User Interface with Z-Axis Interaction

• US 20110291945A1
• Filed: 05/26/2010
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Hinds, Joshua J., Biller, Gabriel Alexander, Mann, Jonathan L., Kuncl, Parker Ralph, Panchal, Prarthana H., Ewing, Richard Alan JR.
• Granted Patent: US 8,860,672 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• 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 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• 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

Abstract

A user interface presents a plurality of items configured as a stack in a display of a device. The stack is scrollable in a direction oblique to a plane of the display for successively viewing the items in the stack. Some implementations provide for control of the user interface based on input from a finger position sensor or a slider.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

presenting a plurality of first items in a user interface on a display of a device, the first items being presented as a first stack;

scrolling the first items of the first stack in a direction oblique to a plane of the display for successively displaying the items;

receiving a selection of one the first items; and

presenting a plurality of second items in the user interface, the second items being hierarchically related to the first item and being presented in a second stack scrollable in the direction oblique to the plane of the display.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sensing a position of the device;

detecting tilting of the device relative to the position; and

performing the scrolling in response to the tilting.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sensing movement of a finger of a user relative to the device, wherein the finger is spatially separated from the device; and

performing the scrolling in response to movement of the finger.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sensing movement of a finger of a user sliding along a surface of the device; and

performing the scrolling in response to movement of the finger.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the first items are representations of applications present on the device;

and

the second items are representations of a data type of an application that corresponds to the selected one of the first items.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a plurality of stacks of items including the first stack of the first items and a third stack of third items; and

moving a focus of the user interface in a direction corresponding to the plane of the display between a presentation of the first stack and a presentation of the third stack.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the user interface is configured to continually successively display each of the plurality of stacks in a loop by scrolling a focus of the user interface from the first stack to a stack immediately adjacent to the first stack, pause for a predetermined period of time at each stack, and move the focus to a next adjacent stack.

8. A device comprising:

a display;

a processor in communication with computer-readable storage media;

a user interface component, maintained in the computer-readable storage media and executed on the processor, to present a user interface on the display, the user interface being interactive in three dimensions;

an input mechanism for providing a user-activated input signal to the processor; and

a finger position component executed on the processor for determining a position of a finger spatially separated from the device, the position of the finger being used in conjunction with activation of the input mechanism for interacting with the user interface in the three dimensions.

9. The device according to claim 8, wherein

the interface displays a plurality of items in a stack, the stack comprising a displayed item and a plurality of items behind the displayed item;

and

determining movement of the finger toward or away from the device causes the user interface to scroll through one or more of the items in the stack along a direction of a z-axis, the z-axis being oblique to a plane of the display.

10. The device according to claim 9, wherein a speed of the scrolling is controlled by a distance that the finger is moved from an initial position.

11. The device according to claim 8, further comprising a planar display, wherein determining lateral movement of the finger relative to a plane of the display causes the user interface to pan a focus of the user interface in a direction relative to the lateral movement.

12. The device according to claim 8, further comprising at least one sensor for sensing the movement of the finger relative to the device, the at least one sensor comprising at least one of:

a front facing camera;

an image capture sensor in conjunction with an infrared light source;

or

a non-touch capacitive sensor.

13. The device according to claim 8, further comprising at least one touch or pressure sensor on an exterior of the device, the at least one touch or pressure sensor being actuatable in conjunction with determining movement of the finger for interacting with the user interface.

14. Computer-readable media containing instructions to be executed by a processor for implementing a user interface, the user interface comprising:

a plurality of stacks, each stack comprising a plurality of items in the stack, each stack comprising a first item and a plurality of items behind the first item; and

a control component for enabling movement of the stacks in a z-axis direction oblique to a plane of a display.

15. The computer readable media according to claim 14, wherein

a focus of the user interface includes display of at least one of the stacks;

and

a stack is movable in a direction in the plane of the display to view an adjacent stack.

16. The computer readable media according to claim 15, wherein each stack in the plurality of stacks is successively looped through and displayed for a predetermined amount of time in the focus of the user interface.

17. The computer readable media according to claim 14, wherein selection of one of the stacks results in a display of a plurality of new stacks, the plurality of new stacks being related to the selected stack by a hierarchical relationship.

18. The computer readable media according to claim 14, wherein following movement along the z-axis within a stack, the user interface is configured to enable lateral movement to an item of an adjacent stack.

19. The computer readable media according to claim 18, wherein the item of the adjacent stack is at an equivalent level of depth.

20. The computer readable media according to claim 14, wherein the item of the adjacent stack is a first item of the adjacent stack.