Portable data communication apparatus with rotatable display images for accomodating a wireless remote keyboard

A portable data communication apparatus comprising:

• data receiving means adapted to receive data from an external source;
• data processing means for processing said data;
• reception control means for supplying said data received by said data receiving means to said data processing means;
• a display for displaying said data processed by said data processing means, said display including a housing and a display panel;
• and
• display control means for controlling said display such that said display selectively displays said data in a first orientation or a second orientation inverted or rotated by substantially 180 degrees with respect to said first orientation, wherein
• when said reception control means is set to a first mode in which said data receiving means is receiving data, said display control means controls said display such that said data is displayed in said first orientation, and
• said data receiving means is arranged on said housing close to a bottom edge of said display panel when said data is displayed in said first orientation.

A data communication system comprising:

• a portable data communication apparatus including data receiving means for receiving data, data processing means for processing said data, reception control means for supplying said data received by said data receiving means to said data processing means, a display for displaying said data processed by said data processing means, and display control means for controlling said display such that said data is displayed in a first orientation or a second orientation inverted or rotated by substantially 180 degrees with respect to said first orientation;
• and
• an external input device for supplying said data to said data receiving means, wherein
• said display control means controls said display such that when said data receiving means is receiving said data from said external input device, said display control means controls said display such that said data is displayed in said first orientation, and when said data receiving means is not receiving said data from said external input device, said data is displayed in said second orientation.

A data communication method comprising the steps of:

• receiving data supplied from an external input device using a data receiver;
• performing data processing on said data received by said data receiver to form processed data;
• supplying said processed data to a display controller;
• and
• controlling a display orientation using said display controller such that said processed data is normally displayed in a first orientation, and when said data receiver receives said data supplied thereto from said external input device, said display controller controls said display such that said data is displayed in a second orientation inverted or rotated by substantially 180 degrees with respect to said first orientation.