Portable electronic device with content-dependent touch sensitivity

• US 20080216001A1
• Filed: 01/04/2007
• Published: 09/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Chaudhri, Imran, Christie, Greg, Ording, Bas, Lemay, Stephen O., Forstall, Scott, Herz, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 7,956,846 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/763
• 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 3/044 by capacitive means
• 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 portable electronic device, having a touch-sensitive display, displays a plurality of icons on the touch-sensitive display. A contact region when a user makes contact with the touch-sensitive display is detected. Whether the contact region corresponds to one of the plurality of icons is determined in accordance with an electrostatic model.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

displaying a plurality of icons on a touch-sensitive display;

detecting a contact region when a user makes contact with the touch-sensitive display; and

determining whether the contact region corresponds to one of the plurality of icons in accordance with an electrostatic model.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a respective icon in the plurality of icons is assigned a respective charge Q, including a respective magnitude, in the electrostatic model.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective charge Q includes a respective sign.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective charge Q is modeled as a point charge.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective charge Q is modeled as a charge distributed over a respective area in the touch-sensitive display.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective charge Q gives rise to a field having a field magnitude proportional to Q/Δ

rⁿ, and wherein Δ

r is a relative distance from the respective icon in a plane of the touch-sensitive display.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein n is between approximately 1 and approximately 2.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the field is truncated at a respective boundary surface corresponding to the respective icon.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining a total field at a contact position by linear superposition of fields corresponding to respective charges for one or more of the plurality of icons.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining whether a function corresponding to the respective icon is activated, at least in part, in accordance with when a user makes and breaks contact with the touch-sensitive display.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining whether a function corresponding to the respective icon is activated, at least in part, in accordance with a direction of the total field.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein a respective contact area for the respective icon is determined in accordance with a context for the function corresponding to the respective icon.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective charge Q for the respective icon is determined in accordance with a context for the function corresponding to the respective icon.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining is in accordance with a data structure, and wherein the data structure corresponds to a language.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining is in accordance with a data structure, and wherein the data structure is based on a stochastic model of relationships among letters in a language, and wherein the stochastic model includes relative frequencies of occurrence of groups of letters.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the groups include up to 4 letters.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the data structure includes lexicography and usage that is user-specific.

18. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective charge Q is determined in accordance with a risk assessment for activation of the respective icon.

19. A portable wireless electronic device, comprising:

a touch-sensitive display;

one or more processors;

memory; and

a program, wherein the program is stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the program including;

instructions for displaying a plurality of icons on a touch-sensitive display;

instructions for detecting a contact region when a user makes contact with the touch-sensitive display; and

instructions for determining whether the contact region corresponds to one of the plurality of icons in accordance with an electrostatic model.

20. A portable wireless electronic device, comprising:

touch-sensitive display means;

one or more processor means;

memory means; and

program mechanism, wherein the program mechanism is stored in the memory means and configured to be executed by the one or more processors means, the program mechanism including;

instructions for displaying a plurality of icons on the touch-sensitive display means;

instructions for detecting a contact region when a user makes contact with the touch-sensitive display means; and

instructions for determining whether the contact region corresponds to one of the plurality of icons in accordance with an electrostatic model.