A new BlackBerry patent application includes a "pointing device" that would safeguard against a user accidentally turning his Blackberry on when it is in sleep mode.

Patent application 20060284840, "Portable electronic device including pointer and related methods," is defined by an Abstract that describes:

"A portable electronic device includes a portable housing, and a battery and pointing device carried by the portable housing. The portable electronic device further includes electronic circuitry carried by the portable housing and connected to the battery and the pointing device."

And as to the pointing device's role in all this?

"The electronic circuitry may switch from a sleep mode to an active mode based upon operation of the pointing device in a non-random pattern," notes the Abstract, and "not switch from the sleep mode to the active mode based upon operation of the pointing device in a random pattern."

Now let us learn more about how this will work.



The flow chart you see immediately above points to features of a BlackBerry enabled with this pointer technology.
The application notes that "it is therefore an object of the invention to provide an electronic device that conserves power by discriminating between intentional and inadvertent initialization of the wake-up routine."

"This and other objects, features, and advantages in accordance with the invention are provided by a portable electronic device that may include a portable housing, and a battery and pointing device carried by the portable housing," the Patent app literature states. "The portable electronic device may further include electronic circuitry carried by the portable housing and connected to the battery and the pointing device.

"The electronic circuitry may switch from a sleep mode to an active mode based upon operation of the pointing device in a non-random pattern, and not switch from the sleep mode to the active mode based upon operation of the pointing device in a random pattern," we learn . "Accordingly, a portable electronic device is provided that may conserve power by discriminating between intentional and inadvertent initialization of the wake-up routine."

The flow chart you see immediately is depicts steps followed by this invention in action.



The end, indeed.