WO2003065696A1

WO2003065696A1 - Hand-held electronic communications device with a display navigator

Info

Publication number: WO2003065696A1
Application number: PCT/DK2002/000782
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christian Zilstorff; Ole Moller
Original assignee: Mobintech A/S
Priority date: 2001-11-21
Filing date: 2002-11-21
Publication date: 2003-08-07
Also published as: WO2003065696A8

Abstract

The invention relates to a hand-held electronic device with option for Internet access comprising one or more microdisplay elements arranged to show electronic information to a user, a mainly motion-free and tremble-free operation means arranged to detect input from a user, and a control means arranged to control a function of the hand-held device on the basis of said detected input. The control means comprises an oblong operation arm with a fixed end and a free end and a number of force transducers which are arranged to detect user input in the form of force actions on the operating arm.

Description

Hand-held electronic communications device with a display navigator.

The invention pertains to a handheld electronic communications device with Internet access comprising

• one or more microdisplays arranged to show electronic information to a user,

• an operation means arranged to detect input from a user, and

• a control means arranged to control a function of the handheld device on the basis of the detected input.

It is well known how to equip handheld communications devices with one or more microdisplay elements designed to present electronic information to a user. The use of microdisplay elements enables handheld communications devices to be built that have physical dimensions small enough to allow practical use. Microdisplay elements are designed to produce a virtual image such that the user perceives an image that is larger than the image actually shown on the physical display. In microdisplay technology, this effect is obtained by designing microdisplay elements using a microdisplay chip that can display electronic information with a. relatively high resolution on a dedicated information presentation area, and by using one or more optical elements such as lenses, prisms and mirrors placed in front of and/or around the microdisplay chip. The optical elements may, for instance, be arranged to provide magnifications from 10 to 20 times. In this way, the user will view the information on the microdisplay chip through the optical element or elements and see a virtual image that is larger that the image actually shown on the microdisplay chip. In order to achieve this effect it is, however, a requirement that the microdisplay element, including the optical elements, be held at a predetermined distance from the eye of the user. The maximum distance that the user's eye can be from the microdisplay element and still see the full image, known in the literature as the "eye box", is typically between 20 mm and 30 mm, although it depends on the design of the microdisplay element. This distance is often denoted as the "eye relief in the technical literature. A high eye relief value normally provides greater flexibility with respect to usage of the microdisplay element, as it allows the user to wear glasses while using a handheld device of the above-mentioned type. Microdisplays can have different designs and sizes, for example with a rectangular physical- information-presentation area with the dimensions 7 mm by 10 mm, although other designs and sizes also are possible.

The use of one or more microdisplays in devices of this type allows electronic information that is normally only suitable for presentation via a larger display such as a computer monitor, front projector, large display or the like actually may be presented to a user via a handheld communications device with moderate physical dimensions. Correct placement of the microdisplay of a handheld communications device relative to the user's eye or eyes will allow him her to perceive an image corresponding to that of a computer monitor. For example, a picture on a rectangular 0.5" microdisplay may, due to the optical elements employed, give an optical illusion of a virtual image corresponding to a normal computer monitor between 15 and 21 inches seen from a distance of approximately 0.5 to 2 meters. The resolution of a microdisplay varies typically from 320 x 240 pixels and up to around 2000 x 1000 pixels, for example. Computer monitors often use one of the formats SVGA, XGA, or SXGA with resolutions of 800 x 600 pixels, 1024 x 768 pixels, or 1280 x 1024 pixels respectively.

It is well known how handheld communications devices of the above-mentioned type can be designed in various ways. For instance, it is well known that handheld communications devices can be designed with an operation means in the form of a number of operating switches. Handheld communications device designs that allow a user to control a function of the handheld device by operating the operation means of the device are also well known. In this way a user may, by interactive operation of the handheld device, be presented with electronic information such as text, images, video clips, audio, and/or other information.

The information that is presented to the user, or at least some of it, may be sent from an externally located transmitter and received by a receiver, such as a radio receiver, within the device. The device may, for instance, be designed to connect to a mobile phone network, data network, or the like. In addition hereto or alternatively, devices of the above-mentioned type may also be designed to be connected to an external radio receiver such as a mobile phone or another kind of receiver via which the information is received. This connection may be made with a fixed connection such as a cable with a connector at either end or with a single connector if the two units are placed close together, or via a wireless connection such as an infrared link, a Bluetooth-based radio connection, or a wireless local area network connection, e.g. using the IEEE 802.1 standard or the like. In the case of a fixed connection, serial communication will often be chosen, e.g. a subset of the RS-232 standard modified to simply use TTL or CMOS levels. The serial connection will then comprise the data signals Transmit Data (TXD) and Receive Data (RXD), a subset of the flow control signals Clear to Send (CTS) and Request to Send (RTS), and a subset of the status signals Data Terminal Ready (DTR), Data Set Ready (DSR), Data Carrier Detect (DCD), and Ring Indicator (RI).

Such small handheld devices comprising a high-resolution display make it possible for a user to gain mobile access to the Internet or an intranet using the handheld device, for instance. Devices of the above-mentioned type may also be designed to present information from a data storage medium which could, for example, be inserted into the device. The user could then, for instance, play a game on the device, look at blueprints, read office documents, view digital images, view video clips, listen to music, and/or read an electronic book. A handheld device of the above-mentioned type thus has many applications.

The use of microdisplays with a relatively high resolution allows large quantities of information in the form of electronic digital images and text with a high resolution to be presented to a user via a handheld device of small physical dimensions. Information may thus be presented using the SVGA, XGA, or SXGA formats. However, to obtain this effect it is, as mentioned earlier, necessary for the user to place the microdisplay element or elements at a relatively short distance from one or both eyes. While the user thus holds the handheld device up in front of one or both eyes, it turns out that it is difficult to operate the device at the same time. This is caused by the fact that the device must be held at a given distance and position right in front of the user's eye(s) even during operation of the device in order to avoid the user losing focus and thus losing the full picture. This, however, usually means that the user is not able to see the operation means while looking into the microdisplay.

US patent 6,055,110 describes a virtual graphical display system that includes a microdisplay for presenting electronic information to a user. The display system comprises an operation means in the form of a eye position sensor designed to detect the orientation of an eye looking at the microdisplay and a control means designed to control a function of the handheld device on the basis of the input detected. This kind of device has proved useful but has the serious drawback that eye position sensors are relatively complex to implement in practice and relatively compute-intensive, which makes this solution expensive to implement.

Furthermore, the company inViso has developed a microdisplay system capable of producing an enlarged virtual image. The display system is built into a communications device. The device for operating the display system is a touch pad. A drawback of this is that the movement of the finger during operation of the above-mentioned touch pad makes it impossible to hold the device completely still. Additionally, a touch pad takes up quite a bit of space, relatively speaking.

The purpose of the invention is to provide an electronic communications device of the above-mentioned type comprising an operation-friendly operation means which may be operated with great accuracy while the device is held in a position in front of the eye that makes it possible to view the virtual image. It is also desirable that the device can be operated in a simple manner so that operation does not require too much of the user's attention and thus distract the user during use of the device.

A communications device of the above-mentioned type and according to the invention is distinctive in that the operation means comprises an oblong control arm - in itself a known device - with a fixed end and a free end, two or more primary force transducers designed to detect user input in the form of force exerted on the operation arm orthogonal to its axis, and secondary force transducers designed to detect force exerted on the operation arm parallel to its axis. The invention is based on the fact that employing a hand-operated operation device of the above-mentioned type has proved to be the simplest, most user-friendly, most robust, and most precise way of receiving input from a user.

A handheld communications device according to the invention makes it possible to operate this with one hand in such a way that the device easily can be held in a desired position even when operating the operation means. A handheld communications device according to the invention makes it possible, for example, for a user to operate this with a single finger such as the thumb, while the remaining fingers are used to hold and stabilize the device in the palm.

In the preferred embodiment said secondary force transducers are comprised of said primary transducers, and the device is designed to extract information when force is exerted on the operating arm in parallel to its axis from two or more said primary transducers. This allows for a very simple construction of the operation means, which can also have small dimensions.

One or more and usually all said primary and/or secondary force transducers are preferably implemented as strain-gauge transducers. The advantages of strain-gauge transducers are several. Firstly, they may be made of a small weight and size, which makes them ideal for embedding into a handheld device. This also allows more freedom with respect to placement of the operation means. Secondly, strain-gauge transducers have great strength and robustness, which lowers the likelihood of faults. Thirdly, only a simple circuit is required to measure the resistance change of the strain-gauge transducers, which at the same time may be designed to have a low current (and power) consumption.

The invention will be described in more detail in the following with reference to the drawing, where

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a handheld electronic communications device according to the invention, Figure 2 shows an example of a handheld device according to the invention,

Figure 3A shows a first operation means according to the invention as seen in perspective,

Figure 3B shows the operation means of Figure 3 A as seen from the side,

Figure 3C shows the operation means of Figure 3 A and 3B as seen from above,

Figure 4 illustrates a strain-gauge-resistor arrangement for detection of user input,

Figure 5 shows an alternate embodiment of an operation means according to the invention,

Figure 6 shows an alternate embodiment of the communications device, where the operation means has been moved to the side,

Figures 7A and 7B show an alternate embodiment as seen from the front and from the back, where the device acts as an accessory to a mobile phone,

Figures 8A and 8B show an alternate embodiment as seen from the front and from the back, where the device acts as an accessory to a mobile phone, but where the mobile phone is placed on the back of the device, and

Figure 9 shows a concrete embodiment of the communications device with a built-in mobile phone.

Figure 1 shows, in the form of a block diagram, an example of the design of a handheld electronic communications device or information presentation device. The handheld electronic communications device 1 comprises a microdisplay element 2 designed to display electronic information to a user. The device 1 further comprises an operation means 3 designed to detect input from a user, and a control means 5 designed to control a function of the handheld device on the basis of said detected inputs. The operation means 3 is designed such that the user can use the device 1 via this. In the preferred embodiment, the control means 5 is implemented by means of a microprocessor 10.

In a preferred embodiment according to the invention, the navigation device 5 comprises, as will be clear from the following, an oblong operating arm equipped with force transducers designed to detect input from a user. The device 1 further comprises a memory 8 designed to contain information that may be presented to a user. As indicated in Figure 1, the device 1 may further comprise a communications means 9 designed to receive information from an external unit such that this information or parts thereof subsequently may be presented to a user.

The communications means 9 can preferably be designed to allow for an external radio receiver such as a mobile phone or some other type of receiver by means of which information may be received and/or transmitted. The communications means 9 may further comprise a receiver such as a radio receiver (not shown in the figure) designed to receive information from one or more external units such as one or more servers, computers, handheld devices, or other external equipment via a mobile phone network, data network, or the like. The communications means 9 further comprises, appropriately, a radio transmitter (not shown in the figure), such that the device 1 can send information and/or instructions to the external unit(s). In this way a user may use the device 1 interactively to provide information via a network such as the Internet, an intranet, or an extranet, and/or communicate with other users that are for instance using a similar handheld device, a mobile phone, or a computer. As an example, the communications means 9 may comprise modules such as a Compact Flash card or a Multimedia card which may be inserted into the handheld device.

Figure 2 shows an example of how a handheld communications device 1 according to the invention may be designed. In the figure are seen the microdisplay 2 and the operation means 3 of the device. As will emerge from the following, the operation means 3 comprises in the shown embodiment an oblong operating arm 4 with a fixed end and a free end, of which only the free end is visible in the figure. Furthermore, the operation means may suitably comprise a number of operating switches as indicated in the figure as push-button switches placed around the operating arm and in its vicinity. This allows for simple operation with a single finger such as the thumb.

As is shown in the figure, the device 1 is suitably given an oblong and narrow design in which the microdisplay is placed at one end, while the users may use the rest of the device for a firm grip. It has turned out that certain maximum and minimum sizes and distances must be adhered to in order for a majority of people, despite their different sizes of hands, to be able to use the handheld communications device according to the invention without trouble. In the shown embodiment, the operating arm 4 is placed approximately in the middle of the handheld device. This placement allows the device 1 to be operated with a single hand, and when the user looks into the microdisplay at a distance of approximately 20-30 mm from the eye, the thumb of the user will naturally be placed next to or on top of the operating arm 4. This allows for easy operation even when the user looks into the microdisplay and thus does not look at the operation means.

Since it is desirable that the user can unhindered operate the operating arm 4 at the same time as the user looks into the microdisplay element 2, it has turned out that there must be a certain distance between the middle of the microdisplay and the operating arm 4. If this distance is too small, the user's thumb will hit his/her face, which will impede the free movement/action of the arm. Since it is also required that the microdisplay be held steady during operation, it is, on the other hand, desirable that the distance between the microdisplay 2 and the operating arm 4 not be too great. The optimal distance between the microdisplay 2 and the operating arm 4 has turned out to be in the interval of 20 to 80 mm.

Correspondingly, there must be a certain distance between the operating arm 4 and the lower end of the device 1. This is due to the fact that the device 1 must be stable in the hand while the user looks into the microdisplay, which requires that the device be held steady. The optimal distance must be at least approximately 50 mm and preferably in the interval of 50 to 90 mm. As shown in Figure 2, the operating arm 4 in the shown embodiment is placed symmetrically such that there is roughly the same distance from the operating arm 4 to the two large side surfaces 55 of the device. In Figure 2, the distances between the operating arm 4 and the two side surfaces 55 are both denoted with the letter "a". This placement of the operating arm 4 allows, in combination with the symmetrical or nearly symmetrical profile of the device, the operating arm 4 to be operated with both right and left hand. When the device 1 is operated with the right hand, it will normally be used with the right eye and vice versa. This, however, does not preclude that the device 1 can be put in front of the opposite eye. Since the user views the microdisplay at a distance of approximately 20-30 mm from the eye, even small sideways movements of the handheld device 1 caused by operation of the device will be annoying. With a placement of the operation means on the front, it has turned out that these movements both are reduced and mainly appear in the direction in which they are the least annoying. It should be noted that the operating arm 4 is permanently affixed at one end and that it is elastically deformable to a degree that the deformation may be sensed by the associated force transducers 11 as shown in Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C. The elastic deformation of the operating arm 4 is, appropriately, exceedingly modest, as it is the displacement of the arm that provides information about the force exerted and not the actual movement of the arm. A limited elastic deformation of the operating arm by the force exerted provides the advantage of increased robustness and enables precise operation, while the device is also held in the desired position close to the eye of the user without unwanted movement of the device.

Figure 3A shows in perspective an operation means 3, which may be part of the handheld communications device 1 according to the invention. As is evident from the figure, the operation means 3 in the shown embodiment comprises an oblong operating arm 4 with a fixed end 21 and a free end 22. The operation means further comprises the number of force transducers 11 equipped to detect force exerted on said operating arm 4.

Figures 3B and 3C show the operation means of Figure 3A viewed from the side and from above. As is evident from Figure 3C, the operation means 3 comprises, appropriately, four force transducers 11 A, 1 IB, 11C, and 11D, which are placed such that at least one first force transducer pair 11 A/1 IB senses a force component in a first direction, indicated by y, and at least one second force transducer pair 1 lC/1 ID senses a force component in the second direction, indicated by "x" in Figure 3C. The force transducers, which are preferably implemented with strain gauges, are designed to detect force exerted on the operating arm 4 in a plane orthogonal to the axis of the operating arm.

As will be evident from the following, the same force transducers are preferably used to detect force applied to the operating arm 4 along its axis, i.e. forces that are applied in the z direction as indicated in Figure 3C. As mentioned in connection with Figure 1, this may be attained by ensuring that the control means 5 is connected with the force transducers 11 A, 11B, 11C, and 11D of the operation means and is designed to derive input from a user on the basis of the signals which the control means 5 receives from the force transducers 11 A, 11B, 11C, and 11D. This is described in more detail in the following.

Figure 4 illustrates how information about user input may be derived from the signals that the control means 5 receives from the force transducers 11A, 1 IB, 1 IC, and 1 ID. It should be noted that Rl, R2, R3, and R4 designate the resistors in the force transducers 11A, 11B, 11C, and 11D respectively, and that information about these values are supplied to the control means as so-called "force signals". When a force in the y- direction is applied to the operating arm 4, the strain gauge resistors Rl and R2 in the force transducers 11A and 1 IB are affected. This increases the resistance of one strain gauge resistor as its length is increased and its cross section is decreased, while the resistance of the other strain gauge resistor is decreased as its length is decreased and its cross section is increased. On the basis of the above-mentioned resistance values, the control means 5 is capable of detecting both magnitude and direction of the force component in the y direction stemming from the external force applied on the operating arm 4.

The same applies when the operating arm is affected in the x direction, as the strain gauge resistors R3 and R4 in the force transducers 1 IC and 1 ID are changed in a similar way as described above. Based on this, the control means 5 can detect when the operating arm 4 is affected in the x direction. The magnitude and the direction of the affecting force are likewise reflected in the change of the resistance values. The changed resistor values of Rl, R2, R3, and R4 may thus be compared, and the information may be used to allow the user move an arrow or a cursor around on the image in the microdisplay. The speed of the movement of the cursor in various directions may, for instance, be determined by the magnitude of the applied force in the corresponding direction for the operating arm 4.

In a preferred embodiment, the operating arm 4 is mounted on a base plate 25 that facilitates embedding in the handheld device 1. The operating arm 4 may, preferably, have a mainly square cross section, at least in the area where the force transducers are mounted, as this allows for simple mounting of the strain gauge transducers on the flat surfaces of the operating arm 4. The operating arm 4 will, when subjected to a force, cause the largest change in the strain gauge resistors when the strain gauge transducers are placed close to the base plate 25. This mainly square cross section also ensures that equal forces in the x direction and the y direction produce the same relative change in resistance of the strain gauge resistors, and that orthogonal force components are detected.

When the operating arm 4 is subjected to a force in the z direction, all four strain gauge resistors are depressed, resulting in a decrease in resistance in all four strain gauge resistors. The simultaneous reduction of resistance will reflect a force on the operating arm 4 in the z direction. A momentarily applied force upon the operating arm 4 in the z direction, i.e. a brief push on the operating arm, may be registered as a click by the control means 5. In the same way, two brief pushes of the operating arm may be registered as a double click by the control means 5. A lasting pressure on the operating arm 4 in the z direction while the operating arm 4 is moved in the x and/or y direction is registered as the function "drag and drop" of an object on the image on the microdisplay. The combined "drag and drop" function requires special computations, as there will be a bias on the measured resistance of all four strain gauge resistors which must extracted before the correct x and y movement can be found.

User input in the form of applied force of the operation means may, of course, be used in different contexts. As an alternative to the use of brief pushes of the operating arm in the z direction indicative of click or double click, this information may for instance be used for navigation through a 3D presentation on the microdisplay 2, in which case the full motion back and forward in the z-direction is required. This can be attained with both a push and pull of the operating arm 4, when all strain gauge transducers are squeezed or stretched. This provides information about a desired movement in all three dimensions.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, in which the force transducers are strain gauge transducers, the control means 5 can operate in at least two states. In a first state, the control means 5 only detects that a force is applied to the operating arm in one or more directions, whereupon the cursor will move across the microdisplay 2 at a given predetermined speed. In a second state, the magnitude of the force applied to the operating arm 4 is used by the control means 5 as an indication of the desired speed of the movement of the cursor.

Rather than moving the arrow or the cursor on the basis of user input in the form of force applied on the operating arm, these user inputs may be utilized in a different way. For example, these user inputs may be used to move the contents of the image on the display up, down, or sideways such that the image is scrolled.

The signals from the strain gauge transducers are appropriately connected to a calibration part of the control means 5. This calibration part compensates for inequalities caused by differences between the individual strain gauge transducers and any angular errors in their placement on the operating arm 4. The calibration part also converts signal values from the strain gauge transducers to force signals, that is signals, which reflect the force applied by the user to the operating arm 4. Signals, which are proportional to the corresponding resistances, may be used as force signals.

The force signals from the calibration part, which could be labeled Xi, x₂, yi, and y₂, are not a direct measure for the x, y, and z components of the applied force, but instead a sum signal of these. The x, y, and z components of the applied force must subsequently be calculated on the basis of these signals. As mentioned above, the z component of the applied force appears as a bias on the xi, x₂, yi, and y₂ signals indicating force. It should also be noted that since strain gauge transducers on one side of the operating arm 4 are compressed and the strain gauge transducers on other side of the operating arm 4 are stretched, the resulting force signals have opposite signs. Calculation of the respective force signals may be performed as follows:

xι' = xι - z yι' = yι - z

x₂ = x₂ - z y₂ = y₂ - z

x = ( X] '- x₂' )/2

y -= ( _yι'. y₂' )/2

For instance, if force is only applied in the x direction, the result for the z direction will be zero, as x_t and x₂ have opposite signs and virtually the same magnitude, and yi and y₂ both are zero or virtually zero. On the other hand, the result for the x direction will be the mean value of the two signals. When there is a simultaneously applied force in the x and z direction, the z force signal, which will be determined as the mean of the xi, x₂, yi, and y₂ force signals, will in the same way be present as a bias on the x and y signals. This bias must be deducted from the x_ls x , y_l5 and y₂ force signals in order to allow for a correct detection of the x and y signals. Since operation of the operating arm 4 invariably will cause the operating arm 4 to be compressed a little, corresponding to a z signal, a dead band around the zero value of the z signal such that a certain pressure is required for activation of a function related to the z-direction will ensure stable and trouble-free operation.

Figure 5 shows an alternate embodiment of the operation means 3, where the operating arm comprises a cavity localized at the fixed end of the operating arm. As shown in the figure, one or more force transducers 11 are mounted in the cavity. One result of this is that the force transducers are, in a simple manner, protected against environmental factors. Suitably, four transducers are employed, placed in a similar way to that shown in Figure 3C, with the only difference being that they are placed in the cavity rather than around the operating arm 4. The cavity may suitably be filled with the desired material after mounting the force transducers 11 inside, both to provide further shielding of the force transducers from the surroundings and to obtain an increased robustness of the operating arm itself.

In an alternate embodiment, the operation means may comprise a strain gauge-based joystick with a flexible operating arm that may either be moved or bent away from its neutral position. In another alternate embodiment, the operation means may comprise a joystick based on a electromechanical solution such as potentiometers. Finally, the operation means may comprise a sphere or trackball which employs mechanical and possibly also optical principles. A rotation of the sphere may for thus, for instance, be converted into an x and y movement of a cursor on the microdisplay, while a push on the sphere may indicate a z action. This z action may possibly be detected by use of a strain gauge next to a bearing built into or supporting the sphere. Finally, the operation means may be designed as a sort of joystick comprising a detector designed to detect a magnetic field. The operating arm may comprise one or more magnets such as a magnetic ring or similar arrangement whose distance to a number of field detectors is determined continuously. Alternatively, the static parts of the operation means may comprise magnets and the operation arm field detectors.

It should be noted that an electronic device according to the invention could have other designs and dimensions than what is shown. For instance, may there be more than one microdisplay in the device 1. This may for example be utilized by adding to the device shown in Figure 1 a pair of glasses, built with one or more microdisplays and designed to show electronic information to a user via these microdisplays. The glasses may be designed as a full pair of glasses with two microdisplays or a half pair of glasses with a single microdisplay. Extraction of information on user input on the basis of detected force transducer input may be performed by different parts of the device, depending on the actual implementation. For example, the control means or other parts of the device may be designed to this end. Other types of force transducers such as a piezoelectric force transducer may likewise be used as force transducer for reception of user input in a device according to the invention. Figure 6 shows an alternate embodiment in which the operation means 3 with operating arm 4 is located on the right side of device 1, approximately next to the microdisplay element 2 as may be convenient, at least for right-handed users, if the device for other reasons has to be so short that there is no space for the operation means 3 at a certain distance below the microdisplay element. Something similar applies if the operation means 3 is located on the left side of the device.

Figures 7A and 7B show an alternate embodiments in which the device 1, with the microdisplay element 2 located on the front and the operation means 3 with associated operating arm 4 located on the right (possibly left) side, functions as an accessory to a mobile phone with option for data communications 30 with a possibly external antenna 31, alphanumeric or graphical display 32, keyboard 33, and between which there is a connector 34 typically at the bottom of the mobile phone, which functions as the external radio receiver/transmitter mentioned earlier and possibly also as a source for the required electrical power. If one turns the mobile phone with the device on its head and, if need be, electronically rotates the image in the microdisplay half a turn, then it is easy to hold the mobile phone with one hand while simultaneously navigating with the operation means.

Figures 8A and 8B show an alternate embodiment in which the device 1, as above, functions as an accessory for a mobile phone that, however, is located on the back of the device, which has been made larger in order to provide space for not only the microdisplay element 2, but also for the operation means 3, with associated operating arm 4 on the front. Also in this case, if one turns the mobile phone with the device on its head and, if need be, electronically rotates the image in the microdisplay half a turn, then it is easy to hold the mobile phone with one hand while simultaneously navigating with the operation means.

Figure 9 shows a concrete embodiment of the communications device with a built-in mobile phone that is comfortable to hold in the hand.

Claims

1. Handheld electronic communications device (1) with option for Internet access comprising

one or more microdisplay elements (2) designed to display electronic information for a user,

a operation means (3) designed to detect input from a user, and

a control means (5) designed to control a function of the device on the basis of the detected input,

characterized by the employed operation means (3) being a mainly movement-free and/or tremble-free operation means.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized by the mainly movement-free and/or tremble-free operation means being comprised of a known oblong operating arm (4) with one fixed end and one free end, and one or more primary force transducers (11 A, 1 IB, 11C, 11D) designed to detect user input in the form of forces applied to the operation means (4), which appear orthogonal to its long axis, and secondary force transducers designed to detect forces of said operating arm (4) applied along its long axis.

3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the secondary force transducers being comprised by the primary force transducers (11A, 1 IB, 1 IC, 1 ID), and the device being designed to extract information about force applied along the axis of the operation means (4) on the basis of detected force applied to two or more primary force transducers.

4. Device according to claim 1, 2, or 3, characterized by one or more and preferably all of the primary and/or secondary force transducers being strain gauge transducers.

5. Device according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4 characterized by the operation means (3) being located on the side of the device.

6. Electronic communications device according to one or more of the above claims, characterized by it being combined with a mobile phone with option for data communication.