Device, method, and graphical user interface for performing character entry

• US 10,007,426 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2014
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Jeffery Theodore, Rottler, Benjamin Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Khan, Ibrahim A
• Application Number:
  US14/242,790
• Publication Number:
  US 20150074585A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,547 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0233 Character input methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

A method of managing user interface content, including performing character entry without a keyboard, is disclosed. The method includes displaying a character entry area and a character selection indicia, wherein the character selection indicia is displayed at a first predefined location, and the character selection indicia includes locations corresponding to respective characters in a plurality of characters; detecting a point of contact over the character selection indicia; in response to detecting the contact over the character selection indicia, displaying at a second predefined location distinct from the first predefined location a temporary character that represents a character to be selected; while displaying the temporary character, detecting a character selection gesture; and, in response to detecting the character selection gesture, selecting a character corresponding to the temporary character for placement in the character entry area.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

at a portable electronic device with a touch-sensitive display;

displaying on the touch-sensitive display;

a character entry area, and

a character selection indicia that represents a plurality of characters, wherein;

the character selection indicia is displayed at a first predefined location; and

the character selection indicia includes locations corresponding to respective characters in the plurality of characters;

detecting, on the touch-sensitive display, a point of contact by a user over the character selection indicia;

detecting, on the touch-sensitive display, a character indicia selection gesture comprising movement of the point of contact over the character selection indicia;

in response to detecting the character indicia selection gesture, successively displaying a plurality of temporary characters on the touch-sensitive display, wherein successively displaying the plurality of temporary characters comprises replacing display of a first temporary character with display of a second temporary character, and wherein the first and second temporary characters are displayed at a same second predefined position distinct from the first predefined location and distinct from a location of the character entry area; and

while continuing to detect the point of contact on the touch-sensitive display;

while displaying one of the plurality of temporary characters, detecting, on the touch-sensitive display, a character selection gesture; and

in response to detecting the character selection gesture, selecting a character corresponding to the one of the plurality of temporary characters for placement in the character entry area and appending the character corresponding to the one of the plurality of temporary characters to the character entry area.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising in response to detecting the character selection gesture, ceasing to display the one of the plurality of temporary characters.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the character selection indicia includes respective character indicia that are displayed at a predefined respective character indicia size;

each of the plurality of temporary characters is displayed with a predefined character size; and

the predefined respective character indicia size is smaller than the predefined character size.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, on the touch-sensitive display, a character deletion gesture; and

in response to detecting the character deletion gesture, deleting a character from the character entry area.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein appending the character corresponding to the one of the plurality of temporary characters to the character entry area includes displaying an animation of the one of the plurality of temporary characters moving to the character entry area.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the character selection indicia is configured to be displayed when the portable electronic device is in a text entry mode.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the character selection indicia at the first predefined location is a plurality of characters located adjacent to an edge of the touch-sensitive display.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the character selection indicia is configured to be displayed on the touch-sensitive display according to user hand dominance.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of characters in the character selection indicia is displayed in a single row.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of characters represented by the character selection indicia includes a complete character set.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of characters in the character selection indicia is a first portion of a character set, and further comprising:

detecting a user navigation gesture over the character selection indicia; and

in response to detecting the user navigation gesture, updating the character selection indicia to represent a second portion of the character set.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of characters is selected from the group consisting of alphabetic characters, numeric characters, symbols, punctuation characters, Arabic script characters, Cyrillic characters, Greek characters, emoji symbols, emoticon symbols, Asian characters, Devanagari characters, Perso-Arabic characters, Gurmukhi characters, and Hebrew characters.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the touch-sensitive display has physical dimensions of at least one of:

2 inches or less in width, and 2 inches or less in height.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the touch-sensitive display has a screen resolution of at least one of:

600 pixels or less in width, and 600 pixels or less in height.

15. A portable electronic device, comprising:

a touch-sensitive display;

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for;

displaying on the touch-sensitive display;

a character entry area, and

a character selection indicia that represents a plurality of characters, wherein;

the character selection indicia is displayed at a first predefined location, and

the character selection indicia includes locations corresponding to respective characters in the plurality of characters;

detecting, on the touch-sensitive display, a point of contact by a user over the character selection indicia;

detecting, on the touch-sensitive display, a character indicia selection gesture comprising movement of the point of contact over the character selection indicia;

in response to detecting the character indicia selection gesture, successively displaying a plurality of temporary characters on the touch-sensitive display, wherein successively displaying the plurality of temporary characters comprises replacing display of a first temporary character with display of a second temporary character, and wherein the first and second temporary characters are displayed at a same second predefined position distinct from the first predefined location and distinct from a location of the character entry area; and

while continuing to detect the point of contact on the touch-sensitive display;

while displaying one of the plurality of temporary characters, detecting, on the touch-sensitive display, a character selection gesture; and

in response to detecting the character selection gesture, selecting a character corresponding to the one of the plurality of temporary characters for placement in the character entry area and appending the character corresponding to the one of the plurality of temporary characters to the character entry area.

16. The portable electronic device of claim 15, wherein:

the character selection indicia includes respective character indicia that are displayed at a predefined respective character indicia size;

each of the plurality of temporary characters is displayed with a predefined character size; and

the predefined respective character indicia size is smaller than the predefined character size.

17. The portable electronic device of claim 15, wherein the touch-sensitive display has physical dimensions of at least one of:

2 inches or less in width, and 2 inches or less in height.

18. The portable electronic device of claim 15, wherein the touch-sensitive display has a screen resolution of at least one of:

600 pixels or less in width, and 600pixels or less in height.

19. The portable electronic device of claim 15, wherein the one or more programs further includes instructions for, in response to detecting the character selection gesture, ceasing to display the one of the plurality of temporary characters.

20. The portable electronic device of claim 15, wherein the character selection indicia is configured to be displayed when the portable electronic device is in a text entry mode.

21. The portable electronic device of claim 15, wherein appending the character corresponding to the one of the plurality of temporary characters to the character entry area includes displaying an animation of the one of the plurality of temporary characters moving to the character entry area.

22. The portable electronic device of claim 15, wherein the character selection indicia at the first predefined location is a plurality of characters located adjacent to an edge of the touch-sensitive display.

23. The portable electronic device of claim 22, wherein the plurality of characters in the character selection indicia is displayed in a single row.

24. The portable electronic device of claim 22, wherein the plurality of characters represented by the character selection indicia includes a complete character set.

25. The portable electronic device of claim 22, wherein the plurality of characters in the character selection indicia is a first portion of a character set, and wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

detecting a user navigation gesture over the character selection indicia; and

in response to detecting the user navigation gesture, updating the character selection indicia to represent a second portion of the character set.

26. The portable electronic device of claim 15, wherein the character selection indicia is configured to be displayed on the touch-sensitive display according to user hand dominance.

27. The portable electronic device of claim 15, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

detecting, on the touch-sensitive display, a character deletion gesture; and

in response to detecting the character deletion gesture, deleting a character from the character entry area.

28. A graphical user interface on a portable multifunction device with a touch-sensitive display, the graphical user interface comprising:

a character entry area and a character selection indicia that represents a plurality of characters, the character entry area and character selection indicia being displayed on the touch sensitive display, wherein the character selection indicia is displayed at a first predefined location, and the character selection indicia includes locations corresponding to respective characters in the plurality of characters;

wherein;

a point of contact is detected over the character selection indicia, wherein the point of contact is detected on the touch-sensitive display;

a character indicia selection gesture comprising movement of the point of contact over the character selection indicia is detected, wherein the movement of the point of contact is detected on the touch-sensitive display;

in response to detecting the character indicia selection gesture, a plurality of temporary characters are successively displayed on the touch-sensitive display, wherein successively displaying the plurality of temporary characters comprises replacing display of a first temporary character with display of a second temporary character, and wherein the first and second temporary characters are displayed at a same second predefined position distinct from the first predefined location and distinct from a location of the character entry area; and

while continuing to detect the point of contact on the touch-sensitive display;

while displaying one of the plurality of temporary characters, a character selection gesture is detected on the touch-sensitive display; and

in response to detecting the character selection gesture, a character corresponding to the one of the plurality of temporary characters is selected for placement in the character entry area and the character corresponding to the one of the plurality of temporary characters is appended to the character entry area.

29. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by a portable multifunction device with a touch-sensitive display, cause the device to:

display on the touch-sensitive display;

a character entry area, and

a character selection indicia that represents a plurality of characters, wherein;

the character selection indicia is displayed at a first predefined location, and

the character selection indicia includes locations corresponding to respective characters in the plurality of characters;

detect, on the touch-sensitive display, a point of contact by a user over the character selection indicia;

detect, on the touch-sensitive display, a character indicia selection gesture comprising movement of the point of contact over the character selection indicia;

in response to detecting the character indicia selection gesture, successively display a plurality of temporary characters on the touch-sensitive display, wherein successively displaying the plurality of temporary characters comprises replacing display of a first temporary character with display of a second temporary character, and wherein the first and second temporary characters are displayed at a same second predefined position distinct from the first predefined location and distinct from a location of the character entry area; and

while continuing to detect the point of contact on the touch-sensitive display

while displaying one of the plurality of temporary characters, detect, on the touch-sensitive display, a character selection gesture; and

in response to detecting the character selection gesture, select a character corresponding to the one of the plurality of temporary characters for placement in the character entry area and append the character corresponding to the one of the plurality of temporary characters to the character entry area.

30. The computer readable storage medium of claim 29, including instructions which cause the device to, in response to detecting the character selection gesture, cease to display the temporary character.

31. The computer readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein appending the character corresponding to the one of the plurality of temporary characters to the character entry area includes displaying an animation of the one of the plurality of temporary characters moving to the character entry area.

32. The computer readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the character selection indicia at the first predefined location is a plurality of characters located adjacent to an edge of the touch-sensitive display.

33. The computer readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein the character selection indicia is configured to be displayed on the touch-sensitive display according to user hand dominance.

34. The computer readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein the plurality of characters in the character selection indicia is displayed in a single row.

35. The computer readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein the plurality of characters represented by the character selection indicia includes a complete character set.

36. The computer readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein the plurality of characters in the character selection indicia is a first portion of a character set, and wherein the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by a portable multifunction device with a touch-sensitive display, further cause the device to:

detect a user navigation gesture over the character selection indicia; and

in response to detecting the user navigation gesture, update the character selection indicia to represent a second portion of the character set.

37. The computer readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the touch-sensitive display has physical dimensions of at least one of:

2 inches or less in width, and 2inches or less in height.

38. The computer readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the touch-sensitive display has a screen resolution of at least one of:

600 pixels or less in width, and 600pixels or less in height.

39. The computer readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein:

the character selection indicia includes respective character indicia that are displayed at a predefined respective character indicia size;

each of the plurality of temporary characters is displayed with a predefined character size; and

the predefined respective character indicia size is smaller than the predefined character size.

40. The computer readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by a portable multifunction device with a touch-sensitive display, further cause the device to:

detect on the touch-sensitive display a character deletion gesture; and

in response to detecting the character deletion gesture, delete a character from the character entry area.

41. The computer readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the character selection indicia is configured to be displayed when the portable electronic device is in a text entry mode.