et al 340 7 31 Engelke et al 6 052 070 A 4 2000 Kivela et al 12 1996 5 581 593 Hidaka 6 081 584 A 6 2000 Hidaka 2 1997 5 606 712 Hertzfeld et al vou doce DODO CE Gal 3 1997 5 611 031 Miller Plc ES RU 8 1997 5 660 488 D383 756 9 1997 Henderson et al 6 107 994 A 8 2000 Harada et al Lam et al 6107997 A 8 2000 Ure 9 1997 5 672 108 pe PME Stal I 6 148 261 A 11 2000 Obradovich et al tots SISON era 6 157 323 A 12 2000 Tso et al D397 369 D397 728 D399 537 A A A A A A 8 8 E ees 6 212 412 Bl 42001 Rogers et al uen et al 6 218 966 B1 42001 Goodwin et al 8 10 1998 Chi et al 6 241 406 BL 6 2001 Yan 5 818 437 A 10 1998 Grover et al 6 243 789 B1 6 2001 Hasbun et al 5 825 353 A 10 1998 Will 6 297 795 B1 10 2001 Kato et al 5 841 374 A 11 1998 Abraham 1403 160 5 1 1993 Fa 6 429 855 B2 8 2002 Pabon et al SCA al 6 662 020 B1 12 2003 Aaro etal A A A A A A A A A A A 5 848 356 A 12 1998 Jambhekar et al 455 403 5 893 798 4 1999 Stambolic et al 0 pi Yoshida et 5 920 308 7 1999 Kim 7935 5 931 873 8 1999 Cisar FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 952 942 9 1999 Balakrishnan et al 5 963 197 10 1999 Bacon et al EP 0898222 2 1999 5 974 238 10 1999 Chase Jr E an a 2
9. US008391468B2 10 Patent No US 8 391 468 B2 45 Date of Patent Mar 5 2013 D278 341 S 4 1985 Scheid 4 613 247 A 9 1986 McGunnigle D293241 S 12 1987 Wan et al 4 799 254 A 1 1989 Dayton et al 4 888 815 A 12 1989 Ahlemeyer et al 4 999 795 A 3 1991 Lapeyre 5 184 830 A 2 1993 Okada et al 5 217 295 A 64 1993 Tortola et al 5 334 976 A 8 1994 Wang 5 336 002 A 8 1994 Russo 5 367 298 A 11 1994 Axhelm 5 375 165 A 12 1994 Haber et al D357 253 S 4 1995 Wong 5 410 141 A 4 1995 Koenck et al 5 426 449 A 6 1995 Danziger 5 436 954 A 7 1995 Nishiyama et al Continued FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS EP 0760291 3 1997 EP 0760291 A2 3 1997 Continued OTHER PUBLICATIONS Nokia User s Manual 9357109 Issue 2 EN Jun 7 1998 126 pages Primary Examiner Tuan Pham 57 ABSTRACT An apparatus and method for telephony tone signal and char acter code generation for QWERTY keyboards includes a QWERTY style keyboard a processor and a keyboard mode control software module The QWERTY style keyboard has a plurality of letter keys wherein each letter key is configured to generate a unique input signal The processor is coupled to the keyboard and is configured to convert each unique input signal generated by the letter keys into a character code and or atelephony tone signal The keyboard mode control software module operates on the processor and controls whether the processor converts the unique input signals from the lette
10. ansferred to a buffer by the processor 56 to await further processing For instance if a telephone number is entered into the device 50 while the keyboard 51 is in joint mode then the character codes and DTMF tone signals for the telephone number are preferably stored in a buffer until the user initiates the call for example by pressing a send key Once the call is initiated the DTMF tones are further pro US 8 391 468 B2 8 user and stored in the configuration store 61 Preferably notification flags may be stored in the configuration store 61 to either enable or disable the notification function for the data telephony and joint modes If the notification function has been enabled for the current keyboard mode then the device 50 generates an audible tone in step 118 In a preferred embodiment the audible tone generated in step 118 is differ ent for each keyboard mode thus enabling the device user to determine the current mode In step 120 the device 50 generates a character code and or telephony tone signal corresponding to the key pressed by the user and a corresponding keyboard output signal from the multifunctional keyboard 51 As described above the signal generated in step 120 depends upon the operational mode of the multifunctional keyboard 51 If the multifunctional key board 51 is in joint mode then the system 50 generates both acharacter code and a telephony tone signal in step 120 Ifthe multifunctional keyboard 51 is
11. ard mode associated with the application is detected from the service store 63 FIG 8 is a flow diagram illustrating the exemplary modes of operation 110 for the multifunctional keyboard 51 In step 112 the device 50 enters a keyboard mode such as the joint mode telephony mode or data mode Then when a device user presses a key on the multifunctional keyboard 51 step 114 the system 50 preferably determines whether a user notification function has been enabled in step 116 The user notification function may preferably be configured by the device user to generate an audible tone as a key is pressed To determine the user notification configuration the system 50 preferably detects one or more notification flags set by the US 8 391 468 B2 10 9 The device of claim 8 further comprising a mode key in which the user can switch from the first mode to the second mode 10 The device of claim 8 wherein the device is configured to indicate the mode of operation 11 A method of operating a multifunctional keyboard for a communication device comprising the steps of providing twenty six keys that are each labeled with a different letter of the alphabet and are each assigned a number and in ajoint mode simultaneously generating both a telephony tone signal corresponding to the number assigned to each key pressed by a user and a character code signal corresponding to the letter assigned to each key pressed by the user wherein the nu
12. cation No 60 246 321 filed Nov 7 2000 This prior appli cation including the entire written description and drawing figures is hereby incorporated into the present application by reference BACKGROUND 1 Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to the field of keyboard user interfaces In particular the invention provides a multi functional keyboard for a mobile communication device and method of operating the same 2 Description of the Related Art Advances in communication technology have created a convergence between the fields of data and telephony com munications Traditional communication devices however typically include two separate interfaces one for telephony communication and one for data communication Other known communication devices utilize the limited character mapping available on a typical telephone keypad to perform data entry functions For instance current telephone keypads map keys to characters on a one to many basis 12 keys 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 correspond to 26 characters ABC DEF GHI JKL MNO PQRS TUV WXYZ In addition most such telephone keypads do not include many of the characters from the American Standard Code for Information Interchange ASCII character code In other known commu nication devices including many cellular phones data may be entered with a typical telephone keypad by repeatedly pressing a key to cycle through a number of associated char a
13. cter codes For instance repeatedly pressing the keypad key 2 on a typical cellular phone may cycle through the char acters A B C a b c and 2 SUMMARY A multifunctional keyboard for a mobile communication device includes a keyboard a processor and a keyboard mode control software module The keyboard has a plurality of letter keys wherein each letter key is configured to generate a keyboard output signal The processor is coupled to the key board and is configured to convert each keyboard output signal generated by the letter keys into a character code and or a telephony tone signal The keyboard mode control software module operates on the processor and controls whether the processor converts the keyboard output signals from the letter keys into character codes or telephony tone signals BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is an exemplary multifunctional keyboard having keys that are mapped to both telephony tone signals and character code signals US 8 391 468 B2 4 emphasize the particular telephony signal and or character code to be generated by each key FIG 4isatop perspective view ofa mobile communication device 40 utilizing a multifunctional keyboard 30 l he keys of the multifunctional keyboard 30 are preferably uniformly distributed across the device 40 such that approximately half ofthe QWERTY keys are positioned on the left hand side of the device 40 and the remaining half of the QWERTY keys are posit
14. elow with reference to FIG 8 Asynchronous mode changes are illustrated in FIG 7 by the dotted lines from the three operational modes steps 98 102 and 104 returning to step 94 at which a trigger is received If no asynchronous mode change is received however the key board 51 preferably remains in the same operational mode until the currently executing software application completes its operations at which point the system returns to an idle state at step 92 Ina preferred embodiment more than one application may be running on the device 50 at the same time possibly requir ing concurrent operation of more than one keyboard mode For instance if several applications are executing on the device 51 one application may be in the foreground the active application while the other applications are in the background the idle applications In this instance the mul tifunctional keyboard 51 will preferably operate in the mode associated with the foreground application Then as the device user or the device itself switches from the foreground application to an idle application an asynchronous trigger is preferably generated to change keyboard modes Preferably before the device 50 switches from one application and asso ciated keyboard mode to another the current mode associated with the foreground application is stored in the service store 63 Then when the idle application returns to the foreground and becomes active the stored keybo
15. eyboard 10 having keys 12 that are mapped to both telephony tone signals and character code signals The multifunctional keyboard 10 is preferably a QWERTY style keyboard in which each of the letter keys 12 also corresponds to a number although a different keyboard style could be used such as a Dvorak or AZERTY keyboard The number corresponding to a letter key 12 on the multi functional keyboard 10 is preferably based on the number character correspondence on a traditional telephone keypad For instance the number two 2 on a traditional telephone keypad corresponds to all of the letters A B and C Similarly the letter keys A B and C on the multifunctional keyboard 10 each correspond to the number two 2 The multifunctional keyboard 10 is multifunctional in the sense that it operates in at least two modes a telephony mode and a data mode In the telephony mode a key 12 pressed on the multifunctional keyboard results in a telephony tone sig nal for communicating with a voice communication network The telephony tone signal may for example be a Dual Tone Multi Frequency DTMF signal commonly used for dialing a phone number in voice communication networks In the data mode pressing the same key 12 on the multifunctional keyboard 10 will result in the generation of a character code such as an American Standard Code for Information Inter change ASCII character code In a preferred embodiment the multifunctional keyboard 10 may als
16. generation circuitry 52 may be used by the processor 56 to generate the telephony tone signals while the multifunctional keyboard 51 is in telephony or joint mode In an alternative embodiment however digital telephony tone signals may be generated directly by the processor 56 or by a digital signal processor In addition to telephony tone sig nals the tone signal generation circuitry 52 may also generate audible tones preferably at the option of the communication device user The audible tones may be used for example to notify the user when a key is pressed on the multifunctional keyboard 51 In alternative embodiments the tone signal generator may generate distinctive tones when a telephony tone signal or character code is generated In addition to the components and software relating to the multifunctional keyboard 51 the main module 53 also pref erably includes a pair of antennas 58 60 although a single antenna structure could be used a memory device 62 an LCD display 64 at least one rechargeable battery 66 a long range RF transceiver 68 one or more short range RF trans ceivers 70 a power supply and recharging circuit 72 a cradle interface circuit 74 and an auxiliary input device such as a thumbwheel 76 The main module 53 may also include a pressure sensitive writing tablet Operationally the long range RF transceiver 68 is used to send and receive informa tion from a long range wireless network and the one or more sho
17. hen positioned near the device user s head the speaker 46A and the microphone 48A may for example be used to estab lish a voice communication though the communication device 40A FIG 5b is a side view 42A of the additional mobile com munication device 40A shown in FIG 5a The communica tion device 40A preferably includes a jack 44A for connect ing a headset having an earpiece and microphone to the device 40 FIG 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile commu nication device 50 utilizing a multifunctional keyboard 51 The device 50 preferably includes a main module 53 and an ear bud module 55 The multifunctional keyboard 51 is included in the main module 53 along with a tone signal generation circuit 52 a keyboard mode control software mod ule 54 operating on a processor 56 and a memory device 62 having a configuration store 61 and a service store 63 In an alternative embodiment however the processor 56 may be replaced by an alternative processing unit such as a field programmable gate array FPGA or a software interpreter module The processor 56 receives keyboard output signals from the multifunctional keyboard 51 and converts these output signals into telephony tone signals character codes or both The mode of operation data telephony or joint for the mul tifunctional keyboard 51 is preferably determined by the key board mode control software module 54 based on either the current requirements of the device 50
18. ich the device communicates the letters labeled on the pressed keys
19. in telephony mode then the system 50 generates a telephony tone signal If the multifunc tional keyboard 51 is in data mode then a character code is generated Once the appropriate character and or telephony tone signal has been generated in step 120 the system 50 determines whether the current application or other triggering event requiring the current keyboard mode is complete in step 122 If the application is complete then the system exits its current keyboard mode in step 124 and returns to an idle state Otherwise the system 50 remains in the current mode and awaits another keystroke at step 114 As was described above with reference to FIG 7 however asynchronous mode changed may occur from within any step of FIG 8 In addition to the embodiments described above with ref erence to FIGS 1 8 additional embodiments are contem plated which allow the operations of the multifunctional key board to be carried out on a lower system level without need for an actual keyboard or a telephony tone signal generator For example a communication device may include a transla tion mode wherein the mode control software translates key codes to telephony signals and the key codes are provided by voice recognition software recognizing keys spoken by a user or alternatively the key codes being provided from storage In such an embodiment the mode control software preferably translates input character codes to generate tele phony signals and or
20. ion 62 to determine if a preferred mode has been selected for a particular application or triggering event The configuration store 61 preferably includes user configurable preferences relating to the modes of operations For instance the configuration store 61 may indicate that the joint mode is preferred when the communi cation device 50 connects to a particular telephone number or IP address In step 96 the system determines whether the software application currently operating on the device or other trig gering event requires the multifunctional keyboard 51 to operate in joint mode Ifso then the multifunctional keyboard 51 is set to joint mode in step 98 Otherwise the device 50 determines whether telephony mode is required in step 100 If the current software application or other triggering event requires telephony mode then the keyboard 51 is set to tele phony mode in step 102 If neither joint mode nor telephony mode are required however then the multifunctional key board 51 is set to data mode its default mode of operation in step 104 The modes of operation are detailed below with reference to FIG 8 While the multifunctional keyboard 51 is in a particular operational mode an asynchronous mode change may pref erably be initiated upon the receipt of an additional trigger This type of mode change is asynchronous in the sense that the change may preferably be initiated at any point during the operational modes described b
21. ioned on the right hand side of the device 40 In addition the QWERTY keys are preferably tilted at angles to facilitate easy thumb typing while the mobile device is held between the hands of a mobile device user FIG 5 is a bottom perspective view 41 of the mobile communication device 40 shown in FIG 4 The communica tion device 40 preferably includes an ear bud 42 that is detach ably fitted within a cavity 44 in the device housing The ear bud 42 preferably includes a speaker portion 46 proportioned to fit within the ear of a communication device user and a microphone portion 48 that extends towards the user s mouth When fitted into the device user s ear the ear bud 42 may for example be used to establish voice communication through the mobile communication device 40 It should be under stood however that the mobile communication device 40 is not limited to embodiments having a detachable ear bud 42 In other embodiments such as the embodiment described below with reference to FIGS 5a and 55 voice communication may be enabled with other means such as a speaker and micro phone fixedly mounted on the device or an ear piece and microphone connected to the device 40 through an electrical terminal or jack FIG 5a is a top view of an additional mobile communica tion device 40A utilizing a multifunctional keyboard 30 The communication device 40A preferably includes a speaker 46A and a microphone 484A fixedly mounted on the device W
22. l address or street address whereas either telephony mode joint mode or data mode may be the preferred mode for retrieving a telephone number depending upon the purpose for which it is being retrieved For instance if a telephone number is retrieved from an address book in order to initiate a voice communication the number will preferably be retrieved in telephony or joint mode The configuration store 61 and the service store 63 located in the memory device 62 are preferably used by the keyboard mode control software 54 to determine which operational mode data telephony or joint is required for a particular application In a preferred embodiment however the opera tional mode of the keyboard 51 may also be selected or overridden by a user of the mobile device 50 For instance with reference to FIG 2 a mobile device user may preferably select or trigger a change in the keyboard mode by pressing one of the mode keys 29 Similarly the letter entry or number entry modes for the keyboard embodiment 30 31 shown in FIG 3 is preferably also controlled by the keyboard mode control software 54 Similar to the operational modes data telephony or joint the number and letter entry modes may be automatically selected by the keyboard mode control software 54 based on the application currently executing on the device 50 may be selected by the device user or may possibly be selected by some other triggering event For instance if a voice com
23. mbers 2 9 are assigned respectively to keys A C D F G I J L M O P S T V and W Z 12 The method of claim 11 wherein the numbers are communicated through telephony tone signals 13 The method of claim 11 wherein the numbers are communicated through a display of the device 10 15 20 9 3 The device of claim 1 wherein the device is further configured to output for each key pressed by a user a char acter code signal corresponding to the pressed key 4 A communication device comprising twenty six keys that are each labeled with a different letter of the alphabet and are each assigned a number the device being configured in a joint mode to simulta neously generate both a telephony tone signal corre sponding to the number assigned to each key pressed by a user and a character code signal corresponding to the letter assigned to each key pressed by a user wherein the numbers 2 9 are assigned respectively to keys A C D F G I J L M O P S T V and W Z 5 The device of claim 4 wherein the keys are arranged in a QWERTY configuration 6 The device of claim 4 wherein the numbers are commu nicated through telephony tone signals 7 The device of claim 4 wherein the numbers are commu nicated through a display of the device 8 The device of claim 4 wherein the device has a first mode of operation in which the device communicates the numbers assigned to the pressed keys and a second mode of operation in wh
24. mu nication application is executed on the device 50 the key board mode control software 54 will preferably automatically set the keyboard 51 to number entry mode and telephony or joint mode so that a telephone number may be dialed If the user then desires to enter the telephone number using letters the user may preferably trigger the keyboard mode control software 54 to switch the keyboard 51 to letter entry mode For example with reference to FIGS 3a and 35 the user may be able to switch between letter and number entry modes by pressing the NUM CAP and or ALT key selecting a mode from a pull down menu pressing a specialized key holding down a key for a predetermined period of time or by some other means Referring again to FIG 6 once an operational mode and possibly one of the letter or number entry modes for the multifunctional keyboard 51 has been selected either auto matically or by a user the keyboard mode control software module 54 instructs the processor 56 to convert the keyboard output signals to telephony tone signals and or character codes If the communication device 50 is in data or joint mode then the keyboard output signals are converted into character codes such as ASCII codes If the communication device 50 is in telephony or joint mode then telephony tone signals such as DTMF signals are generated Then as the telephony tone signals and or character codes are generated they may be tr
25. o operate in a joint mode In the joint mode of operation depressing keys on the multifunctional keyboard 10 results in the simultaneous generation of both telephony tone signals and character codes For example pushing the Q key may result in both an ASCII code for the letter Q and a DTMF signal representing the number seven 7 FIG 2 is another exemplary multifunctional keyboard 20 in which the keys are arranged for optimal use with a hand held mobile communication device The keys of the multi functional keyboard 20 preferably comprise a QWERTY style keyboard although other keyboard styles could be uti lized having a plurality of letter keys 22 a plurality of num ber keys 24 specialized keys 26 and a space bar 28 Each of the letter 22 and number 24 keys preferably correspond to a character code while the keyboard 20 is in data or joint 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 1 MULTIFUNCTIONAL KEYBOARD FOR A MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICE AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation of the application titled Multifunctional Keyboard For A Mobile Communication Device And Method Of Operating The Same application Ser No 10 004 001 filed Nov 1 2001 which is related to the following prior application Apparatus And Method For Telephony Tone Signals and Character Codes Generation For QWERTY Keyboards Or The Like U S Provisional Appli
26. r keys into character codes or telephony tone signals 13 Claims 7 Drawing Sheets LU dEe ES JEJE JEe JE Ee JL 09 2 United States Patent Zhao et al MULTIFUNCTIONAL KEYBOARD FOR A MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICE AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME Inventors Wen Zhao Kanata CA Runbo Fu Kanata CA Xin Jin Nepean CA Pokin Yeung Burnaby CA Karen A Rudnitski Ottawa CA Research In Motion Ltd Waterloo Ontario CA Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 666 days Appl No 12 607 468 Filed Oct 28 2009 Prior Publication Data US 2010 0048261 Al Feb 25 2010 Related U S Application Data Assignee Notice Continuation of application No 10 004 001 filed on Nov 1 2001 now Pat No 7 634 080 Provisional application No 60 246 321 filed on Nov 7 2000 Int Cl H04M 1 00 2006 01 H04M 3 00 2006 01 US Ol eerte 379 368 379 52 379 356 01 379 374 02 400 485 400 486 400 489 345 168 345 169 Field of Classification Search 379 52 379 356 01 368 374 02 433 07 400 485 400 486 489 345 168 169 See application file for complete search history References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 430 639 A 2 1984 Bennett et al 4 503 288 A 3 1985 Kessler 12 54 75 73 C 21 22 65 63 60 51 52 58 56 US 8 391 468 2 Page 2 U S PATE
27. rt range RF transceivers 60 are used to send and receive information from the ear bud module 55 and possibly from other local devices such as an RF interface cradle or a local printer coupled to a LAN or other types of printing or display devices The ear bud module 55 is preferably an RF enabled ear piece that may be connected to both mechanically and elec trically the main module 53 as described above The ear bud module 55 preferably includes a microphone and a speaker 78 a short range wireless transceiver 80 an antenna 82 a rechargeable battery 84 and possibly an integral processor 86 Operationally the short range wireless transceiver 80 is used to establish an RF link between the ear bud module 55 and the main module 53 FIG 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method 90 for controlling the operational mode of the multifunctional keyboard 51 in a communication device 50 This exemplary method 90 may for example be executed by the software mode control software module 54 described above In step 92 the communication device 50 is idle The device 50 prefer ably remains idle until the processor 56 receives a trigger in step 94 The trigger may for example be initiated by an unprocessed key stroke the activation of a switch an incom ing message an alarm condition the activation of a software application or any other type of event that may be detected by the device 50 For instance the multifunctional keyboard 51
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