DETECTION OF A HELD TOUCH ON A TOUCH-SENSITIVE DISPLAY

• US 20120233545A1
• Filed: 03/11/2011
• Published: 09/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Mann, James M., Ikeda, Akihiko
• Application Number:
  US13/046,161
• Publication Number:
  US 20120233545A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/702
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

Example embodiments relate to detection of a held touch on a touch-sensitive display. In some embodiments, a touch held at a given position of a touch-sensitive display is detected. Movement of the touch is then tracked while the touch remains held on the touch-sensitive display. Finally, upon release of the held touch, an action is performed on a user interface object located at a position of the release of the held touch.

Claims

1. A computing device for detection of touches, the computing device comprising:

a touch-sensitive display; and

a processor to;

detect a touch held at a given position of the touch-sensitive display for a duration of time,

track movement of the touch while the touch remains held on the touch-sensitive display, and

activate a user interface object located at a position of a release of the held touch.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

display an indication proximate to the touch upon detection of the touch held for the duration of time, and

display a contextual menu in response to a release of the touch within a predetermined duration of time subsequent to display of the indication.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

change, during tracking movement of the touch, an appearance of each respective user interface object capable of being activated while the touch is at a position of the respective user interface object.

4. The computing device of claim 3, wherein, to change the appearance of the respective user interface object, the processor is configured to modify at least one of a size, a font, and a color of the respective user interface object.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

scroll a viewable area of a graphical user interface (GUI) outputted on the touch-sensitive display when the held touch moves proximate to an edge of a current window in the GUI.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein, to activate the user interface object, the processor performs an action performed in response to a single tap of the user interface object during normal touch operation.

7. A machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor of a computing device including a touch-sensitive display, the machine-readable storage medium comprising:

instructions for detecting a touch held at a given position of the touch-sensitive display;

instructions for tracking movement of the touch while the touch is held on the touch-sensitive display;

instructions for detecting a release of the touch from the touch-sensitive display; and

instructions for activating a user interface object located at a position of the release of the touch.

8. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein:

the instructions for detecting the touch held, the instructions for tracking the movement, and the instructions for detecting the release are implemented by a driver of the operating system (OS) of the computing device, and

the instructions for activating are implemented by an application executing within the OS.

9. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, further comprising:

instructions for changing an appearance of each respective user interface object capable of being activated while the held touch is at a position of the respective user interface object.

10. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, further comprising:

instructions for scrolling a viewable area of a graphical user interface (GUI) outputted on the touch-sensitive display when the held touch moves proximate to an edge of a current window in the GUI.

11. A method for detection of touches on a touch-sensitive display, the method comprising:

detecting a touch held for a predetermined duration of time at a given position of a graphical user interface (GUI) outputted on the touch-sensitive display;

tracking movement of the touch on the touch-sensitive display while the touch remains held;

detecting a release of the touch from the touch-sensitive display; and

taking an action on a user interface object located in the GUI at a position of the release of the touch, the action corresponding to an action taken in response to a single tap of the user interface object.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

displaying an indication proximate to the touch upon detection of the touch held for the predetermined duration of time.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

displaying a contextual menu in response to a release of the touch within a second predetermined duration of time subsequent to displaying the indication, and

removing the indication when the touch remains held during the second predetermined duration of time.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

during tracking the movement of the touch, changing an appearance of each respective user interface object capable of being activated while the held touch is at a position of the respective user interface object.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

scrolling a viewable area of the GUI in a direction corresponding to a location of the touch when the touch moves proximate to an edge of a current window in the GUI.