Electronic devices continue to increase in complexity and functionality. This poses several challenges to designers of such devices. For example, it may be difficult to develop and provide an intuitive, functional, and convenient user interface for an electronic device having robust functionality, especially when the device is small in size.
Recently, touch-screen displays have become popular user interfaces for certain electronic devices. Touch-screens are especially conducive to small electronic devices at least because they allow for an expansive set of user inputs and can replace other limited input interfaces such as dedicated mechanical input buttons. However, there remains room to improve upon standard touch screen interfaces.
The following detailed description of exemplary embodiments refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detailed description does not limit the invention.
Implementations described herein relate to touch-screen displays, such as a touch-screen implemented as part of a mobile phone or another device. Graphic objects may be displayed on the touch-screen display as part of a graphical interface presented to the user. The user may select the objects by, for example, touching the objects. In response, options relating to the object may be displayed near or around the object. In one implementation, a “trail” of icons visually linked to the graphic object may present the options. In another implementation, the graphic object may be recessed or otherwise modified in its display area and icons may be overlaid in the display area that present the options.
Device 100 may display one or more graphical user interfaces (GUIs) on touch-screen 110. Examples of GUIs and various GUI views that may be displayed on touch-screen 100 are described in detail below. In addition to touch-screen 110, device 100 may include other input mechanisms, such as one or more input buttons 120. In some implementations, touch-screen 110 and input buttons 120 may be designed so that the touch-screen portion may slide over input buttons 120, leaving only touch-screen 110 visible to the user. In this mode, the user may interact with device 100 solely through touch-screen 110.
Although device 100 is shown as a mobile phone, the concepts described herein may be applicable to any graphical interface presented on a touch-screen. For example, a touch-screen connected to a stand alone computer, laptop, PDA, or other device, may instead be used.
Processing unit 210 may include a processor, microprocessor, or other type of processing logic that may interpret and execute instructions. Memory 220 may include computer-readable medium, such as a dynamic or static storage device that may store information and instructions for execution by processing unit 210. For example, memory 220 may include a storing component, such as a random access memory (RAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM), a read only memory (ROM), a programmable read only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), and/or a flash memory.
Memory 220 may store instructions for execution by processing unit 210. The instructions may implement the graphical interfaces described herein. In addition to storing the instructions for execution by processing unit 210, memory 220 may, in some implementations, additionally store data associated with the user of device 100. For example, memory 220 may store photos, songs, contact information, etc. that belongs to the user of device 100. Although shown as a single element in
Touch-screen interface 230 may include one or more components for controlling or receiving input from touch-screen 110. Touch-screen interface 230 may, for instance, receive location information describing the location of a user's touch on touch-screen 110.
Input components 240 may include logic for receiving input from device 100 using input interfaces other than touch-screen 110. Input components 240 may include circuitry designed to determine when buttons, such as buttons 120, have been pressed by the user. Input components 240 may also include logic for receiving information from other sources. For example, input components 240 may include a microphone for receiving audio information.
Output components 250 may include logic to control the outputting of data to the user. For instance, output components 250 may include a speaker through which audible information, such as a voice telephone call, may be output. Output components 250 may also include an interface, such as a video driver, for outputting visual information to touch-screen 110. Output components 250 may also implement other types of output, such as circuitry for vibrating device 100, etc.
Communication interface 260 may include logic for implementing network interfaces with other devices. Communication interface 260 may include, for instance, a radio transceiver for connecting device 100 to a cellular network. Communication interface 260 may also include logic for implementing local wireless connections, such as a Bluetooth or WiFi (IEEE 802.11) connection.
The components shown in
When object 310 touches position 320 as shown, touch-screen interface 230 may sense the object touch at position 320 and generate and provide at least one signal representative of the object touch. The signal may be processed by, for example, processing unit 210, to detect the object touch at position 320 and perform an action in response to the detected object touch. Processing unit 210 may be configured to recognize any suitable object touch as may suit a particular implementation, including a generally stationary, temporary, and/or sustained object touch. In certain embodiments, an object touch may include a sustained, generally stationary touch of a position 320 on touch-screen 110 by object 310.
While touching touch-screen 110, object 310 may move about on the surface (e.g., slide across the surface) of touch-screen 110. Such movement of object 310 while touching touch screen 110 may be referred to herein as a “touch gesture.” A touch gesture may include any movement of object 310 from a starting position (e.g., position 320) to one or more other positions on touch-screen 110, such as position 330. A touch gesture may include a movement in a particular direction and may thus be associated with a particular direction. Such a touch gesture may be referred to as a “directional touch gesture.”
Device 100 may display a graphical interface including one or more selectable graphic objects (block 410). The objects may be selectable by interacting with touch-screen 110.
The five exemplary graphic objects shown in
Referring back to
Device 100 may display options relating to a selected graphic object (block 430). The options may be displayed in response to a particular selection gesture. For example, the options may be presented in response to a user touching and holding the graphic objects for a certain length of time. In contrast, other gestures, such as quickly tapping the graphic object may result in device 100 performing another action, such as initiating an application associated with the graphic object.
The options presented to the user may depend on the particular object selected. The options may generally include information relating to the graphic object or actions applicable to the graphic objects. Options that may be presented to a user for a selected object will next be discussed in more detail with reference to
In some implementations, when the user selects graphic object 540, device 100 may cause graphic object 540 to be shown more prominently in graphical interface 500. For example, the objects other than graphic object 540 may be removed from graphical interface 500, the objects other than graphic object 540 may visually fade into the background of graphical interface 500, graphic object 540 may be moved to a more visually prominent location (such as the center of the screen), or icons 610, 620, 630, and 640 may simply be shown on top of the other selectable graphic objects 510, 520, 530, and 550. For clarity, the other graphic objects 510, 520, 530, and 550 are not shown in
Each of icons 610, 620, 630, and 640 may represent an action or information relating to graphic object 540. Icons 610, 620, 630, and 640 may be displayed as a “trail” of icons that is visually associated or linked with graphic object 540. For a photo, such as the photo associated with graphic object 540, the icons may relate to information describing how the photo was received. For example, icon 610 may indicate that the photo was received in an email and icon 620 may indicate that the photo was received or taken from another mobile phone. Icon 630 may indicate that contact information is available for the sender of the photo and icon 640 may be a date stamp indicating when the photo was received. In this manner, when the user selects graphic object 540 on touch-screen 110, a visual trail may be displayed that graphically indicates information about the graphic object, such as, in this example, information describing the history of a photo.
As shown in
The particular icons to display for a graphic object, such as graphic object 540, may be preset based on the particular graphic object. In some implementations, users may configure which icons they would like to have displayed for a particular graphic object, the maximum number of icons to display, the order that icons are displayed, the graphical representation of each icon, etc. Alternatively, the icons that are displayed may be set by the manufacturer of device 100.
It can be appreciated that the “trail” of icons shown in
Icons 710, 720, 730, and 740 are similar to icons 610, 620, 630, and 640, except that in
Another example of options shown as a trail of icons is shown in
Icon 810 may show the number of new (unread) emails received for the user's account. Icons 820 and 830 may be portraits or other graphical symbols that correspond to people who sent the new emails. In this example, by selecting email object 550, information relevant to the user's email application may be displayed as a trail of small graphical symbols associated with email graphic object 550.
In addition to showing options for a graphic object as a trail or curved trail of icons, as discussed above and as illustrated in
In response to the gesture to view options for graphic object 950, device 100 may add graphic icons in the area corresponding to graphic object 950. In one implementation, the icons may be placed in a perimeter area of the graphic object and the original image corresponding to the graphic object reduced in size to make room for the icons. Advantageously, the screen space devoted to graphic object 950 may not change, and thus the other elements of graphical interface 900 may remain unchanged.
In the example of
Although
Referring back to
The icons that display options for a graphical object, such as icons 810-830, may themselves be related to one another. For example, one icon may illustrate from whom a particular email was sent and another may illustrate the date it was sent. In one implementation, when the user selects or hovers over an icon, graphical paths may be displayed to other related icons may be displayed. For example, an arc may emanate from a selected icon and end at any icons that are related to the selected icon. This could help the user more specifically target the context of the graphical object as it relates to the icons.
The foregoing description of implementations provides illustration, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the implementations to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the teachings.
In addition, while a series of blocks and/or acts have been described with regard to the process illustrated in
It will be apparent that aspects described herein may be implemented in many different forms of software, firmware, and hardware in the implementations illustrated in the figures. The actual software code or specialized control hardware used to implement aspects does not limit the invention. Thus, the operation and behavior of the aspects were described without reference to the specific software code—it being understood that software and control hardware can be designed to implement the aspects based on the description herein.
Even though particular combinations of features are recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are not intended to limit the invention. In fact, many of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification.
No element, act, or instruction used in the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the implementations described herein unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the article “a”, “an”, and “the” are intended to include one or more items. Where only one item is intended, the term “one” or similar language is used. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise.