TOOL BARS ALONG LATERAL EDGES OF A MOBILE COMPUTING DEVICE DISPLAY
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method to provide a tool bar on a lateral edge of a display of a handheld computing device, the display comprising a horizontal top edge, a horizontal bottom edge, and two vertical lateral edges, the method comprising:
- activating an application on the computing device, wherein the application is activated by a processor; and
outputting a tool bar to the display using the processor, wherein the tool bar is provided on the display proximate at least one lateral edge of the display, wherein the tool bar comprises a plurality of icons, each icon representing a feature of the activated application.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Tool bars are provided along lateral edges of a display of a handheld computing device. The tool bars include icons that represent application features. The user may interact with the application by touching the icons on the display. Since mobile computing devices are commonly held at the lateral sides of the device, navigation and activation buttons are in close proximity to a natural location of a user'"'"'s thumbs. The proximity of the tool bars to the thumbs increases efficiency and accuracy when interacting with the application. The tool bars may be displayed in an expanded state such that a text label may be displayed to identify the application feature that each icon represents. The tool bars may also include functionality that displays additional information for any of the application features represented by the icons without navigating the application away from the current screen.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method to provide a tool bar on a lateral edge of a display of a handheld computing device, the display comprising a horizontal top edge, a horizontal bottom edge, and two vertical lateral edges, the method comprising:
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activating an application on the computing device, wherein the application is activated by a processor; and outputting a tool bar to the display using the processor, wherein the tool bar is provided on the display proximate at least one lateral edge of the display, wherein the tool bar comprises a plurality of icons, each icon representing a feature of the activated application. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A handheld computing device comprising:
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a display comprising a horizontal top edge, a horizontal bottom edge, and two vertical lateral edges; and a processor configured to; activate an application, and output a tool bar to the display such that the tool bar is provided proximate at least one lateral edge of the display, wherein the tool bar comprises a plurality of icons, each icon representing a feature of the activated application. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification