Patent Application
20100218141
The present disclosure relates generally to portable electronic devices, for example wireless communication handsets and other handheld devices, and corresponding methods.
Hierarchical menus are used pervasively to provide large amounts of command choices in computing system user interfaces. In some implementations, the command choices are located within a system of nested menus. Several usability issues have been encountered however when adapting hierarchical menus to interfaces on relatively small electronic devices. For example, the small display size limits the number of menu options that may be displayed at a particular time. Also, there is limited space to display command labels and the visibility of nested input options. Moreover, additional navigation key maneuvering is often required to locate a target menu on small electronic devices.
Some solutions have been proposed to reduce the navigation and menu-traversing effort on handheld electronic devices. For example, some devices made by BLACKBERRY utilize a trackball to control the movement of the cursor on a small screen to facilitate navigation of hierarchical menus. The APPLE iPod-wheel and the Omega-wheel on the MOTOROLA ROKR E8 cell phone also facilitate and make list-scrolling of hierarchical menus easier in handheld devices. However, these interaction techniques do not change hierarchical menu structures, which require sequential traversing from current menu options to the target menu options.
The various aspects, features and advantages of the disclosure will become more fully apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon careful consideration of the following Detailed Description thereof with the accompanying drawings described below. The drawings may have been simplified for clarity and are not necessarily drawn to scale.
In one embodiment, the electronic device is implemented as a handheld device like a cell phone, or a smart phone, or a personal digital assistant, or a handheld electronic game or some other handheld device. The electronic device may also be implemented as a laptop or notebook computer or alternatively as a desktop computer or as a video gaming station or other work station. More generally, the electronic device may be implemented as any consumer or industrial device that includes a user interface having a display component. Such an electronic device may be integrated with a durable consumer appliance like a refrigerator, washing machine, dishwasher range. In other embodiments, the electronic device is integrated with an industrial appliance or machine. The electronic device may also be integrated with a vehicle, like a car or bus or aeroplane or watercraft. Exemplary display components include but are not limited to cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and flat panel displays among other display devices implemented using currently known or future display technologies.
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According to one aspect of the disclosure, multiple application icons are simultaneously displayed on the display component. In one implementation, generally, each application icon is associated with a corresponding application on the electronic device. Alternatively, each icon could be associated with a corresponding feature or function or command element of a particular application or other hardware apparatus. Selection of an icon may launch or start a corresponding application or other feature or function or command associated with the icon. Such a selection may be performed, for example, by clicking or double clicking on the icon or via some other input, for example, a voice command, to the electronic device. The icon may also be used to open a properties window associated with an application or feature or function. In
In one embodiment, generally, the processor is configured to visually prioritize the presentation of the multiple application icons displayed on the display component. In one embodiment, the presentation priority of the icons is dictated expressly by the user. In other embodiments, the presentation priority of the icons is based on one or more other criterion, some non-limiting examples of which are discussed further below. In
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In a more particular implementation, the processor is configured to visually prioritize the multiple icons by presenting at least some of the icons on the display component in different sizes. For example,
In some embodiments, generally, the user may swap the position of icons on the display component to change the presentation prioritization. In
In another more particular implementation, the processor is configured to visually prioritize the presentation of the multiple icons by presenting at least some of the application icons in different locations on the display component. In a particular implementation, higher priority icons are located nearer a central portion of the display component and lower priority icons are located farther from the central portion of the display component. In
In yet another more particular implementation, the processor is configured to visually prioritize the presentation of the multiple icons by presenting at least some of the application icons with different brightness levels on the display component. The brightness of an icon may be implemented by highlighting the icon. Thus an icon having an increased brightness may be referred to as a highlighted icon. In one implementation, higher priority icons are displayed more brightly than lower priority icons. In other embodiments, the opposite it true. The icon brightness may be used in combination with the location and size of the icon to indicate priority.
In other embodiments, other features of characteristics of the multiple icons may be used to prioritize the presentation of the icons on the display component. Such features include, but are not limited to, icon color or a perturbation characteristic of the icon.
In one implementation, the processor is configured to prioritize the presentation of the multiple application icons based on the last use of a corresponding application or function or feature associated with the multiple icons. According to this embodiment, a most recently used icon has an opposite priority than a least recently used icon. For example, a most recently used icon may be given a highest priority, at least for implementations where higher priority is associated with more recent use. Alternatively, the most recently used icon may be given a lowest priority, at least for implementations where lower priority is associated with less recent use. In
In another implementation, the processor is configured to prioritize the presentation of the multiple application icons based on a frequency of use of a corresponding application or function or feature associated with the icons. According to this embodiment, a most frequently used icon has an opposite priority than a least frequently used icon. For example, a most frequently used icon may be given a highest priority, at least for implementations where higher priority is associated with more frequent use. Alternatively, the most frequently used icon may be given a lowest priority, at least for implementations where lower priority is associated with less frequent use. The frequency of use of an application may thus also serve as the basis for changing the presentation priority of one or more icons.
In other embodiments, the processor is configured to visually prioritize the presentation of the multiple application icons based on contextual information. More particularly, the icons that are displayed most prominently may correspond to an application or feature or function that is most relevant to some contextual variable. In one embodiment, the prioritization of the icon presentation is based on a location of the electronic device. For example, if the electronic device is in an office environment, an email application may be presented most prominently on the display component. Other icons may be displayed prominently when the electronic device is in other locations. In meeting or theater, for example, a profile change icon could be displayed prominently if current profile, e.g., an alert profile, is not consistent with the location. A changing context may thus serve as the basis for changing the presentation priority of an icon.
In another contextual embodiment, the prioritization of the icon presentation may be based on the some indicia indicative of the activity of the user of the electronic device. For example, such activity may be whether the user is sleeping or driving or walking or exercising. In other embodiments, a mobile device equipped with GPS and accelerometer sensors are capable of detecting of human activities such as walking, sleeping or driving. For example, in sleeping, the devices will be prepared for features such as weather reports or task list. When driving, a frequently dialed list would be displayed prominently. A change in the activity of the user may thus serve as the basis for changing the presentation priority of an icon.
In some implementations, one of the icons is active and the one or more other icons are not active, such that inputs at the user interface control or affect only the active icon and not the inactive icons. In other embodiments, multiple icons are active simultaneously. Whether an icon is active or not may be controlled explicitly by the user or it may be based on some other criterion. In some embodiments, for example, the only active icon may be the icon having the highest presentation priority. In other embodiments however the presentation priority is not determinative of whether an icon is active. Whether an icon is active may also depend on whether the application or function associated with the icon has been launched or is running. In implementations where there is only a single active icon at any particular time, the active icon can be swapped with an inactive icon such that the inactive icon becomes active and the active icon becomes inactive. In
In one embodiment, the processor is configured to generate and display an interactive icon on the display component wherein the interactive icon includes multiple user selectable items. The selectable items may be functional or data inputs or some other user selectable item. The selectable items may be associated with an application executable or running on the electronic device. In some embodiments, a user can change the default setting of items or commands associated with an application by specifying which commands should be disposed on the icon. The user may also dictate how many commands to be included and the location and order of these commands disposed along the perimeter of the icon.
In a more particular implementation, the interactive icon is a virtual spherical icon displayed as a two-dimensional image on the display component. In one implementation, the processor is configured to visually prioritize the presentation of a primary selectable item by making the primary selectable item appear to be closer to a user of the device than alternative selectable items. In the spherical icon example, the processor is configured to locate the primary selectable item toward a central portion of the spherical icon and to locate the secondary selectable items towards a periphery of the spherical icon wherein the primary selectable item appears to be more near the user and the secondary selectable items.
In some embodiments, the processor is also configured to enable the user to select items on the interactive icon using an input device of the electronic device. In some embodiments, selection of an item on the interactive icon causes the processor to execute or perform some function associated with the selected item. In another embodiment, selection of an alternative item on the icon will cause the selected alternative item to become the primary item. According to this alternative, the processor swaps the status of the primary item and the status of the selected alternative item. For example, a single click on an item located toward the perimeter of the interactive icon may cause the selected item to swap locations with the item located toward the central portion of the interactive icon. Alternatively, selecting the alternative item may cause the selected item to swap characteristics, e.g., size, highlight, font, etc., associated with the primary item. Alternatively, an item located near the perimeter of the interactive icon may be made the primary item by dragging it toward the central portion of the icon wherein the item previously located toward the center of the icon is moved to the periphery of the icon.
In embodiments where only one command element is differentiated, e.g., highlighted, at any given time, the processor may be configured so that selection of the interactive icon generally causes the processor to perform the function associated with the primary item. In this embodiment, where a single click causes an alternative item to become the primary item, selection of the interactive icon may be performed by double-clicking the interactive icon. In embodiments where the priority of the items is changed by dragging the items about the interactive icon, the processor may be configured so that selection, by a single click, of the interactive icon generally causes the processor to perform the function associated with the primary item.
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In other embodiments, the interactive icon may be associated with another application and other command elements may be included on the icon. For example, a navigation application may include North, South, East and West commands near the perimeter of the interactive icon and another command located in the central portion thereof. In other embodiments, the interactive icon is associated with an interactive game. In
In one particular implementation, the processor is configured to execute a speech recognition application that converts speech to text. In some instances, it is desirable for the speech recognition application to offer more than one possible word or phrase for a particular word or segment of detected speech input. Such instances arise for example, where the speech recognition application does not recognize speech input or where the word detected by the speech recognition application may be spelled differently. Some such words are in a class known linguistically as homophones. According to one embodiment, primary and alternative text candidates based on recognized speech are displayed on the interactive icon. In some embodiments, the presentation of the primary and alternative text candidates may be prioritized as discussed above. For example, the primary text candidate may be enlarged or centrally located or highlighted to emphasize or prioritize it relative to the alternative text candidates.
By selecting the delineated text, in this example the word “Larry”, an interactive icon is subsequently displayed on the screen produced on the display component of the electronic device. In other embodiments, the interactive icon is displayed automatically upon recognition by the system that one or more possible alternatives exist. In
In another particular implementation, the processor is configured to execute a text entry application that accepts text input at the user interface of the electronic device. The text entry application may be embodied as a word processor, a text messaging application, an instant messaging application or some other application that accepts text input. In one embodiment associated with a text entry application, a prediction algorithm predicts words or phrases based on the input of a portion of text or a word or a portion of a phrase. According to this implementation, the processor is configured to generate and display an interactive icon in response to predicting a word based on text input, wherein primary and alternative prediction candidates are displayed on the interactive icon at the user interface of the electronic device. In one implementation, the interactive icon with the predication candidates is displayed automatically upon the user partially entering the complete word or phrase. Alternatively, the display of the interactive icon may be manually prompted by the user rather than be provided automatically by the application.
In some embodiments, the presentation of the primary and alternative prediction candidates may be prioritized as discussed above. For example, the primary prediction candidate may be enlarged or located centrally or highlighted to emphasize or prioritize it relative to the alternative prediction candidates on the interactive icon. According to the text predicting embodiment, the processor is configured to permit the user to select the primary correction or one of the alternative corrections provided on the interactive icon without completing the input of the word. Alternatively, the user may complete the entry of the word at the user interface.
In another embodiment associated with the text entry application, a spelling correction algorithm corrects text based on the input incorrectly spelled text. According to this implementation, the processor is configured to generate and display an interactive icon in response to incorrectly spelled text, wherein primary and alternative correction candidates are displayed on the interactive icon based on partial input at the user interface of the electronic device. In some embodiments, the presentation of the primary and alternative correction candidates may be prioritized as discussed above. For example, the primary correction candidate may be enlarged or centrally located or highlighted to emphasize or prioritize it relative to the one or more alternative correction candidates on the interactive icon. The processor is configured to permit the user to select the one of the correction candidates. Alternatively, the user may continue to input text to complete the spelling of the word.
While the present disclosure and the best modes thereof have been described in a manner establishing possession and enabling those of ordinary skill to make and use the same, it will be understood and appreciated that there are equivalents to the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein and that modifications and variations may be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventions, which are to be limited not by the exemplary embodiments but by the appended claims.
