HK1059176B - Adjustable data processing display - Google Patents

Description

Adjustable data processing display

Priority

This application was filed on 7/4/2000 as a continuation-in-part of the U.S. patent application entitled "network entry device and method," U.S. patent application Serial No.09/545,701.

Background

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the field of data processing devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to an adjustable display for a data processing apparatus.

Description of the Related Art

Portable data processing devices, such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and programmable wireless telephones, have become more useful in everyday life, providing users with a wide range of applications that were previously provided only in personal computers. At the same time, due to advances in silicon processing technology as well as battery technology, these devices can be manufactured using smaller and smaller form factors. Thus, the user no longer needs to lose processing power for portability when selecting a personal data processing device.

Although processing devices with small form factors are more portable, users may find it increasingly difficult to interact with them. For example, the lack of a full-sized keyboard may cause difficulty in inputting data, and a small, possibly dim, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) may cause difficulty in reading information.

To address these problems, devices have been produced that are themselves adjustable to an "active" position when in use and to an "inactive" position when not in use. For example, the well-known Motorola * Star-TAC * radiotelephone is flipped open during use, exposing the phone keypad, display and headset. However, when the device is retracted to the "inactive" position, the keyboard, display and headset are completely inaccessible.

What is needed, therefore, is an improved scalable data processing apparatus.

SUMMARY

An apparatus, comprising: a data processing device; a first set of control elements and a second set of control elements integrally formed directly on the data processing device; and a display comprising a display area for displaying images generated by said data processing device, the display being connected to said data processing device at a hinge point and being rotatable about said hinge point from a first position to a second position, wherein said display is visible in both said first position and said second position, and wherein both said first set of control elements and said second set of control elements are exposed when said display is in said second position; when the display is in the first position, only the second set of control elements are exposed; wherein the display covers the first set of control elements when the display is in a first position; the display does not cover the second set of control elements when the display is in a first position; and wherein the second set of control elements comprises a control knob and a set of control buttons, wherein the control knob is operable to scroll between menu items and/or data regardless of whether the display is in the first position or the second position, and the control buttons are operable to select menu items and/or data.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will be better understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a representative network architecture for implementing elements of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates another representative network architecture for implementing elements of the present invention;

fig. 3 shows a radio signal comprising sub-carriers in the frequency domain;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exterior view of an inlet device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows an interior view of an inlet device according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a process in which a user logs into a portal server according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a visual programming interface according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates an inlet device communication according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of a portal device in communication with a portal server;

FIGS. 10a-c illustrate one embodiment of an adjustable data processing apparatus;

fig. 11a-c show another embodiment of an adjustable data processing device.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the underlying principles of the present invention.

A representative network architecture

Elements of the present invention may be included in a client-server based architecture 100 as shown in fig. 1. According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the portal server 110 communicates with clients 140 and other web servers 130 over a network 120 (e.g., the Internet). The network 120 used by the client 140 and servers 110, 130 to send and receive data may be made up of any combination of private (e.g., leased) and/or public channels. These may include, for example, Digital Signal (DS) channels (e.g., DS-3/T-3, DS-1/T1), Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) channels (e.g., OC-3/STS-3), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) channels, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) channels, cable modem channels, and various wireless communication channels including satellite broadcast and cellular channels.

In addition, different network protocols may be used to support communications between networks 120, including, for example, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), ethernet, and token ring (at the data link level), as well as transport control protocol and internet protocol (TCP/IP), internet network packet exchange (IPX), AppleTalk, and DECnet (at the network/transport level). It should be noted, however, that the principles of the present invention are not limited to any particular communication channel or protocol.

In one embodiment, the portal server 110 includes a user database for storing various types of user structure and account data. A user may register and log in to portal server 110 from client 140 by specifying a user ID and/or password. According to one embodiment, the user accesses a browser application, such as Netscape Navigator^TMOr Microsoft Internet Explorer^TMAnd is connected to the server 110, 130 for communication via a hypertext transfer protocol (hereinafter HTTP).

In one embodiment, the user may configure portal server 110 to retrieve and manage a particular type of information. For example, the user may set portal server 110 to retrieve stock quotes for the latest special class of stocks (e.g., reflecting the user's traffic), collect weather forecasts for the user's hometown, and/or retrieve recent articles related to particular sports privileges. The portal server then retrieves the specific information from other servers (e.g., server 130) on behalf of the user.

In addition to information retrieval and management, in one embodiment, the portal server 110 provides application services such as email, online scheduling (e.g., appointments, customized sheets, etc.), instant messaging, contact management, word processing, and various other online services. The user may access these services by logging into portal server 110 using a valid user ID and password. In one embodiment, the portal server 110 generates a unique personalized web page for each user containing links to all or a portion of the information and/or services the user subscribes to.

Modes for carrying out the invention

In one embodiment, portal device 150 stores and processes user-specified information and/or programs as well as non-user-specified information/programs (e.g., targeted advertising based on user characteristics). The information/programs may be communicated to the portal device 150 by the client 140 and/or directly by wireless broadcast (as shown in fig. 2 and described in detail below). In this way, the portal device 150 of the present embodiment is a mobile extension of the portal server 110, and stores part of the information and services maintained by the portal server 110 on behalf of the user. For example, the user may set the portal server 110 to periodically download the user's customized list (or other data for the appointment) to the portal device (e.g., every morning, every two hours, every time the user connects the portal device to the customer 140, etc.). When the user is not at the office, he/she can simply remove the portal device on his/her body and view his/her schedule throughout the day.

The time of the information/program download may depend on the specific implementation of the portal device 150. For example, if a wireless implementation is used (described below), the portal device 150 can be downloaded at any time while within wireless transmission range; while if a non-wireless implementation is used, the download may be limited only to the time frame that the portal device 150 is connected to the portal server 110.

In one embodiment, the user may customize the attributes of the portal device 150 and the content downloaded to the portal device 150 from the portal server 110. This may be accomplished, for example, by selecting certain attributes/content from the portal server 110 web page (e.g., using an online program interface, as described below). For example, the user may choose to download a daily customized form to his portal device 150, and may also program the device 150 to continuously display the next scheduled event for the day. Various other user interfaces and content-based data may be transmitted from the portal server 110 to the portal device 150 while still complying with the underlying principles of the invention.

Customer connection

As shown in FIG. 1, one embodiment of a portal device 150 communicates with the portal server 110 using a client 140 over a communication connection 160. The communication connection may be established through a physical I/O connection with the client 140, such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface or a communication (serial) interface. Additionally, communication connection 160 may be a wireless connection, such as an infrared I/O channel or a Radio Frequency (RF) I/O channel.

In a particular embodiment, the client connection 160 is formed using a capacitively coupled communication channel. As is well known in the art, a capacitor is any dielectric sandwiched between two conductive elements. In this embodiment, one of the two conductive elements is located within the inlet device 150 and the second of the two conductive elements is located external to the inlet device 150 and communicatively coupled to an I/O port of the customer 140. For example, in one embodiment, the second conductive element may be placed within a mouse pad of a user. According to this embodiment, the user may simply place the portal device on the mouse pad to establish a capacitive communication connection 160 with the client 140. It should be noted, however, that various other client connections 160 may be used while still complying with the underlying principles of the invention.

Direct radio broadcasting

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, data and/or programs are transmitted from the portal server 110 to the portal device 150 over the RF connection 220. In this embodiment, an architecture (hereinafter, portal architecture or PO) that maintains the portal server 110 and/or implements other features of the systems and methods described herein can lease a portion of the RF transmission band from one or more radio stations 210. It should be noted, however, that various RF transmission techniques may be used without departing from the underlying principles of the invention.

Referring to fig. 3, in a particular embodiment, the PO uses the radio station's subcarrier frequency segment 320 to transmit data and/or programs to the portal device 150. As is well known in the art, a radio station is permitted a subcarrier frequency section 320 and a sound carrier frequency section 310. Although some radio stations use subcarrier frequency sections 320 (e.g., foreign language broadcasts), most do not. Because of this, embodiments of the present invention provide a mechanism for transmitting data over a wireless transmission channel that is not used often.

To further limit bandwidth to the subcarrier frequency block 320, in one embodiment, data transmitted over the RF connection 220 is not addressed to any particular ingress device. Instead, in this embodiment, the data is simply transmitted (e.g., using a tag identifying the data) and read by any ingress device 150 received within the subcarrier segment 320. This type of addressing is referred to herein as "data addressable" addressing (as opposed to "device addressable" addressing, where the device address is related to the data being transferred). A single portal device 150 that detects various data transfers may ignore them or may perform some other specific action (e.g., store or display the transferred data), depending on how the device 150 is configured. For example, portal device 150 may be set by the user to track stock quotes for stocks he/she trades and ignore all other stock quotes. Similarly, the user may set the portal device 150 to receive local weather reports, local news feeds, and/or any other information that may be accessed by the user directly on the portal server 110.

In one embodiment, the data broadcast within a particular geographic area is selected based on the number of users in the area who have registered with the portal server 110 and/or the type of data desired by the users in the area. For example, if no user in the area has set the portal server 110 to collect a particular stock quote, then the portal server 110 does not transmit that stock quote over the RF connection 220 in the area. Similarly, the portal server 110 may simply be arranged to transmit local data, such as weather and local news, into the local broadcast area to which the weather and news belong (i.e. where it is most likely to be needed). Broadcast data selected in this manner further increases the frequency band of the RF connection 220 (i.e., by reducing unwanted data transmissions).

In one embodiment, the ingress device 150 may be addressed directly (e.g., by including a device serial number or other ID code in the address field of the data transfer). This embodiment may provide "premium" services to the user by the PO, in which case the user receives personally addressed information (e.g., email messages, daily schedules, etc.) on sub-carriers 360 for an additional fee, as well as the more general information described above. The user of this embodiment may pay on a subscription basis and/or on a per-use basis, depending on the embodiment. Of course, other pricing approaches may be used while still complying with the underlying principles of the invention. This embodiment may also be used by a PO in certain emergency situations (e.g., where it is critical for a particular user to receive data transmissions immediately).

Embodiments of the Inlet device

Fig. 4 shows an exterior view of one embodiment of the access device, which may be used as a key fob. As shown, this embodiment includes a ring 410 of a key chain for securing a set of keys (or other personal items) to a device 420. Also shown is a display 430 for displaying various types of portal data. In one embodiment, the display is a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). Of course, other types of display technologies may be used while still complying with the underlying principles of the invention (e.g., light emitting diode, LED, displays). A set of control buttons 440 and 441 for selecting menu items and/or jumping back and forth between stored entry data; and a control knob 450 for scrolling between menu items and/or data. In one embodiment, the control knob 450 rotates along an axis perpendicular to the plane of the display 430.

Additional useful embodiments of the access device 150 include necklace structures, pocket watch structures, and sports related structures (e.g., the access device is a strap that is tightened around a user's arm). In the latter configuration, the housing of the inlet device may comprise a water-resistant material to avoid water damage to the internal components of the device.

As shown in FIG. 5, one embodiment of the inlet device 150 generally includes a microcontroller 505, an external memory 550, a display controller 575, and a battery 560. The external memory 550 can be used to store programs and/or portal data 565 that are communicated from the portal server 110 to the portal device 150 (e.g., by the client 140 and/or the radio station 210). In one embodiment, the external memory 550 is a non-volatile memory (e.g., an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), etc.). In addition, the memory 550 may be a volatile memory (e.g., random access memory RAM), but the data stored therein may continue to be preserved by the battery 560. The battery 560, in one embodiment, is a button cell battery (e.g., the same battery type as used in portable electronic devices such as calculators and watches). In one embodiment, the portal device 150 will notify the user and/or the portal server 110 when the battery power drops below a threshold. The portal server 110 then automatically sends the new battery to the user in one embodiment.

The microcontroller 505 in one embodiment includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU)510, a Read Only Memory (ROM)570, and a scratch pad RAM 540. The ROM570 further includes an interpretation module 520 and a toolbox module 530.

The toolbox module 530 of the ROM570 contains a set of toolbox routines that process data, text and graphics on the portal device 150. These routines include drawing text and graphics on the portal device's display 430, decompressing data sent from the portal server 110, replicating sound on the portal device 150, and various input/output and communication functions (e.g., sending/receiving data via the client connection 160 and/or the RF connection 220). Various additional access device functions may be included in the tool box 530 while still complying with the underlying principles of the invention.

In one embodiment, the microprogram and portal data 560 are transmitted from the portal server 110 to the external memory 550 of the portal device through the communication interface 570 under the control of the CPU 510. Various communication interfaces 570 may be used without departing from the underlying principles of the invention, including, for example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface or a serial communication (serial) interface. In one embodiment, the microprogram includes compressed interpreted instructions, referred to as "bytecodes," which are converted to native code by the interpretation module 520 prior to execution by the CPU 510. One advantage of this configuration is that when the microcontroller/CPU portion of the portal device is upgraded (e.g., a faster and/or cheaper model), only the interpretation module 520 and the ROM tool box 530 need to be rewritten to interpret the currently existing bytecode for the new microcontroller/CPU. In addition, this configuration allows the portal devices 150 having different CPUs to coexist and execute the same microprogram. Also, the usual routines written in the ROM toolbox module 530 reduce the size of the microprogram stored in the external memory 550, thereby conserving memory and client connection 160 and/or RF connection 220 bandwidth. In one embodiment, a new interpretation module 520 and/or toolbox routine 530 may be developed to execute the same microprogram on a cell phone, Personal Information Manager (PIM), or any other device having a CPU and memory.

One embodiment of ROM570 may include interpreted code written specifically for microcontroller CPU505, as well as native code. More particularly, some toolbox routines may be written as interpreted code (as indicated by the arrow between the toolbox 530 and the interpretation module 520) to conserve memory and bandwidth for the same reasons as described above with reference to microprograms. Also, in one embodiment, the data and microprograms stored in the external memory 550 may be designed to overwrite the old version data/microprograms stored in the ROM570 (e.g., in the ROM toolbox 530).

Data compression

As described above, the microprogram and the portal data may be sent to the portal device 150 in a compressed format. As such, in one embodiment, decompression logic is programmed into microcontroller ROM570 (e.g., in tool box 530) and used to interpret and/or decompress the microprograms/data as they are received.

In one embodiment, a plurality of uncompressed data is stored in ROM570 and a code identifying the uncompressed data is transmitted over RF connection 220 and/or client connection 160. For example, instead of transmitting the entire market code for a particular stock, such as Microsoft's "MSFT," a compressed code, such as "M," may be transmitted to the portal device 150. In this embodiment the ROM570 may include a look-up table (or similar decoding logic) that uses the compression code "M" to retrieve the actual market code "MSFT". Once the actual code is retrieved from the ROM570, it may be displayed on the portal device 150, as shown in fig. 4. It should be noted that the underlying principles of the invention may be implemented using different encoding schemes and/or digital compression techniques.

User registration and authentication

One embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to the flowchart of fig. 6. According to this embodiment, when a user initially connects to the portal server 110 (e.g., from the client 140), the portal server 110 will determine whether the portal device plug-in is installed on the user's web browser (at 615). As is well known in the art, plug-ins are auxiliary programs added to web browsers that provide them with a new level of functionality. One embodiment of the present invention uses plug-ins to coordinate communications between the portal server 110, the client 140, and the portal device 150. Additionally, the plug-in may convert and/or compress "standard" portals/data (e.g., programs/data executing on the client 140) into micro-programs/data that the portal device can properly interpret, as described herein. If the plug-in is not installed, the portal server 110 can automatically send and install it to the client 140 (at 625).

At 630, the portal server 110 determines (e.g., via a plug-in) whether the portal device is currently connected to the client 140. If the device 150 is connected, then in one embodiment, the portal server 110 automatically logs in to the user. The portal server 110 can automatically authenticate the portal device 150 via a serial number and/or a user authentication password embedded/stored in the device 150. Once the user logs into the portal server, he/she can send data to the portal device 150 and receive data from the portal device 150, as described herein.

However, if the device 150 is not connected, then the portal server 110 may perform a standard user name/password login procedure and/or may register the user (at 640). During the registration process, the user may be asked to answer a series of questions about his/her context (e.g., habits, education, occupation, etc.). The portal device 110 can use this information to personalize the content collected and provided by the user and/or to provide advertisements based on the user's preferences. Additionally, at this point the user may have the opportunity to set up the portal server 110 to collect and manage specific information (e.g., specific stocks, athletic performances, news, etc.) on behalf of the user and/or to access certain online applications (e.g., emails, electronic schedules, etc.) on behalf of the user, as described herein.

On-line programming interface

In one embodiment, a registered user is provided with a visual programming interface, such as that shown in FIG. 7. In this embodiment, the user may configure their own microprogram to execute on the portal device 150 and/or the client 140. For example, a user may define a chunk as a hyperlink, data pointing to a particular piece or series of data (e.g., AT & T's current stock quote, san francisco's weather forecast, etc.) and may also indicate how often the hypertext related data is updated. A plurality of such blocks may be linked together to form a continuous sequence of information that is displayed on the portal device 150 or the client 140. The particular program generated by the user may depend on whether wireless access device 150 is being used. For example, a microprogram designed to download the latest stock quotes may require a wireless connection to the portal server 110 to be effective.

As shown in fig. 7, the user may also animate and/or sound in the inlet device 150. For example, block 710 points to a particular image file (e.g., a bitmap file), and block 715 points to a particular music file (e.g., a musical instrument digital interface or "MIDI" file). The user may move the image in a prescribed direction (e.g., using X and Y coordinates) on the display 430 of the portal device 150 via block 720. At the same time, the user may program block 725 to play the music track identified in block 715. The temporary link 722 indicates that the motion of the image occurs concurrently with the playing of the music track. Block 720 indicates that both the music and the image are about to reach the end of the program.

In one embodiment, standard image and/or music files stored at the client 140 are converted into a format interpretable by the portal device (e.g., using a conversion module included in the client plug-in). For example, the melody is fetched from the MIDI file and sent to the entry device as a series of annotations. Similarly, bitmap or JPEG images may be converted so that they are properly displayed on portal device display 430, which in one embodiment is a black and white LCD display.

Entry password operation

In one embodiment, each portal device 150 includes a portal password for uniquely identifying the device, user, and/or specific data on the portal server. The password may be permanently embedded in the device (e.g., the password may be a serial number) or, alternatively, may be manually selected by the user (e.g., a user ID in the portal server 110) or may be assigned to the device by the portal server 110.

Regardless of how the portal password is generated, as shown in FIG. 8, in one embodiment, the user may exchange passwords between portal devices. Specifically, the entry device 810 in the figure receives an entry password (password number 5331998TW) from the entry device 820. In one embodiment, when the user of the portal device 810 connects to the portal server 110 to receive the portal password, he/she may access information and/or services associated with the password. For example, the user of the portal password 820 may store personal and/or business related information on the portal server 110 that he/she wants to share with the user of the portal device 810.

Several portal password applications can be accomplished using this type of portal password exchange. This includes, for example, social invitations; business card exchange (i.e., where the user of the portal device 820 stores online business cards on the portal server 110); personal photo exchange; and/or exchange any other information suitable for storage on a computer network. It should be noted, however, that the underlying principles of the invention are not limited to any particular type of information exchange.

Exchanging portal passwords in the manner described above provides an efficient mechanism for exchanging information using limited portal device memory because the underlying information is stored on the portal server 110, rather than the portal server 150 itself. In addition, when the user exchanges the password, the user is free to continue updating the information/services on the portal server 110 to which the password provides access. For example, a user may exchange a password with a prospective employer and then update his/her resume on the portal server 110. Similarly, if the user is engaged in a study, he/she may exchange his/her password with him/her and continue to update the study data on the portal server 110.

In one embodiment, the user may set a number of different passwords on the portal server, each pointing to a different type of information and/or service. The user can then select a particular password to send to the second user (e.g., using the portal device controls 440, 441, 450) based on the information and/or services provided to the second user. For example, the user may set a business code to point to business related information/services (e.g., a company brochure) and a personal code to point to personal information/services (e.g., a personal photo). In one embodiment, the portal device 150 includes a standard password for generally identifying the portal device 150 and other users of the portal server 110, as well as any number of user-defined "sub-keys" (e.g., business data and personal data as described above) for exchanging more specific user data.

Various advertising and promotional services can be implemented in accordance with the underlying principles of the invention. In one embodiment, the portal device may be set up to broadcast the password to users in a commercial environment, such as a supermarket or car dealership. The user may choose to receive the password on his/her portal device so that additional password-related product/service information is available when he/she logs into the portal server 110. In this manner, merchants may offer various types of internet promotions/discounts to users. Instead, the user may choose to send his/her password to an entry device located at the merchant, requesting that the merchant automatically provide the user with additional product/service information (e.g., via email, phone, etc.).

In one embodiment, advertisements and/or coupons may be sent to the user's portal device 150. This may be through customer connection 160 and/or RF connection 220. The advertisement/coupon may be sent at a statistically significant time if sent over the customer connection 160 (one embodiment of the portal device 150 includes a digital clock). For example, Starbucks * coffee advertisements may be downloaded to the portal device 150 at random times, and may be downloaded before morning users are on duty. Personal information about the user (e.g., user preferences, user daily schedule, etc.) may be broken down into temporal decisions and/or decisions related to advertisements sent to the user. The advertisement/coupon may also be automatically sent over the RF connection 220 at any time/date.

If a coupon is sent, the user may redeem the coupon in a number of ways. In one embodiment, the user may simply present the coupon password to an employee of the merchant who is working at the location where the coupon is available. Additionally, the portal device may be designed to automatically redeem coupons directly at the merchant (e.g., via a coupon exchange feature similar to the password exchange feature described above). The merchant portal device may communicate with the portal server 110 to continue sending and receiving coupon data. In one embodiment, the user entry device is designed to display a barcode that identifies the received coupon/service, which can be interpreted by the merchant's barcode device for redemption of the coupon/service.

In one embodiment, the coupon or advertisement may be sent from a portal device located at the merchant to the user portal device 150 (in contrast to the above embodiments where the coupon/advertisement is sent by the portal server 110). In this embodiment, the advertisement/coupon may be automatically received when the user's portal device 150 comes within range of the merchant portal device. In one embodiment, the merchant portal device sends a password to the user's portal device 150, and the user may subsequently obtain additional information (e.g., regarding a particular product or service) from the portal server 110. In this embodiment, the merchant portal device may or may not communicate directly with the portal server 110.

It is noted that the above described inlet devices and associated methods include different commercial methods. In addition, according to a particular business method, once a user registers with the portal server 110, the PO will be distributed to the free (or some symbolic cost) user's portal device 150. Upon receipt of portal device 150 (e.g., in a mail), the user will connect to the portal device (e.g., via customer connection 160) and register portal device 150 on portal server 110. The user may then set the manner in which he/she uses the portal device 150 (e.g., by selecting the type of portal data/micro-program processed and stored in the device). In one embodiment, the user will make a selection to upgrade to a more advanced portal apparatus 150 at a prescribed cost. In one embodiment, however, the cost does not exceed the cost of manufacturing and delivering the device to the user.

In one embodiment, the portal device 150 to the user has pre-set data and/or advertisements already stored in the device 150. This may include, for example, user name and address; appointment data received by the user on the device daily/weekly; and/or any other data stored by the user on the portal server 110.

In a particular embodiment, the entry device 150 is configured to display shipping information (e.g., a shipping barcode and/or a destination address) on the display 430. The carrier may use this data to send the portal device 150 to the customer. This embodiment may be shipped to the user using a transparent package so that the shipping data can be easily read/scanned.

Other embodiments

As described above, the portal device 150 can communicate with the portal server 110 using various RF communication techniques. For example, in one particular embodiment, the inlet device 150 transmits data to and receives data from a cellular network via the Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) standard. As is well known in the art, the CDPD standard is a digital wireless standard used to enhance current analog cellular networks. It provides packet coverage to the AMPS network and transmits data at 19.2Kbps over a continuously varying unused interval in a standard voice channel. Thus, the portal device of this embodiment is able to search for normal unused bandwidth on a nationwide simulated cellular network. The access device of this embodiment may also be configured to transmit/receive data using various other communication standards, including two-way paging standards and third generation (3G) wireless standards (e.g., UTMS, CDMA2000, NTT DoCoMo, etc.).

As described above, because the portal device 150 of some embodiments is configured to handle hardware-independent interpreted code (e.g., via the interpretation module 520, such as a Java virtual machine), applications can enter a new hardware platform without significant changes. Additionally, as shown in FIG. 9, in one embodiment, communication functionality is provided through the module network interface 916, thereby eliminating the need to change the current portal device application 910 or most of the bytecode interpreter 912. For example, when changing from a CDPD network to a 3G network, only the network interface portion 916 of VM interpreter 912 (and any required 3G hardware 914) needs to be upgraded to support the new 3G protocol.

As described above (and as shown in FIG. 9), in one embodiment, the interpretation module 912 on the entry device 150 is a Java virtual machine. As such, the portal device 150 of this embodiment is capable of executing a large number of Java applications (e.g., applets/bytecodes) 910 that are currently hardware independent. Also, as shown in FIG. 9, one embodiment of the entry device uses a 32-bit RISC based microprocessor, such as an ARM processor. As is well known in the art, ARM processors are widely used in PDAs, cellular phones, and a wide variety of other wireless devices. It should be noted that various other hardware and software (and/or firmware) configurations may be employed with the access device 150 while still complying with the underlying principles of the invention.

As described above, the portal server 110 of one embodiment converts standard applications and data into a format that can be properly interpreted by the portal device 150. Thus, as shown in fig. 9, the portal server 110 of this embodiment can include a content conversion module 920 for processing requests for internet content 940 by the portal device 150. More particularly, in one embodiment, the portal server 110 acts as a proxy for the portal device 150, sending internet requests 940, 941 to the appropriate internet site 130 on behalf of the portal device 150, receiving feedback from the internet site 130 in a standard internet grid format (e.g., web pages embedding audio/video and graphical content), and converting the standard internet feedback 924 into a format (e.g., byte code) that the portal device 150 can process.

For example, the conversion module 920 may include a hypertext markup language (HTML) translation module (not shown) to interpret the HTML code and download any content (e.g., graphics, video, sound, etc.) embedded in the HTML code to the portal server 110. The translation module 920 may then integrate the HTML code and the embedded content and generate a set of bytecodes for accurately copying the requested content to the portal device 150. As described above, in one embodiment, the bytecode may be a Java bytecode/applet. However, various other types of interpreted and/or non-interpreted code may be generated depending on the particular type of portal device 150 used (e.g., one with or without an interpretation module).

Because the portal server 110 has direct data (e.g., screen size, graphics/sound capabilities, available memory, processing power, user preferences, etc.) for each portal device 150's capabilities/settings, it can accurately reconstruct requested internet content while minimizing the bandwidth required to deliver the content to the devices 150. For example, the conversion module 920 may perform adjustments of the predetermined size and color depth of the desired content so that it can be properly translated in the display of the portal device 150. In making these calculations, the conversion may be made in memory and processing power available on the portal device 150. In addition, the translation module 920 may compress the desired content (thereby conserving network bandwidth) using a variety of compression techniques.

In one embodiment, the conversion module 920 may simply discard the internet content where the discarded content cannot be copied on the portal device 150, or the user indicates that he/she does not want to copy on the portal device. For example, the user may indicate that he/she does not want to produce a sound on the portal device 150 or that he/she does not want an advertisement to send to the portal device 150. Conversion module 920 then removes any sounds or advertisements (or other requested internet content) embedded in the requested web page. Because the internet content/data translations and other pre-processed HTML are downloaded to portal server 110, portal device 150 can be manufactured using a low-power microprocessor or microcontroller, as described above, thereby reducing the cost of manufacture and/or the energy consumed by device 150.

In one embodiment, when a particular web page or other internet object has been converted into a format suitable for execution on portal device 150 (e.g., Java bytecode and data), the formatted web page/object may be stored locally in cache 925 of portal server 110 (or other PO maintained server). In this way, the next time content is requested, the translation module 920 may simply read the previously generated code from the local cache 925 (i.e., no longer need to read the content from a remote location for re-construction of the code).

Various caching techniques and algorithms may be used to ensure that the cache 925 stores the internet data efficiently (i.e., produces an acceptable percentage of cache "hits") and that the data is up-to-date. For example, portal server 110 may cache internet data that is most frequently requested (e.g., Yahoo)^TMHome page of) and content may be removed from the cache according to the least recently used cache. Additionally, to ensure that the data stored in the cache is up-to-date, the portal server 110 may compare the version of the data stored in the cache 925 to the version of the data stored on the remote internet site 130 when requesting the data. Similarly, the portal server 110 can store data in the cache before verifying the new version of the remote server 130And 925 storing for a predetermined period of time. Various other internet caching techniques may also be used while still complying with the underlying principles of the invention (e.g., those defined in the Internet Cache Protocol (ICP) and/or the Cache Array Routing Protocol (CARP)).

Adjustable display

Shown in fig. 10a, 10b and 10c is a data processing apparatus 1000 with an adjustable display 1030 according to an embodiment of the invention. The data processing device 1000 in one embodiment is the portal device 150 described above. However, adjustable display 1030 may be used on virtually any type of device capable of processing data. In one embodiment, the data processing device 1000 includes a keyboard 1010, a control knob/wheel 1020 (e.g., for scrolling between menu items and/or data), a set of control buttons 1050 (e.g., for selecting menu items and/or data). It should be noted, however, that the specific control knobs, control buttons and keypad configurations shown in fig. 10a-c are not necessary to comply with the underlying principles of the invention.

In one embodiment, the display 1030 is hingedly connected to the data processing device 1000. More specifically, the display 1030 rotates about a hinge point 1045 located at the hinge region 1040 from the closed position shown in FIG. 10a to the open position shown in FIGS. 10 b-c. When in the closed position, the display 1030 covers the keyboard 1010, thereby reducing the size of the device 1000 and protecting the keyboard 1010. However, even when the display is in the closed position, the control knobs 1020 and control buttons 1050 are exposed and thus accessible to the user. Movement of display 1030 from the closed position to the open position is indicated by the movement arrows shown in fig. 10 a-b. As shown, when in the open position, the keypad 1010 is fully exposed. Thus, it is advantageous that the display is visible and that the user has access to data in both the open and closed positions (although the keyboard is accessible only when open).

In one embodiment, a switch (not shown) in device 1000 is triggered when display 1030 is moved from one position to the next. The hardware/software within the device is designed to read the position of the switch and reverse the graphics displayed on the display depending on the position of the switch. Thus, the graphics displayed on display 1030 are right-side-up, regardless of whether display 1030 is in an open or closed position. Additionally, in one embodiment, the switch may trigger a different user interface (or other operating system function). For example, when the display is moved to a closed position, the user interface may be displayed so that it is easier to navigate using only the control buttons 1050 and control knobs 1020 (e.g., without using the keypad 1010). Various other interface functions that may be triggered by the switch may be consistent with the underlying principles of the invention. Also, the various different types of switches that may be used on the device 1000 include standard mechanical switches, electronic switches (e.g., capacitive/magnetic switches), or any combination thereof.

If standard electrical wiring is used to electrically connect data processing device 1000 and display 1030, hinge region 1040 should be wide enough to accommodate the electrical wiring. However, various other types of electrical connections may be used between data processing device 1000 and display 1030. For example, in one embodiment, the display 1030 may be communicatively connected to the processing device 1000 via a wireless connection (e.g., using the bluetooth standard, ieee802.11b, capacitive coupling, etc.). If designed for wireless connectivity, the display 1030 may be separate from the processing device 1000.

Also, various types of physical connections may be used for rotatably mounting the display 1030 on the processing device 100. For example, in one embodiment, device 1000 is mated to display 1030 using a set of circular rails or tracks (not shown).

The control knobs 1020 and control buttons 1050 may be programmed to perform various functions that are in applications executing on the processing device 1000. For example, if an email client program is executing on the device 1000, the control knob 1020 may be designed to scroll through a list of email messages in the user's inbox (e.g., to highlight the current email message on the display 1030). One control button 1050 may be designed to select a particular email message in the list. The second control button may be designed as a "back" button allowing the user to exit the selected email message and/or move up in the menu/folder hierarchy. The third button may be designed to bring the user to a desired location within the email application (e.g., the top in a menu/folder hierarchy) or within an operating system executing on the processing device 1000. In one embodiment, the functions performed by the buttons 1050 and control knobs 1020 may be programmed by the end user. In addition, a variety of different control elements may be used in the processing device 1000 while still complying with the underlying principles of the invention.

Illustrated in fig. 11a-c is a data processing apparatus 1110 having an adjustable display 1140 according to another embodiment of the present invention. The adjustable display 1140 of this embodiment is coupled to the device 1110 by a support arm 1130 and rotatably couples the data processing device 1110 and the display 1140 together by a set of hinges 1132 and 1134, respectively. Display 1030 may be folded into a "closed" position according to motion arrows 1160 and 1162 in FIG. 11 c. When in the closed position, display 1140 covers keyboard 1150, thereby reducing the size of device 1000 and protecting keyboard 1150. As shown, this embodiment may also include a control knob 1120 and a set of control buttons 1125 that may be accessed by a user when the display 1140 is closed.

As with the previous embodiment, the display 1140 of this embodiment is visible to the user in either the open or closed position. In other words, when display 1140 is moved to a closed position over a keyboard, the screen of display 1140 is oriented in an upward direction as indicated by motion arrows 1160 + 1162 (i.e., so that a user can view and access data using control buttons 1125 and control buttons 1120, and, although this embodiment may not require a switch to reverse the graphics on display 1140 as described above, a switch may be used in this embodiment to adjust the user interface (e.g., for use with control buttons 1120 and/or control buttons 1125).

Embodiments of the present invention may include various steps, as described above. The steps may be embodied in machine-executable instructions. The instructions may be for causing a general-purpose or special-purpose processor to perform certain steps. Additionally, the steps may be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardware logic for performing the steps, or by any combination of programmed computer components and custom hardware components.

Elements of the present invention may also be provided as a machine-readable medium for storage in machine-executable instructions. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs, magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, propagation media or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. For example, the present invention may be downloaded as a computer program which may be transferred from a remote computer (e.g., a server) to a requesting computer (e.g., a client) by way of data signals embodied in a carrier wave or other propagation medium via a communication connection (e.g., a modem or network connection).

The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. For example, while the system described above uses a single portal server 110, another embodiment of the invention may include a number of different servers (e.g., database servers, web servers, etc.), and/or mirror servers distributed across a network. Also, while the above embodiments have focused on an entry device that executes interpreted code (e.g., Java bytecode), the principles of the invention may also be implemented on devices that execute non-interpreted code. Accordingly, the scope and spirit of the invention are defined by the appended claims.

Claims (18)

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a data processing device;

a first set of control elements and a second set of control elements integrally formed directly on the data processing device; and

a display including a display area for displaying images generated by the data processing device, the display being connected to the data processing device at a hinge point and being rotatable about the hinge point from a first position to a second position, wherein the display is visible in both the first position and the second position, and wherein both the first set of control elements and the second set of control elements are exposed when the display is in the second position; when the display is in the first position, only the second set of control elements are exposed;

wherein the display covers the first set of control elements when the display is in a first position; the display does not cover the second set of control elements when the display is in a first position; and

wherein the second set of control elements comprises a control knob and a set of control buttons, wherein the control knob is operable to scroll between menu items and/or data regardless of whether the display is in the first position or the second position, and the control buttons are operable to select menu items and/or data.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the first set of control elements comprises a keyboard.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the display is upside down in the second position compared to the first position.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:

a switch configured to be a trigger when the display is rotated from the second position to the first position.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

graphics inversion logic to invert graphics on the display in response to activation of the switch.

6. An apparatus, comprising:

a data processing device having a first set of control elements and a second set of control elements; and

a display, the display area of which defines a plane, the display being rotatably connected to the data processing device and being designed to rotate about a rotation axis in the plane from a first position to a second position; said axis of rotation being substantially orthogonal to said plane such that said display can undergo at least said partial rotation; wherein the image displayed on the display is visible in either the first position or the second position;

wherein the display covers the first set of control elements when the display is in the first position; when the display is in the first position, the display does not cover the second set of control elements; and

wherein the second set of control elements comprises a control knob and a set of control buttons, wherein the control knob is operable to scroll between menu items and/or data regardless of whether the display is in the first position or the second position, and the control buttons are operable to select menu items and/or data.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the first set of control elements comprises a keyboard.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

a switch configured to be a trigger when the display is rotated from the first position to the second position.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

graphics inversion logic to invert graphics on the display in response to activation of the switch.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the control knob is designed to scroll between items in the list.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein one of said control buttons is designed to select an item in said list.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein one of said control buttons is configured to exit the selected item.

13. The device of claim 6, wherein the control buttons and control knobs are user programmable.

14. An apparatus, comprising:

a data processing device;

a first set of control elements and a second set of control elements integrally formed directly on the data processing device; and

a display having a display area for displaying images generated by said data processing device, said display being cooperatively associated with said data processing device so as to be rotatable from a first position to a second position, wherein images are viewable in said display area when said display is in both said first position and said second position;

wherein both the first set of control elements and the second set of control elements are exposed when the display is in the second position; when the display is in the first position, only the second set of control elements are exposed;

wherein the first set of control elements comprises a keypad and the second set of control elements comprises a control knob and control buttons, wherein the control knob is operable to scroll between menu items and/or data and the control buttons are operable to select menu items and/or data whether the display is in the first position or the second position.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the display is rotatably coupled to the data processing device and is configured to rotate between the first position and the second position in a plane substantially perpendicular to an axis of rotation of the display.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the second position is inverted relative to the first position.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein an image displayed on the display is reversed when the display is moved between the first position and the second position.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

a switch configured to be a trigger when the display is rotated from the first position to the second position; and a graphic inversion logic to invert a graphic on the display in response to activation of the switch.