ACCELEROMETER-BASED CONTROL FOR RADIO BROADCAST RECEIVERS

• US 20100289756A1
• Filed: 05/15/2009
• Published: 11/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Anzures, Freddy A., Newman, Lucas, Mason, Henry
• Application Number:
  US12/467,179
• Publication Number:
  US 20100289756A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors

Abstract

Methods for controlling a radio broadcast receiver on a mobile device are disclosed. A user can switch the user interface for a radio broadcast receiver on a mobile device by rotating the mobile device from a first orientation to a second orientation. A user can control a radio broadcast receiver by creating some movement of a mobile device in a certain manner, such as shaking or tapping the mobile device. Movements of the mobile device are detected by an accelerometer in the mobile device and interpreted according to a set of predetermined and context-based rules. The context information can be provided by previous user inputs, other sensors in the mobile device, or the current state of the radio broadcast receiver or mobile device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for controlling a radio broadcast receiver on a mobile device, comprising:

presenting a first user interface for operating the radio broadcast receiver on a display of the mobile device, the first user interface conforming to a first style;

while the first user interface is presented on the display, detecting a movement pattern of the mobile device; and

in response to the detected movement pattern, presenting a second user interface for operating the radio broadcast receiver on the display in place of the first user interface, the second user interface conforming to a second style.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected movement pattern comprises a rotation of the mobile device from a first orientation to a second orientation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the display is operative to receive multi-touch gestures, the first user interface is responsive to a first multi-touch gesture for a particular control function of the radio broadcast receiver, and the second user interface is responsive to a second, different multi-touch gesture for the particular control function.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, for tuning to an adjacent radio station, the first multi-touch gesture is a single touch on a user interface element that indicates a tuning direction, and the second, different multi-touch gesture is a single flick across the display in the tuning direction.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the display is operable to receive multi-touch gestures and the second user interface includes user interface elements each representing a respective radio broadcast frequency of a corresponding radio station, the method further comprising:

while the second interface is presented on the display, receiving a user input directed toward one of the user interface elements;

presenting an expanded view of the user interface element on the display, the expanded view representing a broadcast frequency band around the respective broadcast frequency of the user interface element; and

receiving a multi-touch gesture for fine-tuning the radio broadcast receiver within the expanded view.

6. A computer-implemented method for controlling a radio broadcast receiver on a mobile device, comprising:

detecting a movement pattern of the mobile device;

associating the movement pattern with a control function of the radio broadcast receiver according to a predetermined set of rules; and

performing the control function according to the movement pattern.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein detecting the movement pattern further comprises:

receiving input detected by a motion sensor of the mobile device, the input indicative of one or more of linear and rotational motions of the mobile device;

determining a movement type and one or more movement parameters based on the detected input.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determined movement type is a shaking movement of the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein associating the movement pattern with a control function of the radio broadcast receiver further comprises:

associating the determined movement type with a shuffle control function of the radio broadcast receiver.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein performing the control function according to the movement pattern further comprises:

tuning the radio broadcast receiver from a currently selected radio broadcast frequency to a different radio broadcast frequency.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the currently selected radio broadcast frequency is for a first radio station of a first genre, and the different radio broadcast frequency is for a second radio station of a second, different genre.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the currently selected radio broadcast frequency and the different radio broadcast frequency are for radio stations of a same genre.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the different radio broadcast frequency is selected from a set of preset frequencies.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the determined movement type is an impact of the mobile device against an object external to the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein associating the movement pattern with a control function of the radio broadcast receiver further comprises:

associating the movement pattern with a sound control function of the radio broadcast receiver.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein performing the control function according to the movement pattern further comprises:

muting the radio broadcast receiver if the radio broadcast receiver was un-muted prior to detection of the movement pattern.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein performing the control function according to the movement pattern further comprises:

un-muting the radio broadcast receiver if the radio broadcast receiver was muted prior to detection of the movement pattern.

18. A computer-implemented method for controlling a radio broadcast receiver on a mobile device, comprising:

detecting a shaking movement of the mobile device;

associating the shaking movement with a shuffle function of the radio broadcast receiver; and

changing a currently selected broadcast frequency of the radio broadcast receiver to a different broadcast frequency according to a random selection procedure.

19. A computer program product, encoded on a tangible program carrier, operable to cause a portable device to perform operations comprising:

presenting a first user interface for operating the radio broadcast receiver on a display of the mobile device, the first user interface conforming to a first style;

while the first user interface is presented on the display, detecting a movement pattern of the mobile device; and

in response to the detected movement pattern, presenting a second user interface for operating the radio broadcast receiver on the display in place of the first user interface, the second user interface conforming to a second style.

20. A portable device comprising:

a touch-sensitive display;

memory;

one or more processors; and

instructions stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the instructions comprising instructions to;

presenting a first user interface for operating the radio broadcast receiver on a display of the mobile device, the first user interface conforming to a first style;

while the first user interface is presented on the display, detecting a movement pattern of the mobile device; and

in response to the detected movement pattern, presenting a second user interface for operating the radio broadcast receiver on the display in place of the first user interface, the second user interface conforming to a second style.