US 6,556,222 B1
`(10) Patent No.:
`a2) United States Patent
`Narayanaswami
`(45) Date of Patent:
`Apr.29, 2003
`
`
`US006556222B1
`
`(54) BEZEL BASED INPUT MECHANISM AND
`USER INTERFACE FOR A SMART WATCH
`
`6,414,907 BL *
`6,443,614 Bl *
`
`7/2002 Pennington... 368/10
`9/2002 Read oo... eee 368/281
`
`(75)
`
`Inventor: Chandrasekhar Narayanaswami,
`Wilton, CT (US)
`International Business Machines
`Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)
`
`(73) Assignee:
`
`(*) Notice:
`
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term ofthis
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`US.C. 154(b) by 425 days.
`
`(21) Appl. No.: 09/607,594
`(22)
`Filed:
`Jun. 30, 2000
`(51)
`Int. C1eee G09G 5/00; GO4C 17/00
`(52) U.S. Ch. eee 345/786; 345/701; 368/69;
`368/295
`(58) Field of Search oo... eee 345/786, 787,
`345/828, 829, 830, 701, 700, 704, 810,
`835, 839, 832, 853, 854, 964, 173, 174;
`368/251, 244, 246, 248, 243, 10, 109, 247,
`250, 262, 263, 267, 69, 295
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`“The World’s Smallest PDA Computer Watch”, Hammacher
`Schlemmer Mid Summer 2000 Catalog,p. 3.
`
`* cited by examiner
`
`Primary Examiner—Kristine Kincaid
`Assistant Examiner—Peng Ke
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Scully, Scott, Murphy &
`Presser; Gail H. Zarick, Esq.
`(57)
`ABSTRACT
`
`Awearable mobile computing device/appliance (e.g., a wrist
`watch) with a high resolution display that is capable of
`wirelessly accessing information from the network and a
`variety of other devices. The mobile computing device/
`appliance includes a user interface employing a bezel-based
`input mechanism including a bezel ring which may be
`rotated and depressed for generating both rotation and wheel
`click events for enabling navigation, selection and entry of
`various displayed textual and graphical items.
`
`4,385,291 A *
`
`5/1983 Piguet... cece 345/173
`
`42 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets
`
`400 ™~ 405
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`1
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`APPLE 1015
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`APPLE 1015
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`1
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`Apr. 29, 2003
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`Sheet 1 of 5
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`US 6,556,222 B1
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`
`
`FIG.
`
`1
`
`sCellular phone
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`CP
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`Thinkpad
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`fe
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`IrDA (RF) Dock
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` USB/Parallel/Serial
`ena
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`Safety improvement
`-Brain tumor
`-Safety driving
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`
`Devices
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`
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`VisionPad-e
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`-GPS/Compass
`
`-Barometer
`-Thermometer
`
`-Altimeter
`-Trekking counter
`
`
`
`Expanded function shell
`
`Watch Pad
`* Touch screen
`Basic Device
`
`- Buttons
`= Integrated I/F
`455
`Hands-free Mobile Shell
`Device support
`- Touch screen
`Batter
`; Soroll/Fointing device
`-Exteral UF
`‘Bluetooth (AS232C)
`Touch screen
`+ Scroll/Pointing device . ysue o iSpeak
`. Buttons
`icrophone/Speaker
`+ Touch Sensor
`* Thick battery
`
`* mic/speaker
`-Touch screen RS232¢
`*Thin battery
`+ Serialbus I/F
`FIG. 3
`
`
`e80X
`
`PIM
`
`SCENARIOS AND INTERACTIONS
`_Watch
`Alerts
`
`etc.
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`SHELL APPLICATION SOFTWARE
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`242 22h«=228aig 218 220 222 S28
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`Apr. 29, 2003
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`Sheet 2 of 5
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`US 6,556,222 BI
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`a18
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`00gy1/d310&5
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`U.S. Patent
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`Apr. 29, 2003
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`Sheet 3 of 5
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`US 6,556,222 B1
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`Jee
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`Set Alarms
`
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`320
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`4
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`Apr. 29, 2003
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`Sheet 4 of 5
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`US 6,556,222 B1
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`FIG. 6A
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`25b
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`FIG. 6B
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`134
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`400
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`wt
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`425
`420
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`425a
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`425
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`
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`5
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`Apr.29, 2003
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`Sheet 5 of 5
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`US 6,556,222 BI
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`FIG. 8A
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`\eAa
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`6
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`

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`US 6,556,222 B1
`
`1
`BEZEL BASED INPUT MECHANISM AND
`USER INTERFACE FOR A SMART WATCH
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`1. Field of the Invention
`
`This invention relates generally to mobile computing
`devices such as personaldigital assistants (PDAs), cellular
`phones, pagers, and the like, and more specifically,
`to a
`wearable device/appliance (e.g., a wrist watch) capable of
`wirelessly accessing information and having an interactive
`user interface equipped with a bezel-based scroll mechanism
`for enabling navigation, selection and entry of text and
`graphics elements displayed via the user interface.
`2. Discussion of the Prior Art
`
`Computing, mobile and wireless communications tech-
`nologies have been rapidly advancing—culminating in a
`variety of powerful user friendly devices such as personal
`digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, pagers, etc.
`Today,
`it
`is possible to purchase handheld PDA’s, e.g.,
`palmtops such as the Palm Pilot®, that employ wireless
`communication devices and that combines computing,
`telephone/fax, and networking features. A typical PDA may
`function as a cellular phone,
`fax sender, and personal
`organizer and are pen-based, requiring a stylusfortext entry.
`As such, these device incorporate handwriting recognition
`features and may even employ voice recognition technolo-
`gies that react to voice input. Small devices such as the RIM
`950 and the Motorola PageWriter 2000 pager use a small
`keyboard for input.
`Today,the industryis striving to provide advancements by
`providing increased PC desktop-like functionality while
`both decreasing size and power requirements. More recently
`there have been attempts to incorporate some of the capa-
`bilities of the above devices into wrist watches. However,
`today, only special wearable watch devices are available
`that, besides time keeping functions, may possess a
`compass, or a Global Positioning System (GPS), or
`barometer, heart
`rate monitor, Personal Handy System
`(PHS) phone, pager, etc. There are shortcomings in these
`existing special function watches in that most of them are
`bulky, are mostly unconnected the Internet or other
`PC/network devices, have limited battery life, and, are
`difficult to use. These currently available special function
`wrist watches additionally have user interfaces that are quite
`limited in what they can display. For example, in the context
`of setting time in digital watches, currently, the user is only
`enabled to set the hour and minute independently, with time
`only advancing in one direction. Furthermore, most of them
`have a 6 to 8 seven segment LED or LCDs which can be
`used to display 6 or 8 digits/letters, and have a small number
`of indicators that can display AM/PM, Alarm on/off, etc.
`only at fixed locations within the display. A few watches are
`currently appearing on the market that have slightly richer
`display characteristics. Regardless, these various shortcom-
`ings have to be solved, otherwise there is no compelling
`reason for these watches to become popular. The design of
`a wrist watch for mobile computing applications offers a
`significant challenge because the watch is a small device.
`That is, both fitting components and power supplies such as
`batteries into such a small volume and given the limited
`screen size of watches pose limitations that have be over-
`come. Solving these issues is worthy because the watch is an
`attractive form as 1) it is one of the few devices that a very
`large fraction of the population is already accustomed to
`worldwide, 2) is accessible almost all the time, and, 3) is
`hard to lose.
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`It would thus be highly desirable to provide a wearable
`device/appliance (a wrist watch) capable of wirelessly
`accessing information and equipped with an interactive user
`interface and high resolution display for providing a variety
`of desktop PC-like functions.
`Current literature relating to human computerinteraction
`has indicated that rotary dial and dial type mechanism are
`more popular on stereos, car radios, and electrical instru-
`ments than linear sliders, buttons, etc. Some mechanical
`type watches today are provided with a bezel mechanism
`which is a ring that fits on the periphery of the watch and
`supports continuous rotation to control various mechanical
`artifacts of the watchface display, e.g., provide various
`alarm-setting or time-keeping functions. U.S. Pat. No. Des.
`409,924 discloses a watch bezel that have markings/text
`written on the bezel that may then be pointed to the hour or
`minute hand of the watch. The bezel is a convenient mecha-
`nism since it
`is continuously rotatable and allows fine
`positioning.
`For instance, in a current bezel-based, alarm-setting fea-
`ture exemplified by the Timex “Turn and Go” watch, the
`bezel is provided with two markers used to respectively set
`alarm time hour and minute positions.
`In such an
`application, the bezel is rotated with the markers rotatable
`for mechanically selecting an hour,e.g., via the first marker
`setting and, for setting the minute via the second marker
`setting. In such watches these bezel settings mechanically
`cooperate and interact with a button or switch which may be
`pulled and pushed to confirm setting of the alarm indicated
`by the bezel positions. In another example, bezels may be
`used to measure elapsed time or provide time remaining
`features. A further use of a bezel on a watch face is to
`
`provide it with markings correspondingto locationsofcities
`around the world, so that, one may position the marking at
`a particular time setting and, implement a particular algo-
`rithm for enabling the determination of the current time in
`that city (or time zone) based on the current local time.
`Further applications of a bezel mechanisms include the
`provision of compass markings for indicating navigational
`directions, e.g., making a longitude/latitude adjustment.
`However,it is the case that all these aforementioned bezel
`wrist watches are mechanical bezels and do not generate
`electrical signals that can be interpreted by a microprocessor.
`It would thus be additionally highly desirable to provide
`a wearable electronic device/appliance (a wrist watch)
`equipped with an interactive user interface and high reso-
`lution display for providing a variety of desktop PC-like
`functions and further implementing a bezel control mecha-
`nism for enabling navigation, selection and entry of text and
`graphics displayed via the user interface.
`SUMMARYOF THE INVENTION
`
`invention to provide a
`is an object of the present
`It
`wearable device/appliance (a wrist watch) capable of wire-
`lessly accessing information and equipped with an interac-
`tive user interface and high resolution display for providing
`a variety of desktop PC-like functions.
`It is a further object of the present invention to provide a
`wearable device/appliance (a wrist watch) having an inter-
`active user interface equipped with a bezel control device for
`enabling navigation through and selection of text and graph-
`ics elements displayed via the user interface.
`In a preferred embodiment, as will be described in greater
`detail herein,the roller device comprises a bezel which may
`be rotated and depressed for generating both rotation and
`wheelclick events for enabling the navigation, selection and
`entry of text and graphic display items.
`7
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`7
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`

`

`US 6,556,222 B1
`
`3
`Accordingto the invention,there is provided a system and
`methodfor controlling user interface functions in a wearable
`appliance including a high-resolution display for displaying
`text and graphic items and a bezel-based input device having
`a bezel ring capable of being rotated and activated for
`executing user interface functions, said method comprising
`the steps of: generating display of the user interface func-
`tions via the display and initiating display of a cursor
`navigation elementthereof; generating signals in response to
`rotation of the bezel ring for navigating the cursor through
`displayed graphic and text items; generating a signal in
`response to activation of the bezel-based input mechanism
`for selecting a displayed graphic and text item highlighted
`by the cursor; and, receiving the signals and effecting
`navigation, selection and entry of displayed items through
`the user interface.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`Further features, aspects and advantages of the apparatus
`and methods of the present invention will become better
`understood with regard to the following description,
`appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:
`FIG. 1 illustrates conceptually the wearable information
`access wrist watch device of the invention.
`
`FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram illustrating the hard-
`ware architecture of the Wrist Watch device 10 implement-
`ing the bezel-based input mechanism of the present inven-
`tion.
`FIG. 3 illustrates the software architecture 200 for the
`Wrist Watch device 10.
`
`FIG. 4 illustrates an example Wrist Watch system display
`300 providing a main menuof selectable icons for launching
`Personal Information Managementapplications provided in
`the Wrist Watch device.
`
`FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b)illustrate example Wrist Watch device
`displays 350 provided for performing hour-hand and
`minute-hand alarm setting functions as set via the bezel
`control mechanism.
`
`FIGS. 6(a) and 6() illustrate respective front view and
`side views of the electronic Wrist Watch device implement-
`ing a bezel control mechanism.
`FIG. 7 illustrates an example Wrist Watch system display
`450 providing the alphabets in a circular ring for selection by
`the bezel control mechanism.
`
`FIG. 8(a) illustrates the bezel-based input mechanism
`including a menu of selectable icons for launching Personal
`Information Managementapplications provided in the Wrist
`Watch device.
`
`FIG. 8(5)illustrates the bezel-based input mechanism of
`FIG. 8(a) including a squeezable gasketfor initiating an icon
`selection.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
`PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
`
`FIG. 1 illustrates conceptually the wearable information
`access wrist watch device of the invention. Referred to
`herein as the “Wrist Watch” 10, the system looks like a
`regular watch but is capable of receiving information from
`adjunct devices such as a PC, a mobile computer, other
`pervasive devices being carried by the user and directly from
`a network via a wireless communications mechanism.
`
`As shown in FIG. 1, the Wrist Watch device 10 is based
`on a modular concept designed to include a motherboard or
`base card 20 of minimum card size that leverages state-of-
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`the-art technologies as will be described in greater detail
`herein. Specifically, the base card 20 may be implemented in
`various types of shells 25a, ... , 25c¢ for enabling various
`functions. For example, the base card 20 may be imple-
`mented in a basic shell 25a providing desk-top like func-
`tionality via a touch screen display; a hands-free mobile
`shell 25b providing,
`in addition to basic desktop
`functionality, a communications interface with GPS and
`mobile phone communications capability etc., and including
`a touch screen display, scroll/pointing devices, and micro-
`phone and speaker devices; and an expanded function shell
`25c, providing touch screen, buttons and support for various
`devices such as GPS/compass,
`thermometer, barometer,
`altimeter, etc.
`FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram illustrating the hard-
`ware architecture of the Wrist Watch device 10. As shown in
`FIG. 2, the base card 20 includes a first or main card 50
`housing the core processing unit, I/O, and memory. For
`example the main card 50 includes a CPU 55, such as a
`Cirrus Logic CL-EP7211, which is a single-chip embedded
`controller functioning as a CPU for ultra-low-power
`applications, and armed with processing and enhanced
`memory managementfeatures to function equivalently as a
`100 MHz Pentium. The core processing unit may operate at
`2.5 V, and, to minimize the board size, may be equipped with
`a 3.68 MHz ceramic resonator 57 for generating the main
`frequency clock and timing signals. The main card 50
`additionally includes sufficient nonvolatile and volatile
`memory including, for example, 64 Mbit EDO DRAM 58
`and SRAM/Flash memory59 that supports the system code.
`One communications subsystem of the Wrist Watch 10
`includes a line of sight Infrared Data Association (IrDA)
`communications interface having a low-power IR trans-
`ceiver module 60 mounted on the card 50 for direct con-
`nection with interface decoder pins of the CPU 55 which
`includes an IrDA SIR protocol encoder. The first card 50
`additionally includes various Analog to Digital converters
`(ADC), memory refresh logic and industry standard inter-
`faces such as a compactflash interface for example, so that
`other devices could be attached to the Wrist Watch 10. Other
`interfaces such as Universal Serial Bus (USB), and I2C,etc.
`may additionally be incorporated. FIG. 2 furtherillustrates
`the main card 50 as comprising power supply subsystem
`including a rechargeable Li-Polymer type battery 65 and a
`DC to DC converter 66 for supporting a wide dynamic range
`of Wrist Watch system/sub-system load.
`With further reference to FIG. 2, the main card 50 has no
`audio capability but is equipped with a PCM audiointerface
`in expansion tabs (not shown) for an accessory card, ie.,
`either card 75 or 80,
`in the expanded-shell Wrist Watch
`designs that support PCM audio. Particularly, the accessory
`card 75, 80 implemented includes a speaker and a micro-
`phone combination 77, 83 respectively, with the microphone
`functioning to record voice input which may be processed
`by the processor subsystem or stored in a storage subsystem
`for subsequent playback, and the speaker functioning to
`provide voice output, produce customized tones, and enable
`acoustic coupling with other listening devices, etc. As shown
`in FIG. 2, each speaker/microphone combination 77. 83 is
`connected to a respective pulse-coded modulation PCM
`coder/encoder devices (CODECs) 78, 84 which are con-
`trolled by a respective PCM interface 79, 89 to the CPU 55.
`The accessory card 75, 80 is additionally equipped with
`various communications subsystems including low power
`and intermediary power radio frequency communications
`devices that support a Wireless Application Protocol
`(“WAP”) used to provide communications links to mobile
`8
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`

`

`US 6,556,222 B1
`
`5
`computers, mobile phones, portable handheld devices and,
`connectivity to the Internet. In one embodiment, the specific
`communications subsystemsinclude circuitry for supporting
`BlueTooth 81 or like small-factor, low-cost radio solution
`circuitry, e.g., an RF-modem 76, and may include other low
`powerradio and Flex-paging communications circuits (not
`shown), etc. For instance, as shown in FIG. 2, the auxiliary
`communication card 80 implements the BlueTooth industry
`standard for Radio Frequency (RF) communication,
`however, it is understood that other standards such as IEEE
`802.11 or other RF protocols may be implemented as well.
`Moreover, portions of these communication protocols may
`be implemented on the processor on the main board 50 so
`that the total number of the components required is mini-
`mized. The CPU system on the main card 50 preferably
`employsa first Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmit-
`ter (UART1) device (not shown) for supporting either the
`RF-modem 76 or Bluetooth 81 communications functional-
`
`ity and, may be equipped with a second UART device
`(UART2)providing support for data download functionality,
`e.g., from a PC or network server.It is understood that any
`like data transfer mechanism or data exchange interface
`device may be implemented to provide data download and
`RF communications support functionality.
`For purposes of interacting with the device, the Wrist
`Watch system 10 is provided with a touch sensitive screen/
`panel 90 shaped within a standard watch form factor, and
`also a roller wheel mechanism, 1e., jog encoder 95. The
`touch sensitive screen enables the direct launching of appli-
`cations by physical user entry of a graffiti “squiggle” in the
`manner such as described in commonly-owned co-pending
`US. patent application Ser. No. 09/607,596 entitled GRAF-
`FITI BASED APPLICATION LAUNCH ON A SMART
`WATCH, the whole contents and disclosure of which is
`incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, and
`may initiate other applications/actions/events by physical
`touching of certain Wrist Watch display areas.
`In one
`embodiment, the touch sensitive screen panel is provided
`with a four (4) position touch screen. For instance, forward
`and back navigation for Wrist Watch displays is enabled by
`physically touching certain areas of the touch sensitive
`panel. The roller wheel mechanism 95 may berolled up or
`down(i.e., clockwise or anticlockwise) to simulate a display
`cursor scrolling function for text and graphics. In the context
`of the present invention,
`the roller wheel mechanism 95
`generates signals that are A/D converted for receipt by the
`processor to enable movement of the Wrist Watch display
`cursor, and more particularly, movement of an arrow cursor
`or other displayed indicators providing appointment update
`and browsing functions. Preferably, when the wheel mecha-
`nism movesby morethan a predetermined amount, e.g., 20°
`degrees, the wheel generates a signal as a mouse device
`would whenrolled. If a user rolls the wheel continuously, the
`wheel generates a signal for every 20 degrees of rotation
`(hereinafter “rotation event(s)”), with the event generated
`including an indication specifying whether the wheel was
`turned clockwise or anticlockwise.
`In this manner,
`the
`direction of the roller wheel, and consequently, the direction
`of cursor movementthrough a particular display, is tracked
`by the processor. The roller wheel mechanism additionally
`may be pushedor depressed to generate a signal (hereinafter
`“wheel click event(s)”), akin to a keypress or mouse click
`event, for activating a selected application, hyperlink or a
`menu item. In a preferred embodiment, as will be described
`in greater detail herein, the roller wheel device comprises a
`bezel which may be rotated and depressed for generating
`both rotation and wheel click events.
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`As further shown in FIG. 2, various Analog to Digital
`converters (ADC) 68 support an interface with the touch
`screen display panel 90, and an interface with the jog
`encoder or button for the roller wheel mechanism 95. An
`interface 69 is provided for a unit 98 housing a high
`resolution (VGA equivalent) emissive Organic Light Emit-
`ting Diode (OLED) high contrast display 100. Further, the
`main card 50 for the basic shell interfaces to a buzzer 63
`controlled directly by the CPU 55 using its buzzer interface
`and timer counters. To detect the posture of the watch, a
`mechanical four-waytilt sensor 72 is further provided com-
`prising mechanical switches (for detecting degree oftilt)
`producing signals which may be detected by the CPU. This
`sensor may be used for the various purposes such as power
`management, display control, etc.
`In a preferred
`embodiment, additional sensors may be attached to the Wrist
`Watch device over an interface. Examples may include
`additional
`tilt and motion (velocity, direction, speed)
`sensors, environment sensors such as thermal sensors, pres-
`sure sensors, health monitoring sensors such as blood
`pressure, etc. The Wrist Watch accordingly provides the
`display for the sensor and may also analyze the data col-
`lected from the sensors.
`
`With moreparticularity, the high contrast display 100 of
`FIG. 2 does not need a backlight to make the display visible.
`Thus, the power consumed bythe display is proportional to
`the numberof pixels that are turned on in the display. Since
`the pixels preferably comprise light emitting diodes, the
`display is automatically visible at night and a user does not
`need to press any buttons to see the display. Moreover, the
`OLEDdisplay 100 may be viewedclearly at a wide variety
`of angles with the brightness of these displays being con-
`trolled by limiting the amount of current supplied to the
`diodes. In one embodiment, the OLED chip 100 is a high-
`resolution pixel addressable display, e.g., 640x480,
`for
`enabling the display of various textual and graphical items
`on the watch face, similar to what may be displayed on a
`computer screen or a Palm Pilot®. For example, the time
`may be represented by drawing the hour and minute hands
`on a watchface display. Further, the hands of the watchface
`display may be erased when, at someother time, a display
`of a photograph is desired to be displayed.
`FIG. 3 illustrates the software architecture 200 for the
`Wrist Watch device 10. At its lowest level, the Wrist Watch
`device runs an operating system 210, e.g., LINUX 2.2.1, that
`permits multiple user level and kernel level threads to run
`and will support multitasking and multi-user support.
`Device drivers are provided for each input/output subsystem
`will handle low level device dependent code and interfaces
`so that higher level Application Programming Interfaces
`(APIs) can be implemented on top of them. The device
`drivers provided for each input/output subsystem include a
`serial
`I/O system driver 212, IrDA system driver 214,
`RF-Modem subsystem driver 216, Bluetooth system driver
`218, flash memory 220, touch screen subsystem driver 222,
`LCD subsystem driver 224, OLED subsystem driver 226,
`roller wheel or bezel subsystem driver 228 and tilt sensor
`device driver 229. A client-server graphics subsystem 230,
`storage subsystem manager 240 and synchronization sub-
`system manager 250 is provided on top of the device drivers
`for
`receiving and transmitting I/O events between the
`applications, updating of the screen, etc. A graphics library
`is available for the application writer so that custom screens
`may be displayed. A user interface manager 255 is provided
`to process events received from user input devices such as
`the bezel (jog encoder) and touch panel for the appropriate
`applications. A communication subsystem manager 260 is
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`US 6,556,222 B1
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`the data and transmitting back information sent from the
`Wrist Watch. As a further example, caller Id information
`may be displayed on the Wrist Watch display when the cell
`phonethat belongs to that person rings. Typically, multiple
`persons are congregated in a room and carry their cell
`phonesin a hand bag or wear them ontheirbelts, have a hard
`time determining which cell phoneis ringing whena ringing
`tone is heard in a room. This results in every person in the
`room pulling out his/her cell phone out of their handbag or
`belt to check if it is the one that is ringing. The caller Id
`display feature of the Wrist Watch device is particularly
`advantageous as each wearer may simply glance at
`the
`watch and would immediately know if the ringing phone
`belonged to him/her, in addition,
`to determining who the
`calling party is facilitating the decision of whether or not
`he/she should answer the phone. In a further example, this
`application software may allow the data from the Wrist
`Watch storage subsystem 240 to be viewed on another
`device such as on a PDA,PC,and other community viewing
`devices. In the preferred embodiment, middleware such as
`Tel/Tk, Javascript, Perl, or the like etc., may run on top of
`the operating system, graphics and communication manager
`APIsfor facilitating rapid developmentof these applications
`on the Wrist Watch device 10.
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`10
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`15
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`provided to handle events from communication channels
`and pass the events to the right application to set things up
`for data transfers to proceed. The synchronization manager
`250 is provided to synchronize data between the Wrist
`Watch and the other devices. Particularly, it receives the data
`from the communication channel and operates in conjunc-
`tion with the right application to decode the sent data and
`update the data for the application receiving the data. An
`example of this would began update to a calendar event. A
`system wide power manager 270 is provided to monitor and
`control power consumption on the device and communicate
`with other subsystems such as the operating system sched-
`uler to optimize the battery life of the device. The power
`manager 270, for example, measures the powerleft in the
`battery, estimates the power required to run an application,
`and recommends what subsystems need to be shut down as
`the battery starts draining out.
`As further shownin FIG. 3, the Wrist Watch device 10 is
`equipped with Wrist Watch shell application software 275
`provided on top of the basic graphics, communication and
`synchronization subsystems. One key application supported
`is the microbrowser which enables access to a WAP-
`supporting Web site and receives Web-based communica-
`tions written in, for example, the Wireless Markup Language
`(“WML”) using the XML standard. WMLparticularly is
`designed to optimize Internet text data for delivery over
`limited-bandwidth wireless networks and onto small device
`screens, and particularly, is devised to support navigation
`with limited input mechanisms, e.g., buttons. Details regard-
`ing the implementation of WMLin the Wrist Watch device
`may be found in commonly-owned, co-pending U.S. patent
`application Ser. No. 09/608,042 entitled SYSTEM AND
`METHOD EMPLOYING WML ANNOTATIONS FOR
`USER INTERFACE CONTROL OF A WEARABLE
`APPLIANCEthe contents and disclosure of whichis incor-
`
`As mentioned, the present invention is directed to the use
`of a bezel control device on the electronic Wrist watch. As
`shown in FIG. 6(a), the bezel 400 comprises a ring 405 that
`fits on the periphery of the watch 410 and supports continu-
`ous rotation. The bezel 400 is a convenient mechanism asit
`is continuously rotatable and allowsfine positioning. Rota-
`tion of the bezel generates electrical signals that are pro-
`cessed by an A/D converter and sent to the CPU for further
`processing (FIG. 2). These signals are used to measure how
`much the bezel has rotated and, further, in what direction
`(hereinafter “rotation event”). The rate at which the bezel is
`rotated may also be determined. As shownin the side view
`porated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Other
`of the watch in FIG. 6(5), the bezel 400 is mounted on top
`supported applications include Personal Information Man-
`of an annular plate 420 via a flexible annular support ring
`agement (PIM)applications software 280. FIG. 4 illustrates
`425 for permitting rotation and, an intermediary of springs
`an example system display 300 providing a main menu 302
`430 for enabling the bezel
`to be pressed down in the
`comprising selectable icons for launching the following PIM
`direction of the wrist. Such a downward movement gener-
`applications: an icon 310 for launching an application
`ates another electrical signal (hereinafter “wheel click
`directed to displaying/maintaining “to do”lists, an icon 312
`event”) that may be transmitted to the CPU to indicate a
`for
`launching an application directed to displaying/
`selection, e.g. of text or graphics on the Wrist Watch display,
`maintaining calendars and appointments, an icon 314 for
`or activation of an event or application. It is understood that
`launching an application directed to retrieving/storing/
`such a downward movement must be imparted onall of the
`displaying e-mail messages, an icon 316 for launching an
`springs in order to avoid the generation of false click events
`application directed to retrieving/storing/displaying digital
`for example, when onespring is depressed. The springs 430
`photographs and bit-mapped images, an icon 318 for launch-
`may be either mechanical or gas orliquid filled pistons and
`ing an application directed to retrieving/storing/displaying
`havesufficientstiffness so that the bezel does not get pressed
`phonelists, an icon 320 for launching an application directed
`down during normalrotation. In an alternate embodiment,
`to setting of time and alarms which is shown highlighted and
`the annular plate 420 itself may be pulled up in the direction
`indicated by the displayed text “SET ALARMS”, an icon
`indicated by arrow “A”to provideaclick event, e.g., an icon
`322 for launching an application directed to retrieving/
`selection. In this manner, undue pressure and friction on the
`storing/displaying comic images such as Dilbert© United
`springs 430 may be avoided when rotating the bezel. As
`Feature Syndicate, Inc., and, an icon 324 for launching an
`further shown in FIG. 6(a),
`the bezel may have several
`application directed to providing stop watch and elapsed
`physical markings or icons 407-409 on it so that special
`time features. Other applications may include those enabling
`significance may be assigned when these icons are aligned
`the receipt of excerpts of personalized data, such astraffic
`along a specific angular position,
`for example,
`the 12
`information, weather reports, school closings, stock reports,
`o’clock position or the 6 o’clock position.
`sports scores, etc., from the world wide web. These excerpts
`may be received as notifications or alarms on the Wrist
`In the preferred embodiment, the bezel mechanism may
`Watch 10. Inter-device interaction software applications are
`be manipulated either clockwise or anti-clockwise to interact
`included to permit the watch display to becomethe display
`with a displayed cursor or other electronic selector, by
`for another device such as a GPS located in a concealed
`continuously generating rotation even