Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface with a Dynamic Gesture Disambiguation Threshold

• US 20120192117A1
• Filed: 03/31/2011
• Published: 07/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Migos, Charles J., Miura, Britt S., Leffert, Akiva D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,092,132 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/863
• 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 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

An electronic device with a display, a touch-sensitive surface, one or more processors, and memory detects a first portion of a gesture, and determines that the first portion has a first gesture characteristic. The device selects a dynamic disambiguation threshold in accordance with the first gesture characteristic. The dynamic disambiguation threshold is used to determine whether to perform a first type of operation or a second type of operation when a first kind of gesture is detected. The device determines that the gesture is of the first kind of gesture. After selecting the dynamic disambiguation threshold, the device determines whether the gesture meets the dynamic disambiguation threshold. When the gesture meets the dynamic disambiguation threshold, the device performs the first type of operation, and when the gesture does not meet the dynamic disambiguation threshold, the device performs the second type of operation.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a display;

a touch-sensitive surface;

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for;

detecting a first portion of a gesture;

determining that the first portion of the gesture has a first gesture characteristic;

in response to determining that the first portion of the gesture has a first gesture characteristic, selecting a dynamic disambiguation threshold in accordance with the first gesture characteristic, wherein the dynamic disambiguation threshold is used to determine whether to perform a first type of operation or a second type of operation when a first kind of gesture is detected;

determining that the gesture is a gesture of the first kind of gesture;

after selecting the dynamic disambiguation threshold, determining whether the gesture meets the dynamic disambiguation threshold;

in accordance with a determination that the gesture meets the dynamic disambiguation threshold, performing the first type of operation in accordance with the gesture; and

in accordance with a determination that the gesture does not meet the dynamic disambiguation threshold, performing the second type of operation in accordance with the gesture.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the first kind of gesture is a single contact swipe gesture.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the dynamic disambiguation threshold is a gesture speed threshold.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein:

a second portion of the gesture is detected after the first portion of the gesture and prior to determining that the gesture is a gesture of the first kind of gesture; and

the second portion of the gesture is used to determine whether the gesture meets the dynamic disambiguation threshold.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein:

the first type of operation is a navigation operation for an electronic document displayed on the display;

the second type of operation is an annotation operation for the electronic document;

the first gesture characteristic is a navigation characteristic; and

in accordance with a determination that the gesture has the first gesture characteristic, the dynamic disambiguation threshold is adjusted to increase the range of values that correspond to the navigation operation.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein:

a user interface that includes a current portion of the electronic document is displayed on the display; and

the navigation operation includes displaying a different portion of the electronic document in the user interface in accordance with the gesture.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein:

the first type of operation is a navigation operation for an electronic document displayed on the display;

the second type of operation is an annotation operation for the electronic document;

the first gesture characteristic is an annotation characteristic; and

in accordance with a determination that the gesture has the first gesture characteristic, the dynamic disambiguation threshold is adjusted to increase the range of values that correspond to the annotation operation.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein:

a user interface that includes at least a portion of the electronic document having predefined content is displayed on the display; and

the annotation operation includes adding additional content to the predefined content.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein:

a user interface that includes at least a portion of an electronic document is displayed on the display; and

determining whether the first portion of the gesture has the first gesture characteristic includes determining whether the first portion of the gesture is detected at a location on the touch-sensitive surface that corresponds to a navigation preferred region of the displayed user interface.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein:

the electronic document includes content; and

the navigation preferred regions are regions that exclude content of the electronic document.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein:

the electronic document includes a plurality of paragraphs of text; and

the navigation preferred regions are regions that are defined in accordance with locations of the plurality of paragraphs in the displayed user interface.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein:

the electronic document includes a plurality of lines of text; and

the navigation preferred regions are regions that are defined in accordance with locations of the plurality of lines of text in the displayed user interface.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein:

a user interface that includes at least a portion of an electronic document is displayed on the display; and

determining whether the first portion of the gesture has a first gesture characteristic includes determining whether the first portion of the gesture is detected at a location on the touch-sensitive surface that corresponds to an annotation preferred region of the displayed user interface.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein:

the electronic document includes a plurality of words having a grammatical structure; and

the annotation preferred regions are regions that are defined in accordance with the grammatical structure of the electronic document.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein:

the electronic document includes a plurality of words; and

the annotation preferred regions are regions that are defined in accordance with locations of the plurality words in the displayed user interface.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein:

the electronic document includes a plurality of terms including one or more emphasized terms; and

the annotation preferred regions are regions that are defined in accordance with locations of the emphasized terms in the displayed user interface.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein determining whether the first portion of the gesture has the first gesture characteristic includes determining whether the first portion of the gesture has a speed that is greater than a predefined speed threshold.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein determining whether the first portion of the gesture has the first gesture characteristic includes determining whether the first portion of the gesture has acceleration that is greater than a predefined acceleration threshold.

19. The device of claim 1, wherein determining whether the first portion of the gesture has a first gesture characteristic includes determining whether the first portion of the gesture includes movement of a contact that matches a predefined movement profile.

20. The device of claim 1, wherein determining whether the first portion of the gesture has the first gesture characteristic includes determining whether the first portion of the gesture has a component of movement in a predefined direction.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein:

the first type of operation is a navigation operation;

the second type of operation is an annotation operation;

a user interface including at least a portion of a document that includes text is displayed on the display;

the predefined direction is a reading direction for the text; and

in accordance with a determination that the first portion of the gesture has a component of movement in the predefined direction, the dynamic disambiguation threshold is adjusted to increase the range of values that correspond to the annotation operation.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein in accordance with a determination that the first portion of the gesture has a component of movement in a direction that is opposite to the predefined direction, the dynamic disambiguation threshold is adjusted to increase the range of values that correspond to the navigation operation.

23. A method, comprising:

at an electronic device having a display and a touch-sensitive surface;

detecting a first portion of a gesture;

determining that the first portion of the gesture has a first gesture characteristic;

in response to determining that the first portion of the gesture has a first gesture characteristic, selecting a dynamic disambiguation threshold in accordance with the first gesture characteristic, wherein the dynamic disambiguation threshold is used to determine whether to perform a first type of operation or a second type of operation when a first kind of gesture is detected;

determining that the gesture is a gesture of the first kind of gesture;

after selecting the dynamic disambiguation threshold, determining whether the gesture meets the dynamic disambiguation threshold;

in accordance with a determination that the gesture meets the dynamic disambiguation threshold, performing the first type of operation in accordance with the gesture; and

in accordance with a determination that the gesture does not meet the dynamic disambiguation threshold, performing the second type of operation in accordance with the gesture.

24. A graphical user interface on an electronic device with a display, a touch-sensitive surface, a memory, and one or more processors to execute one or more programs stored in the memory, the graphical user interface comprising:

at least a portion of an electronic document;

wherein;

a first portion of a gesture is detected;

in response to determining that the first portion of the gesture has a first gesture characteristic, a dynamic disambiguation threshold is selected in accordance with the first gesture characteristic, wherein the dynamic disambiguation threshold is used to determine whether to perform a first type of operation or a second type of operation when a first kind of gesture is detected;

the gesture is determined to be a gesture of the first kind of gesture;

after selecting the dynamic disambiguation threshold, whether the gesture meets the dynamic disambiguation threshold is determined;

in accordance with a determination that the gesture meets the dynamic disambiguation threshold, the first type of operation is performed in accordance with the gesture; and

in accordance with a determination that the gesture does not meet the dynamic disambiguation threshold, the second type of operation is performed in accordance with the gesture.

25. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by an electronic device with a display and a touch-sensitive surface, cause the device to:

detect a first portion of a gesture;

determine that the first portion of the gesture has a first gesture characteristic;

in response to determining that the first portion of the gesture has a first gesture characteristic, select a dynamic disambiguation threshold in accordance with the first gesture characteristic, wherein the dynamic disambiguation threshold is used to determine whether to perform a first type of operation or a second type of operation when a first kind of gesture is detected;

determine that the gesture is a gesture of the first kind of gesture;

after selecting the dynamic disambiguation threshold, determine whether the gesture meets the dynamic disambiguation threshold;

in accordance with a determination that the gesture meets the dynamic disambiguation threshold, perform the first type of operation in accordance with the gesture; and

in accordance with a determination that the gesture does not meet the dynamic disambiguation threshold, perform the second type of operation in accordance with the gesture.