Back to results
US 6,209,011 B1Granted
Handheld computing device with external notification system
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsWilliam Vong, Chad Schwitters
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsWilliam Vong, Chad Schwitters
Estimating the term…
A portable handheld computing device has a notification system that alerts a user of an event regardless of whether the device is on or off. The notification system has a notification mechanism that is activated upon occurrence of the event and remains active until the user acknowledges the activated mechanism. In one implementation, the notification mechanism is a light emitting diode (LED) mounted externally on the handheld computing device. The LED is visible to the user when the lid is closed onto the base (i.e., the device is off) or when the lid is open (i.e., the device is on). The notification mechanism also has a deactivation button mounted externally of the handheld computing device. The user depresses the deactivation button to deactivate the LED. The LED and deactivation button may be integrated as a single component.
A notification system for a handheld computing device having a display, the handheld computing device being capable of executing one or more applications, comprising:
A notification system for a handheld computing device capable of executing one or more applications, comprising:
In a portable handheld computing device, an application program interface embodied on a computer-readable medium for creating a user notification that activates at least one sensory perceptible notification mechanism, the application program interface defining parameters comprising a time parameter that specifies when the user notification should occur and a type parameter that references a structure containing information specifying how the sensory perceptible notification mechanism is to be activated.
A method for operating a handheld computing device comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.