Programmable mobile device with thumb wheel

Abstract

A programmable mobile terminal which includes a thumb wheel for selecting among a plurality of functions executable by the mobile terminal. The programmable mobile terminal allows a user to employ the same hand that is holding the mobile terminal to scroll through and select a function among a plurality of functions via the thumb wheel. The wheel portion of thumb wheel is rotated either clockwise or counter clockwise by the user's thumb or other finger to scroll a screen cursor through the functions and once the screen cursor of the mobile terminal is positioned at a desired function, the user can depress the wheel portion in a transaxial direction with the same thumb or finger to select the desired function. Also, the programmable mobile terminal allows a user to scan bar code information and use the thumb wheel for selecting among a plurality of functions relating to the scanned bar code information.

1. A hand held mobile device, the mobile device comprising:
 a housing;   a user programmable processor within the housing;   a display operatively coupled to the processor, the display being controlled by the processor to display a plurality of functions relating to operation of the mobile device;   a thumb wheel extending from the housing, the thumb wheel including: a wheel portion rotatable about an axis, the wheel portion being selectably rotatable about the axis to facilitate a user selecting at least one function from the plurality of functions displayed on the display, the wheel portion being transaxially moveable and wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function; and   a control circuit operatively coupled to the thumb wheel, wherein the control circuit provides at least one signal to the processor in response to movement of the wheel portion, the processor executing a predetermined routine corresponding to the at least one signal.   
     
     
       2. The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the thumb wheel further includes an encoding device for indicating movement of the wheel portion. 
     
     
       3. The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the processor can receive, store and execute programs input thereto by the user. 
     
     
       4. The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the wheel portion is rotatable in a clockwise direction to effect scrolling among the plurality of functions in a first direction and the wheel portion is rotatable in a counterclockwise direction to effect scrolling among the plurality of functions in a second direction. 
     
     
       5. The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of functions are split into groups, each group of functions being accessible by one of a plurality of menus selectable by the user via the thumb wheel. 
     
     
       6. The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the display displays a plurality of items stored by the mobile device. 
     
     
       7. The mobile device of  claim 6 , wherein the thumb wheel is selectively moveable to allow a user to select at least one item of the plurality of items stored by the mobile terminal. 
     
     
       8. The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the mobile device produces a tone, among a plurality of producible tones, corresponding to a particular movement of the wheel portion. 
     
     
       9. The mobile device of  claim 8 , wherein the tone varies in pitch according to the corresponding particular movement of the wheel portion. 
     
     
       10. The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein a user can change the contrast of a screen display of the mobile device via the thumb wheel. 
     
     
       11. A method of selecting among a plurality of functions executable by a user programmable mobile terminal, comprising the steps of:
 using an interrupt generator to monitor a thumb wheel for movement of a wheel portion of the thumb wheel;   using the interrupt generator to generate an interrupt request upon movement of the wheel portion, and sending the interrupt request to an interrupt handler;   using the interrupt handler to inform a processor that an interrupt relating to movement of the wheel portion has occurred;   using the processor to determine what type of wheel portion movement has occurred, wherein the processor relates a particular wheel portion movement to at least one of the plurality of functions executable by the programmable mobile terminal; and   using the processor to perform a routine corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of functions executable by the programmable mobile terminal.   
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the wheel portion is rotatable about an axis. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the wheel portion is transaxially moveable. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 11  wherein the processor can receive, store and execute programs input thereto by the user. 
     
     
       15. A mobile device, comprising:
 a housing;   a user programmable processor within the housing, wherein the processor can receive, store and execute programs input thereto by the user;   a display coupled to the housing for displaying a plurality of programs executable by the mobile device; and   a thumb wheel received within the housing, the thumb wheel being employable to select at least one function among the plurality of functions displayed on the display, the thumb wheel including a wheel portion, an encoding device and a control circuit, wherein: the wheel portion is rotatable about an axis and transaxially moveable, wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function;
 the encoding device produces at least one signal indicative of movement of the wheel portion; and 
 the control circuit is coupled to the encoding device for receiving the at least one signal from the encoding device and outputting a signal to the processor in response thereto, wherein 
   the processor performs a particular routine among a plurality of routines executable by the processor in response to the signal output by the control device.   
     
     
       16. A hand held mobile device, the mobile device comprising:
 a portable housing;   a user programmable processor within the housing;   a display for displaying a plurality of functions executable by the mobile device;   a thumb wheel extending from the housing, the thumb wheel facilitating selection of at least one function of the plurality of functions displayed on the display, the thumb wheel including:
 a wheel portion rotatable around an axis and transaxially moveable, wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function; and 
   a control circuit operatively coupled to the thumb wheel, wherein the control circuit provides a particular signal to the processor in response to a particular movement of the wheel portion, the processor executing a predetermined routine corresponding to the particular signal.   
     
     
       17. The mobile device of  claim 16 , wherein the display screen displays at least one function executable by the mobile device. 
     
     
       18. The mobile device of  claim 17 , wherein the movement of the wheel portion of the thumb wheel causes a cursor highlighting a function on the display screen to move to another function. 
     
     
       19. The mobile device of  claim 18 , wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion causes the processor to perform operations associated with the highlighted function. 
     
     
       20. The mobile device of  claim 19 , wherein at least two successive depressions of the wheel in a transaxial direction within a predetermined period of time causes the cursor to highlight a predetermined function. 
     
     
       21. The mobile device of  claim 20 , wherein the wheel portion is rotatable in a clockwise direction to effect scrolling among the plurality of functions in a first direction and the wheel portion is rotatable in a counterclockwise direction to effect scrolling among the plurality of functions in a second direction. 
     
     
       22. The mobile device of  claim 18 , wherein an audible tone is sounded each time the cursor highlighting a function on the display screen is caused to move by movement of the wheel portion. 
     
     
       23. A programmable mobile terminal comprising:
 a housing;   a user programmable processor within the housing;   a display operatively coupled to the processor, the display being controlled by the processor to display a plurality of functions executable by the programmable mobile terminal;   a thumb wheel extending from the housing, the thumb wheel including: a wheel portion rotatable about an axis, the wheel portion being selectably rotatable about the axis to facilitate a user selecting at least one function from the plurality of functions displayed on the display, the wheel portion being transaxially moveable and wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function; and   a control circuit operatively coupled to the thumb wheel, wherein the control circuit provides at least one signal to the processor in response to movement of the wheel portion, the processor executing a predetermined routine corresponding to the at least one signal.   
     
     
       24. The terminal of claim 23, wherein the display further displays inventory information which is to be transmitted to or is received from a system backbone. 
     
     
       25. The terminal of claim 23, wherein the display further displays pricing detail information which is to be transmitted to or is received from a system backbone. 
     
     
       26. The terminal of claim 23 adapted and user programmed for operation in a medical environment. 
     
     
       27. The terminal of claim 26, wherein at least one of the functions relates to a patient's age, a patient's sex, a patient's present illness, a patient's last blood pressure reading and a patient's last weight reading. 
     
     
       28. The terminal of claim 23, further comprising a card slot adapted to receive a memory card. 
     
     
       29. The terminal of claim 28, wherein the memory card stores executable programs that are executable by the processor. 
     
     
       30. The terminal of claim 28, wherein the memory card is a PCMCIA card. 
     
     
       31. The terminal of claim 28, wherein the memory card stores information received from or intended to be transmitted to a base station. 
     
     
       32. The terminal of claim 28, wherein the memory card stores information received from or intended to be transmitted to a local computer. 
     
     
       33. The terminal of claim 23, further comprising a power supply for providing power to the terminal. 
     
     
       34. The terminal of claim 33, wherein the power supply is connectable to an external power source. 
     
     
       35. The terminal of claim 23, wherein the thumb wheel comprises detents circumferentially spaced along the perimeter of the wheel portion. 
     
     
       36. The terminal of claim 23, wherein a direction of rotation of the thumb wheel is determined by comparing a phase difference between a first signal and a second signal output from an encoder circuit. 
     
     
       37. The terminal of claim 23, wherein and transaxial movement of the wheel portion a second time within a predetermined period of time initiates selection of a predefined function. 
     
     
       38. The terminal of claim 37, wherein the predefined function is not displayed on the display. 
     
     
       39. The terminal of claim 23, wherein the user can add a function to the functions executable by the programmable mobile terminal. 
     
     
       40. The terminal of claim 23, wherein the user can delete at least one of the functions executable by the programmable mobile terminal. 
     
     
       41. The terminal of claim 23, wherein the user can modify at least one of the functions executable by the programmable mobile terminal. 
     
     
       42. The terminal of claim 23, wherein at least one of the functions executable by the programmable mobile terminal is user programmable. 
     
     
       43. The terminal of claim 42, the functions comprising at least one of an inventory function, a production lot size function, a reorder level function, a safety stock function, a total relevant inventory cost function, an order cost function and a marginal cost function. 
     
     
       44. The terminal of claim 23, wherein the thumb wheel can change a characteristic of the terminal. 
     
     
       45. The terminal of claim 44, the characteristic comprising at least one of screen brightness, screen contrast, screen color and cursor brightness. 
     
     
       46. A programmable mobile terminal comprising:
 a housing;   a user programmable processor within the housing;   a touch sensitive display operatively coupled to the processor, the touch sensitive display being controlled by the processor to display a plurality of functions executable by the programmable mobile terminal and receive information from a user;   a thumb wheel extending from the housing, the thumb wheel including: a wheel portion rotatable about an axis, the wheel portion being selectably rotatable about the axis to facilitate the user selecting at least one function from the plurality of functions displayed on the display, the wheel portion being transaxially moveable and wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function; and   a control circuit operatively coupled to the thumb wheel, wherein the control circuit provides at least one signal to the processor in response to movement of the wheel portion, the processor executing a predetermined routine corresponding to the at least one signal.   
     
     
       47. A hand held inventory control device comprising:
 a housing;   a user programmable processor within the housing;   a display operatively coupled to the processor, the display being controlled by the processor to display a plurality of functions executable by the hand held inventory control device;   a thumb wheel extending from the housing, the thumb wheel including: a wheel portion rotatable about an axis, the wheel portion being selectably rotatable about the axis to facilitate a user selecting at least one function from the plurality of functions displayed on the display, the wheel portion being transaxially moveable and wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function; and   a control circuit operatively coupled to the thumb wheel, wherein the control circuit provides at least one signal to the processor in response to movement of the wheel portion, the processor executing a predetermined routine corresponding to the at least one signal,   wherein the hand held inventory control device communicates via at least one of a narrow band and a radio communication system including multiple mobile terminals and base stations.   
     
     
       48. A programmable mobile terminal comprising:
 a housing;   a user programmable processor within the housing;   a display operatively coupled to the processor, the display being controlled by the processor to display a plurality of functions executable by the programmable mobile terminal;   a thumb wheel extending from the housing, the thumb wheel including: a wheel portion rotatable about an axis, the wheel portion being selectably rotatable about the axis to facilitate a user selecting at least one function from the plurality of functions displayed on the display, the wheel portion being transaxially moveable and wherein transaxial movement of the wheel portion initiates selection of the at least one function; and,   a keypad having up and down cursor keys and a select key to additionally facilitate the user selecting at least one function from the plurality of functions displayed on the display, wherein movement of the select key initiates selection of the at least one function.