MXPA00002261A - Method and apparatus for displaying a message which has been received - Google Patents

Abstract

A communication device such as a pager (100) includes a controller (110) which helps decode an incoming high priority message and stores it in memory (112). A user control (116) such as a"Read"control switch is then used to display at least a portion of the high priority message on the display (106). Once the high priority message has been read, it is persistently displayed on display (106) until the user decides to erase the message. Depending on the size of the display screen (106) a portion or all of the high priority message may be displayed. Alternatively, in situations where the display screen (106) is too small to accommodate all the information which needs to be displayed at one time, a portion of the high priority message or an icon is displayed on a periodic basis.

Description

ES $ METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING A MESSAGE THAT HAS BEEN RECEIVED Field of the Invention This invention relates in general to electronic devices in particular to communication devices that have a screen. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Communication devices such as radilocalizers using current technology have the ability to give an alert if a priority or emergency message is received in the radiolocator. For example, a location feature such as Priority Imposing Notice will prioritize a priority call by informing the person with an audible tone, regardless of whether their locator is tuned to a vibrating or silent operation mode. Specific and illustrative examples of the locators that provide such warning capability with priority imposition may be referred to in U.S. Pat. 4,438,433 granted to Smoot et al., Entitled "Multiple address locator with call storage and priority warning option" and from the same owner of this one. Once a high priority message has been received in the locator, using the warning feature with priority setting, the high priority message is displayed, if the locator is equipped with a screen, using the same technique used for a message normal or no priority. The messages are retrieved by pressing the "Read" key in the locator and scanning the received messages that are stored in the locator message accumulator. Normally, once a message has been read, the message stored in the locator can be erased in order to make room for new messages. However, there is currently no way to maintain the importance of a high priority message after a person has retrieved the messages stored from the message buffer of the locator memory by using the "READ" key (or any other locator control switch) used for those functions). In situations where an important or high-priority message is received, you can not receive any action for some time (for example some hours) after the message has been read (for example, if the person is concerned with an important issue at that time, etc.) you can forget the message over time. Therefore, there is a need for the technique of a method and apparatus that can provide an improved warning feature for users of communication devices such as pagers when a priority message is received.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a locator according to the preferred embodiment of the invention. Figure 2 shows the front of a locator showing the display and the locator controls according to the preferred embodiment of the invention. Figure 3 shows an image of the locator screen in standby state according to the prior art. Figure 4 shows the image of a persistent message on the screen in the waiting state according to the preferred embodiment of the invention. Figure 5 shows the image on a screen of the continuation of a persistent message shown in Figure 4. Figure 6 shows the image of a persistent message on a typical function screen of a locator according to the invention. Figure 7 shows an icon or symbol that can be used according to the preferred embodiments of the invention. Detailed Description of the Invention Referring now to the drawings and in particular to Figure 1, a simplified block diagram of a selective call receiver 100 such as a locator according to the invention is shown. Locator 100 includes a primary power source 102 that can preferably be in the form of a non-rechargeable battery, such as an alkaline battery, or a rechargeable battery, such as a nickel-cadmium (NiCd) battery. The battery 120 provides power to all circuits of the locator. The locator 100 further comprises an antenna 104 that receives a modulated radio frequency (RF) to receive selective call signals and provides the signal to a conventional receiver circuit 108 for demodulation. A microcontroller or microprocessor 110 processes the demodulated signal to decode an address and the optional message data contained therein. Once retrieved, the message data may be stored in the memory or storage area 112 (message buffer) for subsequent presentation by means of an output device 106, such as a liquid crystal display 106 or an audio transducer 114. During normal operation, the control of the locator 110 compares an encoded address contained in the received signal with a predetermined address stored in the memory to determine whether the message is for that particular locator. The user is advised by an alert mechanism 114 that a message has been received if the decoded address correlates with that of the predetermined address or addresses. The warning mechanism 114 typically takes the form of an audio transducer, etc. If the pager is tuned to a silent mode, an audible warning will not be issued when the message is received unless a priority notice is received as mentioned above. Alternatively the locator 100 may vibrate instead of ringing upon receipt of a message if it is equipped with a vibrating device 118. If the received signal contains optional message data, the screen 106 will automatically display the message on the screen or by manually tuning, by means of of user-operated controls 116 consisting of switches, etc. A front view of locator 100 is shown in Figure 2. In the particular locator shown, user controls 116 include left / right address buttons 208, up / down direction buttons 202, a read / reset / turn button 204 and a function / select button. The user controls 116 allow the user of the locator to set all the features and functions selectable by the user, and allows the user to review and delete the messages that have been received. Referring now to Figure 3, a standard stationary screen for locator 100 is emphasized. LCD screen 106 in standard standby mode shows the date and time and an "on" icon 302. Priority messages such as messages Important or emergency signals that are received by the communication devices of the present invention can be transmitted using conventional methods to designate priority messages, known in the art. For example, in location systems, a priority message may be sent using the above-mentioned priority imposition warning feature. The designation of message importance can be attached to the message transmitted by the sender of a message using one of many techniques known in the art. For example, the importance of a message can be labeled by the sender of the message when calling a special telephone number in order to send the message through the localization system, when performing certain keyboard sequences when entering the message by means of the keyboard telephone, notifying the operator of the message terminal that enters the messages in the locator system, that the important message so it must be labeled accordingly, etc. Which determines whether the message is an emergency message (priority) or a non-emergency message in a preferred implementation of the invention may be that which is stored in plug-in code or read-only memory (ROM), which in a locator 100, is located "on the chip" of the microcontroller 110. As an example, a controller such as the MC68HC0L16 manufactured by Motorola Inc. includes 16 kilobytes of user ROM and 512 bytes of RAM in the microcontroller. The ROM can have several addresses, for example 739-3444 can be reserved for priority messages, and two different addresses for example 739-3445 and 739-3446 can be reserved for messages without priority. In addition to the use of multiple addresses to determine which messages are priority messages and which are not, one or more bits that are part of the input message (call protocol) could be used to notify the locator 100 that the message should be treated as a priority message, etc. In accordance with the present invention, once a message has been decoded as an important or priority message by the locator and read by the user, the message remains constantly on the screen to remind the user of the message each time he sees the locator screen As an example, in a locator with an eight-line display, a portion of the received message or all of the location message designated as a high priority may occupy the lowest line of the screen at least periodically as shown in FIG. 4 until the message is deleted from the locator by the user. Preferably, the persistent location message 402 will be visible even if the rest of the screen is in standby mode as shown in Figure 4, or when the screen is used for other functions (for example, by setting the real time of the locator, select the auditory tone of the locator, etc.) as shown in Figure 6. In Figure 6 a persistent message is displayed during the presentation of a function on the screen that adjusts the fin functions in the locator 100. Since the message The high priority shown in Figure 4 is too long to be shown in a line, in Figure 5 the rest of the message provided to the user is shown. The high priority message shown on the screens in Fig. 4 and 5 are preferably displayed alternately in such a way that the user can read the entire message. Alternatively only the first portion of a message could be shown as shown in Figure 4, requiring the user to press a control switch to see the rest of the message. On pagers with smaller screens, or in cases where there are several "persistent" calls in the locator memory that the paging screen area can handle, persistent call messages would be displayed preferably on the screen in the form rotating or in some alternating way. Preferably in the case where the display can not handle the display of all the important messages, each of the persistent messages would be displayed for a predetermined period of time, in a periodic manner together with the wait status of the locator or other messages . This would allow pagers with limited presentation resources, such as pagers with one line displays, to also use the persistent display feature of the present invention. In a locator that has a one-line screen for example, the persistent call message would alternate on the screen with the time of day that is normally displayed on the localization's waiting screen. As another improvement to the present invention, another type of notification to the user may be given than a persistent message that is being displayed. As an example, a special icon or symbol can be displayed on the screen, which notifies the user of the locator that a persistent message is being displayed. This is particularly useful in the case of a locator with a one-line display. In this particular case, some type of notification (for example an icon) would be necessary to distinguish between a persistent message that is being displayed or a conventional reading of the message store of the locator of a normal or non-priority message. In figure 7 an icon or symbol on the "IM" screen 702 (which in this example means "Important Message") is used to alert the user that the displayed message is an important message. 2n situations of alternating presentations, as mentioned previously, before in which the priority message or a portion of the message can not be displayed all the time, the icon 602 can be useful in allowing the user of the communication device to know that a priority message has been received.

Due to the limitations of pagers having smaller screens (eg, single line screen areas), the locator user interface routine may need to temporarily ignore the persistent display of an important message as provided by the present invention during the operations that require the entire locator screen. For example it may be preferable to only display the persistent message in the locator's wait state screen and not when the user of a single-line locator is reading the locator message accumulator, other messages received (eg, non-priority messages, etc.) as mentioned above, in this case the icon 702 could be used to indicate the presence of a persistent search message when the screen in a single-line locator is used to read other received messages.

In the present invention high priority messages (for example important or emergency calls) sent to a communication device such as a locator 100 will be displayed persistently in a designated area of the locator screen 106. This allows the user of a device of communication such as a pager, cell phone, etc., an opportunity to retrieve an important message that may need to be addressed later that day. By observing the display of the communication device, which is performed by the majority of users several times a day, the important message is easily remembered. As mentioned above, the term "persistently" used in the present invention does not mean that the important message or a portion of the message is displayed all the time on the screen. The important message can be displayed periodically, for example as described above in association with pagers with a single line screen. It is clear that the communication screen of the device can give rise to one or more important messages, these can be shown continuously if that is desired. Preferably, the persistent display feature of the present invention can be activated or deactivated by the user of the communication device by actuating a predetermined group of user controls 116. As in the example performed to adjust the real time clock of the locator and other features of the locator (for example alert tones, etc.). Alternatively, the persistent screen display feature can be set to ROM. The programming algorithm (software) required to perform the on-screen display feature of persistent messages of the present invention is preferably stored in the ROM in the tablet found in controller 110. In other designs the programming algorithm may be stored in areas of external storage known in the art (eg external ROM, etc.). Although the preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it is clear that changes, variations, substitutions and equivalents may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (11)

1. NOVELTY OF THE INVENTION Having described the invention as above, the content of the following is claimed as property: CLAIMS 1.- A method for showing the reception of a high priority message by means of a communication device having a screen, characterized because it comprises the steps in the communication device of: receiving the high priority message; store the high priority message in memory; recover the high priority message when activating a communication device control; and displaying at least a portion of the high priority message on the display of the communication device in a persistent manner after the high priority message has been retrieved from memory.
2. 2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: displaying a symbol on the screen (icon) indicating that a high priority message has been received after the high priority message has been received at the screen of the communication device.
3. 3. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of displaying on the screen consists in periodically displaying at least a portion of the high priority message on the screen of the device on the screen.
4. 4. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of displaying on the screen consists of the high priority message and a second screen used by the communication device in an alternating form.
5. 5. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises the step of: deleting a persistent screen image of the high priority message by activating a control of a specific communication device.
6. 6. A communication device, characterized in that it comprises: a receiver for receiving a high priority message; a storage area; a controller which, in response to receiving high priority messages, stores the high priority message in the storage area; a screen; a user control, the user control upon being active retrieves the high priority message that is stored in the storage area and presents at least a portion of the high priority message on the screen; and the controller in response to user control presents the high priority message on the screen, causing the high priority message to be persistently displayed on the screen.
7. 7. - A communication device according to claim 6, characterized in that the communication device consists of a locator.
8. 8. A communication device according to claim 6, characterized in that the communication device consists of a cell phone.
9. 9. - A communication device according to claim 6, characterized in that the control causes the symbol (icon) to be displayed on the screen after a high priority message has been received at the receiver.
10. 10. - A communication device according to claim 6, characterized in that the controller causes the high priority message to be displayed periodically on the screen.
11. 11. A communication device according to claim 6, characterized in that the control alternates the presentation of the high priority message with the presentation of another screen.