Systems and methods for proactively identifying and surfacing relevant content on a touch-sensitive device

• US 10,097,973 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2016
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Gross, Daniel C., Coffman, Patrick L., Dellinger, Richard R., Foss, Christopher P., Gauci, Jason J., Haghighi, Aria D., Irani, Cyrus D., Jones, Bronwyn A., Kapoor, Gaurav, Lemay, Stephen O., Morris, Colin C., Siracusa, Michael R., Yang, Lawrence Y., Ramerth, Brent D., Bellegarda, Jerome R., Dolfing, Jannes G. A., Pagallo, Giulia P., Wang, Xin, Hatori, Jun, Moha, Alexandre R., Toudji, Sofiane, Clark, Kevin D., Kohlschuetter, Karl Christian, Andersen, Jesper S., Arras, Hafid, Carlhian, Alexandre, Deniau, Thomas, Martel, Mathieu J.
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, NAM TRUNG
• Application Number:
  US15/167,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20160360336A1
• Time in Patent Office: 865 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/543 User-generated data transfer, e.g. clipboards, dynamic data exchange [DDE], object linking and embedding [OLE]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

Systems and methods for proactively populating an application with information that was previously viewed by a user in a different application are disclosed herein. An example method includes: while displaying a first application, obtaining information identifying a first physical location viewed by a user in the first application. The method also includes exiting the first application and, after exiting the first application, receiving a request from the user to open a second application that is distinct from the first application. In response to receiving the request and in accordance with a determination that the second application is capable of accepting geographic location information, the method includes presenting the second application so that the second application is populated with information that is based at least in part on the information identifying the first physical location.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by an electronic device that is in communication with a display, cause the electronic device to:

while displaying a first application, obtain information identifying a first physical location viewed by a user using a search feature of the first application;

exit the first application;

after exiting the first application, receive a request from the user to open a second application that is distinct from the first application; and

in response to receiving the request and in accordance with a determination that the second application is capable of accepting geographic location information, present the second application on the display of the electronic device, wherein presenting the second application on the display of the electronic device includes populating the second application with information that is based at least in part on the information identifying the first physical location.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to open the second application includes, after exiting the first application, detecting an input over an affordance for the second application.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the affordance for the second application is an icon that is displayed within a home screen of the electronic device.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein:

detecting the input includes

detecting a double tap at a physical home button,

in response to detecting the double tap, displaying an application-switching user interface, and

detecting a selection of the affordance from within the application-switching user interface.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein populating the second application includes displaying a user interface object that includes information that is based at least in part on the information identifying the first physical location.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the user interface object includes a textual description informing the user that the first physical location was recently viewed in the first application.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein:

the user interface object is a map displayed within the second application and

populating the second application includes populating the map to include an identifier of the first physical location.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the second application is presented with a virtual keyboard and the user interface object is displayed above the virtual keyboard.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein obtaining the information includes obtaining information about a second physical location and displaying the user interface object includes displaying the user interface object with the information about the second physical location.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the determination that the second application is capable of accepting geographic location information includes one or more of:

(i) determining that the second application includes an input-receiving field that is capable of accepting and processing geographic location data;

(ii) determining that the second application is capable of displaying geographic location information on a map;

(iii) determining that the second application is capable of using geographic location information to facilitate route guidance; and

(iv) determining that the second application is capable of using geographic location information to locate and provide transportation services.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein:

the determination that the second application is capable of accepting geographic location information includes determining that the second application includes an input-receiving field that is capable of accepting and processing geographic location data, and

the input-receiving field is a search box that allows for searching within a map that is displayed within the second application.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the electronic device, cause the electronic device to:

in response to receiving the request, determine, based on an application usage history for the user, whether the second application is associated with the first application.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the electronic device, cause the electronic device to:

before presenting the second application, provide access to the information identifying the first physical location to the second application, wherein before being provided with the access the second application had no access to the information identifying the first physical location.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein multiple applications on the electronic device are capable of accepting geographic location data, and the executable instructions also cause the electronic device to:

in response to receiving the request, determine whether the second application is one of the multiple applications available on the electronic device that are capable of accepting geographic location data; and

in accordance with a determination that the second application is not capable of accepting geographic location information, present the second application without populating the second application with information that is based at least in part on the information identifying the first physical location.

15. A method, comprising:

at an electronic device with one or more processors, memory, a touch-sensitive surface, and a display;

while displaying a first application, obtaining information identifying a first physical location viewed by a user using a search feature of the first application;

exiting the first application;

after exiting the first application, receiving a request from the user to open a second application that is distinct from the first application; and

in response to receiving the request and in accordance with a determination that the second application is capable of accepting geographic location information, presenting the second application on the display of the electronic device, wherein presenting the second application on the display of the electronic device includes populating the second application with information that is based at least in part on the information identifying the first physical location.

16. An electronic device, comprising:

a touch-sensitive surface unit configured to receive contacts from a user;

a display unit configured to display user interfaces; and

a processing unit coupled with the touch-sensitive surface unit and the display unit, the processing unit configured to;

while displaying a first application, obtain information identifying a first physical location viewed by a user using a search feature of the first application;

exit the first application;

after exiting the first application, receive a request from the user to open a second application that is distinct from the first application; and

in response to receiving the request and in accordance with a determination that the second application is capable of accepting geographic location information, present the second application on the display of the electronic device, wherein presenting the second application on the display of the electronic device includes populating the second application with information that is based at least in part on the information identifying the first physical location.