Patent Application
20150350141
The disclosed examples relate generally to user interfaces of electronic devices.
Messages can include a variety of media, such as audio, video, or images. Some systems may require users to launch media applications outside of the messaging application in order to capture, transmit, and view media. Furthermore, including media in a message may require the user to perform multiple steps to capture the content, include the captured content in a message, and send the message to a recipient. The recipient may then need to perform multiple steps or explicitly launch a separate media application to play back or view the content.
In addition to sharing media, users may also wish to easily share their location information with one or more other users from within a message application, or initiate an audio operation for communication. A message user interface that supports quick capture and sending of media and location information in a message, or initiates an audio operation, to one or more recipients is desirable.
In some embodiments, a method for capturing and sending media from within a message application comprises: at an electronic device having a touch-sensitive surface and a display: displaying, on the display, a media affordance and a message region for displaying messages sent between participants in a message conversation; detecting a gesture on the touch-sensitive surface that includes detecting a contact at a location on the touch-sensitive surface that corresponds to a location of the media affordance on the display; in response to detecting the contact: displaying a send affordance on the display; detecting a continuation of the gesture that includes detecting movement of the contact across the touch-sensitive surface followed by detecting liftoff of the contact from the touch-sensitive surface; determining whether the contact moved to a location on the touch-sensitive surface that corresponds to a location of the send affordance on the display; and in accordance with a determination that the contact moved to the location on the touch-sensitive surface that corresponds to the location of the send affordance, and in response to detecting the liftoff, sending media captured in response to at least a portion of the gesture to a participant in the message conversation.
In some embodiments, a method for capturing and sending video from within a message application comprises: at an electronic device having a touch-sensitive surface and a display: displaying, on the display, a media affordance and a message region for displaying messages sent between participants in a message conversation; detecting a first input on the touch-sensitive surface, wherein the first input corresponds to a location of the media affordance on the display; in response to detecting the first input, displaying a record affordance and a send affordance; detecting a second input on the touch-sensitive surface, wherein the second input corresponds to a location of the record affordance on the display; in response to detecting the second input, beginning to record a video; detecting a third input on the touch-sensitive surface, wherein the third input corresponds to a location of the send affordance on the display; and in response to detecting the third input: sending the recorded video to a participant, and removing the send affordance and the record affordance from the display.
In some embodiments, a method for sharing location information comprises: at an electronic device comprising a touch-sensitive surface and a display: displaying, on the display, a message region for displaying messages sent between a first participant and a second participant in a message conversation; displaying a share-location affordance for sharing the location of the first participant with the second participant as the location changes over at least a predetermined time period; detecting a selection of the share-location affordance; and in response to detecting the selection of the share-location affordance: providing the second participant with information enabling the second participant to determine a current location of the first participant during at least the predetermined time period.
In some embodiments, a method for adding media to a conversation comprises: at an electronic device having a camera sensor, a touch-sensitive surface, and a display: displaying, on the display, a message region for displaying a message conversation: receiving a request to add media to the message conversation; in response to receiving the request, displaying a media selection interface concurrently with at least a portion of the message conversation, wherein the media selection interface includes a plurality of affordances for selecting media for addition to the message conversation, at least a subset of the plurality of affordances including thumbnail representations of media available for adding to the message conversation; detecting selection of a respective affordance from the plurality of affordances; and in response to detecting selection of the respective affordance, selecting corresponding media for addition to the message conversation.
In some embodiments, a method for capturing and sending media comprises: at an electronic device having a touch-sensitive surface and a display: displaying, on the display, a media affordance, a message compose field, and a message region for displaying messages sent between participants in a message conversation; detecting a contact at a location on the touch-sensitive surface that corresponds to a location of the media affordance on the display; in response to detecting the contact, displaying a media preview in the message compose field; detecting a liftoff of the contact from the touch-sensitive surface; in response to detecting the liftoff, capturing media displayed in the media preview; and sending the captured media to a participant in the message conversation.
In some embodiments, a method for capturing, sending, and playing audio messages from within a message application comprises: at an electronic device having a touch-sensitive surface and a display: displaying a representation of a first audio message received from a first participant in a message conversation; detecting a request to play the first audio message; in response to detecting the request, playing the first audio message; after playing the first audio message, detecting a raising of the device; in response to detecting the raising of the device, recording a second audio message; and after recording the second audio message, sending the second audio message to the first participant.
In some embodiments, a method for grouping messages for display in a conversation comprises: at an electronic device comprising a touch-sensitive surface and a display: receiving a plurality of messages from a first participant within a time interval; determining whether the plurality of messages meets message grouping criteria; in accordance with a determination that the plurality of messages does not meet the message grouping criteria, displaying a plurality of separate bounded message areas representing the plurality of messages; and in accordance with a determination that the plurality of messages meets the message grouping criteria, displaying a single group bounded message area representing the plurality of messages.
In some embodiments, a method for deleting expired messages from a message conversation comprises: at an electronic device comprising a touch-sensitive surface and a display: receiving a first message; displaying a representation of the first message on the display, wherein the first message is scheduled to be deleted upon satisfaction of expiration criteria; displaying an affordance for keeping the first message; in accordance with a determination that the affordance was selected prior to the satisfaction of the expiration criteria, keeping the first message; and in accordance with a determination that the expiration criteria has been satisfied without detecting selection of the affordance, ceasing to display the representation of the first message on the display.
In some embodiments, a method for initiating an audio operation includes: at an electronic device comprising a microphone: detecting a change in device context based on movement of the electronic device and one or more proximity sensor readings; in response to detecting the change in device context: determining whether the device meets audio-operation criteria, wherein the audio-operation criteria include a criterion that is met when the movement of the electronic device satisfies movement criteria and the one or more proximity sensor readings satisfy a proximity criteria; and in accordance with a determination that the change in device context satisfies the audio-operation criteria, initiating an audio operation; and in accordance with a determination that the change in device context does not satisfy the audio-operation criteria, forgoing initiation of the audio operation.
In some embodiments, method for sending an audio message includes: at an electronic device comprising at least one microphone: detecting one or more conditions that are interpreted as a request to record an audio message for a designated contact; in response to detecting the one or more conditions, generating an audio recording using the at least one microphone; determining whether the audio recording meets rejection criteria; in accordance with a determination that the rejection criteria is not satisfied, sending the audio recording to the designated contact; and in accordance with a determination that the rejection criteria is satisfied, forgoing sending of the audio recording to the designated contact.
The following description sets forth exemplary methods, parameters, and the like. It should be recognized, however, that such description is not intended as a limitation on the scope of the present disclosure but is instead provided as a description of exemplary embodiments
There is a need for electronic devices with faster, more efficient methods and interfaces for capturing, sending, and playing media content or location data on portable electronic devices. Such methods and interfaces reduce the cognitive burden on a user and produce a more efficient human-machine interface. For battery-operated devices, such methods and interfaces conserve power and increase the time between battery charges.
There is a need for electronic devices with faster, more efficient methods and interfaces for capturing, sending, and playing media content or location data on portable electronic devices. Such methods and interfaces reduce the cognitive burden on a user and produce a more efficient human-machine interface. For battery-operated devices, such methods and interfaces conserve power and increase the time between battery charges.
Below,
Although the following description uses terms “first,” “second,” etc. to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by the terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first touch could be termed a second touch, and, similarly, a second touch could be termed a first touch, without departing from the scope of the various described embodiments. The first touch and the second touch are both touches, but they are not the same touch.
The terminology used in the description of the various described embodiments herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used in the description of the various described embodiments and the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that the term “and/or” as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will be further understood that the terms “includes,” “including,” “comprises,” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
The term “if” may be construed to mean “when” or “upon” or “in response to determining” or “in response to detecting,” depending on the context. Similarly, the phrase “if it is determined” or “if [a stated condition or event] is detected” may be construed to mean “upon determining” or “in response to determining” or “upon detecting [the stated condition or event]” or “in response to detecting [the stated condition or event],” depending on the context.
Embodiments of electronic devices, user interfaces for such devices, and associated processes for using such devices are described. In some embodiments, the device is a portable communications device, such as a mobile telephone, that also contains other functions, such as PDA and/or music player functions. Exemplary embodiments of portable multifunction devices include, without limitation, the iPhone®, iPod Touch®, and iPad® devices from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Other portable electronic devices, such as laptops or tablet computers with touch-sensitive surfaces (e.g., touch screen displays and/or touchpads), are optionally used. It should also be understood that, in some embodiments, the device is not a portable communications device, but is a desktop computer with a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., a touch screen display and/or a touchpad).
In the discussion that follows, an electronic device that includes a display and a touch-sensitive surface is described. It should be understood, however, that the electronic device optionally includes one or more other physical user-interface devices, such as button(s), a physical keyboard, a mouse, and/or a joystick.
The device may support a variety of applications, such as one or more of the following: a drawing application, a presentation application, a word processing application, a website creation application, a disk authoring application, a spreadsheet application, a gaming application, a telephone application, a video conferencing application, an e-mail application, an instant messaging application, a workout support application, a photo management application, a digital camera application, a digital video camera application, a web browsing application, a digital music player application, and/or a digital video player application.
The various applications that are executed on the device optionally use at least one common physical user-interface device, such as the touch-sensitive surface. One or more functions of the touch-sensitive surface as well as corresponding information displayed on the device are, optionally, adjusted and/or varied from one application to the next and/or within a respective application. In this way, a common physical architecture (such as the touch-sensitive surface) of the device optionally supports the variety of applications with user interfaces that are intuitive and transparent to the user.
Attention is now directed toward embodiments of portable devices with touch-sensitive displays.
As used in the specification and claims, the term “intensity” of a contact on a touch-sensitive surface refers to the force or pressure (force per unit area) of a contact (e.g., a finger contact) on the touch-sensitive surface, or to a substitute (proxy) for the force or pressure of a contact on the touch-sensitive surface. The intensity of a contact has a range of values that includes at least four distinct values and more typically includes hundreds of distinct values (e.g., at least 256). Intensity of a contact is, optionally, determined (or measured) using various approaches and various sensors or combinations of sensors. For example, one or more force sensors underneath or adjacent to the touch-sensitive surface are, optionally, used to measure force at various points on the touch-sensitive surface. In some implementations, force measurements from multiple force sensors are combined (e.g., a weighted average) to determine an estimated force of a contact. Similarly, a pressure-sensitive tip of a stylus is, optionally, used to determine a pressure of the stylus on the touch-sensitive surface. Alternatively, the size of the contact area detected on the touch-sensitive surface and/or changes thereto, the capacitance of the touch-sensitive surface proximate to the contact and/or changes thereto, and/or the resistance of the touch-sensitive surface proximate to the contact and/or changes thereto are, optionally, used as a substitute for the force or pressure of the contact on the touch-sensitive surface. In some implementations, the substitute measurements for contact force or pressure are used directly to determine whether an intensity threshold has been exceeded (e.g., the intensity threshold is described in units corresponding to the substitute measurements). In some implementations, the substitute measurements for contact force or pressure are converted to an estimated force or pressure, and the estimated force or pressure is used to determine whether an intensity threshold has been exceeded (e.g., the intensity threshold is a pressure threshold measured in units of pressure). Using the intensity of a contact as an attribute of a user input allows for user access to additional device functionality that may otherwise not be accessible by the user on a reduced-size device with limited real estate for displaying affordances (e.g., on a touch-sensitive display) and/or receiving user input (e.g., via a touch-sensitive display, a touch-sensitive surface, or a physical/mechanical control such as a knob or a button).
As used in the specification and claims, the term “tactile output” refers to physical displacement of a device relative to a previous position of the device, physical displacement of a component (e.g., a touch-sensitive surface) of a device relative to another component (e.g., housing) of the device, or displacement of the component relative to a center of mass of the device that will be detected by a user with the user's sense of touch. For example, in situations where the device or the component of the device is in contact with a surface of a user that is sensitive to touch (e.g., a finger, palm, or other part of a user's hand), the tactile output generated by the physical displacement will be interpreted by the user as a tactile sensation corresponding to a perceived change in physical characteristics of the device or the component of the device. For example, movement of a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., a touch-sensitive display or trackpad) is, optionally, interpreted by the user as a “down click” or “up click” of a physical actuator button. In some cases, a user will feel a tactile sensation such as an “down click” or “up click” even when there is no movement of a physical actuator button associated with the touch-sensitive surface that is physically pressed (e.g., displaced) by the user's movements. As another example, movement of the touch-sensitive surface is, optionally, interpreted or sensed by the user as “roughness” of the touch-sensitive surface, even when there is no change in smoothness of the touch-sensitive surface. While such interpretations of touch by a user will be subject to the individualized sensory perceptions of the user, there are many sensory perceptions of touch that are common to a large majority of users. Thus, when a tactile output is described as corresponding to a particular sensory perception of a user (e.g., an “up click,” a “down click,” “roughness”), unless otherwise stated, the generated tactile output corresponds to physical displacement of the device or a component thereof that will generate the described sensory perception for a typical (or average) user.
It should be appreciated that device 100 is only one example of a portable multifunction device, and that device 100 optionally has more or fewer components than shown, optionally combines two or more components, or optionally has a different configuration or arrangement of the components. The various components shown in
Memory 102 may include one or more computer-readable storage mediums. The computer-readable storage mediums may be tangible and non-transitory. Memory 102 may include high-speed random access memory and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state memory devices. Memory controller 122 may control access to memory 102 by other components of device 100.
Peripherals interface 118 can be used to couple input and output peripherals of the device to CPU 120 and memory 102. The one or more processors 120 run or execute various software programs and/or sets of instructions stored in memory 102 to perform various functions for device 100 and to process data. In some embodiments, peripherals interface 118, CPU 120, and memory controller 122 may be implemented on a single chip, such as chip 104. In some other embodiments, they may be implemented on separate chips.
RF (radio frequency) circuitry 108 receives and sends RF signals, also called electromagnetic signals. RF circuitry 108 converts electrical signals to/from electromagnetic signals and communicates with communications networks and other communications devices via the electromagnetic signals. RF circuitry 108 optionally includes well-known circuitry for performing these functions, including but not limited to an antenna system, an RF transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner, one or more oscillators, a digital signal processor, a CODEC chipset, a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory, and so forth. RF circuitry 108 optionally communicates with networks, such as the Internet, also referred to as the World Wide Web (WWW), an intranet and/or a wireless network, such as a cellular telephone network, a wireless local area network (LAN) and/or a metropolitan area network (MAN), and other devices by wireless communication. The RF circuitry 108 optionally includes well-known circuitry for detecting near field communication (NFC) fields, such as by a short-range communication radio. The wireless communication optionally uses any of a plurality of communications standards, protocols and technologies, including but not limited to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA), Evolution, Data-Only (EV-DO), HSPA, HSPA+, Dual-Cell HSPA (DC-HSPDA), long term evolution (LTE), near field communication, wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) (e.g., IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, and/or IEEE 802.11ac), voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX, a protocol for e-mail (e.g., Internet message access protocol (IMAP) and/or post office protocol (POP)), instant messaging (e.g., extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP), Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), Instant Messaging and Presence Service (IMPS)), and/or Short Message Service (SMS), or any other suitable communication protocol, including communication protocols not yet developed as of the filing date of this document.
Audio circuitry 110, speaker 111, and microphone 113 provide an audio interface between a user and device 100. Audio circuitry 110 receives audio data from peripherals interface 118, converts the audio data to an electrical signal, and transmits the electrical signal to speaker 111. Speaker 111 converts the electrical signal to human-audible sound waves. Audio circuitry 110 also receives electrical signals converted by microphone 113 from sound waves. Audio circuitry 110 converts the electrical signal to audio data and transmits the audio data to peripherals interface 118 for processing. Audio data may be retrieved from and/or transmitted to memory 102 and/or RF circuitry 108 by peripherals interface 118. In some embodiments, audio circuitry 110 also includes a headset jack (e.g., 212,
I/O subsystem 106 couples input/output peripherals on device 100, such as touch screen 112 and other input control devices 116, to peripherals interface 118. I/O subsystem 106 optionally includes display controller 156, optical sensor controller 158, intensity sensor controller 159, haptic feedback controller 161, and one or more input controllers 160 for other input or control devices. The one or more input controllers 160 receive/send electrical signals from/to other input control devices 116. The other input control devices 116 optionally include physical buttons (e.g., push buttons, rocker buttons, etc.), dials, slider switches, joysticks, click wheels, and so forth. In some alternate embodiments, input controller(s) 160 are, optionally, coupled to any (or none) of the following: a keyboard, an infrared port, a USB port, and a pointer device such as a mouse. The one or more buttons (e.g., 208,
A quick press of the push button may disengage a lock of touch screen 112 or begin a process that uses gestures on the touch screen to unlock the device, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/322,549, “Unlocking a Device by Performing Gestures on an Unlock Image,” filed Dec. 23, 2005, U.S. Pat. No. 7,657,849, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. A longer press of the push button (e.g., 206) may turn power to device 100 on or off. The user may be able to customize a functionality of one or more of the buttons. Touch screen 112 is used to implement virtual or soft buttons and one or more soft keyboards.
Touch-sensitive display 112 provides an input interface and an output interface between the device and a user. Display controller 156 receives and/or sends electrical signals from/to touch screen 112. Touch screen 112 displays visual output to the user. The visual output may include graphics, text, icons, video, and any combination thereof (collectively termed “graphics”). In some embodiments, some or all of the visual output may correspond to user-interface objects.
Touch screen 112 has a touch-sensitive surface, sensor or set of sensors that accepts input from the user based on haptic and/or tactile contact. Touch screen 112 and display controller 156 (along with any associated modules and/or sets of instructions in memory 102) detect contact (and any movement or breaking of the contact) on touch screen 112 and convert the detected contact into interaction with user-interface objects (e.g., one or more soft keys, icons, web pages, or images) that are displayed on touch screen 112. In an exemplary embodiment, a point of contact between touch screen 112 and the user corresponds to a finger of the user.
Touch screen 112 may use LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, LPD (light emitting polymer display) technology, or LED (light emitting diode) technology, although other display technologies may be used in other embodiments. Touch screen 112 and display controller 156 may detect contact and any movement or breaking thereof using any of a plurality of touch sensing technologies now known or later developed, including but not limited to capacitive, resistive, infrared, and surface acoustic wave technologies, as well as other proximity sensor arrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contact with touch screen 112. In an exemplary embodiment, projected mutual capacitance sensing technology is used, such as that found in the iPhone® and iPod Touch® from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.
A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of touch screen 112 may be analogous to the multi-touch sensitive touchpads described in the following U.S. Patents: U.S. Pat. No. 6,323,846 (Westerman et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,570,557 (Westerman et al.), and/or U.S. Pat. No. 6,677,932 (Westerman), and/or U.S. Patent Publication 2002/0015024A1, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. However, touch screen 112 displays visual output from device 100, whereas touch-sensitive touchpads do not provide visual output.
A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of touch screen 112 may be as described in the following applications: (1) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,313, “Multipoint Touch Surface Controller,” filed May 2, 2006; (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/840,862, “Multipoint Touchscreen,” filed May 6, 2004; (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/903,964, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jul. 30, 2004; (4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/048,264, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jan. 31, 2005; (5) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/038,590, “Mode-Based Graphical User Interfaces For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jan. 18, 2005; (6) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,758, “Virtual Input Device Placement On A Touch Screen User Interface,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; (7) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,700, “Operation Of A Computer With A Touch Screen Interface,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; (8) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,737, “Activating Virtual Keys Of A Touch-Screen Virtual Keyboard,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; and (9) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/367,749, “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device,” filed Mar. 3, 2006. All of these applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Touch screen 112 may have a video resolution in excess of 100 dpi. In some embodiments, the touch screen has a video resolution of approximately 160 dpi. The user may make contact with touch screen 112 using any suitable object or appendage, such as a stylus, a finger, and so forth. In some embodiments, the user interface is designed to work primarily with finger-based contacts and gestures, which can be less precise than stylus-based input due to the larger area of contact of a finger on the touch screen. In some embodiments, the device translates the rough finger-based input into a precise pointer/cursor position or command for performing the actions desired by the user.
In some embodiments, in addition to the touch screen, device 100 may include a touchpad (not shown) for activating or deactivating particular functions. In some embodiments, the touchpad is a touch-sensitive area of the device that, unlike the touch screen, does not display visual output. The touchpad may be a touch-sensitive surface that is separate from touch screen 112 or an extension of the touch-sensitive surface formed by the touch screen.
Device 100 also includes power system 162 for powering the various components. Power system 162 may include a power management system, one or more power sources (e.g., battery, alternating current (AC)), a recharging system, a power failure detection circuit, a power converter or inverter, a power status indicator (e.g., a light-emitting diode (LED)) and any other components associated with the generation, management and distribution of power in portable devices.
Device 100 may also include one or more optical sensors 164.
Device 100 optionally also includes one or more contact intensity sensors 165.
Device 100 may also include one or more proximity sensors 166.
Device 100 optionally also includes one or more tactile output generators 167.
Device 100 may also include one or more accelerometers 168.
In some embodiments, the software components stored in memory 102 include operating system 126, communication module (or set of instructions) 128, contact/motion module (or set of instructions) 130, graphics module (or set of instructions) 132, text input module (or set of instructions) 134, Global Positioning System (GPS) module (or set of instructions) 135, and applications (or sets of instructions) 136. Furthermore, in some embodiments, memory 102 (
Operating system 126 (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X, iOS, WINDOWS, or an embedded operating system such as VxWorks) includes various software components and/or drivers for controlling and managing general system tasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control, power management, etc.) and facilitates communication between various hardware and software components.
Communication module 128 facilitates communication with other devices over one or more external ports 124 and also includes various software components for handling data received by RF circuitry 108 and/or external port 124. External port 124 (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB), FIREWIRE, etc.) is adapted for coupling directly to other devices or indirectly over a network (e.g., the Internet, wireless LAN, etc.). In some embodiments, the external port is a multi-pin (e.g., 30-pin) connector that is the same as, or similar to and/or compatible with, the 30-pin connector used on iPod® (trademark of Apple Inc.) devices.
Contact/motion module 130 optionally detects contact with touch screen 112 (in conjunction with display controller 156) and other touch-sensitive devices (e.g., a touchpad or physical click wheel). Contact/motion module 130 includes various software components for performing various operations related to detection of contact, such as determining if contact has occurred (e.g., detecting a finger-down event), determining an intensity of the contact (e.g., the force or pressure of the contact or a substitute for the force or pressure of the contact), determining if there is movement of the contact and tracking the movement across the touch-sensitive surface (e.g., detecting one or more finger-dragging events), and determining if the contact has ceased (e.g., detecting a finger-up event or a break in contact). Contact/motion module 130 receives contact data from the touch-sensitive surface. Determining movement of the point of contact, which is represented by a series of contact data, optionally includes determining speed (magnitude), velocity (magnitude and direction), and/or an acceleration (a change in magnitude and/or direction) of the point of contact. These operations are, optionally, applied to single contacts (e.g., one finger contacts) or to multiple simultaneous contacts (e.g., “multitouch”/multiple finger contacts). In some embodiments, contact/motion module 130 and display controller 156 detect contact on a touchpad.
In some embodiments, contact/motion module 130 uses a set of one or more intensity thresholds to determine whether an operation has been performed by a user (e.g., to determine whether a user has “clicked” on an icon). In some embodiments, at least a subset of the intensity thresholds are determined in accordance with software parameters (e.g., the intensity thresholds are not determined by the activation thresholds of particular physical actuators and can be adjusted without changing the physical hardware of device 100). For example, a mouse “click” threshold of a trackpad or touch screen display can be set to any of a large range of predefined threshold values without changing the trackpad or touch screen display hardware. Additionally, in some implementations, a user of the device is provided with software settings for adjusting one or more of the set of intensity thresholds (e.g., by adjusting individual intensity thresholds and/or by adjusting a plurality of intensity thresholds at once with a system-level click “intensity” parameter).
Contact/motion module 130 optionally detects a gesture input by a user. Different gestures on the touch-sensitive surface have different contact patterns (e.g., different motions, timings, and/or intensities of detected contacts). Thus, a gesture is, optionally, detected by detecting a particular contact pattern. For example, detecting a finger tap gesture includes detecting a finger-down event followed by detecting a finger-up (liftoff) event at the same position (or substantially the same position) as the finger-down event (e.g., at the position of an icon). As another example, detecting a finger swipe gesture on the touch-sensitive surface includes detecting a finger-down event followed by detecting one or more finger-dragging events, and subsequently followed by detecting a finger-up (liftoff) event.
Graphics module 132 includes various known software components for rendering and displaying graphics on touch screen 112 or other display, including components for changing the visual impact (e.g., brightness, transparency, saturation, contrast, or other visual property) of graphics that are displayed. As used herein, the term “graphics” includes any object that can be displayed to a user, including, without limitation, text, web pages, icons (such as user-interface objects including soft keys), digital images, videos, animations, and the like.
In some embodiments, graphics module 132 stores data representing graphics to be used. Each graphic is, optionally, assigned a corresponding code. Graphics module 132 receives, from applications etc., one or more codes specifying graphics to be displayed along with, if necessary, coordinate data and other graphic property data, and then generates screen image data to output to display controller 156.
Haptic feedback module 133 includes various software components for generating instructions used by tactile output generator(s) 167 to produce tactile outputs at one or more locations on device 100 in response to user interactions with device 100.
Text input module 134, which may be a component of graphics module 132, provides soft keyboards for entering text in various applications (e.g., contacts 137, e-mail 140, IM 141, browser 147, and any other application that needs text input).
GPS module 135 determines the location of the device and provides this information for use in various applications (e.g., to telephone 138 for use in location-based dialing; to camera 143 as picture/video metadata; and to applications that provide location-based services such as weather widgets, local yellow page widgets, and map/navigation widgets).
Applications 136 may include the following modules (or sets of instructions), or a subset or superset thereof:
Examples of other applications 136 that may be stored in memory 102 include other word processing applications, other image editing applications, drawing applications, presentation applications, JAVA-enabled applications, encryption, digital rights management, voice recognition, and voice replication.
In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, contacts module 137 may be used to manage an address book or contact list (e.g., stored in application internal state 192 of contacts module 137 in memory 102 or memory 370), including: adding name(s) to the address book; deleting name(s) from the address book; associating telephone number(s), e-mail address(es), physical address(es) or other information with a name; associating an image with a name; categorizing and sorting names; providing telephone numbers or e-mail addresses to initiate and/or facilitate communications by telephone 138, video conference 139, e-mail 140, or IM 141; and so forth.
In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, audio circuitry 110, speaker 111, microphone 113, touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, telephone module 138 may be used to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to a telephone number, access one or more telephone numbers in contacts module 137, modify a telephone number that has been entered, dial a respective telephone number, conduct a conversation, and disconnect or hang up when the conversation is completed. As noted above, the wireless communication may use any of a plurality of communications standards, protocols, and technologies.
In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, audio circuitry 110, speaker 111, microphone 113, touch screen 112, display controller 156, optical sensor 164, optical sensor controller 158, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, text input module 134, contacts module 137, and telephone module 138, video conference module 139 includes executable instructions to initiate, conduct, and terminate a video conference between a user and one or more other participants in accordance with user instructions.
In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, e-mail client module 140 includes executable instructions to create, send, receive, and manage e-mail in response to user instructions. In conjunction with image management module 144, e-mail client module 140 makes it very easy to create and send e-mails with still or video images taken with camera module 143.
In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, the instant messaging module 141 includes executable instructions to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to an instant message, to modify previously entered characters, to transmit a respective instant message (for example, using a Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Message Service (MMS) protocol for telephony-based instant messages or using XMPP, SIMPLE, or IMPS for Internet-based instant messages), to receive instant messages and to view received instant messages. In some embodiments, transmitted and/or received instant messages may include graphics, photos, audio files, video files and/or other attachments as are supported in an MMS and/or an Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS). As used herein, “instant messaging” refers to both telephony-based messages (e.g., messages sent using SMS or MMS) and Internet-based messages (e.g., messages sent using XMPP, SIMPLE, or IMPS).
In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, text input module 134, GPS module 135, map module 154, and music player module, workout support module 142 includes executable instructions to create workouts (e.g., with time, distance, and/or calorie burning goals); communicate with workout sensors (sports devices); receive workout sensor data; calibrate sensors used to monitor a workout; select and play music for a workout; and display, store, and transmit workout data.
In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, optical sensor(s) 164, optical sensor controller 158, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, and image management module 144, camera module 143 includes executable instructions to capture still images or video (including a video stream) and store them into memory 102, modify characteristics of a still image or video, or delete a still image or video from memory 102.
In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, text input module 134, and camera module 143, image management module 144 includes executable instructions to arrange, modify (e.g., edit), or otherwise manipulate, label, delete, present (e.g., in a digital slide show or album), and store still and/or video images.
In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, browser module 147 includes executable instructions to browse the Internet in accordance with user instructions, including searching, linking to, receiving, and displaying web pages or portions thereof, as well as attachments and other files linked to web pages.
In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, text input module 134, e-mail client module 140, and browser module 147, calendar module 148 includes executable instructions to create, display, modify, and store calendars and data associated with calendars (e.g., calendar entries, to-do lists, etc.) in accordance with user instructions.
In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, text input module 134, and browser module 147, widget modules 149 are mini-applications that may be downloaded and used by a user (e.g., weather widget 149-1, stocks widget 149-2, calculator widget 149-3, alarm clock widget 149-4, and dictionary widget 149-5) or created by the user (e.g., user-created widget 149-6). In some embodiments, a widget includes an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) file, a CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) file, and a JavaScript file. In some embodiments, a widget includes an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file and a JavaScript file (e.g., Yahoo! Widgets).
In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, text input module 134, and browser module 147, the widget creator module 150 may be used by a user to create widgets (e.g., turning a user-specified portion of a web page into a widget).
In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, search module 151 includes executable instructions to search for text, music, sound, image, video, and/or other files in memory 102 that match one or more search criteria (e.g., one or more user-specified search terms) in accordance with user instructions.
In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, audio circuitry 110, speaker 111, RF circuitry 108, and browser module 147, video and music player module 152 includes executable instructions that allow the user to download and play back recorded music and other sound files stored in one or more file formats, such as MP3 or AAC files, and executable instructions to display, present or otherwise play back videos (e.g., on touch screen 112 or on an external, connected display via external port 124). In some embodiments, device 100 optionally includes the functionality of an MP3 player, such as an iPod (trademark of Apple Inc.).
In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, notes module 153 includes executable instructions to create and manage notes, to-do lists, and the like in accordance with user instructions.
In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, text input module 134, GPS module 135, and browser module 147, map module 154 may be used to receive, display, modify, and store maps and data associated with maps (e.g., driving directions; data on stores and other points of interest at or near a particular location; and other location-based data) in accordance with user instructions.
In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact/motion module 130, graphics module 132, audio circuitry 110, speaker 111, RF circuitry 108, text input module 134, e-mail client module 140, and browser module 147, online video module 155 includes instructions that allow the user to access, browse, receive (e.g., by streaming and/or download), play back (e.g., on the touch screen or on an external, connected display via external port 124), send an e-mail with a link to a particular online video, and otherwise manage online videos in one or more file formats, such as H.264. In some embodiments, instant messaging module 141, rather than e-mail client module 140, is used to send a link to a particular online video. Additional description of the online video application can be found in U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/936,562, “Portable Multifunction Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Playing Online Videos,” filed Jun. 20, 2007, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/968,067, “Portable Multifunction Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Playing Online Videos,” filed Dec. 31, 2007, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Each of the above-identified modules and applications corresponds to a set of executable instructions for performing one or more functions described above and the methods described in this application (e.g., the computer-implemented methods and other information processing methods described herein). These modules (e.g., sets of instructions) need not be implemented as separate software programs, procedures or modules, and thus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwise rearranged in various embodiments. For example, video player module may be combined with music player module into a single module (e.g., video and music player module 152,
In some embodiments, device 100 is a device where operation of a predefined set of functions on the device is performed exclusively through a touch screen and/or a touchpad. By using a touch screen and/or a touchpad as the primary input control device for operation of device 100, the number of physical input control devices (such as push buttons, dials, and the like) on device 100 may be reduced.
The predefined set of functions that are performed exclusively through a touch screen and/or a touchpad optionally include navigation between user interfaces. In some embodiments, the touchpad, when touched by the user, navigates device 100 to a main, home, or root menu from any user interface that is displayed on device 100. In such embodiments, a “menu button” is implemented using a touchpad. In some other embodiments, the menu button is a physical push button or other physical input control device instead of a touchpad.
Event sorter 170 receives event information and determines the application 136-1 and application view 191 of application 136-1 to which to deliver the event information. Event sorter 170 includes event monitor 171 and event dispatcher module 174. In some embodiments, application 136-1 includes application internal state 192, which indicates the current application view(s) displayed on touch-sensitive display 112 when the application is active or executing. In some embodiments, device/global internal state 157 is used by event sorter 170 to determine which application(s) is(are) currently active, and application internal state 192 is used by event sorter 170 to determine application views 191 to which to deliver event information.
In some embodiments, application internal state 192 includes additional information, such as one or more of: resume information to be used when application 136-1 resumes execution, user interface state information that indicates information being displayed or that is ready for display by application 136-1, a state queue for enabling the user to go back to a prior state or view of application 136-1, and a redo/undo queue of previous actions taken by the user.
Event monitor 171 receives event information from peripherals interface 118. Event information includes information about a sub-event (e.g., a user touch on touch-sensitive display 112, as part of a multi-touch gesture). Peripherals interface 118 transmits information it receives from I/O subsystem 106 or a sensor, such as proximity sensor 166, accelerometer(s) 168, and/or microphone 113 (through audio circuitry 110). Information that peripherals interface 118 receives from I/O subsystem 106 includes information from touch-sensitive display 112 or a touch-sensitive surface.
In some embodiments, event monitor 171 sends requests to the peripherals interface 118 at predetermined intervals. In response, peripherals interface 118 transmits event information. In other embodiments, peripherals interface 118 transmits event information only when there is a significant event (e.g., receiving an input above a predetermined noise threshold and/or for more than a predetermined duration). In some embodiments, event sorter 170 also includes a hit view determination module 172 and/or an active event recognizer determination module 173.
Hit view determination module 172 provides software procedures for determining where a sub-event has taken place within one or more views when touch-sensitive display 112 displays more than one view. Views are made up of controls and other elements that a user can see on the display.
Another aspect of the user interface associated with an application is a set of views, sometimes herein called application views or user interface windows, in which information is displayed and touch-based gestures occur. The application views (of a respective application) in which a touch is detected may correspond to programmatic levels within a programmatic or view hierarchy of the application. For example, the lowest level view in which a touch is detected may be called the hit view, and the set of events that are recognized as proper inputs may be determined based, at least in part, on the hit view of the initial touch that begins a touch-based gesture.
Hit view determination module 172 receives information related to sub-events of a touch-based gesture. When an application has multiple views organized in a hierarchy, hit view determination module 172 identifies a hit view as the lowest view in the hierarchy which should handle the sub-event. In most circumstances, the hit view is the lowest level view in which an initiating sub-event occurs (e.g., the first sub-event in the sequence of sub-events that form an event or potential event). Once the hit view is identified by the hit view determination module 172, the hit view typically receives all sub-events related to the same touch or input source for which it was identified as the hit view.
Active event recognizer determination module 173 determines which view or views within a view hierarchy should receive a particular sequence of sub-events. In some embodiments, active event recognizer determination module 173 determines that only the hit view should receive a particular sequence of sub-events. In other embodiments, active event recognizer determination module 173 determines that all views that include the physical location of a sub-event are actively involved views, and therefore determines that all actively involved views should receive a particular sequence of sub-events. In other embodiments, even if touch sub-events were entirely confined to the area associated with one particular view, views higher in the hierarchy would still remain as actively involved views.
Event dispatcher module 174 dispatches the event information to an event recognizer (e.g., event recognizer 180). In embodiments including active event recognizer determination module 173, event dispatcher module 174 delivers the event information to an event recognizer determined by active event recognizer determination module 173. In some embodiments, event dispatcher module 174 stores in an event queue the event information, which is retrieved by a respective event receiver 182.
In some embodiments, operating system 126 includes event sorter 170. Alternatively, application 136-1 includes event sorter 170. In yet other embodiments, event sorter 170 is a stand-alone module, or a part of another module stored in memory 102, such as contact/motion module 130.
In some embodiments, application 136-1 includes a plurality of event handlers 190 and one or more application views 191, each of which includes instructions for handling touch events that occur within a respective view of the application's user interface. Each application view 191 of the application 136-1 includes one or more event recognizers 180. Typically, a respective application view 191 includes a plurality of event recognizers 180. In other embodiments, one or more of event recognizers 180 are part of a separate module, such as a user interface kit (not shown) or a higher level object from which application 136-1 inherits methods and other properties. In some embodiments, a respective event handler 190 includes one or more of: data updater 176, object updater 177, GUI updater 178, and/or event data 179 received from event sorter 170. Event handler 190 may utilize or call data updater 176, object updater 177, or GUI updater 178 to update the application internal state 192. Alternatively, one or more of the application views 191 include one or more respective event handlers 190. Also, in some embodiments, one or more of data updater 176, object updater 177, and GUI updater 178 are included in a respective application view 191.
A respective event recognizer 180 receives event information (e.g., event data 179) from event sorter 170 and identifies an event from the event information. Event recognizer 180 includes event receiver 182 and event comparator 184. In some embodiments, event recognizer 180 also includes at least a subset of: metadata 183, and event delivery instructions 188 (which may include sub-event delivery instructions).
Event receiver 182 receives event information from event sorter 170. The event information includes information about a sub-event, for example, a touch or a touch movement. Depending on the sub-event, the event information also includes additional information, such as location of the sub-event. When the sub-event concerns motion of a touch, the event information may also include speed and direction of the sub-event. In some embodiments, events include rotation of the device from one orientation to another (e.g., from a portrait orientation to a landscape orientation, or vice versa), and the event information includes corresponding information about the current orientation (also called device attitude) of the device.
Event comparator 184 compares the event information to predefined event or sub-event definitions and, based on the comparison, determines an event or sub-event, or determines or updates the state of an event or sub-event. In some embodiments, event comparator 184 includes event definitions 186. Event definitions 186 contain definitions of events (e.g., predefined sequences of sub-events), for example, event 1 (187-1), event 2 (187-2), and others. In some embodiments, sub-events in an event (e.g., 187-1) include, for example, touch begin, touch end, touch movement, touch cancellation, and multiple touching. In one example, the definition for event 1 (187-1) is a double tap on a displayed object. The double tap, for example, comprises a first touch (touch begin) on the displayed object for a predetermined phase, a first liftoff (touch end) for a predetermined phase, a second touch (touch begin) on the displayed object for a predetermined phase, and a second liftoff (touch end) for a predetermined phase. In another example, the definition for event 2 (187-2) is a dragging on a displayed object. The dragging, for example, comprises a touch (or contact) on the displayed object for a predetermined phase, a movement of the touch across touch-sensitive display 112, and liftoff of the touch (touch end). In some embodiments, the event also includes information for one or more associated event handlers 190.
In some embodiments, event definition 186 includes a definition of an event for a respective user-interface object. In some embodiments, event comparator 184 performs a hit test to determine which user-interface object is associated with a sub-event. For example, in an application view in which three user-interface objects are displayed on touch-sensitive display 112, when a touch is detected on touch-sensitive display 112, event comparator 184 performs a hit test to determine which of the three user-interface objects is associated with the touch (sub-event). If each displayed object is associated with a respective event handler 190, the event comparator uses the result of the hit test to determine which event handler 190 should be activated. For example, event comparator 184 selects an event handler associated with the sub-event and the object triggering the hit test.
In some embodiments, the definition for a respective event (186) also includes delayed actions that delay delivery of the event information until after it has been determined whether the sequence of sub-events does or does not correspond to the event recognizer's event type.
When a respective event recognizer 180 determines that the series of sub-events do not match any of the events in event definitions 186, the respective event recognizer 180 enters an event impossible, event failed, or event ended state, after which it disregards subsequent sub-events of the touch-based gesture. In this situation, other event recognizers, if any, that remain active for the hit view continue to track and process sub-events of an ongoing touch-based gesture.
In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer 180 includes metadata 183 with configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate how the event delivery system should perform sub-event delivery to actively involved event recognizers. In some embodiments, metadata 183 includes configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate how event recognizers may interact, or are enabled to interact, with one another. In some embodiments, metadata 183 includes configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate whether sub-events are delivered to varying levels in the view or programmatic hierarchy.
In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer 180 activates event handler 190 associated with an event when one or more particular sub-events of an event are recognized. In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer 180 delivers event information associated with the event to event handler 190. Activating an event handler 190 is distinct from sending (and deferred sending) sub-events to a respective hit view. In some embodiments, event recognizer 180 throws a flag associated with the recognized event, and event handler 190 associated with the flag catches the flag and performs a predefined process.
In some embodiments, event delivery instructions 188 include sub-event delivery instructions that deliver event information about a sub-event without activating an event handler. Instead, the sub-event delivery instructions deliver event information to event handlers associated with the series of sub-events or to actively involved views. Event handlers associated with the series of sub-events or with actively involved views receive the event information and perform a predetermined process.
In some embodiments, data updater 176 creates and updates data used in application 136-1. For example, data updater 176 updates the telephone number used in contacts module 137, or stores a video file used in video player module. In some embodiments, object updater 177 creates and updates objects used in application 136-1. For example, object updater 177 creates a new user-interface object or updates the position of a user-interface object. GUI updater 178 updates the GUI. For example, GUI updater 178 prepares display information and sends it to graphics module 132 for display on a touch-sensitive display.
In some embodiments, event handler(s) 190 includes or has access to data updater 176, object updater 177, and GUI updater 178. In some embodiments, data updater 176, object updater 177, and GUI updater 178 are included in a single module of a respective application 136-1 or application view 191. In other embodiments, they are included in two or more software modules.
It shall be understood that the foregoing discussion regarding event handling of user touches on touch-sensitive displays also applies to other forms of user inputs to operate multifunction devices 100 with input-devices, not all of which are initiated on touch screens. For example, mouse movement and mouse button presses, optionally coordinated with single or multiple keyboard presses or holds; contact movements such as taps, drags, scrolls, etc. on touchpads; pen stylus inputs; movement of the device; oral instructions; detected eye movements; biometric inputs; and/or any combination thereof, are optionally utilized as inputs corresponding to sub-events which define an event to be recognized.
Device 100 may also include one or more physical buttons, such as “home” or menu button 204. As described previously, menu button 204 may be used to navigate to any application 136 in a set of applications that may be executed on device 100. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the menu button is implemented as a soft key in a GUI displayed on touch screen 112.
In one embodiment, device 100 includes touch screen 112, menu button 204, push button 206 for powering the device on/off and locking the device, volume adjustment button(s) 208, subscriber identity module (SIM) card slot 210, headset jack 212, and docking/charging external port 124. Push button 206 is, optionally, used to turn the power on/off on the device by depressing the button and holding the button in the depressed state for a predefined time interval; to lock the device by depressing the button and releasing the button before the predefined time interval has elapsed; and/or to unlock the device or initiate an unlock process. In an alternative embodiment, device 100 also accepts verbal input for activation or deactivation of some functions through microphone 113. Device 100 also, optionally, includes one or more contact intensity sensors 165 for detecting intensity of contacts on touch screen 112 and/or one or more tactile output generators 167 for generating tactile outputs for a user of device 100.
Each of the above-identified elements in
Attention is now directed towards embodiments of user interfaces that may be implemented on, for example, portable multifunction device 100.
It should be noted that the icon labels illustrated in
Although some of the examples which follow will be given with reference to inputs on touch screen display 112 (where the touch-sensitive surface and the display are combined), in some embodiments, the device detects inputs on a touch-sensitive surface that is separate from the display, as shown in
Additionally, while the following examples are given primarily with reference to finger inputs (e.g., finger contacts, finger tap gestures, finger swipe gestures), it should be understood that, in some embodiments, one or more of the finger inputs are replaced with input from another input device (e.g., a mouse based input or stylus input). For example, a swipe gesture is, optionally, replaced with a mouse click (e.g., instead of a contact) followed by movement of the cursor along the path of the swipe (e.g., instead of movement of the contact).
As another example, a tap gesture is, optionally, replaced with a mouse click while the cursor is located over the location of the tap gesture (e.g., instead of detection of the contact followed by ceasing to detect the contact). Similarly, when multiple user inputs are simultaneously detected, it should be understood that multiple computer mice are, optionally, used simultaneously, or a mouse and finger contacts are, optionally, used simultaneously.
As used here, the term “affordance” refers to a user-interactive graphical user interface object that may be displayed on the display screen of devices 100 and/or 300 (
As used herein, the term “focus selector” refers to an input element that indicates a current part of a user interface with which a user is interacting. In some implementations that include a cursor or other location marker, the cursor acts as a “focus selector,” so that when an input (e.g., a press input) is detected on a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., touchpad 355 in
As used in the specification and claims, the term “characteristic intensity” of a contact refers to a characteristic of the contact based on one or more intensities of the contact. In some embodiments, the characteristic intensity is based on multiple intensity samples. The characteristic intensity is, optionally, based on a predefined number of intensity samples, or a set of intensity samples collected during a predetermined time period (e.g., 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10 seconds) relative to a predefined event (e.g., after detecting the contact, prior to detecting liftoff of the contact, before or after detecting a start of movement of the contact, prior to detecting an end of the contact, before or after detecting an increase in intensity of the contact, and/or before or after detecting a decrease in intensity of the contact). A characteristic intensity of a contact is, optionally based on one or more of: a maximum value of the intensities of the contact, a mean value of the intensities of the contact, an average value of the intensities of the contact, a top 10 percentile value of the intensities of the contact, a value at the half maximum of the intensities of the contact, a value at the 90 percent maximum of the intensities of the contact, or the like. In some embodiments, the duration of the contact is used in determining the characteristic intensity (e.g., when the characteristic intensity is an average of the intensity of the contact over time). In some embodiments, the characteristic intensity is compared to a set of one or more intensity thresholds to determine whether an operation has been performed by a user. For example, the set of one or more intensity thresholds may include a first intensity threshold and a second intensity threshold. In this example, a contact with a characteristic intensity that does not exceed the first threshold results in a first operation, a contact with a characteristic intensity that exceeds the first intensity threshold and does not exceed the second intensity threshold results in a second operation, and a contact with a characteristic intensity that exceeds the second threshold results in a third operation. In some embodiments, a comparison between the characteristic intensity and one or more thresholds is used to determine whether or not to perform one or more operations (e.g., whether to perform a respective operation or forgo performing the respective operation) rather than being used to determine whether to perform a first operation or a second operation.
In some embodiments, a portion of a gesture is identified for purposes of determining a characteristic intensity. For example, a touch-sensitive surface may receive a continuous swipe contact transitioning from a start location and reaching an end location, at which point the intensity of the contact increases. In this example, the characteristic intensity of the contact at the end location may be based on only a portion of the continuous swipe contact, and not the entire swipe contact (e.g., only the portion of the swipe contact at the end location). In some embodiments, a smoothing algorithm may be applied to the intensities of the swipe contact prior to determining the characteristic intensity of the contact. For example, the smoothing algorithm optionally includes one or more of: an unweighted sliding-average smoothing algorithm, a triangular smoothing algorithm, a median filter smoothing algorithm, and/or an exponential smoothing algorithm. In some circumstances, these smoothing algorithms eliminate narrow spikes or dips in the intensities of the swipe contact for purposes of determining a characteristic intensity.
The intensity of a contact on the touch-sensitive surface may be characterized relative to one or more intensity thresholds, such as a contact-detection intensity threshold, a light press intensity threshold, a deep press intensity threshold, and/or one or more other intensity thresholds. In some embodiments, the light press intensity threshold corresponds to an intensity at which the device will perform operations typically associated with clicking a button of a physical mouse or a trackpad. In some embodiments, the deep press intensity threshold corresponds to an intensity at which the device will perform operations that are different from operations typically associated with clicking a button of a physical mouse or a trackpad. In some embodiments, when a contact is detected with a characteristic intensity below the light press intensity threshold (e.g., and above a nominal contact-detection intensity threshold below which the contact is no longer detected), the device will move a focus selector in accordance with movement of the contact on the touch-sensitive surface without performing an operation associated with the light press intensity threshold or the deep press intensity threshold. Generally, unless otherwise stated, these intensity thresholds are consistent between different sets of user interface figures.
An increase of characteristic intensity of the contact from an intensity below the light press intensity threshold to an intensity between the light press intensity threshold and the deep press intensity threshold is sometimes referred to as a “light press” input. An increase of characteristic intensity of the contact from an intensity below the deep press intensity threshold to an intensity above the deep press intensity threshold is sometimes referred to as a “deep press” input. An increase of characteristic intensity of the contact from an intensity below the contact-detection intensity threshold to an intensity between the contact-detection intensity threshold and the light press intensity threshold is sometimes referred to as detecting the contact on the touch-surface. A decrease of characteristic intensity of the contact from an intensity above the contact-detection intensity threshold to an intensity below the contact-detection intensity threshold is sometimes referred to as detecting liftoff of the contact from the touch-surface. In some embodiments, the contact-detection intensity threshold is zero. In some embodiments, the contact-detection intensity threshold is greater than zero.
In some embodiments described herein, one or more operations are performed in response to detecting a gesture that includes a respective press input or in response to detecting the respective press input performed with a respective contact (or a plurality of contacts), where the respective press input is detected based at least in part on detecting an increase in intensity of the contact (or plurality of contacts) above a press-input intensity threshold. In some embodiments, the respective operation is performed in response to detecting the increase in intensity of the respective contact above the press-input intensity threshold (e.g., a “down stroke” of the respective press input). In some embodiments, the press input includes an increase in intensity of the respective contact above the press-input intensity threshold and a subsequent decrease in intensity of the contact below the press-input intensity threshold, and the respective operation is performed in response to detecting the subsequent decrease in intensity of the respective contact below the press-input threshold (e.g., an “up stroke” of the respective press input).
In some embodiments, the device employs intensity hysteresis to avoid accidental inputs sometimes termed “jitter,” where the device defines or selects a hysteresis intensity threshold with a predefined relationship to the press-input intensity threshold (e.g., the hysteresis intensity threshold is X intensity units lower than the press-input intensity threshold or the hysteresis intensity threshold is 75%, 90%, or some reasonable proportion of the press-input intensity threshold). Thus, in some embodiments, the press input includes an increase in intensity of the respective contact above the press-input intensity threshold and a subsequent decrease in intensity of the contact below the hysteresis intensity threshold that corresponds to the press-input intensity threshold, and the respective operation is performed in response to detecting the subsequent decrease in intensity of the respective contact below the hysteresis intensity threshold (e.g., an “up stroke” of the respective press input). Similarly, in some embodiments, the press input is detected only when the device detects an increase in intensity of the contact from an intensity at or below the hysteresis intensity threshold to an intensity at or above the press-input intensity threshold and, optionally, a subsequent decrease in intensity of the contact to an intensity at or below the hysteresis intensity, and the respective operation is performed in response to detecting the press input (e.g., the increase in intensity of the contact or the decrease in intensity of the contact, depending on the circumstances).
For ease of explanation, the descriptions of operations performed in response to a press input associated with a press-input intensity threshold or in response to a gesture including the press input are, optionally, triggered in response to detecting either: an increase in intensity of a contact above the press-input intensity threshold, an increase in intensity of a contact from an intensity below the hysteresis intensity threshold to an intensity above the press-input intensity threshold, a decrease in intensity of the contact below the press-input intensity threshold, and/or a decrease in intensity of the contact below the hysteresis intensity threshold corresponding to the press-input intensity threshold. Additionally, in examples where an operation is described as being performed in response to detecting a decrease in intensity of a contact below the press-input intensity threshold, the operation is, optionally, performed in response to detecting a decrease in intensity of the contact below a hysteresis intensity threshold corresponding to, and lower than, the press-input intensity threshold.
As used herein, the term “open application” or “executing application” refers to a software application with retained state information (e.g., as part of device/global internal state 157 and/or application internal state 192). An open or executing application may be any one of the following types of applications:
As used herein, the term “closed application” refers to software applications without retained state information (e.g., state information for closed applications is not stored in a memory of the device). Accordingly, closing an application includes stopping and/or removing application processes for the application and removing state information for the application from the memory of the device. Generally, opening a second application while in a first application does not close the first application. When the second application is displayed and the first application ceases to be displayed, the first application becomes a background application.
Attention is now directed to embodiments of message user interfaces for capturing, sending, and viewing or playing media and location data.
In this embodiment, the message user interface includes two media affordances for capturing and sending media streams: an audio capture affordance 508 for capturing and sending an audio message, and a visual-media capture affordance 510 for capturing and sending an image or a video. In this embodiment, the visual-media capture affordance and the audio data capture affordance are displayed on either side of the message compose field. The message user interface also includes a virtual keyboard 512 for entering text in the message compose field 504. In some embodiments, as shown in
As will be described in more detail below, device 100 can capture and send a variety of media—such as audio, video, and images—from within the messaging application.
Device 100 can record and send an audio message from within the messaging application. For example, as depicted by
In the embodiment depicted in
In this embodiment, the visually distinguished region 616 is displayed on the same side of the display as the audio capture affordance 508, and is vertically centered on the location corresponding to the audio capture affordance 508. Thus, as a user makes contact with the audio capture affordance 508, the visually distinguished region 616 appears around the location of the audio capture affordance, with the record affordance 622 replacing the audio capture affordance 508.
As shown in
In some embodiments, device 100 can continue to record an audio message as long as the contact is maintained at the location on the display corresponding to the record affordance. As depicted in
In some embodiments, in conjunction with sending media (such as an audio message) to a participant in the message conversation, a representation of the media is displayed in the message region. For example, as shown in
In some embodiments, while recording an audio message device 100 can display a representation of the audio message in a message compose field. The representation may be a waveform as described above, and may dynamically change shape as the user records an audio message to indicate the changing audio content being recorded.
In some embodiments, in response to detecting a contact on the playback affordance 704, device 100 can play the audio message. In some embodiments, the color of the playback affordance may change after the audio message has been played to provide a visual indication to the user that the audio message has been played. In some embodiments, a portion of the playback affordance may change in appearance as a corresponding portion of the audio message is played, providing a visual indication of the elapsed playing time.
In some embodiments, device 100 can display the waveform 702 representing the audio message in an initial color, and change the waveform color when the audio message is played to provide a visual indication to the user that the audio message has been played. In some embodiments, device 100 can change the color of a portion of the waveform 702 as a corresponding portion of the audio message is played, providing a visual representation of the elapsed playing time. The above-described audio message representations and color changes may be used to represent any audio message exchanged from within the messaging application, where it is represented in the message conversation, in the message compose field, or elsewhere.
In some embodiments, device 100 can stop recording the audio message in response to detecting the movement of the contact away from the audio capture affordance, either towards the send affordance or in another direction. In some embodiments, device 100 can send the recorded audio message in response to detecting a liftoff at the location corresponding to the send affordance 618 after the movement of the contact. The initial contact on the audio capture affordance and the subsequent movement of the contact to the send affordance may be performed by a user as a single, continuous contact on the display.
As depicted in
In some embodiments, as depicted in
In some embodiments, as shown in
As previously discussed with respect to
As shown in
Thus, as described above with respect to
Device 100 can also capture and send camera images from within the messaging application. As shown in
In this embodiment, the visually distinguished region 1002 appears on the same side of the display as the visual-media capture affordance 510, and is vertically centered on the location corresponding to the visual-media capture affordance 510. Thus, as a user makes contact with the visual-media capture affordance 510, the visually distinguished region 1002 appears around the location of the visual-media capture affordance, and the cancel affordance replaces the visual-media capture affordance.
As depicted in
As shown in
Device 100 can also capture and send a video from within the messaging application. As previously described with respect to
As depicted in
As depicted in
In response to detecting a contact on the send affordance 1210, device 100 can stop recording the video (if recording has not already been stopped) and send the recorded video to a participant in the message conversation. In some embodiments, as shown in
Returning to
Thus, in some embodiments, while the visually distinguished region is displayed, a swipe upwards to the image affordance captures and sends an image, while a swipe over to the record affordance followed by a swipe upwards towards the send affordance captures and sends a video.
In some embodiments, the visual-media capture affordance 510 depicted in
In some embodiments, in response to detecting a contact on a particular thumbnail 1504, device 100 can send the image, video, or audio file associated with the thumbnail to a participant in the message conversation and insert a representation 1506 of the image, video, or audio file into the conversation, as depicted in the example of
In some embodiments, in response to detecting a contact on a particular thumbnail 1504 in the filmstrip 1502, device 100 can display an image or video represented by the thumbnail. In some embodiments, the image or video can be displayed in a larger version of the image represented by the thumbnail, such as in a full-screen view.
In some embodiments, one thumbnail in a filmstrip 1502 can represent a camera preview. In response to detecting a selection of the thumbnail representing the preview, device 100 can capture a new image using a camera on device 100 and send the new image to a participant in the conversation.
In some embodiments, device 100 can detect selection of two or more thumbnails 1604 in a filmstrip followed by a selection of the send button 1610. In response to detecting this sequence of selections, device 100 can send two or more images or videos corresponding to the selected thumbnails to a participant in the message conversation.
In response to detecting a selection of the photo library button 1706, device 100 can display a list of photo libraries 1712, 1714. In response to detecting a selection of a photo library in the list, device 100 can display another filmstrip 1716 with thumbnails 1718 of images or videos from the selected photo library. In response to detecting a selection of a particular thumbnail 1718, device 100 can display the image or video represented by the thumbnail or send the corresponding image or video to a participant in the conversation, as described above with respect to
Turning to
In some embodiments, the visual-media capture affordance can be used for both adding existing media to a conversation and for capturing new media to add to the conversation. Returning to
The user interfaces depicted in
As depicted in
In some embodiments, a hit region on the display can be assigned to a media affordance, such that a contact anywhere on the hit region can be interpreted by device 100 as a contact on the media affordance. In some embodiments, a hit region can be larger than the displayed media affordance. As depicted in
Device 100 can also play a received audio message. In some embodiments, as shown in
In some embodiments, after displaying the representation 2108 of the audio message, device 100 can play the audio message in response to detecting a raising of the device. Device 100 can detect that a user has raised device 100 by, for example, using one or more device motion or orientation sensors to detect movement of device 100 and/or using a proximity sensor or ambient light sensor to detect the proximity of device 100 to the user's ear. Returning to
As depicted in
If, while recording the second audio message, device 100 detects a lowering of device 100, device 100 can stop recording the second audio message and send the second audio message to the first participant. Lowering of the device may be detected by, for example, using one or more device motion/orientation sensors to detect movement of the device and/or using a proximity sensor or ambient light sensor to detect an end of the proximity of the device to the user's ear. Thus, as described with respect to
As depicted in
As depicted in
Returning to
In some embodiments, as shown in
Similar to the above-described processes for recording audio messages, in some embodiments, device 100 can play, record, and send video messages in response to detecting raising and lowering of device 100. In such embodiments, device 100 may use facial recognition techniques to determine whether device 100 has been raised into a suitable position for playback or recording of a video message.
In some embodiments, media captured by device 100 using the user interfaces described above may include meta-data. Such meta-data may include a representation of a location of device 100, for example. In some embodiments, device 100 can provide an option to allow a user to designate whether to prevent sending the meta-data with the media.
As previously discussed, device 100 can send and receive messages containing media (such as audio, video, or image), text, or both. In some embodiments, if device 100 receives multiple messages within a time interval, and the received messages meet a message grouping criteria, device 100 can represent the messages within a single, group bounded message area rather than representing the messages in multiple bounded message areas. The time interval may range from 10 seconds to ten minutes, for example.
Grouping representations of messages in this manner can reduce the amount of area required in the message region for displaying messages, and may reduce the clutter associated with receiving multiple messages. Grouping may be particularly useful for audio messages, which can be compressed into relatively small representations for display.
In some embodiments, the message grouping criteria can include a criterion that is met when the number of messages exceeds a numeric threshold. For example, if device 100 receives some number of consecutive messages within the time interval, and the number exceeds the numeric threshold, device 100 can determine that the messages satisfy the message grouping criteria and display representations of the messages within a single group bounded message area. The numeric threshold may be 3, 5, 7, or 10 messages received within the time interval, for example.
In some embodiments, the message grouping criteria includes a criterion that is met when the received messages are spaced apart from each other by less than a threshold amount of time. For example, consecutive messages that are spaced apart from each other by less than 30, 20, 10, or 5 seconds may meet the message grouping criteria. For example, if device 100 receives a text message followed by an audio message less than 30 seconds later, device 100 can determine that the messages meet the message grouping criteria and display a grouped representation of the messages in the conversation.
In some embodiments, the message grouping criteria can be based on the type of message received. For example, if device 100 receives multiple consecutive audio messages within the time interval, device 100 can determine that the messages satisfy the message grouping criteria. If, however, device 100 receives intervening messages that are not audio messages, device 100 can determine that the received messages do not satisfy the message grouping criteria and display representations of the received messages in separate bounded message areas.
In some embodiments, the message grouping criteria can be based on the sender of the message. For example, consecutive messages received from a single participant in the message conversation may satisfy the message grouping criteria, but consecutive messages received from different participants may not satisfy the message grouping criteria.
In some embodiments, the message grouping criteria can be based on whether the messages all have the same read status. In some embodiments, the read status corresponds to whether the message has been read, played, or viewed. For example, consecutive audio messages that are all unread (e.g., un-played) may satisfy the message grouping criteria, but consecutive audio messages having different read statuses—that is, some of which have been played, and some of which have not been played—may not satisfy the message grouping criteria.
In the embodiment depicted in
In some embodiments, in response to detecting a contact on a grouped bounded message area 2502, such as shown in
In some embodiments, in response to detecting a contact on a grouped bounded message area 2512, such as shown in
As shown in
Because the user interfaces described above make it easy for participants to exchange media in a message conversation, in some cases, participants may exchange many media messages within a conversation session. For example, participants may exchange multiple short audio messages during the course of a message conversation. In some cases, such exchanged messages may be intended as quick, informal communications that do not need to be retained, and may clutter the participants' message conversation display. Accordingly, in some embodiments, device 100 can schedule messages that cease to be displayed in a conversation based upon satisfaction of some expiration criteria. In some embodiments, ceasing to display a message includes deleting the message from device 100. The purpose of the automatic deletion is not privacy, but rather, avoiding cluttering the conversation with transient messages.
In some embodiments, the expiration criteria may be based on whether the message contains any media content, or based on which type of media content a message contains. For example, audio messages may have a different expiration criteria than video messages. In some embodiments, text messages do not have any expiration criteria and are therefore never automatically deleted.
In some embodiments, the expiration criteria may be based on a time interval. In some embodiments, the time interval may be measured starting from the time the media is captured (e.g., for the conversation participant who captured the media), or from the time the media has been played (e.g., for the conversation participant who received the media). In some embodiments, the expiration criteria for a message may be different for a first participant than for a second participant. In some embodiments, the time interval may be 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, or 10 minutes, for example.
In some embodiments, the expiration criteria may be based on whether the media object was captured using the message user interfaces described above with respect to
A person of skill in the art will understand that the above-described exemplary expiration criteria can be combined or modified in many ways.
In some embodiments, as shown in
As depicted in
In some embodiments, media messages added to a conversation using the interfaces described in
In some embodiments, a message having an associated expiration criteria that is sent from a first participant to a second participant in a message conversation may be kept by the first participant, by the second participant, by both or by neither.
As depicted in
Device 100 can also send static location information or share dynamic location information between two or more participants in a message conversation, and display the location information of the two or more participants on a map.
As shown in
In response to detecting a selection of the send-location affordance 2706, device 100 can provide a participant in the message conversation with current location information for device 100. As shown in
As shown in
In some embodiments, enabling a participant to determine the location of device 100 includes enabling the participant to request information about the location of device 100 from a location server to which device 100 sends location information.
As depicted in
In some embodiments, device 100 can receive location information from another participant in the message conversation. In response to receiving the location information, as shown in
As discussed above, in some embodiments, device 100 can receive shared location information from a participant in a message conversation. In some embodiments, the location information comprises the location of an external device. In response to receiving the location information, device 100 can display a map depicting both the location of the electronic device and the location of the external device.
As shown in
In some embodiments, any one of multiple participants in a conversation can add or remove one or more other participants from the conversation, or can change the name of the message conversation.
As depicted in
Thus, as described above with respect to
In some embodiments, after the predetermined time period has elapsed, device 100 may change the color of the displayed map to indicate that it is no longer being updated with the location information. In response to detecting a contact on the map after the predetermined time period has elapsed, device 100 can display an affordance indicating that the location information is no longer being shared.
Note that details of the processes described above with respect to process 3300 (e.g., FIGS. 33 and 5A-14) are also applicable in an analogous manner to the other processes described herein. For example, processes 3400, 3500, 3600, 3700, 3800, 3900, 4000, 4600, and 4900 may include one or more of the characteristics of the various processes described above with reference to process 3300. For brevity, these details are not repeated in the descriptions of the other processes. The various methods and techniques described above with reference to process (method) 3300 may be optionally implemented as one or more units, such as those described with regard to
Note that details of the processes described above with respect to process 3400 (e.g.,
Note that details of the processes described above with respect to process 3500 (e.g., FIGS. 35 and 21A-24C) are also applicable in an analogous manner to the other processes described herein. For example, processes 3300, 3400, 3600, 3700, 3800, 3900, 4000, 4600, and 4900 may include one or more of the characteristics of the various processes described above with reference to process 3500. For brevity, these details are not repeated in the descriptions of the other processes. The various methods and techniques described above with reference to process (method) 3500 may be optionally implemented as one or more units, such as those described with regard to
Note that details of the processes described above with respect to process 3600 (e.g., FIGS. 36 and 25A-25E) are also applicable in an analogous manner to the other processes described herein. For example, processes 3300, 3400, 3500, 3700, 3800, 3900, 4000, 4600, and 4900 may include one or more of the characteristics of the various processes described above with reference to process 3600. For brevity, these details are not repeated in the descriptions of the other processes. The various methods and techniques described above with reference to process (method) 3600 may be optionally implemented as one or more units, such as those described with regard to
Note that details of the processes described above with respect to process 3700 (e.g., FIGS. 37 and 26-27C) are also applicable in an analogous manner to the other processes described herein. For example, processes 3300, 3400, 3500, 3600, 3800, 3900, 4000, 4600, and 4900 may include one or more of the characteristics of the various processes described above with reference to process 3700. For brevity, these details are not repeated in the descriptions of the other processes. The various methods and techniques described above with reference to process (method) 3700 may be optionally implemented as one or more units, such as those described with regard to
Note that details of the processes described above with respect to process 3800 (e.g., FIGS. 38 and 28A-32C) are also applicable in an analogous manner to the processes described herein. For example, processes 3300, 3400, 3500, 3600, 3700, 3900, 4000, 4600, and 4900 may include one or more of the characteristics of the various processes described above with reference to process 3800. For brevity, these details are not repeated in the descriptions of the other processes. The various methods and techniques described above with reference to process (method) 3800 may be optionally implemented as one or more units, such as those described with regard to
Note that details of the processes described above with respect to process 3900 (e.g., FIGS. 39 and 15A-18C) are also applicable in an analogous manner to the processes described herein. For example, processes 3300, 3400, 3500, 3600, 3700, 3800, 4000, 4600, and 4900 may include one or more of the characteristics of the various processes described above with reference to process 3900. For brevity, these details are not repeated in the descriptions of the other processes. The various methods and techniques described above with reference to process (method) 3900 may be optionally implemented as one or more units, such as those described with regard to
Advantageously, process 4000 enables users to initiate an audio operation with a simple gesture (e.g., by raising a phone to the user's ear). Process 4000 reduces the need for users to inspect the device and select affordances thereon in order to initiate audio operations such as the sending of audio messages. Further, movement criteria and proximity criteria combine to beneficially reduce the amount of erroneous audio operations. The increased efficiency of the user interface and the reduced occurrence and duration of erroneous audio operations both reduce energy usage by the device, which is particularly important for battery powered devices where reduced energy usage increases battery life.
In some embodiments, a movement criteria is met when the device takes the upward trajectories illustrated in
In some embodiments, a proximity criteria is met when the phone is at the user's face as shown in
At block 4106, the device plays an audio component of the received communication, prior to detecting the change in context of the device. For example, if the communication includes a message with an audio component that has not been played by the device, e.g., a new audio message, then the audio operation includes playing the audio component of the message. As another example, if the communication includes a voicemail message, then plays the voicemail message.
Turning to
In some embodiments, as discussed above, at block 4110 the device monitors for changes in device context only when the electronic device is in an audio messaging context. In some embodiments, the device does not monitor for changes in device context that satisfy the audio-operation criteria, even when a multimedia messaging application is open, unless a currently selected conversation in the multimedia messaging application includes at least one message that has an audio component (e.g., an audio component recorded and sent by the user or one of the other participants of the conversation). As noted above, reducing the situations in which the device monitors for changes in device context reduces power usage of the device, thereby conserving power and extending battery life for battery operated devices. Additionally, reducing the situations in which the device monitors for changes in device context reduces the likelihood of false positive initiation of audio operations (e.g., starting to record audio when the user lifts the device and puts it on a dresser while in a news application), thereby improving the overall quality of the user experience.
Turning to
Turning to
Advantageously, this feature has the effect of reducing instances of erroneous audio operations. Because some device orientations are improbably associated with an audio operation, preventing audio operations when the device is in those orientations reduces the instances of erroneous audio operations. The increased efficiency of the user interface and the reduced occurrence and duration of erroneous audio operations both reduce energy usage by the device, which is particularly important for battery powered devices where reduced energy usage increases battery life.
In some embodiments, the electronic device includes a speaker (e.g., speaker 111,
Turning to
Turning to
In some embodiments, the electronic device includes a speaker (e.g., speaker 111 of device 100) positioned on a surface of the device and, in the predetermined orientation, the surface faces down (e.g., relative to gravity). In some embodiments, the electronic device includes an earpiece and, in the predetermined orientation, the microphone is positioned above the earpiece (e.g., relative to gravity).
Turning to
These features, which are directed to the ability to end an audio operation after it has begun, have the advantageous effect of reducing impacts to the user experience due to erroneous audio operations. It is beneficial to initiate audio operations quickly, to thereby improve responsiveness and enhance the user's experience. In such situations, many things may look like a user intended to initiate an audio operation. For example, raising a phone and putting it in a pocket may trigger movement criteria and proximity sensor criteria. The characteristic movements and predetermined orientations above are improbably associated with an audio. Ending the audio operation when those movements and/or orientations are detected advantageously reduce the number of erroneous audio operations, while not affecting the user's perception of the device's responsiveness. The increased efficiency of the user interface and the reduced occurrence and duration of erroneous audio operations both reduce energy usage by the device, which is particularly important for battery powered devices where reduced energy usage increases battery life.
Turning to
Turning to
Turning to
Turning to
Note that details of the processes described above with respect to process 4000 (e.g.,
Advantageously, process 4600 can reduce sending of erroneous messages. By monitoring an in-progress audio recording for rejection criteria, the device beneficially determines that a user has inadvertently activated an audio recording or changed his or her mind during the recording. This has the effect of improving customer satisfaction with a messaging system. The increased efficiency of the user interface and the reduced occurrence and duration of erroneous audio operations both reduce energy usage by the device, which is particularly important for battery powered devices where reduced energy usage increases battery life.
The one or more conditions in block 4602 optionally include a change in device context or a user input such as a raising gesture described in greater detail above with reference to process 4000 (
In some embodiments, the rejection criteria in block 4606 is met when the duration of the audio recording exceeds a predetermined duration of time (e.g., 15 seconds). This feature advantageously prevents sending audio recordings when the user is distracted.
Attention is now directed to rejection criteria based on a position of the device. In some embodiments, the rejection criteria is met when the electronic device is within a distance threshold from a sound source. Optionally, the device determines whether the electronic device is within the distance threshold by determining whether a proximity sensor (e.g., proximity sensor 166 of device 100) of the device has detected an object within the distance threshold of the device.
Turning to
Turning to
Turning to
Although the description herein is offered primarily with respect to an audio operation, it should be appreciated that the systems and methods described can be extended to other operations. For example, determining the position of a phone can be utilized in other applications and can be presented as platform service to provide information on whether the phone is near a user or far away from a user. Such information can be used, for example, to set a volume of a ringtone.
In some embodiments, the rejection criteria is based on an orientation of the electronic device. In some embodiments, the electronic device includes a speaker (e.g., speaker 111 of device 100) positioned on a surface of the device and the rejection criteria is met when the surface faces down (e.g., relative to gravity). In some embodiments, the electronic device includes an earpiece and the rejection criteria is met when the microphone is positioned above the earpiece (e.g., relative to gravity).
In some embodiments, the rejection criteria is met when a characteristic movement of the electronic device exceeds a threshold. The characteristic movement optionally includes a gyroscope and/or accelerometer output over time (average), peak movement, duration of movement, or repetition in movement (such as wiping phone on sleeve).
In some embodiments, determining whether the audio recording meets rejection criteria is in response to detecting one or more conditions that are interpreted as a request to send the audio recording to the designated contact. In some embodiments, the determination is performed after recording the audio (e.g., after a brief segment of audio has been recorded). In some embodiments, the determination is performed while recording the audio (e.g., so as to terminate recording of a long audio segment when the user does not intend to be recording audio).
Turning to
Note that details of the processes described above with respect to process 4600 (e.g.,
Note that details of the processes described above with respect to process 4900 (e.g., FIGS. 49 and 11C-11E) are also applicable in an analogous manner to the processes described herein. For example, processes 3300, 3400, 3500, 3600, 3700, 3800, 3900, 4000, and 4600 may include one or more of the characteristics of the various processes described above with reference to process 4900. For brevity, these details are not repeated in the descriptions of the other processes. The various methods and techniques described above with reference to process (method) 4900 may be optionally implemented as one or more units, such as those described with regard to
The operations described above with reference to
The operations in the information processing methods described above are optionally implemented by running one or more functional modules in information processing apparatus such as general purpose processors or application-specific chips. These modules, combinations of these modules, and/or their combination with general hardware (e.g., as described above with respect to
In some embodiments, the processing unit 5008 includes a display enabling unit 5014, a detecting unit 5016, a determining unit 5018, and an obtaining unit 5020.
In some embodiments, the display enabling unit 5014 is configured to cause a display of a user interface (or portions of a user interface) in conjunction with the display unit 5002. For example, the display enabling unit 5014 is optionally used for: displaying messages sent between participants in a message conversation; displaying a send affordance, a cancel affordance, and a record affordance; displaying a visually distinguished region; displaying a representation of a first audio message received from a first participant in a message conversation; displaying a single group bounded message area representing the plurality of messages; displaying a representation of the first message on the display, wherein the first message is scheduled to be deleted upon satisfaction of expiration criteria; displaying an affordance for keeping the first message; displaying a share-location affordance for sharing the location of the first participant with the second participant as the location changes over at least a predetermined time period; displaying a user send message affordance; displaying a representation of a draft message; displaying a media selection interface concurrently with at least a portion of the message conversation, wherein the media selection interface includes a plurality of affordances for selecting media for addition to the message conversation, at least a subset of the plurality of affordances including thumbnail representations of media available for adding to the message conversation; displaying a media preview in the message compose field.
In some embodiments, the detecting unit 5016 is configured to receive input, e.g., through the use of touch-sensitive surface unit 5004. For example, the detecting unit 5016 is optionally used for: detecting a contact and detecting a swipe.
In some embodiments, the determining unit 5018 is configured to make determinations. For example, determining unit 5018 is optionally used for: determining whether the contact moved to a location on the touch-sensitive surface that corresponds to a location of the send affordance; and determining whether the plurality of messages meets message grouping criteria.
In some embodiments, the obtaining unit 5020 is configured to obtain information. For example, the obtaining unit 5020 is optionally used for obtaining movement or proximity sensor readings of the external device.
In some embodiments, the media capture unit 5022 is configured to capture media. For example, the media capture unit 5022 may be used for: sending media captured in response to at least a portion of the gesture to a participant in the message conversation; beginning to record a video; and recording a second audio message.
In some embodiments, the message expire unit 5024 is configured to determine whether messages meet a message expiration criteria and remove expired messages from a conversation. For example, the message expire unit 5024 may be used for: displaying a representation of the first message on the display, wherein the first message is scheduled to be deleted upon satisfaction of expiration criteria; in accordance with a determination that the affordance was selected prior to the satisfaction of the expiration criteria, keeping the first message; and in accordance with a determination that the expiration criteria has been satisfied without detecting selection of the affordance, ceasing to display the representation of the first message on the display.
In some embodiments, the message grouping unit 5026 is configured to determine whether messages meet a message grouping criteria. For example, the message grouping unit 5026 may be used for: determining whether the plurality of messages meets message grouping criteria; in accordance with a determination that the plurality of messages does not meet the message grouping criteria, displaying a plurality of separate bounded message areas representing the plurality of messages; and in accordance with a determination that the plurality of messages meets the message grouping criteria, displaying a single group bounded message area representing the plurality of messages.
In some embodiments, the position detecting unit 5028 is configured to detect the position of the device. For example, the position detecting unit 5028 may be used for: detecting a request to play the first audio message; detecting a raising of the device; in response to detecting the raising of the device, recording a second audio message; and after recording the second audio message, sending the second audio message to the first participant.
In some embodiments, the location sharing unit 5030 is configured to share location information. For example, the location sharing unit 5030 may be used for: detecting a selection of the share-location affordance; and in response to detecting the selection of the share-location affordance: providing the second participant with information enabling the second participant to determine a current location of the first participant during at least the predetermined time period.
In some embodiments, the media selector unit 5032 is configured to provide interfaces for selecting media to add to a conversation. For example, the media selector unit 5032 may be used for: receiving a request to add media to the message conversation; in response to receiving the request, displaying a media selection interface concurrently with at least a portion of the message conversation, wherein the media selection interface includes a plurality of affordances for selecting media for addition to the message conversation, at least a subset of the plurality of affordances including thumbnail representations of media available for adding to the message conversation; detecting selection of a respective affordance from the plurality of affordances; and in response to detecting selection of the respective affordance, selecting corresponding media for addition to the message conversation.
The units of
The functional blocks of the device 5000 are, optionally, implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software to carry out the principles of the various described examples. It is understood by persons of skill in the art that the functional blocks described in
Although the disclosure and examples have been fully described with reference to the accompanying figures, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as being included within the scope of the disclosure and examples as defined by the appended claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/006,071, “MESSAGE USER INTERFACES FOR CAPTURE AND TRANSMITTAL OF MEDIA AND LOCATION CONTENT,” filed on May 31, 2014, and to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/047,622, “MESSAGE USER INTERFACES FOR CAPTURE AND TRANSMITTAL OF MEDIA AND LOCATION CONTENT,” filed Sep. 8, 2014. The content of these applications is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes. This application is related to: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/153,374, “MOTION PATTERN CLASSIFICATION AND GESTURE RECOGNITION,” filed on Jun. 3, 2011; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/153,335, “MOTION-BASED DEVICE OPERATIONS,” filed on Jun. 3, 2011. The content of these applications is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62006071 | May 2014 | US | |
| 62047622 | Sep 2014 | US |
