1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to mobile computing devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, pagers, and the like, and more specifically, to a wearable device/appliance (a wrist watch) capable of wirelessly accessing information and equipped with an interactive user interface that is used to efficiently interact with alarms and notifications on the watch.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Computing, mobile and wireless communications technologies have been rapidly advancingxe2x80x94culminating 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(copyright), 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 stylus for text entry. As such, these device incorporate handwriting recognition features and may even employ voice recognition technologies 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 industry is 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 capabilities 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 to 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 shortcomings 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 overcome. 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.
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.
It would additionally be highly desirable to provide a wearable device/appliance (a wrist watch) capable of providing time-keeping/alarm functions and equipped with an interactive user interface for enabling the setting of the various time-keeping/alarm functions in a manner requiring minimal effort and concentration from the user.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wearable It 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.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a wearable device/appliance (a wrist watch) capable of providing time-keeping/alarm functions and equipped with an interactive user interface for enabling the setting of the various time-keeping/alarm functions in a manner requiring minimal effort and concentration from the user.
According to the invention, there is provided a system and method for efficiently activating and deactivating alarm functions via a user interface provided in a wearable appliance having a display for displaying textual or graphical content and including a touch sensitive panel for detecting physical user interaction. The method comprises setting an alarm via minute and hour hand display indicators in response to scroll events generated by manipulating a scroll device; determining a time setting of a next set alarm and providing an alarm indication at the set time; and, detecting a first user interaction with the touch sensitive panel to deactivate said alarm indication, whereby minimal user interaction is required to achieve a desired time set and alarm deactivation.
Preferably, an alarm comprises one of two types: an absolute alarm and, a relative alarm. The absolute alarm is set to activate at a daily frequency, and the relative alarm is set for activation at a predefined time relative to a current time and subsequently thereafter. The system is further capable of detecting a second user interaction with the wearable-appliance within a pre-determined time interval, the second interaction proactively enabling one of: automatic snooze-alarm setting; cancellation of the alarm, and, automatic re-setting of the alarm for the next day.
Further advantages and features include the provision of a mechanism for enabling input of a text message for association with a set alarm, the activation of a set alarm at the set time including simultaneously displaying the associated text message via the user interface, and, the provision of a mechanism for setting a quiet alarm interval defining an interval of time in which a set time alarm is not to be activated.