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Apple patents dialing via clickwheel

updated 12:55 pm EDT, Thu July 5, 2007

Click-wheel dialing patent


Three patents filed by Apple Inc. surfaced today that detail telephone and text entry interfaces for a cellular-capable device via a click-wheel. The second patent will enable users to "type" or dial phone numbers with a click-wheel interface and receive suggestions for completing words or phrases to speed typing efforts. The first patent, titled "Telephone Interface for a Portable Communication Device," describes a rotary dial driven by an iPod-like click-wheel. The rotary dial produces numbers as well as icons arranged in a circular pattern, allowing users to scroll through the icons and numbers with the touch of a finger via either a click-wheel or touch-screen interface.

The second patent titled "Text Entry Interface for a Portable Communication Device" describes the process of displaying one or more characters that were selected by a user via a click-wheel in a first tray, while a second tray includes various icons that correspond to a set of characters and one or more recommended words in what appears to be an attempt by Apple to 'auto-complete' a word or phrase to speed typing efforts.

A third patent describes segmenting a click-wheel's circular shape into various regions to enable quick phone dialing by sensing which region was touched, dialing the number shown in that region of the clickwheel on the corresponding screen.


by MacNN Staff

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Comments

  1. l008com

    Addicted to MacNN

    Joined: Jan 2000

    0

    Telephone dialing via

    via a ring of numbers. What a futuristic, forward-looking idea!! Oh wait, nevermind...

  1. UberFu

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2002

    0

    it'd be funny...

    if they added in actual "rotary" functionality_

  1. hrmpf

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2006

    0

    more details on these pat

    http://hrmpf.com/wordpress/144/the-iphone-nano-closer-than-you-think

    by Steve Jobs no less

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