Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at same station – Radiotelephone equipment detail
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-09
2001-04-03
Bost, Dwayne (Department: 2681)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at same station
Radiotelephone equipment detail
C455S550100, C455S418000, C341S029000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06212412
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
I. Field Of The Invention
The present invention is related generally to a wireless communication device and, more particularly, to a system and method for controlling the character case of alphanumeric text in a wireless communication device.
II. Background Of The Invention
Wireless communication devices, such as cellular telephones, are widely used as a replacement for conventional telephone systems. In addition to functioning as a replacement for a conventional telephone, wireless communication devices offer the advantage of portability, thus enabling the user to establish a wireless communication link between virtually any two locations on Earth.
In addition to conventional voice communication, wireless communication devices may include electronic mail (e-mail) and other forms of text messaging. For example, some wireless communication systems provide for short messaging services (SMS) data. With these capabilities, a user may retrieve e-mail or text messages from a central storage location. In addition, the user may utilize messaging capabilities to send an e-mail or text message from the wireless communication device to a location remote from the user.
The ability to use upper and lowercase characters in text messaging enhances the readability of text messages. Although some wireless communication devices have the ability to implement upper and lowercase characters, there is no convenient way to generate alphanumeric text with upper and lowercase characters. Therefore, it can be appreciated that there is a significant need for a system and method to control the case of text characters in a wireless communication device. The present invention provides this and other advantages as will be illustrated by the following description and accompanying figures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is embodied in a system and method for controlling the alphabetic case of data entered into a wireless communication device in a text entry mode. In an exemplary embodiment, the wireless communications device includes a keypad input device having a plurality of keys to be selectively activated by the user and a timer to measure a period of activation of the selected keys. A processor selects the appropriate alphabetic character based on the number of times a numeric key is depressed and upon the length of time that a numeric key is held in the depressed position, and stores the appropriate alphabetic text in a storage area. The change in alphabetic character case applies only to the current character. When the processor has entered the alphabetic character into the data storage area, the subsequent character is initially selected with the default character case.
In one embodiment, lowercase alphabetic characters are set as a default case. The user presses selected ones of the numeric keys on the wireless communication device keypad to enter alphabetic text. If the keypad is pressed and released with a time period less than the predetermined threshold period, the processor enters the default lowercase alphabetic character in the data storage area. If the user presses and holds the numeric keypad in the depressed position for a period of time that exceeds the predetermined threshold, the processor will enter the corresponding uppercase alphabetic character in the data storage area.
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Kenagy Jason B.
Rogers John G.
Bost Dwayne
Brown Charles D.
Craver Charles
Qualcomm Incorporated
Streeter Tom
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