Title of Invention

SYSTEMS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND/OR USE OF TELEPHONE USER INTERFACE

Abstract Some embodiments provide a touch-sensitive device (132) to receive a bias and to generate touch location information based on the bias, an element (134) to secure a printed medium in contact with the touch sensitive device, the printed medium to depict a plurality of telephone interface controls, a memory (136) to store a telephone interface layout associating one or more of the telephone interface controls with a respective touch location and a respective action, and a processor (138) to receive touch location information from the touch-sensitive device, to determine a telephone interface control based on the touch location information and on the telephone interface layout, to determine an action based on the telephone interface control and on the telephone interface layout, and to perform the determined action.
Full Text SYSTEMS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND/OR USE OF
TELEPHONE USER INTERFACE
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent
Application Serial No. 60/782,588, filed on March 14, 2006 and entitled
"Method and Apparatus for a Customizable Telephone Interface", and to U.S.
Provisional Patent Application Serial No.60/850,169, filed on October 5, 2006
and entitled "Method and Apparatus for Creating Customizable Telephone
Interfaces", the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all
purposes.
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material
which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection
to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent document or the patent
disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or
records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND
Conventional telephones typically receive user input via the ubiquitous
numeric keypad. In the most basic arrangement, a user requests a telephone
connection with a remote party by dialing the remote party's telephone
number using the keys of such a keypad. A conventional telephone keypad
may include letters associated with each key in order to enable input of alpha
characters.
Interactive voice response (IVR) systems attempt to address the
limitations of the conventional keypad in order to provide a more sophisticated
exchange between a telephone user and a remote system. In particular, IVR
systems provide audible menus which a user may navigate by depressing

keypad keys. Most users, however, find IVR systems to be frustrating and
inefficient for all but the simplest of tasks.
Modem telephone systems may provide a small display screen in
addition to the traditional keypad. The screen may display information typed
by a user using the keypad and/or other information such as date and time. In
some instances, the screen may provide labels for soft keys having functions
that vary depending on operating context.
Systems are desired for efficiently providing telephone users with a
useful interface. Such a system may be customizable and/or sufficiently
inexpensive to manufacture.
According to various embodiments, the invention generally relates to
systems to provide user interfaces for telephone systems. More particularly,
some embodiments are concerned with systems to generate and/or support
customizable telephone interface layouts.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Some embodiments provide a system, method, telephone, program
code and/or means to receive a first user indication of a telephone interface
control, receive a second user indication of a location associated with the
telephone interface control, receive a third user indication of an action
associated with the telephone interface control,, and generate, based on the
first user indication, the second user indication, and the third user indication, a
telephone interface layout formatted according to a markup language and
usable by a telephone to provide a user interface.
In further aspects, the telephone interface layout comprises an image
depicting a plurality of telephone interface controls and data associating one
or more of the plurality of telephone interface controls with a respective
location and a respective action. The image may be depicted on a printed
medium.
According to some embodiments, a system includes a touch-sensitive
device to receive a bias and to generate touch location information based on

the bias, an element to secure a printed medium in contact with the touch
sensitive device, the printed medium to depict a plurality of telephone
interface controls, and a memory to store a telephone interface layout
associating one or more of the telephone interface controls with a respective
touch location and a respective action. Also included may be a processor to
receive touch location information from the touch-sensitive device, to
determine a telephone interface control based on the touch location
information and on the telephone interface layout, to determine an action
based on the telephone interface control and on the telephone interface
layout, and to perform the determined action.
Some aspects may provide reception of touch location information from
a touch-sensitive device, and determination of a telephone interface control
based on the touch location information and on a telephone interface layout.
The telephone interface layout may be formatted according to a markup
language and may associate one or more of the telephone interface controls
with a respective touch location and a respective action. An action may be
determined based on the telephone interface control and on the telephone
interface layout, and the determined action is performed.
With these and other advantages and features that will become
hereinafter apparent, further information may be obtained by reference to the
following detailed description and appended claims, and to the figures
attached hereto.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Some embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying figures, in
which like reference numerals designate like parts, and wherein:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system according to some embodiments;
FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a process according to some embodiments;
FIG. 3 comprises an outward view of a user interface according to
some embodiments;
FIG. 4 comprises an outward view of a user interface including a

property sheet according to some embodiments;
FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a process according to some embodiments;
FIG. 6 comprises outward views of telephone interface layouts
according to some embodiments;
FIG. 7 comprises a diagram illustrating system operation according to
some embodiments;
FIG. 8 comprises a diagram illustrating system operation according to
some embodiments;
FIG. 9 comprises a diagram illustrating system operation according to
some embodiments; and
FIG. 10 comprises a diagram illustrating system operation according to
some embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of system 100 according to some
embodiments. System 100 may comprise any number of hardware and/or
software elements for performing the functions attributed thereto herein.
System 100 may be used to generate and/or use a telephone interface layout
according to some embodiments.
System 100 includes computing system 110, communication link 120
and telephone 130. Computing system 110 may include any type of
computing system or systems that is or becomes known, including but not
limited to a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet personal computer,
a personal digital assistant, and a cellular telephone. Computing system 110
may operate to generate a telephone interface layout according to some
embodiments.
More specifically, some embodiments of computing system 110, which
are not limited to the structure illustrated in FIG. 1, operate to receive a first
user indication of a telephone interface control, to receive a second user
indication of a location associated with the telephone interface control, to
receive a third user indication of an action associated with the telephone
interface control, and to generate a telephone interface layout based on the


first user indication, the second user indication, and the third user indication.
The telephone interface layout may be formatted according to a markup
language and usable by a telephone to provide a user interface.
Computing system 110 of FIG. 1 includes processor 111 in
communication with communication bus 112. Processor 111 may comprise
any controller or processor capable of executing program code. More
specifically, processor 111 executes program code to control the elements of
computing system 110 to provide desired functionality such as that described
above.
Also in communication with communication bus 112 are input device
113 and display 114. A user may manipulate input device 113 to transmit a
user indication to system 110. Such an indication may indicate one or more
of a telephone interface control, a Iocation associated with the telephone
interface control, and an action associated with the telephone interface
control. Input device 113 may comprise any known input device, including a
keyboard, mouse, touch pad, voice-recognition system, or any combination of
these devices.
Display 114 may display graphics and text in response to commands
issued by processor 112. The displayed graphics and text may comprise a
user interface of an application for designing telephone interface layouts. In
this regard, display 114 may display a telephone interface layout to be used
by telephone 130 as will be described below. Display 114 may comprise an
integral or separate CRT display, flat-panel display or the like.
Data storage device 115 is also coupled to bus 112 and stores, among
other data, processor-executable program code of layout manager application
116. Processor 111 may execute the program code in order to control
computing system 110 to generate a telephone interface layout according to
some embodiments. Such a generated telephone interface layout may be
stored among telephone interface layouts 117 of storage device 115.
Computing system 110 according to some embodiments may include
fewer or more elements arranged differently than illustrated in FIG. 1. In
some embodiments, system 110 includes a printer for outputting a printed

medium depicting an image of a plurality of telephone interface controls.
Computing system 110 may also or alternatively include a communication port
for transmitting data to and receiving data from devices external to computer
system 110. Such a communication port may transmit telephone interface
layout 125 to telephone 130 over link 120 according to some embodiments.
The program code of layout manager application 116 may be read from
a computer-readable medium, such as a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-
ROM, a Zip™ disk, a magnetic tape, or a signal encoding the process steps,
and then stored in data storage device 115 in a compressed, uncompiled
and/or encrypted format. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry
may be used in place of, or in combination with, processor-executable code
for implementation of processes according to some embodiments. Thus,
embodiments are not limited to any specific combination of hardware and
software.
Communication link 120 may comprise any one or more suitable media
for transmitting telephone interface layout 125 to telephone 130.
Communication link may support any suitable communication protocol(s). In
some embodiments, link 120 may comprise a USB cable, a serial cable, a
network cable, and/or a wireless link. In a case that telephone interface
layout 125 comprises a printed medium, link 120 may comprise the physical
means by which the medium is delivered to telephone 130.
Telephone 130 may operate in some embodiments to receive touch
location information from a touch-sensitive device, and determine a telephone
interface control based on the touch location information and on a telephone
interface layout. The telephone interface layout may be formatted according
to a markup language and may associate one or more of the telephone
interface controls with a respective touch location and a respective action.
Telephone 130 may determine an action based on the telephone interface
control and on the telephone interface layout, and may proceed to perform the
determined action.
Telephone 130 of FIG. 1 includes touch-sensitive device 132. Touch-
sensitive device 132 may operate according to some embodiments to receive


a bias and to generate touch location information based on the bias. Touch-
sensitive device 132 may comprise any type of suitable device that is
currently or hereafter known. Touch-sensitive device 132 may comprise a
simple touch-sensitive panel, a touch-sensitive panel providing a controllable
display on its surface, and/or a panel capable of providing haptic feedback to
a user. In this regard, haptic feedback comprises a force delivered by device
132 to a user of telephone 130. The force may simulate the "click" of a
keypress, a buzzing sensation, or any other suitable phenomena. As will be
described in detail below, some embodiments provide customizable haptic
feedback based on generated touch location information.
Touch-sensitive device 132 may be equipped with an integral display
for displaying depictions of a plurality of telephone interface controls. The
depictions may comprise elements of a telephone interface layout received
from computing system 110. Accordingly, the telephone interface layout
comprises an image file that may be displayed by the integral display of
touch-sensitive device 132.
Alternatively, some embodiments of telephone 130 may include
element 134 to secure a printed medium in contact with device 132. Such a
printed medium, some embodiments of which will be described below, may
depict the aforementioned plurality of telephone interface controls. The
printed medium may therefore be considered part of a telephone interface
layout that is associated with the plurality of telephone interface controls.
Accordingly, a user may touch a telephone interface control displayed
by the integral display or presented on a printed medium secured by securing
element 134. In response, touch-sensitive device 132 generates location
information associated with a location at which the touch is sensed.
In this regard, telephone 130 also includes memory 134 to store
program code of a telephone application and at least one telephone interface
layout associating one or more of the telephone interface controls with a
respective touch location. The telephone interface layout may also associate
one or more of the telephone interface controls with a respective action.
The following description provides an example of operation of system

100 according to some embodiments. A user may initially exert a bias against
one of the telephone interface controls displayed by the integral display or
depicted by the printed medium. Device 132 may, in response, generate
touch location information corresponding to a location of the telephone
interface control against which the bias is exerted.
Processor 138 of telephone 130 may execute the program code of
memory 134 to receive the touch location information from touch-sensitive
device 132. Based on a telephone interface layout stored in memory 134,
processor 138 may determine a telephone interface control associated with
the touch location information. Processor 138 may then determine, also
based on the telephone interface layout, an action associated with the
telephone interface control. Lastly, processor 138 controls elements of
telephone 130 to perform the determined action.
The elements of system 100 may include many unshown elements to
provide necessary or optional features. These elements may be embodied by
any suitable combinations of hardware, software and/or firmware, and may
share some elements therebetween. Computing system 110 and telephone
130 may be located adjacent to or remote from one another, and may be
elements of a single apparatus. Either or both of computing system 110 and
telephone 130 may be embodied by several devices located adjacent to or
remote from one another.
FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of process 200 according to some
embodiments. Process 200, as well as the other processes described herein,
may be embodied in program code executed by a processor or using any
suitable hardware and/or software arrangement. Process 200 is described
below as executed by computing system 110, but may be executed by any
suitable device or devices that are or become known.
Process 200 may comprise process steps embodied in program code.
Accordingly, prior to process 200, a user may operate computing system 110
to launch an application including such program code. In some embodiments,
process 200 is initiated by launching layout manager application 116 of
storage device 115.


According to some embodiments, display 114 displays user interface
300 of FIG. 3 upon launching layout manager application 116. User interface
300 includes design panel 310 for displaying graph/oaf elements of a
telephone interface layout, toolbox 320 for selecting widgets for inclusion in a
telephone interface layout, drop-down menu 330 for selecting a telephone
model in which the telephone interface layout is intended to be used, and
options 340 for performing associated tasks.
Initially, at step 210, an indication of a telephone interface control is
received. The first user indication may comprise user selection of a widget of
toolbox 320. For example, the Button widget may represent a selectable
button or a rectangle of a telephone interface layout, the Label may represent
text to include in the telephone interface fayout, the Handwriting Recognition
widget may represent an area in which handwriting may be input, and the
ImageBox widget may provide an area to include a selectable image.
Next, an indication of a location is received at step 220. The received
indication is associated with the telephone interface control indicated at step
210. Any number of systems for inputting and receiving the location indication
may be employed at step 220. For example, the user may "drag and drop" a
selected widget from toolbox 320 to a location of design panel 310. Step 220
therefore comprises determining the location to which the widget was
dropped. The dropped widget may be aligned within design panel 310 using
a "snap to grid" feature.
At step 230, it is determined whether the telephone interface control is
to be associated with an action. If so, flow proceeds to step 240, at which an
indication of an action associated with a telephone interface control is
received. The indication of the action may be input and/or received in any
suitable manner. According to some embodiments of step 240, a user may
select a displayed telephone interface control and may then select Properties
button of options 340. In response, display 114 may display property sheet
400 of FIG. 4, which the user may manipulate to indicate an action associated
with the selected telephone interface control.
As shown, property sheet 400 allows a user to specify any number of

parameters associated with a telephone interface control. Specific to step
240, window 400 provides text boxes 405 and 410 for specifying an action
type and an action value, respectively. The action type and action value
define an action that will be performed upon user selection of the associated
telephone interface control. For example, an ImageBox telephone interface
control may be associated with an action name "Dial" and an action number
"18004278427". Accordingly, a telephone displaying the telephone interface
control may dial the number upon user selection of the control.
Property sheet 400 may also be used to input and receive an indication
of a touch feedback parameter associated with the subject telephone interface
control. Specifically, area 415 of window 400 allows a user to associate touch
feedback parameters with the telephone interface control defined by property
sheet 400. The touch feedback parameters may define a haptic feedback to
be delivered to a user upon selection of the telephone interface control.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, some embodiments may allow a user to
manipulate any number of relevant parameter values with a telephone
interface control. These parameters may include, but are not limited to, a
size, a color, an image fife, text, and optica/ character recognition parameters
(e.g. an IP address and port number of a handwriting recognition server). The
types of parameters associated with a telephone interface control may
depend on the type of the telephone interface control. For exampie, Text
widgets might not be associated with an action and/or touch feedback
parameters.
Flow returns to step 210 if it is determined at step 260 that a user
intends to define additional telephone interface controls. If not, an indication
of a target telephone model is received at step 270. Returning to FIG. 3, the
indication of the target telephone model may be received via drop-down box
330. As will be described below, dimensions of the target telephone model
may be used to determine dimensions of telephone interface controls of a
subsequently-generated telephone interface layout.
At step 280, a telephone interface layout formatted according to a
markup language is generated. The layout associates all indicated telephone


interface controls with their respective indications received at steps 220, 240
and 250, and may be scaled based on the indicated target telephone mode).
A telephone interface layout according to some embodiments may include
data providing the associations mentioned above, as well as displayable
graphics data and/or a printed medium depicting the telephone interface
controls.
According to some embodiments, step 280 begins in response to user
selection of one of the Print Preview, Print Layout or Save Layout buttons of
options 340. The images within design panel 310 is measured in pixels and
may be scaled to millimeters for both saving the layout in markup language
format and for printing a depiction of the layout, if needed. For example, the
selected optiPoint 410 telephone includes a touch pad measuring 112mm in
width x 131mm in height. Assuming a fixed height of 512 pixels, the width of
the panel is calculated as 112mm/131mm * 512 pixels = 438 pixels.
Next, a snapshot of the images within design panel 310 is obtained
using a BitBIt (Bit Block Transfer) function. The function creates a bitmap
image by moving a rectangular block of bits from the display memory into
Random Access Memory of system 110. A frame (e.g. a Graphics object in
C++) is then built to hold the bitmap image. This frame is mapped in
millimeters and stretches or shrinks the bitmap image to maintain the proper
dimensions.
The code snippet below sets forth one strategy to convert the
telephone interface layout from pixels to millimeters. According to the code,
each specified telephone interface control (i.e. widget) is stored in an array
"widgets") and is iterated using a for-each loop. The location and the
dimensions of each widget are calculated by determining the ratio between its
width in millimeters and its width in pixels, and by multiplying the ratio with the
property to be transformed, e.g. the location of the widget in the x-direction.
Widgetlnfoll widgetlnfoList = new WidgetInfo[widgets.Count];
Widgetlnfo widgetlnfo; //contains all information about a widget


The markup language-formatted telephone interface layout includes
two main parts according to some embodiments. A first part holds general
information associated with the target telephone, and a second part contains
an array of a plurality of telephone interface controls. The following is an
example of the above-described first part of a layout according to some
embodiments.




The second part of markup language-formatted telephone interface
layout may list each telephone interface control of the layout, and may also
associate one or more of a location, dimensions, an action, and touch
feedback with each control. The following example includes information
relating to two telephone interface controls (i.e., widgets).




According to some embodiments, the location information association
with a telephone interface control may represent areas of a touchscreen
surrounding the telephone interface control. Therefore, user depression of
one of these surrounding areas may be considered a selection of the
corresponding interface control. Such embodiments may be beneficial for
elderly users.
As mentioned above, some embodiments of process 200 generate a
telephone interface layout including a printed medium depicting a plurality of
telephone interface controls and a markup language-formatted data file
associating each of the plurality of interface controls with a location, etc. In


some embodiments, the data file includes information that may be used by an
electronic display to generate an image of the telephone interface controls.
Such information may comprise a jpg image, an HTML page, or the like. In
some embodiments, a target telephone may include a rendering engine for
reading the above-described XML file in order to display the telephone
interface controls of the layout.
FIG. 5 is a diagram of process 500 according to some embodiments.
Process 500 may be executed by a telephone such as, but not limited to,
telephone 130 of FIG. 1. Process 500 may be embodied in processor-
executable program code and may therefore be stored in memory 136 and
executed by processor 138 of telephone 130.
A telephone interface layout is initiafly acquired at step 510. The
acquired layout-is formatted according to a markup language and associates
one or more telephone interface controls with a respective touch location and
a respective action. The layout may comprise an XML-formatted file such as
those described above, and may be acquired via any suitable transmission
means including but not limited to a wireless link, a wired link (e.g. a USB
cable), and a readable medium storing the file.
According to some embodiments, a process is executed upon startup
to load the acquired telephone interface layout. A user may be asked to
select from two or more telephone interface layouts to load. In some
embodiments, the startup process also displays an image depicting a plurality
of telephone interface controls based on the loaded telephone interface
layout. Other embodiments which utilize a non-imaging touch-sensitive
device may comprise securing a printed medium depicting such an image to
the non-imaging touch-sensitive device.
FIG. 6 illustrates four outward views of a telephone after performing
step 510 according to some embodiments. Images 610 through 640 each
display a plurality of telephone interface controls associated with at least a
location within a markup language-formatted file. In some embodiments,
images 610 through 640 are printed on a medium that is secured to a touch-
sensitive device (not shown). In other embodiments, images 610 through 640


are displayed by a touch-sensitive screen such as a touch-sensitive liquid
crystal display. The former embodiments may provide an inexpensive
customizable telephone. Such a telephone may be produced by replacing its
conventional numeric keypad with a touch-sensitive device.
FIG. 7 illustrates system 700 to execute process 500 according to
some embodiments. Touch-sensitive device 710 of system 700 may
comprise an imaging or a non-imaging touchscreen. Prior to step 520,
system 700 may initialize, configure and/or calibrate its hardware. Moreover,
the acquired telephone interface layout that is stored among XML data 770
may be parsed to create a list of each telephone interface control (i.e. widget)
and their associated locations, actions, and/or touch feedback parameters.
Next, processor 750 polls driver 760 of screen 710 at periodic intervals (e.g.,
10ms) to determine if a bias has been exerted thereon.
If so, touch location information is received at step 520. According to
some embodiments, converter 740 may receive an analog signal from each of
force sensors 722, 724, 726 and 728, and may transmit a digital signal based
on the four signals over an SPI bus to driver 760. Processor 750 may then
receive a corresponding coordinate pair upon polling driver 760.
A telephone interface control is determined at step 530 based on the
touch location information and the loaded telephone interface layout. In some
embodiments, step 530 simply comprises identifying a telephone interface
control that is associated with the location at which screen 710 was touched.
An action associated with the determined interface control is similarly
determined from the telephone interface layout at 540.
The determined action is performed at step 550. An action may
include, but is not limited to, dialing individual digits, dialing preset telephone
numbers (i.e., speed dialing), and performing handwriting recognition. The
action may be performed by using an application programming interface
provided by system 700 or by otherwise controlling elements of system 700 to
perform the determined action.
FIG. 7 also illustrates server 780, which may be remotely located and
used to perform any required handwriting recognition processing. In some


embodiments of process 500, processor 750 determines that received touch
location information corresponds to a handwriting recognition interface
control, and then captures a stream of coordinate pairs until either a pen-up
condition occurs or a fixed-length array is completely filled.
A TCP socket is then opened to handwriting recognition server 780
based on information (e.g. IP address, port number) specified by the
telephone interface layout. The stream of coordinate pairs is transmitted to
server 780 via the socket. Handwriting recognition server 780 processes the
received data, responds with a recognized character, and closes the socket.
The recognized character may be displayed on an available simple text
display of the phone, if available.
Handwriting recognition server 780 may be multi-threaded and may
therefore serve multiple individual telephones concurrently. Handwriting
recognition server 780 may alternatively be implemented on PCB 790.
Handwriting received via a handwriting recognition interface control may also
or alternatively be transmitted directly to a called party without recognition
processing. Such an embodiment may be used to forward an authorizing
signature to the called party.
According to some embodiments such as that illustrated in FIG. 7,
process 500 also includes providing touch feedback to a user based on touch
feedback information of the telephone interface layout. In particular,
processor 750 may determine such feedback based on the layout and on a
telephone interface control determined at 530. The feedback may be
represented by parameters such as cycle time, delay, cycle count, and
damping, and may be implemented by driving coil 730 to generate a haptic
vibration pattern. Coil 730 is representative of any number of coils that may
be used to generate haptic feedback through screen 710. The circuitry of
touchscreen 710 used to drive coil 730 may be connected to GPIO pins of
PCB 790.
FIG. 8 illustrates an alternative embodiment in which telephone 810
does not include a processor capable of executing process 500. Accordingly,
elements of process 500 may be distributed among touchscreen processor


820 and telephony switch 830.
In some embodiments, processor 820 comprises a low-cost processor,
such as the Tl® MSP 430, bundled into a single assembly with touchscreen
840. Processor 820 may execute any suitable operating system (e.g., the
free operating system Tiny OS) and compiler. According to some
embodiments, processor 820 executes code to poll A/D converter 850 and
process data received therefrom as described above. Signaling circuitry of
telephone 810 may be leveraged to transmit the processed data (e.g., touch
location information) to telephony switch 830.
Processor 860 of telephony switch 830 may perform steps 530 through
550 based on the received data and on a telephone interface layout
associated with telephone 810 and stored among XML data 860. If the
received data is associated with touch feedback information, processor 860
may transmit commands to generate touch feedback to telephone 810. As
illustrated, these commands may be passed on to processor 820, which
drives the touchscreen circuitry and coil 880 based thereon. Handwriting
recognition may be provided by system 800 as described with respect to
system 700.
System 900 of FIG. 9 illustrates operation according to further
embodiments. Telephone 910 includes elements (e.g., a processor) for
driving the circuitry and coil 920 of touchscreen 930 to provide touch
feedback. However, telephone 910 may pass touch location information to
switch 940 and switch 940 may operate as described above with respect to
switch 830.
According to some embodiments, one or more telephone interface
controls of a telephone interface layout may provide input to more than one
service. Such a scenario may be particularly beneficial in an embedded
environment (e.g., a conventional desktop telephone) where resources are
limited, and where it may therefore be necessary for services (directory,
email, etc.) to be deployed in a distributed manner.
By way of example, FIG. 10 is a conceptual block diagram showing the
currently-active directory service 1010 providing service to interface controls


of telephone 1020. Accordingly, user input received by any of virtual wheel
1030, 4-way navigation button 1040, and handwriting input box 1050 is
directed to directory process 1010. Module 1060 receives the input, performs
a directory search by querying directory database 1070, and formats and
outputs the results to display manager 1080 via module 1090.
According to some embodiments, the FIG. 10 framework may allow a
user to enter a surname via handwriting input box 1050, and to use either
virtual wheel 1030 or navigation button 1040 to scroll through the results. To
support the framework, telephone 1020 may to maintain the notion of an
active service to facilitate the transmission of all user inputs to an appropriate
remote process corresponding to the active service. Such a notion may be
maintained by enumerating services in the markup language-formatted
telephone interface layout as shown below.


V-
As shown, the enumerated services include the IP address and port
number for a corresponding remote process. The specification of the
telephone interface controls may remain unaffected and behave in the same
way as described above.
According to some embodiments using a touchscreen having display
capability, a user operates a telephone to place a call to a hotel. A hotel
phone device transmits a telephone interface layout as described above to the
user's telephone. The layout is read by the user's telephone to display a
plurality of telephone interface controls and to provide operation based
thereon as described above. For example, the layout may include controls
labeled "reception", "reservations", and "restaurant", each of which may be
selected (i.e., "pressed) by the user to place a call to an associated number.
According to some embodiments, the hotel phone device may transmit
an imagemap which can be displayed by a mobile telephone browser.


Selection of one of the displayed telephone interface controls may cause the
telephone to invoke a corresponding URL, which may consist of a SIP event
that generates a digit press.
According to some embodiments, 4-way navigation button 1040 may
operate to detect the force applied thereto by a user. An increase in the force
may cause acceleration of a corresponding activity (e.g., text scrolling on the
screen). The increased force may also be confirmed to the user via increased
touch feedback.
Some embodiments may provide layout modification on a telephone.
Such embodiments would allow an end-user to design and/or modify a
telephone interface layout using a telephone on which the layout is to be
used. For example, the user may modify the shape, size, cofor and/or action
associated with a telephone interface control.
According to some embodiments of the foregoing, a user may input a
name and telephone number of a business acquaintance in order to create a
new "speed dial" button corresponding to the acquaintance. Still other
embodiments of the foregoing may allow a desktop telephone to receive an
image captured by a camera phone and to integrate the image into a
telephone interface layout to be used by the desktop telephone.
Any architecture and/or system described herein may include any
number of devices and systems for transferring data, including but not limited
to local area networks, wide area networks, telephone networks, cellular
networks, fiber-optic networks, satellite networks, infra-red networks, radio
frequency networks, and any other type of networks which may be used to
transmit information between devices. Additionally, data may be transmitted
using one or more currently- or hereafter-known network protocols, including
but not limited to Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Internet Protocol (IP),
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).
Embodiments described above are not intended to be limited to the
specific form set forth herein, but are intended to cover such alternatives,
modifications and equivalents as can reasonably be included within the spirit
and scope of the appended claims.


WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
1. A method comprising;
receiving (210) a first user indication of a telephone interface control;
receiving (220) a second user indication of a location associated with
the telephone interface control;
receiving (240) a third user indication of an action associated with the
telephone interface control; and
generating (260), based on the first user indication, the second user
indication, and the third user indication, a telephone interface layout formatted
according to a markup language and usable by a telephone to provide a user
interface.
2. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the telephone interface
layout comprises an image depicting a plurality of telephone interface controls
and data associating one or more of the plurality of telephone interface
controls with a respective location and a respective action.
3. A method according to Claim 2, wherein the image is depicted on a
printed medium.
4. A method according to Claim 1, further comprising:
receiving (250) a fourth user indication of a touch feedback parameter
associated with the telephone interface control,
wherein the telephone interface layout is generated based on the fourth
user indication.
5. A method according to Claim 1, further comprising:
receiving (270) a fourth user indication of a telephone model,
wherein the telephone interface layout is generated based on the fourth
user indication.
6. A method according to Claim 5, wherein generating the telephone


interface layout based on the fourth user indication comprises scaling the
telephone interface layout based on the telephone model.
7. A method according to Claim 1,
wherein receiving the second user indication comprises determining a
location to which the user dragged and dropped an image representing the
telephone interface control.
8. A system comprising:
a touch-sensitive device (132) to receive a bias and to generate touch
location information based on the bias;
an element (134) to secure a printed medium in contact with the touch
sensitive device, the printed medium to depict a plurality of telephone
interface controls;
a memory (136) to store a telephone interface layout associating one
or more of the telephone interface controls with a respective touch location
and a respective action; and
a processor (138) to receive touch location information from the touch-
sensitive device, to determine a telephone interface control based on the
touch location information and on the telephone interface layout, to determine
an action based on the telephone interface control and on the telephone
interface layout, and to perform the determined action.
9. A system according to Claim 8, further comprising:
a telephone (810) comprising the touch-sensitive device and the
element; and
a telephony switch (830) comprising the memory and processor.
10. A system according to Claim 8, wherein the processor is to
determine a currently-active service, and to perform the action with respect to
the service.
11. A system according to Claim 8, further comprising:


a computing system (110) to receive a first user indication of a
telephone interface control, to receive a second user indication of a location
associated with the telephone interface control, to receive a third user
indication of an action associated with the telephone interface control, to
generate the telephone interface layout and the printed medium based on the
first user indication, the second user indication, and the third user indication.

Some embodiments provide a touch-sensitive device (132) to receive a bias and to generate touch location information based on the bias, an element (134) to secure a printed medium in contact with the touch sensitive device,
the printed medium to depict a plurality of telephone interface controls, a memory (136) to store a telephone interface layout associating one or more of the telephone interface controls with a respective touch location and a
respective action, and a processor (138) to receive touch location information from the touch-sensitive device, to determine a telephone interface control based on the touch location information and on the telephone interface layout, to determine an action based on the telephone interface control and on the
telephone interface layout, and to perform the determined action.

Documents:

3694-KOLNP-2008-(06-06-2014)-ABSTRACT.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(06-06-2014)-CLAIMS.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(06-06-2014)-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(06-06-2014)-DESCRIPTION PAGES.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(11-12-2013)-ABSTRACT.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(11-12-2013)-ANNEXURE TO FORM 3.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(11-12-2013)-CLAIMS.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(11-12-2013)-CORRESPONDENCE-1.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(11-12-2013)-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(11-12-2013)-DESCRIPTION (COMPLETE).pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(11-12-2013)-DRAWINGS.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(11-12-2013)-FORM-1.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(11-12-2013)-FORM-2.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(11-12-2013)-OTHERS.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-(11-12-2013)-PETITION UNDER RULE 137.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-abstract.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-claims.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-CORRESPONDENCE 1.1.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-CORRESPONDENCE 1.2.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-CORRESPONDENCE 1.3.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-correspondence.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-description (complete).pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-drawings.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-FORM 1.1.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-form 1.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-form 18.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-form 2.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-FORM 26.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-form 3.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-form 5.pdf

3694-KOLNP-2008-INTERNATIONAL EXM REPORT.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-international publication.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-international search report.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-pct request form.pdf

3694-kolnp-2008-specification.pdf

abstract-3694-kolnp-2008.jpg


Patent Number 265825
Indian Patent Application Number 3694/KOLNP/2008
PG Journal Number 12/2015
Publication Date 20-Mar-2015
Grant Date 18-Mar-2015
Date of Filing 09-Sep-2008
Name of Patentee SIEMENS TECHNOLOGY-TO-BUSINESS CENTER, LLC.
Applicant Address 1995 UNIVERSITY AVENUE, SUITE 375, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 MEYER, INGO 537 ALBEMARLE STREET, E1 CERRITO, CALIFORNIA 94530
2 GOOSE, STUART 691 ENSENADA AVENUE, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 94707
3 BENSON, DANIEL CONRAD 17868 40TH AVENUE NE, LAKE FOREST PARK, WASHINGTON 98155-4202
PCT International Classification Number H04M 1/247
PCT International Application Number PCT/US2007/006114
PCT International Filing date 2007-03-09
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 11/602,528 2006-11-20 U.S.A.
2 60/850,169 2006-10-05 U.S.A.
3 60/782,588 2006-03-14 U.S.A.