WO2009001338A2

WO2009001338A2 - User interface and method for displaying text

Info

Publication number: WO2009001338A2
Application number: PCT/IL2008/000845
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ofer Giladi
Original assignee: Mobile App Ltd.
Priority date: 2007-06-24
Filing date: 2008-06-22
Publication date: 2008-12-31
Also published as: WO2009001338A3; IL184180A0

Abstract

A user interface for use with a telecommunication device having a text display screen, the user interface comprising an algorithm to display the text one portion at a time in read-units, which are typically shortened or sliced words to allow for an easier to read display. The read-units may be overlaid on an existing (i.e. original) UI display; or an improvement thereto.

Description

USER INTERFACE AND METHOD FOR DISPLAYING TEXT

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a user interface and method for displaying text, particularly on the display screen of a telecommunication device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The screens of many telecommunication devices (TCD), i.e. the display screens of mobile (cellular) phones, PDAs, cordless telephones, corded telephones and the like, are typically quite small for the simple reason that the devices themselves are intentionally small in order to be conveniently compact and lightweight, particularly in the case of cellular phones and PDAs. As a result, the messages displayed on those screens are typically difficult to read. This issue is not new, and efforts to address the problem of readability especially for users with less than excellent vision, is related in several publications, for example, in US 5,233,333 (Borsuk); IE 020613 (Fintan); WO 2005/027480 (Nokia Corporation); WO 2006/028059 (Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Ltd); US 5,859,628 (Ross et al); and US 6,144,389 (Toshimoto). The suitability of using a given font size to the available display screen area is also addressed in the art, for example, US 2001/0055020 (Hertzfeld).

US 5,233,333 discloses a hand-held portable reader having a screen capable of presenting characters in variable font sizes by depressing a font size selection button. Depressing the button advances the character display to the next successive size.

IE 020613 discloses a mobile phone or personal organizer having an interactive rolling message display. The user is informed of text messages, voice messages, pending e-mails and missed calls - as well as news, weather reports, etc. As the notifications roll across the display, they each become highlighted at a particular point to indicate that the user can get direct access by pressing a select key. The user can configure the size and speed of moving text.

WO 2005/027480 discloses a wireless communication terminal (e.g. phone) that comprises a user exchangeable keypad for visually impaired users. When the exchangeable keypad is attached to the phone, connectors on the keypad and phone detect the attachment whereby the phone changes its settings to use larger fonts.

WO 2006/028059 provides a detection key input device for a mobile terminal. The device has a sensor to detect the touch operation by the user; an information identification unit; and a display controller, whereby when a key is touched, the content corresponding to the touched key is displayed in large font on the screen display.

US 5,859,628 discloses an onboard vehicle information system comprising a portable PC with a touch-screen and a vehicle-mounted cradle for detachably receiving the computer. The computer is programmed to generate characters of preset size on a display on the screen. The system further includes an interface that causes the display to display characters relatively larger than the characters of preset size for easy viewing by a passenger thereby facilitating use of the computer in the vehicle. US 6,144,389 discloses an intelligent terminal device capable of displaying message information to be transmitted/received by using a font having a predetermined size depending upon the amount of the information and of changing fonts having different sizes in response to a command. The amount of information in a message is measured in a character count unit and is fed to a display control unit that selects font. The information is displayed with the selected font that may be intentionally changed by a user by actuating up and down keys of the key pad. A message of relatively few characters can be displayed with larger font while a message with relatively numerous characters can be displayed with smaller font. US 2001/0055020 discloses a method and apparatus for determining a format for displaying information in a display area coupled to a computer system, the format being based on the size of the display area and the amount of information to display.

In addition, certain cellular phones include a feature whereby long names in a contact (address) list or phone log list are truncated at the point where they do not fit on the screen.

The above cited references are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide means and method for displaying text on a screen of a TCD so that it may be easily read.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide the aforementioned display automatically, without need for input from the user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a user interface (UI) for displaying text on the screen of a telecommunication device (TCD) wherein the text is displayed a portion at a time in read-units; a method of displaying the read-units; and of parsing the text into one or more read-units. The term "text" herein the specification and claims will be used in its broadest meaning and denotes any TCD displayable message, including but not limited to, alphanumeric text (i.e. letters and numbers); characters (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.); an icon stream and the like. Such displayable text hereinafter in the specification and claims may be referred to as "alphanumeric text"; and the individual letters, numbers, characters, icons, etc, will be referred to hereinafter in the specification and claims as " alphanumeric (s) ".

The terms "read-unit" or "read-units" herein the specification and claims refers to a single alphanumeric or plurality of alphanumerics, respectively, displayable after parsing and processing of the text, as will be described below. Typically, the parsing and processing will result in a shortening of the alphanumeric text and/or slicing of the alphanumeric text into one or more read- units; however, the parsing and processing may not necessarily result in shortening or slicing, for example, for short words. According to particular embodiments, the size (font size) of the alphanumeric(s) of the read-units displayed may be of a pre-determined size, a selectable size (for example, by a menu selection) or determined automatically in relation to the size of the display screen, preferably with consideration to presenting the text in a conveniently readable manner (e.g. a visually and readably comfortable aspect ratio, reasonable screen margins and the like).

The term 'telecommunication device¹ or ¹TCD' herein the specification and claims refers to any device having a display size such that characters displayed thereon may be too small to be intelligible for visually impaired persons or for persons having less than highly acute eyesight at convenient operating distance. For example, electronic work and entertainment appliances (e.g. DVD player, car radio), digital phones, PDA, electronic book ('ebook') or electronic advertising panels that may not be readable at a distance or due to environmental conditions such as glare or reflections.

The method of the present invention of displaying text on a screen in read- units with a UI comprises: (a) detecting a communication event resulting in the display of text (e.g. a signal indicating an incoming call, SMS and the like; browsing/scrolling in the phone's menu; and so on); (b) sending a signal resulting from the communication event to the user interface; (c) parsing the text into read- units; and (d) sequentially displaying the read-units one at a time on the screen.

The sending of the signal can be automatic, or actuated by a key press/sequence by the user, a touch-screen command, a voice command, and so on. Also, the aforementioned UI could be an add-on to the phone's standard UI, or the standard UI could include an algorithm for parsing and processing text into read units.

In the specification and claims, unless otherwise specified, the term 'parsing' denotes parsing and processing.

If the UI is an add-on, the aforementioned signal, or a signal forked therefrom, would typically be also sent to the phone's standard UI. As such the "look and feel" and functionality of the cellular phone 10 (or whatever TCD comprises the UI) is preserved.

The method of the present invention of parsing the text (text stream) intended for display on a screen of a telecommunication device comprises parsing the text into read-units, by means of an algorithm adapted for such parsing. The algorithm to parse text into read- units may comprise parsing read-units into: a predetermined number of alphanumerics (e.g. three); a number of alphanumerics within a number range thereof (e.g. read-units of one to five alphanumerics or more), which may depend on the length of each word/number, etc, of the text, and/or may comprise the use of a logical or accepted convention or perceived and/or studied intelligibility of the shortened text (such as into syllables, abbreviations, shorthand-type or sound-alike/phonetic spelling); vowel omission (i.e. displaying only the consonants of word text or omitting certain vowels or vowels appearing in particular locations in the text), suffix omission (i.e. deleting some or all word endings such as "ed", "ing", "ment", "tive" "s" and the like), and any combination thereof.

It should be noted that the UI, and/or the algorithm thereof, parses and processes the original text and provides read-units (i.e. typically, shortened/sliced alphanumeric text (e.g. words); however, also original text or words, e.g. for short words such as "I" or "go"; or a combination of shortened/sliced words or alphanumeric text and original text). In other words, in accordance with the UI and/or the algorithm thereof, the parsing and processing may not necessarily result in a shortening or slicing of all alphanumeric text to be displayed on a screen.

The present invention is also related to an improvement to an existing UI for TCDs, whereby text is displayed a portion at a time in read-units.

As the text is displayed one read-unit at a time, only that read-unit being displayed need fit on the screen and it may therefore typically be displayed relatively larger than in the standard situation where, for example, the text is an incoming phone number which is displayed in its entirety and therefore is constrained to be shown in relatively small font in order to fit on the screen. Text indicating a communication such as, a "missed call" message; a "private" or "out of area" message; an "e-mail arrival" message; a text message (also known as an SMS); a caller identification notification or a caller's name, and menu text, as noted below, are additional, non-limiting, examples of text that can be displayed in this manner. As indicated above, according to a particular embodiment, each read-unit is automatically displayed without requiring a user to press any TCD key or screen icon, etc.

According to further embodiments, the UI of the present invention may also display menu text one portion at a time in read-units. Again, as only a portion of the text is displayed at a given time (followed by a subsequent portion of the text and so on) the display size of each read-unit displayed can typically be larger than otherwise. The read-units are parsed in accordance with the algorithm of the UI, whereby the selected menu text (message, option, feature, etc of the current - i.e. "original" - menu text) that is parsed and displayed in read-units is the one that is currently pointed to by a TCD cursor (or chosen by a touch-screen type mode, voice command, etc). The read-units are typically displayed as an overlay on top of the current (original) UI display.

The UI may display text in read-units being of a pre-determined number of letters at a time, which may be part of a word, a word, a word and additional letters of a previous or subsequent word, or a plurality of words. The UI may use a logic of a given number of letters (e.g. always three letters), or range (e.g. two to five letters) including dividing words into syllables, etc, as mentioned above. Depending on the logic or algorithm used, there could be a logic preference so that the last letter of one word is not the beginning of a portion with a subsequent word, and the like.

It should be understood that text other than letters and words (e.g. constituted by other alphanumerics such as numbers, numbers and letters, characters, symbols, icons, any combination of those and so on, may analogously be displayed in read-units by the UI of the present invention. The UI of the present invention typically provides for the display of text in read-units in a cyclical mode - i.e. after reaching the end of the text, it is displayed over and over again. Such cyclical mode display may continue until a given phone event occurs (e.g. pressing of a function key such as to answer a phone call), or for a given number of cycles, or in accordance with an algorithm of the UI. It is a particular feature of the invention that text may be displayed, one portion at a time in read-units, automatically upon receipt thereof or menu scrolling thereto, there being no requirement to actuate any TCD input means (e.g. press one or more function keys or the like).

It is a particular feature of particular embodiments of the UI that it can provide easy to read text without any interruption or change to the basic functions and arrangement of the existing UI of the TCD. However, alternatively, the UI of the present invention may be incorporated into the existing UI of the TCD, i.e. be an improvement thereto.

As mentioned above, according to certain embodiments, the UI is adapted to automatically display text one portion at a time in read-units, however, according to other embodiments, the present UI may be activated by actuating a command feature such as pressing an existing key or sequence, pressing of a dedicated function key ("hot" key), selecting an icon - for example, by a touchscreen means, a voice recognition feature or such manner. Furthermore, the UI, or improvement to an existing UI, may be downloaded, e.g. from the cellular network, the Internet and so forth.

In accordance with particular embodiments, some or all of the read-units are distinguishable from each other by features including their color, font type, back-shading, underlining, and the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments of the invention, the original display may be arranged in a different organization to render the text more readable (such as by spacing). Optionally or alternatively, the display format may be rotated (e.g. from portrait to landscape) to allow more text and/or larger text and/or read-units to be displayed. The display rotation may be responsive to an event such as key press or a signal or may be automatic, optionally in correspondence to the text language or text related operation, such as menu, message, and the like. Optionally, the display is automatically rotated back to the original format upon closing of an operation or responsive to an event such as a key press.

In some embodiments, the display, optionally in its entirety, is overlaid with read-units corresponding to some or all the underlying text. The original text may be grayed out or otherwise diminished in its appearance to reduce interference with the overplayed read-units while still maintained visible for reference.

In some embodiments of the invention, read-units are used, either automatically or responsive to a mode setting, when text is input to the device, such as by pressing keys to enter a phone number or text message.

Although it is envisioned that the invention is particularly applicable for mobile (cellular) phones or personal digital assistants (PDA), it should be understood that the teachings of the invention could be applied to displays of other electronic equipment, particularly mobile electronic equipment, such as laptop computers, cordless telephones, however also corded telephones and the like; and the term "telecommunication device (s)" shall be understood to include all of the aforementioned and the like.

Amongst other technical effects, in addition, the teachings of the present invention provide a technical effect of improving readability of a UI thereby allowing a user to more quickly and accurately see what is displayed on the UI. The resulting increased accuracy and speed provides for a further technical effect of energy savings by shortening the time one needs to read and therefore operate the TCD.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may be more clearly understood upon reading of the following detailed description of non-limiting exemplary embodiments thereof, with reference to the following drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a cellular phone with a screen illustrating an example of a display by a prior art user interface; Figs. 2A - 2C are front views of a cellular phone illustrating an example of a display of an incoming telephone number produced by a user interface (UI) of the present invention;

Figs. 3A - 3C show front views of the cellular phone of any of Figs. 2A - 2C, illustrating an example of a display produced by the UI of the present invention for displaying the address book name of an incoming caller;

Figs. 4A and 4B are front views of the cellular phone of any of Figs. 2A- 2C illustrating a display by the present UI of stored text;

Fig. 5 is a flow chart showing a method of the present invention for producing displays as seen in Figs. 2 - 4; and

Fig. 6 is an exemplary menu that may be independently accessed, or incorporated into the cellular phone for affecting the display of the UI of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Fig. 1 shows the front of a typical compact sized cellular phone 10 having a display screen 12, entry keys 14 and function keys 16. Displayed on the display screen 12 is a typical display produced by known user interfaces (UI), for phones adapted to display a phone number 18 of a caller (not shown), which in the present example is 0593456789. In cases where the caller is listed in an address book of the phone's menu, a name assigned to that caller typically appears on the screen 12 when that caller phones the cellular phone 10 rather than the caller's phone number.

It should be noticed that the entire phone number 18 is completely displayed all at one time on the screen 12 and for that reason the display is of a relatively small size and can be difficult for many users to read.

Figs. 2A - 2C show the cellular phone 10 with displays according to an embodiment of a user interface (UI) of the present invention that is adapted to automatically display the phone number 18 (0593456789) one read-unit at a time. According to this embodiment, a first read-unit 20 ("059") of the text (i.e. phone number) is displayed (Fig. 2A), then a second read-unit 22 ("345") is displayed (Fig. 2B), then a third read-unit 24 ("6789"), which is the final read-unit of this text, is displayed (Fig. 2C). In other words, without any required input, key press or menu commands, when a call from the telephone having the aforementioned phone number 18 is received, the UI of the phone 10 automatically sequentially displays the first read-unit 20, then the second read-unit 22 and finally the third (last) read-unit 24.

In accordance with particular embodiments, the incoming phone number 18, is displayed in the read-units 20, 22 and 24 one at a time in a cyclical manner, i.e. after the last read-unit 24 is displayed, the UI repeats the sequence and re- displays the first read-unit 20 and so on. The cycle may be repeated endlessly, for a given number of cycles, for a given number of cycles prior to a pause and after which another round of cyclical text displays are shown, and the like. Such a manner of display is typically preferable as the call receiver may not have noticed and/or been able to read the number from its beginning. In accordance with certain embodiments, in order to help the user know which read-unit is the first read-unit 20, it may be displayed in a different style (e.g. different color, font type, with back-shading, underlined, a flashing display, and the like). For exemplary purposes, in Fig. 2 A, the first read-unit 20 is shown in a different style, italics, in this example, as compared to the second and third read-units 22 and 24.

Similarly, each read-unit 20, 22 and 24 may be displayed in a style different from each other (e.g. wherein the first read-unit 20 is always red, the second read-unit 22 is always green and the third (last) read-unit 24 is always blue). It should be understood that the UI may be adapted to display the phone number 18 in a variety of other ways. For example, the phone number 18 may be displayed one digit at a time; two digits at a time, and so on.

Furthermore, in accordance with particular embodiments, the UI may be adapted to allow the user to have a choice as to how the number is displayed. This could afford the user flexibility in how he or she wishes to view text and, for example, that choice may be affected by how well the user sees, as showing fewer numbers at a time tends to allow those numbers to be shown larger. For example, the UI may be adapted so that the text fills or essentially fills the screen 12. Obviously, there may be consideration as to the aspect ratio of the displayed text so as to avoid displaying the numbers as unusually tall and narrow or unusually short and wide, and with consideration of providing screen margins. _f

Figs. 3 A - 3C illustrate another non-limiting example of text displayed one read-unit at a time wherein the caller ("Ofer Giladi", in this case) is in the address book of the cellular phone 10. To facilitate displaying the name in an easy to read manner, the UI according to this embodiment produces a display comprising a first read-unit 20a, namely "Ofer"; a second read-unit 22a, namely "Gil"; and a third read-unit 24a, namely "adi".

It should be understood, as mentioned above, that the name could be displayed in a variety of ways, e.g. one letter at a time, two letters at a time, etc, and furthermore the UI may comprise a more sophisticated algorithm whereby the text is divided (delimited) in a relatively user friendly, easy to read, manner, for example, by syllables; by dividing the alphanumeric text into portions where the read-units are of a length within a range of alphanumerics; and/or the style of the first alphanumeric(s) or the first read-unit may be styled differently, as noted above; and so on. Further examples of messages that may be displayed in accordance with the present invention include a "missed call" notification (typically including the phone number of the caller or a name corresponding to that number in the address book of the cellular phone 10); an "e-mail arrival" message; the word "private" or the like (e.g. when the caller's number is unlisted); "out of area" for calls from overseas; and so on. Similarly, the text may be a "text message" (also known as an SMS).

In accordance with another embodiment, the UI is adapted to comprise a "vowel omission" feature; i.e. the incoming text is displayed, however with some or all of the vowels omitted in order to convey the text using fewer letters. In accordance with this embodiment, vowels could regardless be included in the displayed text, in particular if they appear at the beginning of a word, in order to ease reading/understanding; or only some or certain vowels may be omitted; or only vowels at the end of a word may be omitted, and the like. Thus, the display (text) of the incoming caller "Ofer Giladi" may, for example, be displayed as a first read-unit, "ofr", followed by a second read-unit "gld". In some embodiments, read-units may further shorten text based on a perceived and/or studied intelligibility of the shortened text.

In some embodiments, vowels are omitted or replaced by other vowels that sound similar or reminiscent of the original ones. For example, the word "enough" may be constructed as read-unit "enugh" or "enagh". Some vowels for long syllable or unstressed syllable may be shortened, for example, "broad" may be constructed as "brod" and "brown" as "bron" or "brwn".

In some embodiments, consonants are omitted or replaced by other consonants. For example, "telephone" may be constructed as "telefone", and "kitten" may be constructed as "kiten". Silent letters may also be omitted, for example, "walk" may be constructed as "wak" and "knife" as "nife".

Consonants that sound as or similar to other shorter consonants may be changed to the shorter consonants, for example, "enough" may be constructed as "enouf ', and "night" as "nite". In some embodiments, words may be shorted by apostrophe, for example,

"international" may be shortened to "intn'l" and "additional" to "addn'l".

In some embodiments of the invention, words may be replaced by symbols. For example, "&" may replace "and", and "#■" may replace "number". Similarly other symbols may be used such as mathematical operations and relations, such as "+", "<", or common symbols such as "$" and "€".

In some embodiments of the invention, words may be replaced by acronyms. For example, "ASAP" or "asap" may replace "as soon as possible" and "BTW" or "btw" may replace "by the way".

In some embodiments of the invention, words may be replaced by shorter synonyms. For example, "difficult" may be replaced by "hard" and "enormous" by "big". In some embodiments the definite or indefinite article are eliminated. For example, instead of the text "the message" the read-unit will show only "message".

The constructions of read-units may combine the methods described above. For example, "enough" may be constructed as "enuf, and "could" as "cud" and "the kitten" as "kitn" or "cat" and "25 degrees" as "25°".

In some embodiments of the invention, the letter sizes are considered for constructing a read-unit. For example, "w" or "m" are wider than "i" or "j". Therefore, different spaces are used according to the letters width (proportional spacing). Additionally, kerning may be used, using the shape of the letters to save space, such as "AV", or combining two or more letters into one, for example, as in replacing certain letters by special ligature letters wherein the letters are joined, to thus shorten words.

The construction of read-units may also depend on the target country or culture, as the pronunciation and/or perceived or intelligibility of a word may vary.

The slicing of text into read-units may be combined with the methods of shortening words as described above.

The algorithm for shortening and slicing text may, among other methods, use a lookup table or tables that list a correspondence of words, vowels, consonants with the shortened forms thereof.

In accordance with particular embodiments, the UI may be adapted whereby it takes the length and/or type of the incoming text (e.g. phone number, address book name, auto-generated message (e.g. "out of area", "private", etc) into account and uses an algorithm to display it in a user friendly manner. For example, in the case of an "out of area" display, instead of displaying say three characters each time (i.e. "out", then "of a", then "rea"), the program could display the message, one word at a time, presuming that the words were reasonably short to still allow them to be displayed in an easy to read manner; or in another manner, for example, "out", "of, "ar" and "ea". Analogous programming could be used to group numbers of a phone call so that in, for example, an incoming call of seven digits, the numbers would be displayed as a group of three numbers, then a group of four numbers; or, a group of three numbers, then a group of two numbers and then a group of the last two numbers.

The following is a table of exemplary parsing, for explanation purposes only, and is by no means intended to be exhaustive (the read-units are separated by underscores, for example, O f e r comprises four read-units):

It should be noted that the number of alphanumerics in a read-unit may be set to any number, such as from one to ten or more. Likewise, the range of alphanumerics in a read-unit may be any number such as one to ten or more. Optionally, the number of alphanumerics or range thereof is determined according to the display size and/or display configuration and/or type of text. Optionally or alternatively, the number of alphanumerics is preset. Optionally or alternatively, the number of characters is set as a parameter of the UI algorithm, optionally with a default value. Optionally or alternatively, the number of alphanumerics is selectable by the user of the TCD.

Typically, alphanumeric text is separated into delimited expressions (e.g. words, numbers, etc). In the present invention, as can be understood from the description and table, above, the text is portioned or parsed into read-units, which may be, but are not necessarily, singular words or the like. Figs. 4A and 4B are front views of the cellular phone 10 illustrating a display of stored text by the present UI; namely, the cellular phone's menu text in this example, however, it could be the name of a person in an address list, and so on. In Figs. 4A and 4B, the menu option for displaying missed calls is selected and the present UI displays the text as a first read unit 2Od ("miss"), which is then removed and followed by a second read-unit 2Oe ("call").

These figures emphasize the UI's overlay display aspect as the menu text of the standard menu display is partially visible "below" the display of the present UI. Fig. 5 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of a method according to the present invention of displaying text on a screen with a UI. The method comprises a first step 91 of detecting a communication event; (i.e. a signal indicating an event entailing the display of text, for example, an incoming call, SMS, e-mail, etc; a key press or sequence of key presses by the user, etc; browsing the phone's menu; and so on); a second step 92 of sending a signal resulting from that communication event to a user interface comprising an algorithm for parsing text into read-units; a third step 93 of parsing the text into read-units; and a fourth step 94 of displaying the read-units one at a time on the screen 12 - which may occur either automatically or upon pressing of a TCD key or key sequence, etc. Fig. 6 illustrates an exemplary menu 26 that may be independently accessed (e.g. via a key sequence, etc), or incorporated into the TCD's standard menu, for affecting the display of the UI. In the menu 26, there are shown exemplary feature options of how the user can control the length and/or style of read-units; for example: number of characters 28, number range of characters 30, vowel omission 32, suffix omission 34 and plural omission 36. It should be understood that the menu 26 can be much more extensive and include many feature options that will be apparent to one in the art, including a display actuation option (i.e. automatic, upon pressing a key/key sequence, etc), an aspect ratio range of the alphanumerics displayed, screen fill options (e.g. fill the screen 12 with minimal margins, etc) and other options mentioned herein. As should be noticed by example, the aforementioned menu 26 itself may be displayed in read-units (e.g. the term "omission" is displayed as the read-unit "omit"), as well as the phone's standard menu, as exemplified in Figs. 4A and 4B.

Alternatively, or in combination with the menu 26, the UI may comprise an option to choose which type of read-unit algorithm is used via other means such as a screen icon, a function key or function key sequence, a voice command, etc.

It should be understood that the above description is merely exemplary and that there are various embodiments of the present invention that may be devised, mutatis mutandis.

Claims

1. A user interface for use with a telecommunication device having a text display screen, said user interface comprising an algorithm to display said text one portion at a time in read-units.

2. The user interface according to claim 1, wherein each read-unit is displayed automatically.

3. The user interface according to claim 1, wherein it is activated by one or a combination of: pressing an existing key or sequence; pressing of a dedicated function key; selecting an icon; a touch-screen means and a voice recognition feature.

4. The user interface according to claim 1, wherein the algorithm parses the text into read-units of a length or style comprising any one of: a pre-determined number of alphanumerics; a number of alphanumerics within a range; delimiting by syllables, abbreviations, shorthand-type or phonetic spelling, a vowel omission feature, a vowel substitution, synonym substitution, article omission, symbols substitution, a suffix omission feature, kerning, and any combination thereof.

5. The user interface according to claim 4, wherein the algorithm for affecting the alphanumeric length or style of each read-unit is controllable by any of: a menu selection; a telecommunication device key press, key sequence or touch- screen press; a screen icon selection and a voice command.

6. The user interface according to claim 1, wherein the size of the alphanumerics of each read-unit displayed is a function of the screen size.

7. The user interface according to claim 1, wherein the size of the alphanumerics of each read-unit displayed is a function of the screen configuration.

8. The user interface according to claim 1, wherein the text is continually displayed in a cyclical fashion; for a pre-determined number of cycles; or until a phone event occurs.

9. The user interface according to claim 1, wherein the text to be displayed is any of: a telecommunication device menu option, an SMS, the phone number of the incoming phone; an address book name; and text indicating a communication.

10. The user interface according to claim 1, wherein one or more of the read- units is displayed in a different manner than that of other read-units.

11. The user interface according to claim 10, wherein the different manner comprises one or a combination of: a different color, a different font type, back- shading, underlining and flashing display.

12. The user interface according to claim 1, wherein the algorithm parses a telephone number into at least two read-units.

13. The user interface according to claim 1, wherein the algorithm parses at least one word of the text into one or more read-units.

14. An improvement to an existing user interface for use with a telecommunication device having a text display screen, said improvement comprising incorporating an algorithm to display text one portion at a time in read-units.

15. The improvement of claim 14, wherein each read-unit is displayed automatically.

16. The improvement of claim 14, wherein it is activated by one or a combination of: pressing an existing key or sequence; pressing of a dedicated function key; selecting an icon; a touch-screen means and a voice recognition feature.

17. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the algorithm parses the text into read-units of a length or style comprising any one of: a pre-determined number of alphanumerics; a number of alphanumerics within a range; delimiting by syllables, abbreviations, shorthand-type or phonetic spelling, a vowel omission feature, a vowel substitution, synonym substitution, article omission, symbols substitution, a suffix omission feature, kerning, and any combination thereof.

18. The improvement of claim 17, wherein the algorithm for affecting the alphanumeric length or style of each read-unit is controllable by any of: a menu selection; a telecommunication device key press, key sequence or touch-screen press; a screen icon selection and a voice command.

19. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the size of the alphanumerics of each read-unit displayed is a function of the screen size.

20. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the text is continually displayed in a cyclical fashion; for a pre-determined number of cycles; or until a phone event occurs.

21. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the text to be displayed is any of: a telecommunication device menu option, an SMS, the phone number of the incoming phone; an address book name; and text indicating a communication.

22. The improvement of claim 14, wherein one or more of the read-units is displayed in a different manner than that of other read-units.

23. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the different manner comprises one or a combination of: a different color, a different font type, back-shading, underlining and flashing display.

24. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the algorithm parses a telephone number into at least two read-units.

25. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the algorithm parses at least one word of the text into one or more read-units.

26. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the algorithm for affecting the alphanumeric length or style of each read-unit is controllable by any of: a menu selection; a telecommunication device key press, key sequence or touch-screen press; a screen icon selection and a voice command.

27. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the size of the alphanumerics of each read-unit displayed is a function of the screen size.

28. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the size of the alphanumerics of each read-unit displayed is a function of the screen configuration.

29. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the display of the text is overlaid on the display of the existing user interface.

30. The improvement of claim 14, wherein it preserves the look and feel and functionality of the telecommunication device.

31. A method of displaying text on a screen of a telecommunication device comprising the steps of: (a) detecting a communication event resulting in the display of text; (b) sending a signal resulting from that communication event to a user interface; (c) parsing the text into read-units; and (d) sequentially displaying the read-units one at a time on the screen.

32. The method according to claim 31, wherein the steps (b) through (d) are accomplished automatically.

33. The method according to claim 31, wherein the steps (b) through (d) are performed upon affecting a telecommunication device command.

34. The method according to claim 31, wherein the communication event is any one of: an incoming message, incoming phone call and a menu browse or scroll.

35. The method according to claim 31, wherein the read-units are overlaid on an original user interface display.

36. A method of parsing text intended for displaying on a screen of a telecommunication device wherein said text is parsed into read-units.

37. The method of claim 36, comprising displaying the read-units in a font size as a function of the size of the screen.

38. The method of claim 36, comprising displaying the read-units in a font size as a function of the of the screen configuration.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein the algorithm parses the text into read- units of a length or style comprising any one of: a pre-determined number of alphanumerics; a number of alphanumerics within a range; delimiting by syllables, abbreviations, shorthand-type or phonetic spelling, a vowel omission feature, a vowel substitution, synonym substitution, article omission, symbols substitution, a suffix omission feature, kerning, and any combination thereof.