This application is related to U.S. Patent Application <to be assigned> (attorney client reference ITL2517wo), entitled “Facilitating The User of Selectable Elements on Touch Screens,” contemporaneously filed.
This application relates to the technical fields of data processing, more specifically to methods, apparatuses and storage medium associated with touch screen interaction.
The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Recent advances in computing, networking and related technologies have led to rapid adoption of mobile computing devices (hereinafter, simply mobile devices), such as personal digital assistants, smart phones, tablet computers, and so forth. Increasingly, mobile devices may include touch sensitive displays (also referred to as touch sensitive screens) that are configured for displaying information, as well as for obtaining user inputs through screen touches by the users. Compared to displays of conventional computing devices, such as desktop computers or laptop computers, touch sensitive screens typically have smaller display areas. Thus, often it is more difficult for users to interact with the displayed information, especially for the visually challenged users.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described by way of exemplary embodiments, but not limitations, illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like references denote similar elements, and in which:
Methods, apparatuses and storage medium associated with touch screen interaction are disclosed herein. In various embodiments, a method may include detecting, by a device, such as a mobile device, an about to occur interaction with an area of a touch sensitive display of the device; and providing, by the device, in response to a detection, assistance for the detected about to occur interaction.
In various embodiments, providing assistance may include zooming in on the area of a detected about to occur interaction, or displaying a visual aid in the area of a detected about to occur interaction. In various embodiments, displaying a visual aid may include displaying one or more images that depict one or more undulations in the area of the detected about to occur interaction.
Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that alternate embodiments may be practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that alternate embodiments may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the illustrative embodiments.
Various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation. Further, descriptions of operations as separate operations should not be construed as requiring that the operations be necessarily performed independently and/or by separate entities. Descriptions of entities and/or modules as separate modules should likewise not be construed as requiring that the modules be separate and/or perform separate operations. In various embodiments, illustrated and/or described operations, entities, data, and/or modules may be merged, broken into further sub-parts, and/or omitted.
The phrase “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” is used repeatedly. The phrase generally does not refer to the same embodiment; however, it may. The terms “comprising,” “having,” and “including” are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise. The phrase “A/B” means “A or B”. The phrase “A and/or B” means “(A), (B), or (A and B)”. The phrase “at least one of A, B and C” means “(A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C) or (A, B and C)”.
Referring to
In various embodiments, the mobile device may be a personal digital assistant, a smart phone, or a tablet computer. In other embodiments, the device may be a desktop computer or a laptop computer.
In various embodiments, a device may monitor its external environment to detect an about to occur interaction by continually analyzing images of its external environment, e.g., images of the space in front of the device, to detect hand and/or finger movements of a user of the device. In various embodiments, an about to occur interaction with an area may be considered detected when a user finger is within a predetermined distance from the area. The predetermined distance may vary from implementation to implementation, and preferably, may be customized for different devices and/or users. In various embodiments, the device may include one or more cameras configured to capture images of its external environment, e.g., images of the space in front of the device.
In various embodiments, on detection of an about to occur interaction, a device may provide assistance by zooming in on the area of a detected about to occur interaction. In other embodiments, the device may display a visual aid in the area of a detected about to occur interaction. In various embodiments, the displayed visual aid may include one or more images that depict one or more undulations in the area of the detected about to occur interaction.
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring now to
For the embodiments, the device driver 606 associated with cameras 206a-206b/406a-406b may be configured to control cameras 206a-206b/406a-406b to periodically/continually capture images of the external environment of device 200/400. In various embodiments, the device driver 606 may be further configured to analyze the images for hand and/or finger movements of the user, or provide the images to another device driver 606, e.g., the device driver 606 associated with touch sensitive screens 202/402 to analyze the images for hand and/or finger movements of the user.
Additionally, for the embodiments of
Each of these elements may be configured to perform its conventional functions known in the art. In particular, system memory 804 and mass storage 806 may be employed to store a working copy and a permanent copy of the programming instructions configured to perform operations of method 100 earlier described with references to
The permanent copy of the programming instructions may be placed into mass storage 806 in the factory, or in the field, through, e.g., a distribution medium (not shown), such as a compact disc (CD), or through communication interface 810 (from a distribution server (not shown)). That is, one or more distribution media having an implementation of computational logic 822 may be employed to distribute computational logic 822 to program various computing devices.
For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 802 may be packaged together with computational logic 822. For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 802 may be packaged together with computational logic 822 to form a System in Package (SiP). For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 802 may be integrated on the same die with computational logic 822. For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 802 may be integrated on the same die with computational logic 822 to form a System on Chip (SoC). For at least one embodiment, the SoC may be utilized in a smart phone, cell phone, tablet, or other mobile device.
Otherwise, the constitution of the depicted elements 802-812 are known, and accordingly will not be further described. In various embodiments, system 800 may have more or less components, and/or different architectures.
Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a wide variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown and described, without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the embodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that the embodiments of the present disclosure be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/US12/20025 | 1/3/2012 | WO | 00 | 9/6/2013 |