Operation of a computer with touch screen interface

• US 20060053387A1
• Filed: 09/16/2005
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Ording, Bas
• Granted Patent: US 7,614,008 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/773
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0236 using selection techniques to select from displayed items
• 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 3/04883 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 touch screen computer executes an application. A method of operating the touch screen computer in response to a user is provided. A virtual input device is provided on the touch screen. The virtual input device comprises a plurality of virtual keys. It is detected that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual key, and a behavior of the user with respect to touch is determined. The determined behavior is processed and a predetermined characteristic is associated with the nominally-activated at least one virtual key. A reaction to the nominal activation is determined based at least in part on a result of processing the determined behavior.

Claims

1. A method of operating a touch screen computer in response to a user, the touch screen computer executing an application, comprising:

providing a virtual input device, comprising a plurality of virtual graphical user interface (GUI) items, on the touch screen;

detecting that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual GUI item and determining a behavior of the user with respect to said touch;

processing said determined behavior and a predetermined characteristic associated with said nominally-activated at least one virtual GUI item; and

determining a reaction to said nominal activation based at least in part on a result of said processing step.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the behavior of the user includes a pressure with which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item,

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

determining the pressure includes processing a determined total area of the touch screen touched by the user.

4. The method of claim 3, further including:

determining the total area of the touch screen touched by the user based on processing data corresponding to a number of points of the touch screen touched by the user.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein:

determining the pressure includes processing pressure data indicated by the touch screen.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein:

determining the pressure includes processing a combination of pressure data indicated by the touch screen and data corresponding to a number of points of the touch screen touched by the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the behavior of the user includes a duration which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the behavior of the user includes a particular gesture with respect to the virtual GUI item.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the predetermined characteristic includes a characterization of how to react to duration.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the predetermined characteristic includes displaying a preview indication associated with the nominally activated virtual GUI item.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether the user has made a particular gesture with respect to said touch screen in conjunction with displaying the preview indication, to determine whether to actually activate the nominally-activated virtual GUI item.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein how to react to duration includes whether to treat the duration which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item as a plurality of individual repeated activations of said virtual GUI item.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

treating the duration which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item as a plurality of individual activations of said at least one virtual GUI item includes determining a particular number of individual activations with which to treat the duration based on a function of the duration.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the reaction includes treating the user touching the touch screen as not actually activating the at least one virtual GUI item.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the determined behavior is duration, and duration is not within predetermined characteristic of a duration appropriate to actually activate the nominally activated at least one virtual GUI item.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining reaction includes causing treating the nominally-activated at least one virtual GUI item as an originally-activated virtual GUI item and causing a plurality of new virtual GUI items to be formed on the touch screen.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

causing the virtual GUI itemboard display to be modified to display indications corresponding to the new virtual GUI items formed on the touch screen.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein:

the plurality of new virtual GUI items are a sub-menu of the activated virtual GUI item.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein:

the virtual GUI item is a first virtual GUI item; and

the method further comprises detecting that the user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate one of the new virtual GUI items formed on the touch screen.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein:

the virtual GUI items are virtual keys of a virtual keyboard;

the behavior of the user is a duration between the user touching the touch screen to nominally activate the first virtual key and the user touching the touch screen to nominally activate the one of the new virtual keys; and

if the duration is less than a predetermined time, omitting the step of causing the virtual keyboard display to be modified to display indications corresponding to the new virtual keys.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein:

the behavior of the user includes a pressure with which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item,

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein:

determining the pressure includes processing a determined total area of the touch screen touched by the user.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, the computer program further including the step of:

determining the total area of the touch screen touched by the user based on processing data corresponding to a number of points of the touch screen touched by the user.

21. A computer-readable medium having a computer program tangibly embodied thereon, the computer program including steps for operating a touch screen computer in response to a user while the touch screen computer executing an application, the steps of the computer program comprising:

providing a virtual input device, comprising a plurality of virtual graphical user interface (GUI) items, on the touch screen;

detecting that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual GUI item and determining a behavior of the user with respect to said touch;

processing said determined behavior and a predetermined characteristic associated with said nominally-activated at least one virtual GUI item; and

determining a reaction to said nominal activation based at least in part on a result of said processing step.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein:

the behavior of the user includes a duration which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein:

the predetermined characteristic includes a characterization of how to react to duration.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein how to react to duration includes whether to treat the duration which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item as a plurality of individual repeated activations of said virtual GUI item.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein:

treating the duration which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item as a plurality of individual activations of said at least one virtual GUI item includes determining a particular number of individual activations with which to treat the duration based on a function of the duration.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein:

the reaction includes treating the user touching the touch screen as not actually activating the at least one virtual GUI item.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein:

the determined behavior is duration, and duration is not within predetermined characteristic of a duration appropriate to actually activate the nominally activated at least one virtual GUI item.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein:

determining reaction includes causing treating the nominally-activated at least one virtual GUI item as an originally-activated virtual GUI item and causing a plurality of new virtual GUI items to be formed on the touch screen.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein:

the virtual GUI items are virtual keys of a virtual keyboard; and

the computer program further includes a step of causing the virtual keyboard display to be modified to display indications corresponding to the new virtual keys formed on the touch screen.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein:

the plurality of new virtual keys are a sub-menu of the activated virtual key.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein:

the virtual key is a first virtual key; and

the computer program further comprises detecting that the user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate one of the new virtual keys formed on the touch screen.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein:

the behavior of the user is a duration between the user touching the touch screen to nominally activate the first virtual key and the user touching the touch screen to nominally activate the one of the new virtual keys; and

if the duration is less than a predetermined time, omitting the step of causing the virtual keyboard display to be modified to display indications corresponding to the new virtual keys.

36. A touch screen computer operating at least partially in response to a user, the touch screen computer executing an application including steps of:

providing a virtual input device, comprising a plurality of virtual graphical user interface (GUI) items, on the touch screen;

detecting that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual GUI item and determining a behavior of the user with respect to said touch;

processing said determined behavior and a predetermined characteristic associated with said nominally-activated at least one virtual GUI item; and

determining a reaction to said nominal activation based at least in part on a result of said processing step.

37. The touch screen computer of claim 36, wherein:

the behavior of the user includes a pressure with which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item,

38. The computer of claim 37, wherein:

the predetermined characteristic includes a characterization of how to react to the pressure.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein:

the behavior of the user includes a duration which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein:

the predetermined characteristic includes a characterization of how to react to duration.

44. The method of claim 40, wherein:

the behavior of the user includes a duration which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein:

the predetermined characteristic includes a characterization of how to react to duration.

41. A method of operating a touch screen computer in response to a user, the touch screen computer executing an application, comprising:

providing a virtual keyboard, comprising a plurality of virtual keys, on the touch screen;

detecting that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual key and determining a behavior of the user with respect to said touch;

processing said determined behavior and a predetermined characteristic associated with said nominally-activated at least one virtual key; and

determining a reaction to said nominal activation based at least in part on a result of said processing step.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein:

the behavior of the user includes a pressure with which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item,

43. The method of claim 42, wherein:

the predetermined characteristic includes a characterization of how to react to the pressure.

46. A computer-readable medium having a computer program tangibly embodied thereon, the computer program including steps for operating a touch screen computer in response to a user while the touch screen computer executing an application, the steps of the computer program comprising:

providing a virtual keyboard, comprising a plurality of virtual keys, on the touch screen;

detecting that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual key and determining a behavior of the user with respect to said touch;

processing said determined behavior and a predetermined characteristic associated with said nominally-activated at least one virtual key; and

determining a reaction to said nominal activation based at least in part on a result of said processing step.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein:

the behavior of the user includes a pressure with which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item,

48. The method of claim 47, wherein:

the predetermined characteristic includes a characterization of how to react to the pressure.

49. The method of claim 46, wherein:

the behavior of the user includes a duration which the user touches the touch screen to nominally activate the at least one virtual GUI item.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein:

the predetermined characteristic includes a characterization of how to react to duration.

51. A method of operating a touch screen computer, the touch screen computer executing an application, comprising:

displaying a virtual input device on the touch screen;

detecting that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual GUI item of the virtual input device; and

based at least in part on a behavior of the user and a predetermined characteristic associated with said nominally-activated at least one virtual GUI item, determining a reaction to said nominal activation.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein:

the behavior of the user is a characteristic of the user'"'"'s touch of the touch screen.

53. A computer-readable medium including a program to operate a touch screen computer, the touch screen computer executing an application, the program to operate a touch screen computer comprising:

displaying a virtual input device on the touch screen;

detecting that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual GUI item of the virtual input device; and

based at least in part on a behavior of the user and a predetermined characteristic associated with said nominally-activated at least one virtual GUI item, determining a reaction to said nominal activation.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein:

the behavior of the user is a characteristic of the user'"'"'s touch of the touch screen.