Description
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001]Portable mobile communications devices such as mobile phones are becoming more sophisticated and include many new features and capabilities. One such capability that is not yet in widespread use is the inclusion of a tactile interface for a touchscreen display.
[0002]Touchscreen displays are well known and provide the ability to receive input by directly `touching` the display means with a finger or other item such as a pen stylus. One of the biggest drawbacks to touchscreen displays is the lack of tactile sensation when actuating a key or button represented on the display. Recent technological advancements can now provide tactile feedback for a touchscreen display such that the user actually feels the sensation of pressing a mechanical key or button when they are actually making contact with a flat touchscreen display. The tactile feedback provides a greater user experience as well as a truer sense that the input was indeed received by the device.
[0003]Portable mobile communications devices utilize processing hardware and software that can operate multiple applications in addition to making and receiving cellular telephone calls. Many portable mobile communications devices provide camera devices and applications, digital music players, web browsers, office type applications including e-mail, and gaming applications. Each of these applications utilizes a separate and distinct graphical user interface (GUI) that is designed to be naturally intuitive to the user.
[0004]It becomes a significant design challenge to provide multiple GUIs based on a single display and keypad configuration that is inherent to a portable mobile communications device. Tactile feedback touchscreen display means driven by software controlled operating modes can quickly reconfigure a portable mobile communications device display to represent multiple different modes or applications such as those presented above. This opens the door to eliminating most mechanical keys on a portable mobile communications device in favor of configurable tactile feedback touchscreen displays. This also allows for a larger surface area for the display means since most of the area previously reserved for mechanical keys can be eliminated.
[0005]Most portable mobile communications devices are rectangular in shape meaning their displays are also rectangular in shape. However, not all of the multiple modes/applications listed above will utilize the display in the same orientation. Some applications work better when presented in a portrait orientation (phone, music player) while others are more intuitive in a landscape orientation (game playing, browser) while some may work equally well in either orientation (camera) depending on a personal preference.
[0006]In addition, a mechanically vibrated touchscreen display can be configured to cover the back and even the sides of a portable mobile communications device. This would allow for user interface `buttons` to be configured in areas that are not just the front face of the portable mobile communications device.
[0007]Integrating motion/orientation sensing technology with tactile feedback touchscreen displays allows the portable mobile communications device to automatically reconfigure itself for a different mode of operation without the user having to delve into the intricacies of the user interface to manipulate the functions.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008]In one embodiment there is presented a method of reconfiguring the graphical user interface (GUI) of a mechanically vibrated touchscreen display associated with a portable mobile communications device that is operable in a variety of modes. The reconfiguration of the GUI is based on the orientation of the portable mobile communications device. An orientation sensing mechanism senses whether the portable mobile communications device is currently in a portrait or landscape orientation. An orientation sensing application accesses an orientation profile that associates each mode of operation with either a portrait or landscape orientation and determines which mode of operation is the default mode for the sensed orientation of the portable mobile communications device. The GUI of the mechanically vibrated touchscreen display is then reconfigured for the default mode of operation.
[0009]The user is prompted if the default mode is the desired mode of operation. The portable mobile communications device receives input indicative of a response to prompting whether the default mode is the desired mode of operation. If the received input indicative of a response to prompting the user is negative, the GUI of the mechanically vibrated touchscreen display is reconfigured for another mode of operation associated with the current orientation of the portable mobile communications device. This continues until the GUI on the mechanically vibrated touchscreen display for the desired mode of operation is presented.
[0010]The modes of operation can include, but are not limited to, phone mode, camera mode, game mode, music player mode, and web-browser mode. In addition, the orientation sensing mechanism can include, but is not limited to, an accelerometer or a gyroscopic device.
[0011]In another embodiment there is presented a system and method of reconfiguring the graphical user interface (GUI) of a mechanically vibrated touchscreen display associated with a portable mobile communications device that is operable in a variety of modes. An orientation sensing mechanism senses whether the portable mobile communications device is currently in a portrait or landscape orientation and accesses an orientation profile that associates each mode of operation with either a portrait or landscape orientation. A list of modes of operation associated with the sensed orientation of the portable mobile communications device is presented to the user. The user is prompted to select a mode of operation from the list. Input indicative of a selected mode of operation is received and the GUI of the mechanically vibrated touchscreen display is reconfigured for the selected mode of operation associated.
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