Patents Portfolio

U.S. Patent: 9,383,956


Patent Title

Smart phones that include touch sensitive screen and supporting voice activated commands for managing or replying to E-mails

Meta Information

Issued Date: July 5, 2016
Inventor: William Ho Chang et al
External Links: UPSTO, Google Patents

Technical Fields

Abstract

Smart Phones that support voice activated commands for managing e-mails are disclosed and enabled. This new Smart Phone may include a touch sensitive screen, a graphical user interface, an e-mail application, an Internet browsing application, and applications for playing audio/video content. The Smart Phone includes an operating system and support for installation of new applications. The Smart Phone may further support part of a wireless protocol within IEEE 802.11. In one example, a user of the Smart Phone may reply to an e-mail by using voice commands or by selecting an icon over the touch sensitive screen. The user may scroll down or up an email using the touch sensitive screen interface. In other examples, the user may further issue voice commands to synchronize, stream, transmit, play, print, display, or mirror at least part of digital content from the Smart Phone to one or more output devices over air.

Sample Claim

1. A Smart Phone supporting both touch sensitive screen and voice activated command interfaces for interacting with a user, the Smart Phone being an Internet-Phone with access to the Internet, the Smart Phone further being a mobile and wireless computing device, and the Smart Phone being configured for including one or more of the following applications that are either installable by the user or are pre-installed by a manufacturer:

a voice communication application,

a messaging application,

a digital imaging application,

an audio application,

a video application,

a document editing application,

an Internet browsing application; and

wherein the Smart Phone further includes:

operating system software in the Smart Phone supporting an application programming interface (API) to facilitate at least one of said messaging application, said audio application, said video application, said digital imaging application, said document editing application, and said Internet browsing application interfacing with device management utilities and services in the Smart Phone, and the Smart Phone is operable to allow the user to install additional applications that are associated for running on said operating system software to further expand the functionalities of the Smart Phone; and

an email application in the Smart Phone, the email application being operable to access the application programming interface (API) supported by the operating system software for accessing one or more device management utilities and services in the Smart Phone; and

wherein, the Smart Phone further comprises:

a digital camera for taking pictures,

a touch sensitive screen interface for interacting with the user,

a graphical user interface over the touch sensitive screen,

a microphone interface,

a speaker interface for outputting sound to the user,

a voice activated command function for receiving voice commands from the user with the microphone interface,

a processing unit,

a memory or storage unit for storing at least a portion of digital content, and

a wireless communication unit that includes a radio frequency controller and an antenna for establishing radio frequency wireless communication between the Smart Phone and one or more wireless
output controller devices that are distinct devices from the Smart Phone, the wireless communication unit being compatible, at least partly, with at least part of a protocol within IEEE 802.11 standards; and

wherein the e-mail application includes:

a graphical user interface, provided by the e-mail application and over the touch sensitive screen, that includes an inbox,

a done function control or icon displayed on the touch sensitive screen, provided by the e-mail application, for user selection over the touch sensitive screen,

a reply function control or icon displayed on the touch sensitive screen, provided by the e-mail application, for user selection over the touch sensitive screen for replying to an e-mail,

a delete function control or icon displayed on the touch sensitive screen, provided by the e-mail application, for user selection over the touch sensitive screen for deleting an e-mail; and
the e-mail application being further operable to:

receive from the user, via the touch sensitive screen interface of the Smart Phone, selection of a done function control or icon displayed on the touch sensitive screen,

receive from the user, via the touch sensitive screen interface of the Smart Phone, selection of a reply function control or icon displayed on the touch sensitive screen,

receive from the user, via the touch sensitive screen interface of the Smart Phone, selection of a delete function control or icon displayed on the touch sensitive screen, and

receive from the user, with the microphone interface and the voice activated command function, a request to reply to an e-mail; and

wherein, the mobile and wireless Smart Phone is operable to support at least two types of interfaces to reply to an e-mail that include (1) voice activated commands from the user to reply to an e-mail, and (2) a selection of the reply function control or icon displayed on the touch sensitive screen interface to reply to an e-mail.