1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a book-like user interface of the electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern handheld electronic devices, such as mobile phones, smart phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs), have operating systems whose user interfaces (UIs) are comparable to those of desktop personal computers (PCs). The UI of a handheld electronic device provides various functions and services to its user. Some of the functions and services are very popular and frequently used, such as web surfing, web searching, taking photos, displaying images and pictures, electronic map, calculator, dictionary, organizing contact information, and telephone communication.
Generally, these functions and services are accessible to users in the form of standalone applications, convenient widgets, or web pages. For beginners and casual users with little experiences of modern handheld electronic devices, the variety and complexity of the UI may appear confusing, even daunting. For example, some of the applications and widgets are located on a desktop area of the UI. Some of the applications and widgets are located on pop-up or pull-down menus. Some services are provided as web pages which have to be selected from the bookmarks of a web browser. Sometimes this distributed nature of the functions and services is irritating even to experienced users. Moreover, the operating actions required for starting a widget, an application, and a web page may be very different. The operating actions required to start an application on the desktop may be different from the operating actions required to start an application on a menu. Some applications and widgets may be assigned to deeply nestled menus, which are unobtrusive and difficult to find. All of these add to the difficulty and confusion of using the UI of a handheld electronic device.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a user interface display method for an electronic device. For example, the electronic device may be a handheld electronic device. The user interface display method displays a book-like UI of the handheld electronic device. New computer programs may be downloaded from a download server and be added as new pages into the book-like UI.
The present invention is also directed to another user interface display method for an electronic device. The user interface display method displays a book-like UI of the handheld electronic device. At least one of the pages of the virtual UI book provides a service of a corporate operator of a wireless service network.
The present invention is also directed to electronic devices which execute the aforementioned user interface display methods to display the book-like UI.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user interface display method for an electronic device is provided. The method includes the following steps. First, organize a plurality of computer programs executable on the electronic device into a virtual book. Each page of the virtual book includes a user interface of one of the computer programs. Next, download a new computer program from a download server and add a new page into the virtual book. The new page includes a user interface of the new computer program. Next, display the new page so that the user interface of the new page is accessible to a user of the electronic device.
The step of downloading the new computer program may include the following steps. First, connect to the download server. Next, display a plurality of virtual objects. Each of the virtual objects represents a downloadable computer program stored in the download server. In response to a first operating action of the user on one of the virtual objects, download the downloadable computer program represented by that particular virtual object as the new computer program.
The virtual objects may be displayed on one of the pages of the virtual book. In addition, each of the virtual objects may be displayed in the form of a card of a library catalog and the cards may be arranged as a card stack. Additional classification cards may be displayed in the card stack. The classification cards organize the cards in the stack into a plurality of categories.
At least one of the virtual objects includes a summary introduction of the corresponding downloadable computer program and a preview of the user interface of the corresponding downloadable computer program. The user interface display method may further include displaying a full-screen view of the user interface of the corresponding downloadable computer program in response to a second operating action of the user on the preview.
The virtual object including the summary introduction and the preview may further include a download button and the aforementioned first operating action of the user may be performed on the download button.
The aforementioned new page may be a classification page including a plurality of entries and each of the entries may represent one of the pages between the classification page and another classification page or a bottom cover of the virtual book. In response to a third operating action of the user on one of the entries, the virtual book may turn to the page represented by that particular entry.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user interface display method for an electronic device is provided. The method includes the following steps. First, organize a plurality of computer programs executable on the electronic device into a virtual book. At lease one of the computer programs provides a service of a corporate operator of a wireless service network. Each page of the virtual book includes a user interface of one of the computer programs. Next, display one of the pages as a current page so that the user interface of the current page is accessible to a user of the electronic device.
The service of the corporate operator may include displaying advertisements pushed from the corporate operator on the virtual book. The advertisements may be updated at predetermined time intervals.
The computer program providing the service of the corporate operator may be downloaded from the aforementioned download server.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a touch panel and a display. The electronic device organizes a plurality of computer programs executable on the electronic device into a virtual book. Each page of the virtual book includes a user interface of one of the computer programs. The electronic device senses movement and/or pressure caused by a user of the electronic device on the touch panel and interprets the movement and/or the pressure as operating actions of the user on the virtual book. Moreover, the electronic device downloads a new computer program from a download server and adds a new page into the virtual book. The new page includes a user interface of the new computer program. The electronic device displays the new page on the display so that the user interface of the new page is accessible to the user.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a touch panel and a display. The electronic device organizes a plurality of computer programs executable on the electronic device into a virtual book. At lease one of the computer programs provides a service of a corporate operator of a wireless service network. Each page of the virtual book includes a user interface of one of the computer programs. The electronic device displays one of the pages as a current page on the display so that the user interface of the current page is accessible to a user of the electronic device. In addition, the electronic device senses movement and/or pressure caused by the user on the touch panel and interprets the movement and/or the pressure as operating actions of the user on the virtual book.
The user may operate this UI through a touch panel of the handheld electronic device. The control mechanism connecting the operating actions of the user on the touch panel and the displayed book-like UI may be provided by the hardware or software of the handheld electronic device.
The book-like UI proposed by the present invention unifies applications, widgets, and web pages into book pages, enabling the user to browse, use, and manage the functions and services in an intuitive and convenient way like browsing a conventional printed book. By using the book-like UI, the user does not have to worry about whether a function or service is provided by a widget, an application, or a web page because the operating actions for using and managing them are all the same. Furthermore, the problem of unobtrusive nestled menus no longer exists because the book pages are on the same level and the only level of display.
The user may operate the book-like UI by touching or sliding on the touch panel with his or her finger. Since the touch panel is integrated on the handheld electronic device, the user may operate on the device directly. The handheld electronic device of the present invention is compact and is able to receive the operation of the user and display the book-like UI simultaneously. The handheld electronic device does not need a separate external input device for receiving user operation.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.
The book-like UI of a handheld electronic device proposed by the present invention organizes applications, widgets, and web pages into pages of a virtual book. Each page of the virtual book is the UI of a service or function of the handheld electronic device. Flipping the pages of the virtual book means browsing and selecting the services and functions provided by the handheld electronic device. This book-like UI enables the user to use and manage these applications, widgets, and web pages in an easy and intuitive way like browsing a conventional printed book. The book-like UI hides the differences among applications, widgets, and web pages so that the handheld electronic device can be accessed through a uniform and convenient UI.
Each one of the touch panels 110, 160, and 170 may be a resistive touch panel as shown in
The purpose of the flip bar 140 is separating operating actions for flipping the virtual book from operating actions for the UI of a book page. Operating actions on the display 120 control the current book page, while operating actions on the flip bar 140 flip the virtual book. For example, assume a book page is an application for browsing photos. The user may turn to the next photo by a rapid stroke with his/her finger on the display 120. The user may flip to the next book page (switch to the next function or service of the handheld electronic device) by the same rapid stroke on the flip bar 140. The same action by the user is interpreted into different events according to the area in which the action is performed. If the next book page is a music channel broadcast service, the same rapid stroke on the display 120 may mean switching to the next music channel, while the same rapid stroke on the flip bar 140 still means flipping to the next book page of the virtual book.
In another embodiment of the present invention, both the operating actions for the current book page and the operating actions for flipping the virtual book may be performed on the display 120. In this case, these two classes of operating actions can no longer share the same action. For example, the operating actions for switching to the next music channel and flipping to the next virtual book page have to be different. The difference may be implemented as the existence or non-existence of a brief pause. If the finger slides rapidly without a pause or with a pause shorter than a predetermined duration, this action is interpreted as flipping the virtual book. If the finger pauses for longer than the predetermined duration and then slides rapidly, this action is interpreted as switching to the next music channel. In this embodiment the handheld electronic device does not need a separate flip bar 140. However, such a design limits the option of operating actions available to a virtual book page because some operating actions must be assigned to the virtual book flipping.
In additional to a finger, the user may also use a stylus to perform any operating action for the book-like UI mentioned above or below. Since the display, the touch panel, the flip bar, and the buttons are all integrated on the compact handheld electronic device, the user may operate by touching the display or the flip bar directly without the need for a separate input device for receiving user operation.
When the handheld electronic device is idle, it displays an idle screen as shown in
In other embodiments of the present invention, the screen lock may be represented by other images and the screen may be unlocked with various operating actions.
From the first book page 523, the user may flip the virtual book 520 to the next page or to the previous page. The flow is similar to that shown in
If the user flips from the first book page 523 to its previous book page, the TOC page 522 is displayed as shown in
The handheld electronic device 500 may provide a preference option for the user to determine the destination page when the user flips the cover page 521 of the virtual book 520. According to the preference option, the destination page may be the TOC page 522, the first book page 523, or a book page other than the first book page 523 predetermined by the user.
The user may flip the pages of the virtual book by sliding a finger on the display or the flip bar of the handheld electronic device. In this embodiment, a finger slide is classified into a slow slide or a fast slide according to its speed. If a finger moves with a speed lower than a predetermined speed threshold, it is classified as a slow slide. If a finger moves with a speed higher than the predetermined speed threshold, it is classified as a fast slide. A fast slide is further classified as a fast short slide or a fast long slide according to its distance. If the distance of a fast slide is shorter than a predetermined distance threshold, it is classified as a fast short slide. If the distance of a fast slide is longer than the predetermined distance threshold, it is classified as a fast long slide. The following Table 1 summarizes the classification of finger slides.
The flipping of the pages of the virtual book is classified into two types, single flipping and continuous flipping. The user may perform a single flipping with a fast slide and performs a continuous flipping with a slow slide.
In a single flipping, the user flips the virtual book from the current page to a destination page. The flipping animation shows only the current page being flipped, as shown in
In a continuous flipping, several book pages are flipped at the same time as a slow slide of the user moves across the flip bar. The flipping continues until the user reaches the desired destination page and stops the slow slide. The flipping animation shows all the pages being flipped, as shown in
In rule 2, the first book page is flipped when the finger slides across a first predetermined number of pixels on the flip bar, and then a following book page is flipped each time when the finger slides across a second predetermined number of pixels on the flip bar. For example, the first predetermined number may be 60 pixels and the second predetermined number may be 15 pixels. In this case, the second and the latter book pages are flipped faster in rule 2 than they are in rule 1.
In both rule 1 and rule 2 of the continuous flipping, when the finger of the user reaches an end of the flip bar, the continuous flipping may simply stop. If the user wants to continue flipping in this case, he/she has to perform another slow slide across the flip bar. Alternatively, the flipping may continue when the finger of the user reaches one end of the flip bar.
In rule 3, the flip bar is used like a scroll bar. The ratio of the number of book pages being turned to the total number of book pages is equal to the ratio of the distance of the slow slide to the total length of the flip bar.
In addition to the “forward” continuous flipping discussed above, the handheld electronic device may also support “backward” continuous flipping. After a forward continuous flipping, the user may perform a backward continuous flipping by slowly sliding a finger in a direction opposite to the direction of the previous forward continuous flipping. The backward continuous flipping can be used to return to the desired book page when the user accidentally flips too many pages with the forward continuous flipping. There are two rules for the backward continuous flipping as summarized in the following Table 4.
In rule 1 of the backward continuous flipping, each time when a finger of the user slides across a predetermined number of pixels on the flip bar, one book page is flipped. For example, this predetermined number may be 25 pixels. In this case, the flipping speed of the backward continuous flipping is slower than that of rule 2 of the forward continuous flipping (15 pixels per page). The reason for the slower speed is that it is easier to find the desired book page at a slower speed.
Rule 2 of the backward continuous flipping implements two different flipping speeds. In rule 2, each of the first few pages is flipped when the finger slides across a first predetermined number of pixels on the flip bar, and each of the following pages is flipped when the finger slides across a second predetermined number of pixels on the flip bar. For example, the first predetermined number may be 25 pixels, the second predetermined number may be 15 pixels, and the first few pages mentioned above may be the first three pages.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the user may flip the book pages by pressing the display or the flip bar of the handheld electronic device with a finger. If the pressure of the finger is lower than a predetermined pressure threshold, it is classified as a light press. If the pressure of the finger is higher than the predetermined pressure threshold, it is classified as a heavy press. The user may perform a single flipping with a light press and a continuous flipping with a heavy press. In the continuous flipping, the flipping speed may be proportional to the pressure. The handheld electronic device senses the contact pressure or the contact area of the finger on the touch panel in order to estimate the pressure of the finger.
The handheld electronic device may include some buttons for rapid switching to predetermined pages of the virtual book. For example, please refer to
The virtual book may be rendered as a loose-leaf notebook which allows the user to adjust the positions of its book pages. Please refer to
In addition to moving a book page in the stand-up view, the user may also adjust the position of a book page by dragging the table entry corresponding to the book page in the TOC page.
The book pages with small tabs in the stand-up view in
In addition to moving book pages in the stand-up view, the user may also perform single flipping and continuous flipping in the stand-up view. Since the stand-up view displays many book pages at the same time, the user may turn to a book page directly by clicking on the book page with a finger.
Now please refer to
The user may delete a book page in the stand-up view.
For some functions and services provided by the handheld electronic device, the display contents of their book pages may be extracted to become new book pages. For example, the photo currently displayed by a photo browser application may be extracted to become a new book page. This new book page only displays the extracted photo and does not include the other functions of the photo browser. Similarly, the web page currently displayed by a web browser may be extracted to become a new book page. This new book page only accesses the extracted web page.
Another way to delete or extract a book page is provided in the TOC page of the virtual book. The TOC page may include an “edit” button. When the user presses the edit button, a context menu appears on top of the TOC page. By selecting appropriate functions in the context menu, the user may delete a book page or extract the current display contents of a book page as a new book page.
The virtual book of the handheld electronic device is expandable. The user may connect to a download server through the handheld electronic device to download additional book pages.
The middle card in the stack, such as the card 1230 in
A predetermined number of pages of the virtual book may be reserved for corporate operators of wireless service networks. These operator book pages may provide various services of the operators. For example, one of the operator book pages may display advertisements pushed from one of the operator. Moreover, the pushed advertisement may be updated at predetermined time intervals. The operator book pages are more noticeable to the user and are easier to find than conventional menu options. The operator book pages may be built-in, which already exist when the user purchases the handheld electronic device. If the user wants more operator book pages, he/she may download additional operator book pages from the download server mentioned above.
Now please refer to
When the handheld electronic device is in the idle mode, the handheld electronic device displays an idle screen which shows the virtual book in the zoom-out view, as shown in
The virtual book may provide a “fast return” function, which allows the user to switch from a first book page to a second book page and then return to the first book page rapidly. For example, when the user is in a telephone conversation and wants to check the address of a friend, the user may turn to the book page of the address book through the fast return function.
First, the book page 1581 displays a preview of a short message 1582 (step S1510). The user may presses a “sub-menu” button (not shown) to reveal a menu 1583 of the book page 1581 (step S1520). The “sub-menu” button may be a physical button installed on the handheld electronic device, a touch button implemented on the touch panel of the handheld electronic device, or a virtual button displayed on the book page 1581. The menu 1583 is revealed by a visual effect of uncovering the lower part of the book page 1581 and revealing the menu 1583 beneath the book page 1581. The menu 1583 includes four options, namely, creating a new short message (new), replying the short message (reply), forwarding the short message (forward), and deleting the short message (delete). The user may select any one of the options with a finger.
If the user selects the “new” option of the menu 1583, the flow goes to step S1530. The handheld electronic device displays a keyboard 1584 for the user to enter a new short message. If the user selects the “reply” option of the menu 1583, the flow goes to step SI 540. The handheld electronic device displays the keyboard 1584 for the user to reply to the short message 1582.
If the user touches the short message 1582 with a finger at step S1510, the flow goes to step S1550. The handheld electronic device displays the entire short message 1582 for viewing. The user may presses the “sub-menu” button to reveal another menu 1585 of the book page 1581 (step S1560). Similarly, the menu 1585 is revealed by a visual effect of uncovering the lower part of the book page 1581. The menu 1585 includes three options, namely, replying the short message (reply), forwarding the short message (forward), and deleting the short message (delete). The user may select any one of the options with a finger. If the user selects the “reply” option, the flow goes to step S1570. The handheld electronic device displays the keyboard 1584 for the user to reply to the short message 1582.
Each page of the virtual book may reveal its own function menu in the way mentioned above. The functions menus of the book pages may be different according to the functions and services provided by the book pages.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
This application claims the priority benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/048,219, filed Apr. 27, 2008. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
61048219 | Apr 2008 | US |