Patent Application
20190313012
The disclosed embodiments relate generally to portable electronic devices, and more particularly, to portable devices for photo management, such as digital photographing, photo editing, and emailing photos.
As portable electronic devices become more compact and capable of performing functions, it has become a significant challenge to design a user interface that allows users to easily interact with such a multifunction device. This challenge is more significant for handheld portable electronic devices, which have much smaller screens than desktop or laptop computers. This situation is unfortunate because a user interface is the gateway through which a user receives information and a device receives user actions or behaviors, including user attempts to access the portable electronic device's features, tools, and functions.
Some portable devices (e.g., mobile telephones, sometimes called mobile phones, cell phones, cellular telephones, and the like) have resorted to adding more push buttons, increasing the density of push buttons, overloading the functions of push buttons, or using complex menu systems to allow a user to access, store, and manipulate data. These approaches often result in complicated key sequences and menu hierarchies that must be memorized by the user.
Many conventional user interfaces, such as those that include physical push buttons, are also inflexible because a physical push button may prevent a user interface from being configured and/or adapted by either an application running on the portable electronic device or by users. When coupled with the time consuming requirement to memorize multiple key sequences and menu hierarchies, and the difficulty in activating a desired push button, such inflexibility is frustrating to most users.
For example, cell phones with a built-in digital camera have been on the market for some time. But existing cell phones are difficult to use for even basic photo-related operations such as displaying, deleting and sending a photo because of limitations with the cell phones' user interface.
Accordingly, there is a need for portable multifunction devices with more transparent and intuitive user interfaces for photo management.
The above deficiencies and other problems associated with user interfaces for portable devices are reduced or eliminated by the disclosed portable multifunction device. In some embodiments, the portable electronic device has a touch-sensitive display (also known as a “touch screen” or “touch screen display”) with a graphical user interface (GUI), one or more processors, memory and one or more modules, programs or sets of instructions stored in the memory for performing multiple functions. In some embodiments, the user interacts with the GUI primarily through finger contacts and gestures on the touch-sensitive display. Instructions for performing photo management may be included in a computer program product configured for execution by one or more processors.
One aspect of the invention involves a computer-implemented method in which a portable electronic device with a touch screen: displays an array of thumbnail images corresponding to a set of photographic images; replaces the displayed array of thumbnail images with a user-selected photographic image upon detecting a user contact with a corresponding thumbnail image in the array, wherein the user-selected photographic image is displayed at a larger scale than the corresponding thumbnail image; and displays a different photographic image in replacement of the user-selected photographic image, wherein the different photographic image is selected in accordance with a scrolling gesture comprising a substantially horizontal movement of user contact with the touch screen display.
Another aspect of the invention involves a computer-implemented method in which a portable electronic device with a touch screen: displays an array of thumbnail images corresponding to a set of photographic images; detects a scrolling gesture comprising a substantially vertical movement of user contact with the touch screen display; and responds to the scrolling gesture by scrolling the display of thumbnail images in accordance with a direction of the scrolling gesture; wherein the scrolling gesture is substantially independent of a horizontal position of the user contact with the touch screen display.
Another aspect of the invention involves a portable electronic device. The device includes a touch screen display, one or more processors, memory, and one or more programs. The one or more program are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors. The one or more programs include: instructions for displaying an array of thumbnail images corresponding to a set of photographic images; instructions for replacing the displayed array of thumbnail images with a user-selected photographic image upon detecting a user contact with a corresponding thumbnail image in the array, wherein the user-selected photographic image is displayed at a larger scale than the corresponding thumbnail image; and instructions for displaying a different photographic image in replacement of the user-selected photographic image, wherein the different photographic image is selected in accordance with a scrolling gesture comprising a substantially horizontal movement of user contact with the touch screen display.
Another aspect of the invention involves a portable electronic device. The device includes a touch screen display, one or more processors, memory, and one or more programs. The one or more program are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors. The one or more programs include: instructions for displaying an array of thumbnail images corresponding to a set of photographic images; instructions for detecting a scrolling gesture comprising a substantially vertical movement of user contact with the touch screen display; and instructions for responding to the scrolling gesture by scrolling the display of thumbnail images in accordance with a direction of the scrolling gesture; wherein the scrolling gesture is substantially independent of a horizontal position of the user contact with the touch screen display.
Another aspect of the invention involves a computer-program product that includes a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein. The computer program mechanism includes instructions, which when executed by a portable electronic device with a touch screen display, cause the device to: display an array of thumbnail images corresponding to a set of photographic images; replace the displayed array of thumbnail images with a user-selected photographic image upon detecting a user contact with a corresponding thumbnail image in the array, wherein the user-selected photographic image is displayed at a larger scale than the corresponding thumbnail image; and display a different photographic image in replacement of the user-selected photographic image, wherein the different photographic image is selected in accordance with a scrolling gesture comprising a substantially horizontal movement of user contact with the touch screen display.
Another aspect of the invention involves a computer-program product that includes a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein. The computer program mechanism includes instructions, which when executed by a portable electronic device with a touch screen display, cause the device to: display an array of thumbnail images corresponding to a set of photographic images; detect a scrolling gesture comprising a substantially vertical movement of user contact with the touch screen display; and respond to the scrolling gesture by scrolling the display of thumbnail images in accordance with a direction of the scrolling gesture; wherein the scrolling gesture is substantially independent of a horizontal position of the user contact with the touch screen display.
Another aspect of the invention involves a portable electronic device with a touch screen display, comprising: means for displaying an array of thumbnail images corresponding to a set of photographic images; means for replacing the displayed array of thumbnail images with a user-selected photographic image upon detecting a user contact with a corresponding thumbnail image in the array, wherein the user-selected photographic image is displayed at a larger scale than the corresponding thumbnail image; and means for displaying a different photographic image in replacement of the user-selected photographic image, wherein the different photographic image is selected in accordance with a scrolling gesture comprising a substantially horizontal movement of user contact with the touch screen display.
Another aspect of the invention involves a portable electronic device with a touch screen display, comprising: means for displaying an array of thumbnail images corresponding to a set of photographic images; means for detecting a scrolling gesture comprising a substantially vertical movement of user contact with the touch screen display; and means for responding to the scrolling gesture by scrolling the display of thumbnail images in accordance with a direction of the scrolling gesture; wherein the scrolling gesture is substantially independent of a horizontal position of the user contact with the touch screen display.
Another aspect of the invention involves a computer-implemented method in which an electronic device with a touch screen: detects a first movement of a physical object on or near the touch screen display; while detecting the first movement, translates a first digital object displayed on the touch screen display in a first direction, wherein the first digital object is associated with a set of digital objects; in response to display of a previously hidden edge of the first digital object and continued detection of the first movement, displays an area beyond the edge of the first digital object; after the first movement is no longer detected, translates the first digital object in a second direction until the area beyond the edge of the first digital object is no longer displayed; detects a second movement of the physical object on or near the touch screen display; and, in response to detecting the second movement while the previously hidden edge of the first digital object is displayed, translates the first digital object in the first direction and displays a second digital object in the set of digital objects.
Another aspect of the invention involves an electronic device. The device includes a touch screen display, one or more processors, memory, and one or more programs. The one or more program are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors. The one or more programs include: instructions for detecting a first movement of a physical object on or near the touch screen display; instructions for, while detecting the first movement, translating a first digital object displayed on the touch screen display in a first direction, wherein the first digital object is associated with a set of digital objects; instructions for, in response to display of a previously hidden edge of the first digital object and continued detection of the first movement, displaying an area beyond the edge of the first digital object; instructions for, after the first movement is no longer detected, translating the first digital object in a second direction until the area beyond the edge of the first digital object is no longer displayed; instructions for detecting a second movement of the physical object on or near the touch screen display; and instructions for, in response to detecting the second movement while the previously hidden edge of the first digital object is displayed, translating the first digital object in the first direction and displaying a second digital object in the set of digital objects.
Another aspect of the invention involves a computer-program product that includes a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein. The computer program mechanism includes instructions, which when executed by an electronic device with a touch screen display, cause the device to: detect a first movement of a physical object on or near the touch screen display; while detecting the first movement, translate a first digital object displayed on the touch screen display in a first direction, wherein the first digital object is associated with a set of digital objects; in response to display of a previously hidden edge of the first digital object and continued detection of the first movement, display an area beyond the edge of the first digital object; after the first movement is no longer detected, translate the first digital object in a second direction until the area beyond the edge of the first digital object is no longer displayed; detect a second movement of the physical object on or near the touch screen display; and, in response to detecting the second movement while the previously hidden edge of the first digital object is displayed, translate the first digital object in the first direction and display a second digital object in the set of digital objects.
Another aspect of the invention involves an electronic device with a touch screen display, comprising: means for detecting a first movement of a physical object on or near the touch screen display; means for, while detecting the first movement, translating a first digital object displayed on the touch screen display in a first direction, wherein the first digital object is associated with a set of digital objects; means for, in response to display of a previously hidden edge of the first digital object and continued detection of the first movement, displaying an arca beyond the edge of the first digital object; means for, after the first movement is no longer detected, translating the first digital object in a second direction until the area beyond the edge of the first digital object is no longer displayed; means for detecting a second movement of the physical object on or near the touch screen display; and means for, in response to detecting the second movement while the previously hidden edge of the first digital object is displayed, translating the first digital object in the first direction and displaying a second digital object in the set of digital objects.
Thus, the invention provides a transparent and intuitive user interface for managing photos on a portable electronic device with a touch screen display
For a better understanding of the aforementioned embodiments of the invention as well as additional embodiments thereof, reference should be made to the Description of Embodiments below, in conjunction with the following drawings in which like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the figures.
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, circuits, and networks have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the embodiments.
Embodiments of a portable electronic device, user interfaces for such devices, and associated processes for using such devices are described. In some embodiments, the portable electronic device is a portable communications device such as a mobile telephone that also contains other functions, such as PDA and/or music player functions.
The user interface may include a physical click wheel in addition to a touch screen or a virtual click wheel displayed on the touch screen. A click wheel is a physical user-interface device that may provide navigation commands based on an angular displacement of the wheel or a point of contact with the wheel by a user of the portable electronic device. A click wheel may also be used to provide a user command corresponding to selection of one or more items, for example, when the user of the portable electronic device presses down on at least a portion of the wheel or the center of the wheel. Alternatively, breaking contact with a click wheel image on a touch screen surface may indicate a user command corresponding to selection. For simplicity, in the discussion that follows, a portable electronic device that includes a touch screen is used as an exemplary embodiment. It should be understood, however, that some of the user interfaces and associated processes may be applied to other devices, such as personal computers and laptop computers, which may include one or more other physical user-interface devices, such as a physical click wheel, a physical keyboard, a mouse and/or a joystick.
In addition to photo management, the device may support a variety of other applications, such as a telephone application, a video conferencing application, an e-mail application, an instant messaging application, a blogging application, a web browsing application, a digital music player application, and/or a digital video player application.
The various applications that may be executed on the portable electronic device may use at least one common physical user-interface device, such as the touch screen. One or more functions of the touch screen as well as corresponding information displayed on the portable electronic device may be 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 screen) of the portable electronic device may support the variety of applications with user interfaces that are intuitive and transparent.
The user interfaces may include one or more soft keyboard embodiments. The soft keyboard embodiments may include standard (QWERTY) and/or non-standard configurations of symbols on the displayed icons of the keyboard, such as those described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/459,606, “Keyboards For Portable Electronic Devices,” filed Jul. 24, 2006, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/459,615, “Touch Screen Keyboards For Portable Electronic Devices,” filed Jul. 24, 2006, the contents of which arc hereby incorporated by reference. The keyboard embodiments may include a reduced number of icons (or soft keys) relative to the number of keys in existing physical keyboards, such as that for a typewriter. This may make it easier for users to select one or more icons in the keyboard, and thus, one or more corresponding symbols. The keyboard embodiments may be adaptive. For example, displayed icons may be modified in accordance with user actions, such as selecting one or more icons and/or one or more corresponding symbols. One or more applications on the portable electronic device may utilize common and/or different keyboard embodiments. Thus, the keyboard embodiment used may be tailored to at least some of the applications. In some embodiments, one or more keyboard embodiments may be tailored to a respective user. For example, based on a word usage history (lexicography, slang, individual usage) of the respective user. Some of the keyboard embodiments may be adjusted to reduce a probability of a user error when selecting one or more icons, and thus one or more symbols, when using the soft keyboard embodiments.
Attention is now directed towards embodiments of the portable electronic device.
It should be appreciated that the portable electronic device 100 is only one example of a portable electronic device 100, and that the portable electronic device 100 may have more or fewer components than shown, may combine two or more components, or a may have a different configuration or arrangement of the components. The various components shown in
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. Access to memory 102 by other components of the portable electronic device 100, such as the CPU 120 and the peripherals interface 118, may be controlled by the memory controller 122.
The peripherals interface 118 couples the input and output peripherals of the portable electronic device to the 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 the portable electronic device 100 and to process data.
In some embodiments, the peripherals interface 118, the CPU 120, and the memory controller 122 may be implemented on a single chip, such as a chip 104. In some other embodiments, they may be implemented on separate chips.
The RF (radio frequency) circuitry 108 receives and sends RF signals, also called electromagnetic signals. The RF circuitry 108 converts electrical signals to/from electromagnetic signals and communicates with communications networks and other communications devices via the electromagnetic signals. The RF circuitry 108 may include 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. The RF circuitry 108 may communicate 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 wireless communication may use 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), wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Bluetooth, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) (e.g., IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g and/or IEEE 802.11n), voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX, a protocol for email, instant messaging (IM), 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.
The audio circuitry 110, the speaker 111, and the microphone 113 provide an audio interface between a user and the portable electronic device 100. The audio circuitry 110 receives audio data from the peripherals interface 118, converts the audio data to an electrical signal, and transmits the electrical signal to the speaker 111. The speaker 111 converts the electrical signal to human-audible sound waves. The audio circuitry 110 also receives electrical signals converted by the microphone 113 from sound waves. The audio circuitry 110 converts the electrical signal to audio data and transmits the audio data to the peripherals interface 118 for processing. Audio data may be retrieved from and/or transmitted to memory 102 and/or the RF circuitry 108 by the peripherals interface 118. In some embodiments, the audio circuitry 110 also includes a headset jack (not shown). The headset jack provides an interface between the audio circuitry 110 and removable audio input/output peripherals, such as output-only headphones or a headset with both output (e.g., a headphone for one or both ears) and input (e.g., a microphone).
The I/O subsystem 106 couples input/output peripherals on the portable electronic device 100, such as the display system 112 and other input/control devices 116, to the peripherals interface 118. The I/O subsystem 106 may include a display controller 156 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 or control devices 116. The other input/control devices 116 may 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 may be coupled to any (or none) of the following: a keyboard, infrared port, USB port, and a pointer device such as a mouse. The one or more buttons (e.g., 208,
The touch-sensitive display system 112 provides an input interface and an output interface between the portable electronic device and a user. The display controller 156 receives and/or sends electrical signals from/to the display system 112. The display system 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, further details of which are described below.
A touch screen in display system 112 is a touch-sensitive surface that accepts input from the user based on haptic and/or tactile contact. The display system 112 and the 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 the display system 112 and converts 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 the touch screen. In an exemplary embodiment, a point of contact between a touch screen in the display system 112 and the user corresponds to a finger of the user.
The touch screen in the display system 112 may use LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, or LPD (light emitting polymer display) technology, although other display technologies may be used in other embodiments. The touch screen in the display system 112 and the 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 a touch screen in the display system 112. A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of the display system 112 may be analogous to the multi-touch sensitive tablets described in the following 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. However, a touch screen in the display system 112 displays visual output from the portable electronic device 100, whereas touch sensitive tablets do not provide visual output. The touch screen in the display system 112 may have a resolution in excess of 100 dpi. In an exemplary embodiment, the touch screen in the display system has a resolution of approximately 168 dpi. The user may make contact with the touch screen in the display system 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 arc much less precise than stylus-based input due to the larger area of contact of a finger on the touch screen. In some embodiments, the portable electronic device translates the rough finger-based input into a precise pointer/cursor position or command for performing the actions desired by the user.
A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of the display system 112 may be as described in the following applications: (1) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,313, “Multipoint Touch Surface Controller,” filed on May 2, 2006; (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/840,862, “Multipoint Touchscreen,” filed on May 6, 2004; (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/903,964, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed on Jul. 30, 2004; (4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/048,264, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed on Jan. 31, 2005; (5) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/038,590, “Mode-Based Graphical User Interfaces For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed on Jan. 18, 2005; (6) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,758, “Virtual Input Device Placement On A Touch Screen User Interface,” filed on Sep. 16, 2005; (7) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,700, “Operation Of A Computer With A Touch Screen Interface,” filed on Sep. 16, 2005; (8) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,737, “Activating Virtual Keys Of A Touch-Screen Virtual Keyboard,” filed on Sep. 16, 2005; and (9) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/367,749, “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device,” filed on Mar. 3, 2006. All of these applications are incorporated by reference herein.
In some embodiments, in addition to the touch screen, the portable electronic 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 portable electronic device that, unlike the touch screen, does not display visual output. The touchpad may be a touch-sensitive surface that is separate from the touch screen in the display system 112 or an extension of the touch-sensitive surface formed by the touch screen.
In some embodiments, the portable electronic device 100 may include a physical or virtual click wheel as an input control device 116. A user may navigate among and interact with one or more graphical objects (henceforth referred to as icons) displayed in the display system 112 by rotating the click wheel or by moving a point of contact with the click wheel (e.g., where the amount of movement of the point of contact is measured by its angular displacement with respect to a center point of the click wheel). The click wheel may also be used to select one or more of the displayed icons. For example, the user may press down on at least a portion of the click wheel or an associated button. User commands and navigation commands provided by the user via the click wheel may be processed by an input controller 160 as well as one or more of the modules and/or sets of instructions in memory 102. For a virtual click wheel, the click wheel and click wheel controller may be part of the display system 112 and the display controller 156, respectively. For a virtual click wheel, the click wheel may be either an opaque or semitransparent object that appears and disappears on the touch screen display in response to user interaction with the device. In some embodiments, a virtual click wheel is displayed on the touch screen of a portable multifunction device and operated by user contact with the touch screen.
The device 100 also includes a power system 162 for powering the various components. The 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 electronic devices.
The device 100 may also include one or more optical sensors 164.
The device 100 may also include one or more proximity sensors 166.
In some embodiments, the software components stored in memory 102 may include an operating system 126, a communication module (or set of instructions) 128, a contact/motion module (or set of instructions) 130, a graphics module (or set of instructions) 132, a text input module (or set of instructions) 134, a Global Positioning System (GPS) module (or set of instructions) 135, and applications (or set of instructions) 136.
The operating system 126 (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X, 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.
The 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 the RF circuitry 108 and/or the external port 124. The 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 Computer, Inc.) devices.
The contact/motion module 130 may detect contact with the touch screen in the display system 112 (in conjunction with the display controller 156) and other touch sensitive devices (e.g., a touchpad or physical click wheel). The contact/motion module 130 includes various software components for performing various operations related to detection of contact, such as determining if contact has occurred, determining if there is movement of the contact and tracking the movement across the touch screen in the display system 112, and determining if the contact has been broken (i.e., if the contact has ceased). Determining movement of the point of contact may include 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 may be applied to single contacts (e.g., one finger contacts) or to multiple simultaneous contacts (e.g., “multitouch”/multiple finger contacts). In some embodiments, the contact/motion module 130 and the display controller 156 also detects contact on a touchpad. In some embodiments, the contact/motion module 130 and the controller 160 detects contact on a click wheel.
The graphics module 132 includes various known software components for rendering and displaying graphics on the display system 112, including components for changing the intensity 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.
The 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, email 140, IM 141, blogging 142, browser 147, and any other application that needs text input).
The GPS module 135 determines the location of the portable electronic device and provides this information for use in various applications (e.g., to telephone 138 for use in location-based dialing, to camera 143 and/or blogger 142 as picture/video metadata, and to applications that provide location-based services such as weather widgets, local yellow page widgets, and map/navigation widgets).
The 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 memo pad and other word processing applications, JAVA-enabled applications, encryption, digital rights management, voice recognition, and voice replication.
In conjunction with display system 112, display controller 156, optical sensor(s) 164, optical sensor controller 158, contact module 130, graphics module 132, and image management module 144, the camera module 143 may be used to capture still images or video (including a video stream) and store them into memory 102, browse the still images or videos, modify characteristics of a still image or video, or delete a still image or video from memory 102. Embodiments of user interfaces and associated processes using camera module 143 are described further below.
In conjunction with display system 112, display controller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text input module 134, and camera module 143, the image management module 144 may be used to arrange, modify or otherwise manipulate, label, delete, present (e.g., in a digital slide show or album), and store still and/or video images. Embodiments of user interfaces and associated processes using image management module 144 are described further below.
Note that the above identified modules and applications (including the camera module 143 and the image management module 144) correspond to a set of instructions for performing one or more functions described above. These modules (i.e., 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 re-arranged in various embodiments. In some embodiments, memory 102 may store a subset of the modules and data structures identified above. Furthermore, memory 102 may store additional modules and data structures not described above.
In some embodiments, the portable electronic device 100 is a device where operation of a predefined set of functions on the portable electronic device is performed exclusively through a touch screen in the display system 112 and/or a touchpad. By using a touch screen and/or a touchpad as the primary input/control device for operation of the portable electronic device 100, the number of physical input/control devices (such as push buttons, dials, and the like) on the portable electronic device 100 may be reduced.
The predefined set of functions that may be performed exclusively through a touch screen and/or a touchpad include navigation between user interfaces. In some embodiments, the touchpad, when touched by the user, navigates the portable electronic device 100 to a main, home, or root menu from any user interface that may be displayed on the portable electronic device 100. In such embodiments, the touchpad may be referred to as a “menu button.” In some other embodiments, the menu button may be a physical push button or other physical input/control device instead of a touchpad.
The device 100 may also include one or more physical buttons, such as “home” or menu button 204. As described previously, the menu button 204 may be used to navigate to any application 136 in a set of applications that may be executed on the portable electronic device 100. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the menu button is implemented as a soft key in a GUI in touch screen 112.
In one embodiment, the portable electronic device 100 includes a touch screen 112, a menu button 204, a push button 206 for powering the portable electronic device on/off and locking the portable electronic device, and volume adjustment button(s) 208. The push button 206 may be used to turn the power on/off on the portable electronic device by depressing the button and holding the button in the depressed state for a predefined time interval; to lock the portable electronic device by depressing the button and releasing the button before the predefined time interval has elapsed; and/or to unlock the portable electronic device or initiate an unlock process. In an alternative embodiment, the portable electronic device 100 also may accept verbal input for activation or deactivation of some functions through the microphone 113.
Attention is now directed towards embodiments of user interfaces (“UI”) and associated processes that may be implemented on a portable electronic device 100.
In some embodiments, the portable electronic device detects contact with the touch-sensitive display (e.g., a user's finger making contact on or near the unlock image 302) while the portable electronic device is in a user-interface lock state. The device moves the unlock image 302 in accordance with the contact. The device transitions to a user-interface unlock state if the detected contact corresponds to a predefined gesture, such as moving the unlock image across channel 306. Conversely, the portable electronic device maintains the user-interface lock state if the detected contact does not correspond to the predefined gesture. As noted above, processes that use gestures on the touch screen to unlock the portable electronic device are 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, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
In some embodiments, UI 400 displays all of the available applications 136 on one screen so that there is no need to scroll through a list of applications (e.g., via a scroll bar). In some embodiments, as the number of applications increase, the icons corresponding to the applications may decrease in size so that all applications may be displayed on a single screen without scrolling. In some embodiments, having all applications on one screen and a menu button enables a user to access any desired application with at most two inputs, such as activating the menu button 204 and then activating the desired application (e.g., by a tap or other finger gesture on the icon corresponding to the application).
In some embodiments, UI 400 provides integrated access to both widget-based applications and non-widget-based applications. In some embodiments, all of the widgets, whether user-created or not, are displayed in UI 400. In other embodiments, activating the icon for user-created widget 149-6 may lead to another UI (not shown) that contains the user-created widgets or icons corresponding to the user-created widgets.
In some embodiments, a user may rearrange the icons in UI 400, e.g., using processes described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/459,602, “Portable Electronic Device With Interface Reconfiguration Mode,” filed Jul. 24, 2006, which is hereby incorporated by reference. For example, a user may move application icons in and out of tray 408 using finger gestures on or near corresponding icons displayed on the touch screen 112.
In some embodiments, the user may scroll through the thumbnail images 602 using vertically upward/downward finger gestures 606 on the touch screen (1612). Upon detecting such a finger gesture (e.g., a vertical finger swipe), the portable electronic device scrolls the set of thumbnail images accordingly (1618). In some embodiments, the scrolling gesture is independent of a horizontal position of the user contact with the touch screen display. In some embodiments, the scrolling gesture is substantially independent of a horizontal position of the user contact with the touch screen display (e.g., one or more side regions of the touch screen display may be reserved for other functions, such as functions corresponding to icons, soft keys or application navigation functions, and not available for the scroll gesture). In some embodiments, in response to a stationary gesture on a particular thumbnail image (1614), e.g., a finger tap 608 on the thumbnail image 602-11, the portable electronic device initiates a process of generating an enlarged display of the corresponding image (e.g., UI 700A) on the touch screen. A more detailed description of this process is provided below in connection with
In some embodiments, user interface 700A includes the following elements, or a subset or superset thereof:
In some embodiments, as shown in
In some embodiments, the portable electronic device rotates the image 704 by an angle in response to a user image rotation gesture. For example, the user image rotation gesture may include three simultaneous finger contacts 722, 724 and 726 with the image 704. When the three finger contacts move in the directions indicated by the respective arrows for at least a predefined distance, the portable electronic device rotates the image 704 from a portrait orientation to a landscape orientation or from a landscape orientation to a portrait orientation. In some embodiments, the rotation gesture is a two-finger multitouch gesture (e.g., simultaneous finger contacts 722 and 726). In some embodiments, the image rotates in response to detection of a change in the orientation of the device (e.g., using accelerometers to detect the orientation of the device). For example, the image may rotate to maintain proper viewing orientation as the touch screen 112 is physically rotated from a portrait orientation to a landscape orientation.
In some embodiments, a user finger gesture on the additional options icon 706 (1718) triggers the portable electronic device to render additional operations on the image 704. A more detailed description of some exemplary operations associated with the icon 706 is provided below in connection with
In some embodiments, a user finger gesture on the delete symbol icon 714 (1717) causes the portable electronic device to provide a user interface 700B as shown in
In some embodiments, in response to a finger gesture on the delete icon 716 (1810), the portable electronic device eliminates the icons 716, 718 from the touch screen (1816) and initiates an animated process of “shredding” the image 704 (1818). In some embodiments, the shredding process includes breaking the image 704 into vertical stripes and dropping the vertical stripes from the touch screen at different paces. Other shredding animations, such as placing the image in a trash icon, may be used in other embodiments.
In some embodiments, the portable electronic device brings back the camera roll user interface 600 as shown in
If the portable electronic device detects a finger gesture on the cancel icon 718 (1812), it the device brings back the user interface 700A as shown in
This deletion process, which requires user finger gestures on two different user interfaces (e.g., 700A and 700B), reduces the chance of a user accidentally deleting an image or other similar item.
In some embodiments, the portable electronic device stores images within different photo albums. The images may come from different sources. They may be downloaded from locations such as the user's desktop or laptop computer and a website on the Internet, etc. For example, one album may include images downloaded from a website through the web browser 147, images attached to email messages received by the user of the portable electronic device, and photos taken by the portable electronic device using the camera module 143.
The portable electronic device displays a setting icon 810 at the bottom of the touch screen (1908) and monitors user contact with the touch screen (1910). As will be described below in connection with
If there is a long photo album list, the user may scroll through the list using vertically upward/downward finger gestures 812 such as a vertical finger swipe on the touch screen (1912, 1920). When the user selects a particular album by a finger gesture (1914), the portable electronic device opens the album by executing the process described above in connection with
Upon detecting a finger gesture on the setting icon 810 (1916), the portable electronic device renders a Settings user interface that enables the user to configure the image management service (1918).
In some embodiments, a user may touch anywhere in a row for a particular setting to initiate display of the corresponding setting choices. For example, upon detecting a finger tap on TV Signal setting 914, the portable electronic device brings up a dropdown menu adjacent to the corresponding row. The dropdown menu lists configuration options associated with the setting. The user can select one option over another by applying a finger gesture on the selected option.
The user interface 1000 is similar to the user interface 600 associated with the camera roll icon 504. Both user interfaces perform similar operations upon detecting a user contact with the thumbnail images. For example, the user may scroll through the thumbnails 1006 using vertically upward/downward gestures 1010 on the touch screen. In some embodiments, a stationary gesture on a particular thumbnail (e.g., a finger tap 1012 on thumbnail 1006-11) initiates transfer to an enlarged display of the corresponding image (e.g., UI 1100).
In some embodiments, there are differences between the two user interfaces. For example, the user interface 1000 has a play icon 1008 while the user interface 600 has a camera icon 604. A user selection of the play icon 1008 triggers the portable electronic device to begin a slide show of the images in the user-selected album. In contrast, the portable electronic device returns to the camera mode (e.g., for taking pictures) when there is a user finger gesture on the camera icon 604.
Upon user selection of a particular image, the portable electronic device renders a new user interface displaying the user-selected image.
Clearly, the user interface 1100 is very similar to the user interface 700A. Various image browsing functions described above with respect to
In some embodiments, image 1106 moves off screen to the left as the next image moves on screen from the right. In some embodiments, image 1106 moves off screen to the right as the previous image moves on screen from the left.
With multiple ways to perform the same task, the portable electronic device enables a user to choose whichever methodology or gesture the user prefers, thereby making the photo management simpler and more intuitive.
A detailed description of the portable electronic device's operations in response to user selections of the previous image icon 1110, the play icon 1112, and the next image icon 1114 have been provided above in connection with
In some embodiments, as shown in
If the user selects the email photo icon 1208 by a finger gesture (2008), the portable electronic device renders an email service interface that allows the user to send the image 1106 to somebody through email. If the user selects the assign to contact icon 1210 (2010), the portable electronic device displays a user interface (having a list of contacts) for the user to select a contact to be associated with the image 1106. Similarly, if the user selects the use as wallpaper icon 1212 (2012), the portable electronic device displays a user interface for the user to edit the image 1106 and set it as the portable electronic device's wallpaper.
In some embodiments, following the animation, the device monitors the touch screen for user contact (2110). When the user taps on or makes other predefined gestures 1302 (
In some embodiments, in response to a user finger tap or other predefined gestures on predefined fields within the email message template (2114, 2116) (e.g., finger taps 1304, 1306 in
As shown in
Assuming that the user taps or makes other predefined gestures on the assign to contact icon 1210 shown in
Upon a user selection of the assign to contact icon 1210, the portable electronic device displays the user's contact list (
The portable electronic device modifies the image (2214) in response to a user finger gesture on the image 1106 (2212). For example, the user may crop, scale, and otherwise adjust the image 1106 using different types of finger gestures. In some embodiments, the portable electronic device moves the image on the touch screen in response to a movement of one-finger contact gesture 1408; enlarges the image in response to a de-pinching gesture including at least two simultaneous and continuous contacts 1410 and 1412; reduces the image in response to a pinching gesture including at least two simultaneous and continuous contacts 1410 and 1412; and/or rotates the image in response to a twisting gesture including two or more simultaneous and continuous contacts 1410 and 1412.
In some embodiments, the user assigns the modified image to the user-selected contact by tapping on the set photo icon 1406 (2216). This triggers the portable electronic device to associate the modified image with the contact. If the user selects the cancel icon 1404 (2218), the portable electronic device terminates the image assignment and brings back the user interface 1100.
If the user taps or makes other predefined gestures on the use as wallpaper icon 1212 in
In some embodiments, this wallpaper setting process is similar to the assign to contact process. For example, the user may move the image with a one-finger gesture 1508; enlarge the image with a de-pinching gesture using multiple contacts 1510 and 1512; reduce the image with a pinching gesture using multiple contacts 1510 and 1512; and/or rotate the image with a twisting gesture using multiple contacts 1510 and 1512.
The wallpaper setting process is completed after the user selects the set photo icon 1506. If the user selects the cancel icon 1504, the portable electronic device stops the assignment process and brings back the UI 1100 in
In
In
In response to detection of a second swipe gesture 2318, the displayed portion of the image 2300-1 is translated in a direction corresponding to the direction of the second swipe gesture 2318, as shown in
In this example, the display of area 2314 lets the user know that the edge of the (enlarged) digital object has been reached during the first gesture 2310. Upon detecting the second gesture 2318 in the same or substantially the same direction as the first gesture, the device transitions to the display of another image in a set of images, rather than just repeating the visual indication that the edge of the digital object has been reached.
In some embodiments, a device with a touch screen display (e.g., device 100, a tablet computer, or a desktop computer with a touch screen display) detects (2402) a first movement of a physical object on or near the touch screen display. In some embodiments, the device is a portable electronic device. In some embodiments, the physical object is a finger. In some embodiments, the physical object is a stylus. In some embodiments, the first movement is a horizontal swipe gesture (e.g., 2310,
While detecting the first movement, the device translates (2404) a first digital object (e.g., a digital image 2300-1) displayed on the touch screen display in a first direction. In some embodiments, prior to the translating, at least one edge of the first digital object extends beyond the touch screen display in the first direction.
The first digital object is associated with a set of digital objects. In some embodiments, the set of digital objects is a set of digital images (e.g., 2300-1, 2300-2, etc., which may be part of an album or part of a set of images taken with a camera in the device). In some embodiments, the set of digital objects is a set of web pages (e.g., a set of web pages selected by a user for display in a browser). In some embodiments, the set of digital objects is a set of electronic documents.
In response to display of a previously hidden edge (e.g., edge 2312,
After the first movement is no longer detected, the device translates (2408) the first digital object in a second direction until the area beyond the edge of the first digital object is no longer displayed. For example, in
The device detects (2410) a second movement (e.g., a second swipe gesture 2318 from right to left,
In response to detecting the second movement while the previously hidden edge of the first digital object is displayed (e.g., edge 2312,
Thus, depending on the context, similar movements (e.g., 2310 and 2318 are both right to left swipe gestures) allow a user to either (1) translate a displayed first digital object or (2) transition from displaying the first digital object to displaying a second digital object in a set of digital objects.
In some embodiments, the time between the first and second movements must be less than a predetermined value (e.g., 0.5 seconds). Otherwise, the device will not transition to displaying the second digital object. Rather, the device may just translate the first digital object and show the area beyond the edge of the object (to show the user again that the edge of the first digital object has been reached).
In some embodiments, if the entire first digital object is displayed (e.g.,
Process 2400 permits a touch screen user to easily navigate within a displayed digital object and between digital objects in a set of digital objects.
The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, the illustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/361,912, filed Jan. 30, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,305,355, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/848,210, filed Aug. 30, 2007, entitled “Portable Electronic Device for Photo Management,” now U.S. Pat. No. 8,106,856, and which claims priority to: (A) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/937,993 filed Jun. 29, 2007, entitled “Portable Multifunction Device”; (B) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/947,118, filed Jun. 29, 2007, entitled “Portable Electronic Device for Photo Management”; (C) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/879,469, filed Jan. 8, 2007, entitled “Portable Multifunction Device”; (D) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/879,253, filed Jan. 7, 2007, entitled “Portable Multifunction Device”; (E) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/883,785, filed Jan. 6, 2007, entitled “Portable Electronic Device for Photo Management”; and (F) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/824,769, filed Sep. 6, 2006, entitled “Portable Multifunction Device.” All of these applications are incorporated by referenced herein in their entirety. This application is related to the following applications: (1) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/188,182, “Touch Pad For Handheld Device,” filed on Jul. 1, 2002; (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/722,948, “Touch Pad For Handheld Device,” filed on Nov. 25, 2003; (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/643,256, “Movable Touch Pad With Added Functionality,” filed on Aug. 18, 2003; (4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/654,108, “Ambidextrous Mouse,” filed on Sep. 2, 2003; (5) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/840,862, “Multipoint Touchscreen,” filed on May 6, 2004; (6) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/903,964, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed on Jul. 30, 2004; (7) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/038,590, “Mode-Based Graphical User Interfaces For Touch Sensitive Input Devices” filed on Jan. 18, 2005; (8) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/057,050, “Display Actuator,” filed on Feb. 11, 2005; (9) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/658,777, “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device,” filed Mar. 4, 2005; and (10) 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.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60937993 | Jun 2007 | US | |
| 60947118 | Jun 2007 | US | |
| 60879469 | Jan 2007 | US | |
| 60879253 | Jan 2007 | US | |
| 60883785 | Jan 2007 | US | |
| 60824769 | Sep 2006 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15281524 | Sep 2016 | US |
| Child | 16450531 | US | |
| Parent | 13666943 | Nov 2012 | US |
| Child | 15281524 | US | |
| Parent | 13361912 | Jan 2012 | US |
| Child | 13666943 | US | |
| Parent | 11848210 | Aug 2007 | US |
| Child | 13361912 | US |
