Keyboard with built in display for personal area network establishment and inter-operation

1 . A method for creating a personal area network with a wireless keyboard, comprising:

generating a text message on a keyboard integrated display to prompt a user to enter a password;

determining all available personal area network devices; and

displaying, on the keyboard integrated display, a subset of the available personal area network devices based upon access permissions associated with the password.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the wireless keyboard is operable to store a list of devices in relation to each password.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the wireless keyboard is operable to evaluate the list of devices based upon the entered password to determine what available personal area network devices are members of the subset of the available personal area network devices.

4 . The method of claim 3 further including receiving a user selection of one of the members of the subset of the available personal area network devices and establishing a link between the wireless keyboard and the subset member selected by the user.

5 . The method of claim 4 further including receiving control signaling from the subset member selected by the user and displaying the text message on the keyboard integrated display.

6 . The method of claim 5 further including transmitting a response from the wireless keyboard to the subset member selected by the user.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the response is one of an access code or password to enable the user of the wireless keyboard to gain operational control of the subset member selected by the user.

8 . The method of claim 3 wherein the subset member selected by the user is a text messaging capable cellular communication device.

9 . The method of claim 8 further including the wireless keyboard receiving a text message from the cellular communication device wherein the wireless keyboard and the cellular communication device establish a Bluetooth based personal area network communication link and wherein the text message is transmitted to the cellular communication device through a cellular network.

10 . The method of claim 9 further including the wireless keyboard displaying an outgoing text message on the keyboard integrated display and transmitting the text message to the cellular communication device wherein the cellular communication device is operable to receive the text message from the wireless keyboard and to transmit the text message in a legacy cellular communication network format through the cellular network.

11 . The method of claim 9 further including the wireless keyboard transmitting and receiving text messages in a Bluetooth protocol to and from the cellular communication device.

12 . The method of claim 11 further including the cellular communication device receiving text messages from the wireless keyboard in a Bluetooth format and transmitting the messages to a destination through the cellular network in a legacy cellular network text messaging format.

13 . The method of claim 11 further including the cellular communication device receiving text messages from the cellular network in a legacy cellular network text messaging format and transmitting text messages to the wireless keyboard in a Bluetooth format.

14 . A wireless keyboard, comprising:

a keyboard integrated display for displaying messages and status indications to a user;

a wireless front end for transmitting and receiving communication signals with one of an access point or a Bluetooth enabled wireless device;

a processor and associated PAN operations logic coupled to the wireless front end for establishing a master/slave relationship with at least one other wireless device; and

keyboard operation logic operatively coupled to the integrated display and operatively coupled to the process and associated PAN operations logic for generating a text message on the keyboard integrated display to prompt a user to enter a password, wherein the wireless keyboard is operable to determine all available personal area network devices and wherein the wireless keyboard is further operable to display a subset of the available personal area network devices based upon access permissions associated with the password.

15 . The wireless keyboard of claim 14 wherein the keyboard is operable to store a list of devices in relation to each password of a list of devices and to evaluate the list based upon the entered password to determine what available personal area network devices are members of the subset of available personal area network devices.

16 . The wireless keyboard of claim 15 wherein the keyboard is further operable to receive a user selection of one of the members of the subset of available personal area network devices and to establish a link between the wireless keyboard and the subset member selected by the user.

17 . The wireless keyboard of claim 14 wherein the wireless keyboard is operable to transmit and receive text messages in a Bluetooth protocol to and from a cellular communication device wherein the cellular communication device transmits and receives corresponding text messages in a legacy format over a cellular communication network.

18 . A method in a wireless cellular communication device, comprising:

establishing a personal area network communication link with a wireless keyboard having an integrated display;

communicating over a cellular network and for transmitting and receiving text messages in a legacy text messaging format for the cellular network; and

receiving text messages from the cellular network and forwarding the text messages to the wireless keyboard for display on the integrated display of the wireless keyboard.

19 . The method of claim 18 further including receiving text from the wireless keyboard and generating a cellular text message to a specified number or email address based upon the received text.

20 . The method of claim 18 further including establishing a personal area network communication link according to a Bluetooth protocol.