WO2001061974A1

WO2001061974A1 - Mobile telephone with improved navigation device

Info

Publication number: WO2001061974A1
Application number: PCT/GB2001/000670
Authority: WO
Inventors: Eric Gerondeau
Original assignee: Vtech Mobile Limited
Priority date: 2000-02-18
Filing date: 2001-02-16
Publication date: 2001-08-23
Also published as: GB2359697A; AU2001233881A1; GB0003946D0

Abstract

A joystick, positioned close to a display of the mobile telephone, is used to navigate through menus on the display (e.g. up and down levels of the menu and up and down lists of functions at the same level) and also to select and/or initiate functions. A user can use the joystick whilst continuously watching the screen, making navigation far easier. Further, the user merely has to nudge the joystick in the required direction (typically 'right' to navigate deeper through a menu structure, e.g. from the top level to the first level or to select a function; 'left' to navigate up through the levels; 'up' to navigate up a list of options at a given level; 'down' to navigate down a list of options at a given level).

Description

Mobile Telephone with improved navigation device

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a mobile telephone and in particular to a mobile telephone with an improved 5 navigation device. The term mobιle telephone' used in this patent specification should be expansively construed to cover any kind of mobile device with communications capabilities and includes radio telepnones, smart phones, communicators, and wireless ιυ information devices. It includes devices able to communicate using not only mobile radio such as GSM or UMTS, but also any other kind of wireless communications system, such as Bluetooth.

Description of the Prior Art

is One cf the problems facing the designers of mobile telephone user interfaces (often called 'man machine interfaces' or ^ΛMMIs') is how to allow t_~e user to comprehend the internal status of the mobile telephone. For example, to select or initiate a function (e.g. to

2u open an address book function, enter a PIN security number or to alter the ring melody) a user has to understand that the status of the telephone is such that the function can be selected or initiated. A closely related problem s how to enable a user to

25 confidently alter the internal status of the pnone . This process can be thought of as the problem of how to enable a user to confidently navigate through the feature set of the telephone. Because many quite intricate operations have to be mastered early on for

3u most mobile telephone users (setting security codes, altering ring melodies etc.), it is particularly important to facilitate the task of navigating to and activating features m the required way.

In addition, mobile telephones offer a very wide (and 5 ever increasing) range of functions. The design of an effective MMI which can be (a) easily navigated by novices yet is (b) flexible enough to enable a large number of functions to be included, is a very challenging task. In fact, it is widely acknowledged o that few mobile telephone owners regularly use any but the most basic telephone features because current MMIs are difficult to fully understand. Hence, the technical problem of effectively enabling the user to understand the internal status of the mobile telephone has to date s been inadequately addressed.

One of the reasons why many conventional MMIs are inadequate is that mobile telephones are small handheld devices which generally include small display screens. The size of display screens, even for PDA type devices, u is far too small to handle a rich and effective MMI, such as the Apple Macintosh Operating System MMI . As a consequence, MMI designers have tended to use text based MMIs, even though the superiority of graphical user interfaces has long been accepted in the desktop 5 computing environment.

Conventionally, the small display size has also meant that several hierarchies of functions have to be offered to a user: the interface can be thought of as having many layers, with the user having to first u locate the correct top level function and then, within that function, progressively drill down (sometimes through 3 or more layers) to complete the required task. Hence, for example, if a user wishes to enter a new telephone number into an address book stored on the mobile phone, he has to locate a top level function, typically called 'Address Book' . He then selects that function and is presented with a list of second level functions relevant to the 'Address book' top level function. These second level functions typically include options for reading the contents of the Address Book, entering a new number and password protecting access to the address book. Say the user selects the option for entering a new number; he then is presented with a third level screen display asking him to complete various fields with the contact information.

With pure text based, multi-level MMIs, it can be very difficult for users to build up an understanding of the structure of the MMI; without understanding, it is very difficult to navigate extensively.

Very recently, some manufacturers have introduced GSM mobile telephones which are beginning to move away from the text only MMI. For example, the Philips Xemurn telephone can display several icons on screen; Nokia and Mitsubishi have GSM telephones which can display one icon on a screen at a time. Reference may also be made to some PC operating systems and applications, in which a contextual help system is used: when the user places the mouse arrow over an icon, folder etc. for more than a couple of seconds, a help call-out or balloon appears with an explanation of the function of the icon, folder etc. It is particularly important that the physical device (s) used to control navigation are not only easy to operate but al o that the way m which they are controlled intuitively matches up with the navigation ^ tasks to be accomplished. Conventionally, these navigation devices are 4 separate buttons (for example, for Up, Down, Accept and Reject) . A user has to carefully select the correct button. That generally means that the user has to take his eyes off the iυ screen. In some devices, a single rocker switch will overlie 4 separate buttons. But rocker switches can also require a user to take his eyes off the screen and instead concentrate on selecting and using the navigation button correctly. That m turn makes if far is harder, especially for the inexperienced user, to follow and concentrate on the MMI. Where the MMI is difficult to follow anyway (as with text based, multilevel conventional GSM telephones, for example) , navigation devices which require a user to take his 0 eyes off the screen can be difficult to use.

Statement of the Invention

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a mobile telephone comprises a joystick to 5 navigate to or from and/or select and/or initiate one or more functions iconically and/or textually listed on a display.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a joystick, 30 positioned close to a display of the mobile telephone, is used to navigate through menus on the display (e.g. up and down levels of the menu and up and down lists of functions at the same level) and also to select and/or initiate functions. A user can use the joystick whilst continuously watching the screen, making navigation far easier. Further, the user merely has to nudge the joystick in the required direction (typically 'right' 5 to navigate deeper through a menu structure, e.g. from the top level to the second level or to select a function; 'left' to navigate up through the levels; 'up' to navigate up a list of options at a given level; 'down' to navigate down a list of options at a given lυ level ) .

The action of nudging in these directions is more intuitively associated with the associated navigation actions than the conventional button pressing approach. Hence, a joystick is far preferable to conventional is selection mechanisms since even an inexperienced user rapidly learns to use the joystick appropriately.

The movements of the joystick can be further integrated within an overall, consistent control scheme as follows: nudging the joystick to the 'left' can be used o to erase one or more letters of text wnen the user is in a mode in which text is being entered. A more prolonged nudge may cause an entire word or sentence of text to be erased. This is preferably coupled with the function of nudging the joystick to the 'left' 5 cancelling a function or option. Hence, 'left' nudges on the joystick are consistently associated with stepping backwards, or the conceptually associated cancelling of a function or option. Preferably, an 'end' button is positioned on the left hand side of the 0 telephone and if selected by a user causes the telephone to terminate a call; this reinforces the left hand side as the side of the phone associated with stepping backwards.

'Right' nudges can be associated with going forwards. Hence, a 'send' button can be positioned on the right hand side of the telephone and if selected by a user will cause the telephone to dial out or answer an incoming call; then, the joystick if nudged to the right constitutes an acceptance or initiation of a function or option.

The term 'joystick' refers to a control element which is mounted such that it can be pushed in different directions by a user. Typically, movement in one direction activates one sensor; movement m a different direction activates another. In an embodiment, a joystick is pivotally mounted, with 4 micro-switches adjacent to the base of the joystick, so that 1 microswitch is activated when the joystick moves in a direction within a given range of angles and a different micro-switch is activated when the joystick moves m a different direction, within a given range of angles. The joystick is preferably positioned carefully on the front face of the mobile telephone to maximise the possibility of ergonomic, ideally one handed operation. In addition, the joystick may protrude through an aperture in the front face of the mobile telephone; the size of the aperture must be carefully selected so that it is no bigger than that needed for the joystick to move freely within the aperture. The joystick typically comprises a cap of generally cylindrical shape sized so that the cap does not contact a housing surrounding an aperture through which the joystick protrudes even when the joystick is fully displaced in any direction. This is preferable to the conventional cap shape, which is a flatter, elliptical disc, which can be difficult to manufacture to the correct tolerances so that it does not contact the housing when fully displaced. Additionally, it is easier to control a cylindrical cap without looking at it than a conventional elliptical cap.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings m which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a mobile telephone in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a side view of a mobile telephone in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the possible movement which a joystick may make;

Figure 4 is a screen shot showing a top level screen;

Figure 5 is a screen shot showing the top level screen displayed when a user navigates down one step through the top level screen functions shown in figure 4;

Figure 6 is a screen shot showing the second level screen displayed when a user navigates one step deeper into the Phone Bonk function shown as selected in Figure l ; Figure 7 is a screen shot showing the second level screen displ yd when a user navigates down one step through the second level screen functions shown in Figure 6 (i.e. down through the Phone ^E Book functions);

Figure 8 is a screen shot showing the second level screen displayed when a user navigates down one further step through the second level Phone Book functions shown in Figure 7 ;

O Figure 9 is a screen shot showing the second level screen displayed when a user navigates up one step through the second level Phone Book functions shown in Figure 8.

Figure 10 is a top view of a portion of a mobile s telephone incorporating a joystick in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 11 is a sectional view through the mobile telephone of Figure 10;

Figure 12 is a perspective view of the mobile o telephone of Figure 10.

Figure 13 is a sectional view through the mobile telephone of Figure 10 showing two kinds of navigator cap design displaced at 9 degrees from the vertical. Detailed Description

Referring now to Figure 1, a GSM mobile telephone is shown generally at 1. It includes the conventional features of a display 2, a start call button 4, an end 5 call button 3 and numeric keys indicated generally at 6. Start call button 4 is commonly labelled with a green telephone handset shown off-hook or marked with the word 'SEND' . End call button 3 is commonly labelled with a red telephone handset shown on-hook or marked ιu with the word 'END' . In addition, it also includes a joystick 5, which can be more clearly seen m figure 2 as comprising a short cylindrical member up standing from the front face of the telephone 1. As shown in Figure 3, the joystick can be readily pushed by a user is in one of 4 different directions. Joysticks of this kind are available from ITT Canon (ref . TPA 413G) .

The MMI allows fast, intuitive navigation to take place. That is best appreciated from Figures 4 to 9. Figure 4 is a screen shot showing a top level screen;

20 the Phone Book icon is readily understood by a user to have been reached since it is (a) at the top of its line, (b) is coupled with the cartoon style call out including the explanatory text 'Phone Book' and (c) no other icons include explanatory text . Hence the user

25 is informed that the internal status of the telephone is such that Phone Book functions can be selected. (From a theoretical perspective, the mobile telephone can be though of as a state machine; effectively representing the actual state to a user and enabling

30 the user to alter the condition of the state machine is the task of the MMI) . - lo in figure 4, the next icon down the line is a telephone with an arrow. This represents the 'Diversion' function. To reach the Diversion function, the user nudges the joystick down. Figure 5 shows the result: s the Diversion function is shown at the top of the line, accompanied by a call out balloon stating 'Diversion' . Coupling the downwards nudge of the joystick with moving downwards through a line of icons makes navigation easily understood and readily achieved o without any need for the user to takes his eyes off the display.

Returning to Figure 1, the Phone Book function can be selected by simply nudging the joystick to the right; this takes the user to the Phone Book related features s depicted m Figure 6 - a second level set of functions/features. The user is going deeper into the levels now, so that a nudge to the right is a natural way of expressing this movement. Each of the four top level icons appear to twist around through 180 degrees o when the joystick is nudged to the right. Four icons appear to continue twisting around, but these are now icons of the second level functions related to the Phone Book function. These 4 new icons appear to rotate through 180 degrees to yield the Figure 6 5 display.

Figure 6 shows that the 'Consult' feature has been reached since the associated icon plus call out is at the top of the line. The 'Consult' feature can be selected simply by nudging the joystick to the right 0 again. A phone book would then be displayed. If a different Phone Book feature is needed, then the user has to navigate down the list of second level Phone Book icons. One nudge down of the joystick takes the user to the display shown in figure 7: the feature

'Draft' has now moved to the top of the line and is accompanied by the call out 'Draft' . This icon, plus the other icons further down, appear to move up the line. The 'Draft' function can be readily selected with a nudge to the right. A further nudge down however takes the user down the line of Phone Book features to yield the Figure 8 display, in which the 'Own number' feature has been reached. Moving up through the second level Phone book features is achieved through nudging the joystick up, as shown in Figure 9. Returning to the top level screen (i.e. as depicted in figure 4) is achieved through nudging the joystick to the left.

The movements of the joystick can be further integrated within an overall, consistent control scheme as follows: nudging the joystick to the 'left' can be used to erase one or more letters of text when the user is in a mode in which text is being entered. A more prolonged nudge may cause an entire word or sentence of text to be erased. As explained above, the function of nudging the joystick to the 'left' cancels a function or option. Hence, 'left' nudges on the joystick are consistently associated with stepping backwards, or the conceptually associated cancelling of a function or option. The 'end' call button 3 is positioned on the left hand side of the telephone and if selected by a user causes the telephone to terminate- a call; this reinforces the left hand side as the side of the phone associated with stepping backwards.

'Right' nudges can be associatec with going forwards. Hence, the 'send' button 4 is positioned on the right hand side of the telephone; then, the joystick if nudged to the πr.ht constitutes an acceptance or initiation of a function or option.

The joystick is centrally positioned between the 'send' <■ button 4 and the 'end' button 3, as shown in Figures 1 and 10. Ergonomic, one handed navigation and sending/ending operations are therefore possible. In addition, the joystick is an ITT Cannon TPA 413G joystick 5A, over which a plastic or rubber navigator ' button 5B is placed. Navigator button 5B protrudes through an aperture 7 m the front face of the mobile telephone, most clearly apparent from Figure 12. The size of the aperture 7 must be carefully selected so that it is no bigger than that needed for the navigator is button 5B to move freely within the aperture. Navigator button 5B when fully pushed towards the front housing 8 of the front face of the mobile telephone does not actually contact the front housing 8.

The optimal shape of the navigator button 5B has been z<) found to be generally cylindrical. This can be contrasted with the flatter, conventional elliptical shape, shown in cross section at 5C in Figure 13. It is difficult to economically manufacture a conventional flatter shape navigator button 5C to an accurate enough

25 size so that the button will not contact the housing when pushed in any direction. As s apparent from

Figure 13, a cylmdrically shaped navigator button on the other hand can be more readily designed not to contact the housing when fully displaced in any

3u direction Appendix 1 shows a more comprehensive list of the icons and/or words displayed on the display 2 for different levels. It therefore lists the features and functions which can be navigated to and from using the joystick. As explained above, a nudge to the right takes one down into a deeper level of the system (e.g. across a row from top to second level) . Nudging left takes one up a level (e.g. across a row from third level to second level) . Nudging down takes one down through the items at the same level (down a column) that are associated with the same immediately higher level function. Nudging up takes one up through the items at the same level (up a column) that are associated with the same immediately higher level function.

Appendix 1

Claims

1. A mobile telephone comprises a joystick to navigate to or from and/or select and/or initiate one or more functions iconically and/or textually listed on

5 a display.

2. The mobile telephone of Claim 1 m which the joystick is positioned close to a display of the mobile telephone .

3. The mobile telephone of Cla± 1 or 2 in which: u (a) nudging the joystick to the 'right' initiates navigating deeper through a layered menu structure; and/or (b) nudging 'left' initiates navigating up through a layered menu structure; and/or 5 (c) nudging 'up' initiates navigating up a list of options at a given level of the menu structure; and/or (d) nudging 'down' initiates navigating down a list of options at a given level of the menu 0 structure.

4. The mobile telephone of any preceding Claim m which nudging the joystick to the 'left' is used to erase one or more letters of text when the user is in a mode m which text is being entered.

5 5. The mobile telephone of Claim 4 in which maintaining the joystick towards the 'left' for more than a predetermined time causes an entire word of text to be erased.

6. The mobile telephone of Claim 4 or 5 in which maintaining the joystick towards the 'left' for more than a further predetermined time causes an entire sentence of text to be erased

5 7. The mobile telephone of any preceding Claim in which nudging the joystick to the 'left' cancels a function.

8. The mobile telephone of any preceding Claim in which an 'end' button is positioned on the left hand iu side cf the telephone and if selected by a user causes the telephone to terminate a call and the joystick if nudged to the left constitutes a rejection or cancellation of a function or option.

9. The mobile telephone of any preceding Claim in s which a 'send' button is positioned on the right hand side of the telephone and if selected by a user causes the telephone to dial out or answer an incoming call and the joystick if nudged to the right constitutes an acceptance or initiation of a function or option.

0 10. The mobile telephone of any preceding Claim m which the joystick protrudes through an aperture in the front face of the mobile telephone and the size of the aperture is selected to be no bigger than that needed for the joystick to move freely within the aperture.

5 11. The mobile telephone of any preceding Claim in which the joystick comprises a cap of generally cylindrical shape which is sized so that the cap does not contact a housing surrounding an aperture through which the joystick protrudes even when the joystick is fully displaced in any direction.