WO2008000686A1

WO2008000686A1 - Pictorial alarm.

Info

Publication number: WO2008000686A1
Application number: PCT/EP2007/056195
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christian Rosberg; Mårten AHLBERG
Original assignee: Uiq Technology Ab
Priority date: 2006-06-26
Filing date: 2007-06-21
Publication date: 2008-01-03
Also published as: GB0612625D0

Abstract

The present invention relates to a solution for facilitating user interface to event handling solution wherein at least one image is related to information about a scheduled event and shown together with at least part of the information about the event when an event alarm is actuated.

Description

PICTORIAL ALARM

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a solution for enhancing the usability of task and user profile management and in particular to a solution for connecting a task to an image.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Communication and time management devices are becoming increasingly more important in our lives as devices for handling tasks, communication, calendars, and so on. These tasks still rely on us users in many perspectives and with such many devices now occupying our lives there is a need for solutions that may facilitate the use of these types of devices.

These types of devices include, but are not limited to, Desktop and laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDA), mobile phones, smart phones, digital cameras, and digital music players (e.g. MP3 players), and combinations of these.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution for facilitating in this field of technology.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This is achieved in a number of aspects of the present invention, in which a first is provided: a user device for handling scheduled events, comprising a processing unit; a memory; an event handling program for receiving and handling information about an upcoming event; a display unit; wherein the processing unit is arranged to relate at least one image stored in the memory to a scheduled event and further arranged to display at least part of the information about the event together with the related image in the display unit (201 ) when notifying the user of the upcoming event. The device may further comprise a built in camera and/or a communication interface for wireless communication with an infrastructure gateway, e.g. a mobile phone base station, a WiFi access point, or a Wimax gateway.

The device may be arranged with a loudspeaker and wherein the processing unit is arranged to play a sound file associated with the event. The processing unit may be arranged to display a video clip related to the event.

The processing unit may be arranged to communicate with a database with a plurality of images.

Another aspect of the present invention, a method for facilitating user interaction with event handling programs is provided, comprising the steps of: storing at least one image in a memory of an event handling device; obtaining information about an upcoming scheduled event; relating the information about the event with the at least one stored image; updating a display unit with at least part of the information of the event together with the at least one related image when notifying the user of the upcoming event.

The method may further comprise a step of allowing the user to request further information about the event.

Yet another aspect of the present invention, a computer program product for facilitating user interaction in a scheduled event handler is provided, comprising instructions sets for: interacting with a user; receiving information about a scheduled event through the interaction; relating at least one image to the scheduled event; displaying at least part of the information about the scheduled event together with the related image.

The computer program product may further comprise an instruction set for allowing the user to request further information about the event.

The present invention allows for quicker response and a better overview of the situation and possibly more effective handling of event/task databases. Furthermore, a possibly more user friendly interface is provided allowing the user to focus on tasks rather than tedious task management and planning activities.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the following the invention will be described in a non-limiting way and in more detail with reference to exemplary embodiments illustrated in the enclosed drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates schematically a device according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates schematically an example embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 illustrates schematically an example embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 4 illustrates schematically a method according to the present invention;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In Fig. 1 , reference numeral 10 generally indicate a device according to the present invention, where the device may be a desktop or laptop computers, personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile phone, smart phone, digital camera, or digital music player (e.g. MP3 players), or a combinations of these. The device 10 comprises a processing unit 1 , a volatile and/or non-volatile memory 2, a user interface unit 3, and optionally one or several communication interfaces 4.

The processing unit may for instance be a microprocessor, a computer processor, a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or any other suitable processing unit capable of handling software instructions and/or computational processing.

The memory 2 may comprise any suitable memory known to the skilled person, such as for instance RAM, Hard disk, Flash memory, secure Digital (SD) of different versions, memory stick of different versions or variations, and EEPROM. The user interface 3 is arranged to control display of information in a GUI (Graphical User Interface) display. The information may be provided by the processing unit 1.

Optionally, a communication interface 4 may be provided. This communication interface may for instance be using a packet based interface protocol over any suitable physical communication channel. The physical communication channel may be wired or wireless depending on type of device. For instance using a desktop or laptop computer, the interface is often wired through for instance an Ethernet connection or it may be wireless using Ethernet over some wireless protocol (e.g. WiFi, Wimax, Wibro, or some other protocol based on any wireless LAN protocol: IEEE 802.11 , 802.15, 802.16 series of protocols); whereas in a mobile phone the physical channel may be for instance GPRS, UMTS, or EDGE for instance. The communication channel may also be of a circuit switched character (e.g. GSM) or a combination of these.

As one example, on may mention the use in a mobile phone with a calendar function and optionally also a camera function. Fig. 2 shows an example of a mobile phone 200 with a display unit 201 (e.g. controlled by the interface unit 3 of Fig. 1 ), a keypad 203 with a plurality of interface buttons, and preferably one or several control buttons (e.g. Ok, erase, menu, selection, quick interface, and so on: some of these functions may be incorporated into one button) 204, 205. The phone may also be provided with a camera 202. The phone is also provided with a microphone and loudspeaker; however, these are not shown. Furthermore, the phone may also be provided with other types of interfaces (not shown), e.g. for hands free (wired or wireless), battery charger connection, removable memory media, and so on.

The mobile phone 200 may be provided with a calendar function for showing dates and optionally time based events in relation to the dates. This calendar may be used for storing upcoming or past events or tasks for the user (the tasks may be stored in a separate task handler). For each stored event/task may be related to an image or sequence of images and when a user selects an event or task this image or sequence of images may be shown in the display unit 201 (Alternatively, the event/task may be related to a stored sound, such as if relating to a person a sound clip of that person speaking could be played) as a background image or in a portion of the display unit 201. For instance, a typical case may be when an alarm is set for a person birthday an image of that person may be shown when the calendar notifies the user of the birthday event coming up. The image of that person may be stored in relation to a contact database of the user; i.e. a database storing at least some of the user's contacts contact information (e.g. addresses, phone numbers, email, and/or personal information).

If the device 1 , 200 has access to a camera (for instance today many mobile phones 200 have a built digital camera) an image may be provided from the camera and stored in the device 1 , 200. It should be noted that a sequence of images forming a video clip may be stored and also that a sound recording may be provided and stored in the device as well. It should be noted that the image may be obtained through some communication channel 4 and stored in the device in some suitable memory 2.

The device 1 , 200 may be provided with a suitable user interface to facilitate the connection of images to events/tasks. Preferably, each event/task handling application (e.g. outlook or similar software application) may be provided with interface characteristics in order to quickly be able to cross reference the event/task with a certain image or sequence of images. For instance when setting up a scheduled meeting in a calendar application (e.g. outlook), the application can automatically suggest a image of a person if that person is referenced in the scheduled meeting, a browse button may be provided for searching for a suitable image, or a drag-and-drop functionality may be provided for using the operative system for dragging an image from a file directory (or some other means for displaying stored information) to the calendar application or to a certain designated area of the graphical user interface of the application.

When displaying the event/task a simplified view of the event/task may be shown: for instance subject, time and related image. This could in many cases be enough for the user to interpret and remember the event/task without needing to acquire further information from the system. However, it should be noted that more information may be provided as a secondary option by request. The amount of information to show at the first instance may be controllable for each individual event/task or as a general parameter. Fig. 3 illustrates one possible solution: an event view 300 may comprise a display area 301 with an image 302 (e.g. a person), a subject line 303, a time field 304 when the event is to occur, and a user interface object 305 for requesting further information about the event. The event view 300 may be provided with a user interface action interface (not shown) for closing, accepting, cancelling, or similar user interface actions. It should be appreciated that the example illustrated in Fig. 3 may be designed in many other ways, for instance the subject line 303, time field 304, and user interface object 305 may be displayed over the image (i.e. the image is provided as a background to the display area 301. 5

Fig. 4 illustrates a method according to the present invention, comprising the steps of:

401. An event, task, or object is entered and stored in a device.

402. An image (or plurality of images) is automatically or controllably related to the stored 10 event, task, or object. The image may be accessible through a database or directly via the camera (application).

403. The event, task, or object is made active (e.g. timing function in a calendar: when the scheduled event comes active a certain time before the event is to take place).

404. The event, task, or object is displayed together with the related image. 15 405. Optionally allowing the user to react to the event.

Alternatively, the user may acquire an image (for instance with a built in camera), select the image to be saved as an alarm or reminder, enter date and time for the alarm or reminder and save these together, and when the alarm/reminder is triggered the image 20 connected to the alarm is displayed (optionally together with alarm/reminder information).

The operative system for the device 1 , 200 may be provided with a general application resource software with this type of features of quickly and easy relating an object (e.g. an event or task) with a stored image. Thus, other software applications may utilize the

25 solution according to the present invention: for instance a word processing application may use the solution by relating images to parts of a document (e.g. when a persons name is written an image of that person may automatically or controllably by the user be connected from a database and optionally incorporated into the document or be displayed in the document on the display device using a pop up function when the cursor is moved

30 over the text with image connected to it: compare with "comments" in Microsoft word).

It should be appreciated that even though the present invention has been exemplified using a mobile phone other devices as listed may use the invention and that the present invention may be advantageous for further devices as well, including but not limited to, 35 industrial and/or domestic electronic appliances; for instance in a CAD/CAM system a 3D illustration of an object to be produced may be shown, or an image of a person calling may be shown in a fixed telephony system (POTS; Plain Old Telephony System) such as using display window in a telephone with such a display window (e.g. a DECT telephone).

It should be noted that the word "comprising" does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps than those listed and the words "a" or "an" preceding an element do not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. The invention can at least in part be implemented in either software or hardware. It should further be noted that any reference signs do not limit the scope of the claims, and that several "means", "devices", and "units" may be represented by the same item of hardware.

The above mentioned and described embodiments are only given as examples and should not be limiting to the present invention. Other solutions, uses, objectives, and functions within the scope of the invention as claimed in the below described patent claims should be apparent for the person skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A user device for handling scheduled events, comprising a processing unit (1 ); a memory (2); - an event handling program for receiving and handling information about an upcoming event; a display unit (201 ); wherein the processing unit is arranged to relate at least one image stored in the memory (2) to a scheduled event and further arranged to display at least part of the information about the event together with the related image in the display unit (201 ) when notifying the user of the upcoming event.

2. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising a built in camera.

3. The device according to any of claims 1 - 2, further comprising a communication interface for wireless communication with an infrastructure gateway, e.g. a mobile phone base station, a WiFi access point, or a Wimax gateway.

4. The device according to any of claims 1 - 3, arranged with a loudspeaker and wherein the processing unit is arranged to play a sound file associated with the event.

5. The device according to any of claims 1 - 4, wherein the processing unit is arranged to display a video clip related to the event.

6. The device according to any of claims 1 - 5, wherein the processing unit is arranged to communicate with a database with a plurality of images.

7. A method for facilitating user interaction with event handling programs, comprising the steps of: storing at least one image in a memory of an event handling device; obtaining information about an upcoming scheduled event; relating the information about the event with the at least one stored image; updating a display unit with at least part of the information of the event together with the at least one related image when notifying the user of the upcoming event.

8. The method according to claim 6, further comprising a step of allowing the user to request further information about the event.

9. A computer program product for facilitating user interaction in a scheduled event handler, comprising instructions sets for: - interacting with a user; receiving information about a scheduled event through the interaction; relating at least one image to the scheduled event; displaying at least part of the information about the scheduled event together with the related image.

10. The computer program product according to claim 9, further comprising an instruction set for allowing the user to request further information about the event.