In the non-ignoble name of "greater ergonomic comfort," BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion has filed a U.S. patent application for a rotatable keyboard.

Unlike some more complicated RIM patents that require an engineering degree to understand, this one's fairly simple.

The Abstract for 20070008292, Mobile Device For Rotatable Keyboard, explains what's being proposed:

"A mobile device is provided having a rotatable keyboard. The keyboard is attached to the mobile device and is rotatable in a single plane with respect to the device's housing between a first and second position," the Abstract says. :A plurality of keys are provided having first indicia in a first orientation relating to key functions in the first position and second indicia in a second orientation relating to key functions in the second position.

"The indicia are properly oriented with respect to the user in the first and second positions to display a telephone keypad and an alternate keyboard," RIM says. "The arrangement provides greater ergonomic comfort to a user when entering text. The mobile device can assign functions to each key based on a determined keyboard position and can include a weighted end piece to protect the rotatable keyboard from potential damage due to impact."

Sounds good to me. Looks good to me as well.

But how 'bout you? Would you want a rotatable keyboard?

Technology described in a new BlackBerry Patent application would enable two or more BlackBerry batteries to be recharged simultaneously.

Patent Application 20070001644, "Methods and Apparatus For Simultaneously Charging Multiple Rechargable Batteries," contains an Abstract that says:

"A charger has two or more separate charging ports to which two or more rechargeable batteries can be coupled, respectively. Current from a single current source is allocated to the two or more separate charging ports so that the two or more rechargeable batteries will be fully charged at substantially the same time."

OK so that's cool. But why is this necessary? This Patent app's literature explains clearly.

"Many users of mobile electronic devices have a second battery on hand for use when the battery in the mobile electronic device is discharged," the application notes. "After discharging both batteries, a user will want to recharge the two batteries as quickly as possible.

Current options include the following:

• Fully charging one battery using the charging circuitry in the mobile electronic device and an external power adapter, then exchanging the two batteries to charge the second battery.
• Charging one battery using the charging circuitry in the mobile electronic device and an external power adapter, and simultaneously charging the second battery in an external battery charger;
• cCharging one battery using the charging circuitry in the mobile electronic device connected to a dual-output external battery charger, with the second battery connected to the other output of the external battery charger. The external battery charger charges the batteries in sequential order without user intervention, or trickle charges one of the batteries while charging the other battery at full rate until it is fully charged, or gives one battery priority and provides all available current to that battery and any remaining current that can be supplied to the charger is provided to the secondary battery.
  

"These options either extend the charge time by charging the batteries in sequential order, by keeping one battery in slow-rate trickle charge until it is fully charged," the Patent app states, "or require the user to carry two separate charging accessories with them. "

That can be a pain.

So now let me show you Figure 1 from this Patent.

According to the Patent App, this is "a simplified front view of a charger 2, a battery-operated device 4 and a battery 6, in accordance with some embodiments of the invention. Charger 2 may have, for example, two charging ports 8 and 10. Battery-operated device 4 is coupled to charging port 8 and battery 6 is coupled to charging port 10.

"Charger 2 may be capable of simultaneously charging the battery of battery-operated device 4 and battery 6. In some embodiments of the invention, charger 2 may have more than two charging ports, and may therefore be capable of simultaneously charging more than two batteries," the Patent App literature explains. For example, a charger according to some embodiments of the invention may have five charging ports, and may be capable of simultaneously charging one, two, three, four or five batteries."

Far as I am concerned, the more BlackBerry batteries that can be charged this way, the better.

Citing the need to preserve battery structural integrity by guarding against user attempts to jam a non-compliant battery into a BlackBerry device, a just-published BlackBerry patent app calls for a type of a streamlined battery pack to ensure that the user is inserting a compatible device into their BB.

In the case of this SLIM LINE BATTERY PACK (all-caps are RIM's) invention, the Abstract tells us how the device will look and feel. But to really understand how the functionality I referenced is being advanced, you'll want to read on after the jump.

But let us not get ahead of ourselves here. Let's start with the Abstract:

"A battery pack is configured to reduce weight, enhance battery identification, ensure proper placement of a lid retaining the battery, and facilitate battery pack removal. The battery pack has one or more cells that lack an outer coverage except for a polymer sheathing," the Abstract notes.

"The battery pack includes a mating notch on a terminal plate and may include a fingernail notch and/or one or more guide rails," we're told. "The fingernail notch may be a single depression formed to allow a fingernail to slip onto the battery pack, may be a single depression and a ledge that are side-by-side, or may be formed of multiple ledges and/or depressions. There may be a single guide rail or multiple guide rails. Each guide rail preferably has a hollow interior section that is crossed by one or more ribs or segments.

"A method of displaying messages on handheld devices. The device displays messages in a scrollable viewport of vertically arranged fields," the Abstract explains. "Date separators inserted into the vertically arranged list of messages to enable the user to associate the messages with a date."

Now, readers, here's the difference between what's being described and what's available now.

"The date separators have 'sticky' operation, meaning that the device ensures a date separator always appears within the viewport, even when the viewport has been scrolled to the middle of a long list of messages all associated with the same dat," the Abstract points out.."The device may ensure that the top field of the viewport always contains a date separator associated with the message immediately below.

Perhaps the best way for me to explain this patent is to describe a scenario where the functionality could be of use.

If you are familiar with your BlackBerry Calendar, you know that it has a "recurring event" function. An example of a "recurring event" could be a sales manager's conference every Thursday at 11 a.m. in Meeting Room B.

Because some BlackBerry users don't want "recurring events" to appear on enterprise Calendars indefinitely, these enterprise users often set an expiration date. Then, if the event is still an ongoing proposition after the expiration date, the event must be propogated through the enterprise via BES. This can be a problem if some of the participants are outside the organization- such as customers or stakeholders not tied in to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server in use at this company.

What this patent does is allow recurring event calendar updates to be sent wirelessly. Now you know why this new patent application is entitled, "System and method for preventing the lapse of a recurring event using electronic calendar system."

OK, now for the Abstract, which specifies:

"A system and method for preventing the lapse of a recurring event includes an electronic calendar program having the capability of establishing a recurring event with a predetermined end date. A processor is operative for notifying an organizer of the event at a predetermined time of the end date for the recurring event and permitting the organizer to modify the end date of the recurring event if the event is to continue," the Abstract says.

"The electronic calendar program and processor is operative in a mobile wireless communications device that includes a housing and radio frequency (RF) transceiver contained within the housing such that notifications of the new end date can be transmitted to and received by attendees of the event, including any changed meeting information."

How to stylishly yet functionally integrate a phone dialpad into a BlackBerry QWERTY keypad- well, that's a challenge that is part of the job description for several designers at RIM.

When we look at the huge amount of patent art attached to a just-published BlackBerry patent application entitled "Keyboard Arrangement," we can get a glimpse of where these integrated keyboard design inspirations are headed.

First, here's the Abstract for this patent app (20060263137).

"A physical keyboard for a handheld mobile communication device having a plurality of keys with corresponding indicia including keys simultaneously presenting associated alphabetic indicia and associated numeric indicia," the Abstract states.

"The alphabetic indicia correspond to letters A-Z that are arranged in a QWERTY pattern and the numeric indicia correspond to at least numerals 1-9 that are arranged in an ITU Standard E.161 phone keypad pattern," the Anstract adds. "At least some of the numerals and at least some of the letters are presented on the same keys thereby establishing an overlaid relationship. The keys that present alphabetic indicia number fewer than 26.

I know we don't derive a lot of specifics from the art included on the patent cover age. But not to scratch our heads. Figure 11A is one of the more vividly displayed and described examples of what the designers at RIM may have in mind. Let's take a peek.

Here's the explanation for the above, directly from the Patent app itself:

FIG. 11 shows a handheld mobile communication device 10 that has an example physical keyboard array of 20 keys, with five columns and four rows. An exploded view of the keyboard is presented in FIG. 11A.

Fourteen keys on the keyboard 14 are associated with alphabetic characters and ten keys are associated with numbers. The four rows include a first row 50, a second row 52, a third row 54, and a fourth row 56. The five columns include a first column 60, a second column 62, a third column 64, a fourth column 66, and a fifth column 68. Many of the keys have different sizes than the other keys, and the rows are non-linear. In particular, the rows are V-shaped, with the middle key in the third column 64 representing the point of the V.

The columns are generally straight, but the outer two columns 60, 62, 66, 68 angle inwardly toward the middle column 64. To readily identify the phone user interface (the second user interface), the numeric phone keys 0-9 include a color scheme that is different from that of the remaining keys associated with the QWERTY key arrangement. In this example, the color scheme of the numeric phone keys has a two tone appearance, with the upper portion of the numeric keys being a first color and the lower portion of the numeric keys being a second color.

In the example, the upper portion of the keys is white with blue letters and the lower portion of the keys is blue with white letters. Most of the remaining keys associated with the QWERTY key arrangement are predominantly the second, blue color with white lettering. The first color may be lighter than the second color, or darker than the second color. In addition, the keyboard 14 includes a "send" key 6 and an "end" key 8.

The "send" key 6 is positioned in the upper left corner of the keyboard 14 and the "end" key 8 is positioned in the upper right corner. The "send" key 6 and "end" key 8 may have different color schemes than the remainder of the keys in order to distinguish them from other keys. In addition, the "send" and "end" keys 6, 8 may have different colors from one another. In the example shown, the "send" key 6 is green and the "end" key 8 is red. Different colors may be utilized, if desired.

A new BlackBerry patent application points to a BlackBerry dual-mode keypad that could switch between QWERTY text-entry mode and a telephone dialpad.

This would make going back and forth between text-entry and phone mode that much easier.

The underlying technology is described in the Abstract for this patent application, which is 20060252454, Dual-Mode keypad for a mobile device.

Let's go over the Abstract, and then get an even more complete idea of what is being proposed here.

The abstract points us to systems and methods provided "for implementing a dual-mode keypad for a mobile device. The mobile device may operate in a telephony mode and a text-entry mode. The dual-mode keypad may include a plurality of dual-mode keys that each include an associated telephony character and at least one associated text-entry character."

"The dual-mode keys may include one or more toggle keys, with each toggle key having a plurality of associated text-entry characters and one associated telephony character.," the Abstract explains further. "When the mobile device is in text-entry mode, the dual-mode keys may be used to input the associated text-entry characters, with the toggle keys each being operable to input a first text-entry character when a first portion of the toggle key is pressed and to input a second text-entry character when a second portion of the toggle key is pressed.

Oh, and what about telephony mode?

"When the mobile device is in telephony mode, the dual-mode keys may be used to input the associated telephony characters," we learn, "with the toggle keys each being operable to input one of the associated telephony characters when any portion of the toggle key is pressed."

Those of you who want to know more, well, as David Lee Roth used to sing, "might as well jump."

According to the Patent app Here's what this diagram shows:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a mobile device 100 having an example dual-mode keypad 102. The dual-mode keypad 102 includes a plurality of dual-mode keys 104-115, a plurality of single-mode keys 116-120, and a plurality of functional keys 121-123. The dual-mode keys 104-115 each include a telephony character and at least one text-entry character. For example, dual-mode key 112 includes the telephony character "9" and the text-entry character "M." The single-mode keys 116-120 each include at least one text-entry character.

In operation, the mobile device 100 is configured to operate in a telephony mode and a text-entry mode. The telephony characters may be input when the mobile device 100 is in telephony mode, and the text-entry characters may be input when the mobile device 100 is in text-entry mode. The functional keys 121-123 may be configured to operate in both the telephony mode and the text-entry mode, or alternatively one or more of the functional keys 121-123 may be operable in only the telephony mode or the text-entry mode. In this manner, the dual-mode keypad 102 has two distinct ergonomics depending upon the mode of the mobile device 100. Preferably, the telephony characters are arranged to provide a traditional telephone keypad layout when the device 100 is in telephony mode, and the text-entry characters are arranged to provide a traditional keyboard layout (e.g., a QWERTY keyboard) when the device 100 is in text-entry mode. The text-entry characters are preferably arranged in the pattern of a QWERTY-style keyboard, but could alternatively be arranged in other keyboard patterns, such as a DVORAK style keyboard pattern, an alphabetic style keyboard pattern, a QWERTZ style keyboard pattern, an AZERTY style keyboard pattern, or others.

In addition, the keypad 102 includes a plurality of toggle keys 104-111, 116-119 that each include two associated text-entry characters. For example, toggle key 104 includes the text-entry characters "E" and "R." For each toggle key 104-111, 116-119, a first text-entry character may be input when a first portion of the key is pressed and a second text-entry character may be input when a second portion of the key is pressed. For example, if the left-hand portion of toggle key 104 is pressed (in text-entry mode), then the text-entry character "E" is input. If the right-hand portion of toggle key 104 is pressed (in text-entry mode), then the text-entry character "R" is input to the device 100. If the toggle key also includes an associated telephony character, then the telephony character may be input while in telephony mode by pressing any portion of the key. For example, if the mobile device 100 is in telephony mode, then the telephony character "1" may be input by pressing any portion of toggle key 104. Example toggle keys are described below in more detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

The mobile device 100 may also include a predictive text computer program that is used in conjunction with the dual-mode keypad 102. A predictive text computer program may, for example, be used to predict a complete word or phrase from one or more keystrokes. In addition, the predictive text computer program may operate without regard to which portion of a toggle key is pressed. For example, when any portion of the toggle key 104 is pressed, a predictive text computer program may attempt to predict a desired word or phrase that includes either the text-entry character "E" or "R." In this manner, text may be input more quickly while in text-entry mode, without requiring a user to select the proper portion of the toggle keys. If the predictive text computer program does not successfully predict a desired word or phrase, then text-entry characters may be entered more precisely, albeit more slowly, by selecting the appropriate characters on the toggle keys 104-111, 116-119.

Hey BBHub readers, would you buy such a device?

While it is too soon to definitively assess reactions to the type of "protruding corner" BlackBerry device described in a patent application I first blogged about late yesterday, Pinstacker N8DBB's take on things makes for interesting reading.

"Don't like it," writes N8DBB, whose more than 3,300 Pinstack posts attest to the fact that he has thought often about BlackBerry usability. "From the looks of things, it seems like you will be limited to holding the phone to your head only one way, whereas with current designs on cell phones with the speaker in the center, it doesn't throw you 'off balance'. Now add in the fact that on the majority of these devices, the microphones are located at the bottom of the device on the opposite side of where this speaker would go."

Then N8DBB gets into a further description of why he thinks the layout of such a BlackBerry might make it difficult to use.

"So let's say you are a right handed person and that's the hand you use most to hold the phone to your ear," N8DBB explains further. " In this instance, it would be fine because the speaker would be in a comfortable spot, and with the angle of the phone to your head, the microphone would be right there by your mouth for the most part."

Yet that usability scenario is implausible to ol' N8.

"BUT, let's say you hold the phone with your left hand. Try and do that," he challenges us to imagine.T"he best that I can give as an example is take ur phone you have now, and hold it to your left ear, but put the phone so that the LED is against your ear, since it sits in approximately the same place as where this speaker would. Feels a little odd eh?

Rolling up all these perspectives and more, N8DBB says that the device will either have functional limits, or be in need of enhanced speaker functionality to be anything close to tenable for his tastes.

And what about your tastes, BBHub readers? Read through my post, examine the drawings and then skim through the case RIM is making with this Patent application. What do you think of this device?

"Additionally, by positioning the earphone at a protruding corner of the handheld electronic device, the protruding corner can be positioned at an inner location of the user's outer ear, which is more comfortable to the user than positioning the handheld electronic device atop the outer ear," the abstract continues. "The earphone is offset from a main axis of the handheld electronic device in a direction generally toward the side of the handheld electronic device on which the outwardly protruding corner is disposed.

"In a second embodiment, the Abstract adds, "a display of the handheld electronic device is offset from a main axis thereof in a second direction away from the offset earphone.

Ready to see some pix? Well, then I am ready to show them to you.

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion has filed a British patent lawsuit against Visto Corp..

RIM sued Visto yesterday to invalidate a patent on a system for synchronizing e-mail. RIM had already filed a similar case in Texas.

The Texas dispute started when Visto filed a patent case against RIM at a federal court in Marshall, Tex., on April 28, the same day it won a $3.6-million verdict in the same court against rival Seven Networks Inc.

RIM coutersued Visto three days later, requesting that a court in Dallas rule that RIM is not infringing on Visto's patents.

Neither his is not the first encounter between RIM and the courts in the U.K. In February, won a British patent infringement claim brought by Luxembourg-based licensing firm Inpro Licensing Sarl.

A new BlackBerry patent application would seek to reduce the degree of interference that often occurs when handsets, such as BlackBerrys, are in close proximity to desktop PCs.

U.S. Patent app 20060239480, "Speaker system having improved RF immunity to RF electromagnetic interference produced from mobile wireless communications device," would operate by means of "speaker housing" that would minimize this interference.

The patent app literature describes why this interference occurs, and then details a solution.

"Over the last decade that personal computer systems have become ubiquitous, so have the use of mobile wireless communications devices, for example, cellular radios, personal digital assistants (PDA's) and other mobile wireless communications devices," the application literature says. "Often, individuals use these handheld devices at the same time they use their personal computer system.

"Because of the close proximity of the mobile wireless communications device to a personal computer speaker system when a user is operating both, often the RF electromagnetic energy from the handheld device causes interference with the audio or other circuits, creating an audible 'buzz' sound through the speakers," the document points out. "This can be distracting, especially in conferences when two or more people are in attendance.

"Additionally, even when only one user of a mobile wireless communications device and personal computer system is present," the explanation continues, "this audible 'buzz'from the personal computer speaker often is annoying to the user."

Annoying to the user? Boy, I'll say.

The Patent Abstract offers a summary of the invention. It describes:

A speaker system has improved immunity to RF electromagnetic interference produced from a mobile wireless communications device. A speaker housing is sized for desktop use with a personal computer. An audio transducer is carried by the speaker housing. A circuit board is carried by the speaker housing and has audio circuitry mounted thereon and operative with the audio transducer. The audio circuitry includes a power amplifier having left and right channel inputs for receiving an audio signal and amplifying the audio signal to the audio transducer. A RF filter is connected into each of the left and right channel inputs.

The best way to understand exactly how this works is to understand how exactly this shielding would work. For that, we go to Figure 3 from this application. For that, you might want to familiarize yourself with the "ferrit beads," what they are, and how they would work here.

The literature associated with Figure 3 (shown just above this sentence) stipulates that:

"the speaker could include filters 70 contained within a speaker housing 72 as shown in the right-hand portion of FIG. 3. The dashed line around the speaker indicates a speaker RF shield 74 that could be provided around the speaker when it is mounted on the front section of the housing 22. In one aspect of the present invention, to provide the speaker with RF isolation, the speaker RF isolation shield 74 forms an isolation "can" around the speaker and can be formed as a separate metallic housing secured to the front inside surface of the front section of the speaker housing 22 to shield much of the speaker from RF interfering energy generated by a mobile wireless communication device.

"The RF filter 70 could be formed as ferrite beads, shunt capacitors, or serial inductors and placed within the speaker housing 72 or outside the speaker housing and connected into the audio connection lines 76 going back to the filter circuit 66 and power amplifier circuit 64 depending on how the speaker is manufactured. Typically, the RF filter would be placed very close to the speaker itself, limiting any line distance from the RF filter to the speaker. It should be understood that the term "speaker" could be synonymous with any type of audio transducer assembly that is carried by the speaker system to produce audible noises, including buzzers. The speaker could also be mounted on the circuit board instead of the housing in some embodiments, for example, by using a surface mounted speaker assembly. The circuit board 24, of course, would have to be close to a speaker or side surface. The RF filter 70 could be formed as two filter components FB01, FB02 added serially into a speaker line and positioned within a speaker housing. In one aspect of the invention, the RF filter could be formed as a ferrite bead or as a surface mounted RF filter device positioned adjacent the electrical contacts and engaging any circuit board signal traces forming audio connection lines between the different speaker components.

So what, pray tell, are "ferrite beads?"

"Different types, sizes and shapes of ferrite beads can be used," the Application notes.T"ypically, a ferrite bead is formed from a material have a permeability controlled by the composition of different oxides, for example, a ferrite oxide, sometimes with nickel and zinc added. The ferrite beads can sometimes be formed as ferrite sleeves with two half parts that are added onto to signal line or a solder overcoat on a signal trace. Typically, the longer the bead, the better the RF suppression. The bead equivalence circuit can be a series resistor and inductor."

To that I say, "let it bead."