SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING AN INPUT TO AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE

• US 20120290965A1
• Filed: 05/09/2011
• Published: 11/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Ignor, Matthew Michael, Coulson, Simon Edward
• Granted Patent: US 8,819,576 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/777
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

Systems and methods for facilitating an input to an electronic device are described herein. An example method for facilitating an input field of an electronic device includes presenting a menu item for selection while the electronic device is in a first physical state and identifying the menu item selected when the electronic device is in the first physical state. The method includes detecting whether the electronic device is in a second physical state after selection of the menu item and presenting an input field associated with the menu item selected.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating an input to an electronic device, the method comprising:

presenting a menu item for selection while the electronic device is in a first physical state;

identifying the menu item selected when the electronic device is in the first physical state;

detecting whether the electronic device is in a second physical state after selection of the menu item identified; and

presenting an input field associated with the menu item selected.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first physical state comprises detecting whether a first housing portion of the electronic device is in a closed position relative to a second housing position of the electronic device, and the second physical state comprises detecting whether the first housing portion of the electronic device is in an open position relative to the second housing portion.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first physical state comprises detecting a first orientation of the electronic device and the second physical state comprises detecting a second orientation of the electronic device, the first orientation being different than the second orientation.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein presenting the input field comprises displaying a plurality of instances associated with the menu item selected when the electronic device is rotated between the first orientation and the second orientation.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a state of an application or event notification represented by the menu item selected when the electronic device is in the first physical state.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the state of the application comprises detecting whether the menu item was selected when the application was in a first state or a second state.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first state comprises selecting a first menu item from a home screen state and the second state comprises selecting a second menu item from a single application dedicated level.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein presenting an input field comprises initiating a first input field when the menu item is selected from the home screen and initiating a second input field when the menu item is selected from the single application dedicated level.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein initiating the first input field comprises presenting an input field to compose a new email communication, and initiating the second input field comprises prompting a user to reply, reply to all, or forward an email communication.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the state of the application comprises detecting proximity of cursor location when the menu item selected is in a single application dedicated level and the electronic device is in the first physical state.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising initiating a first input field by displaying a plurality of tabs or icons representative of different instances associated with the menu item selected when the menu item selected is in a first state, and initiating a second input field by displaying a contacts list when the menu item selected is in a second state.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing a signal provided by a sensor disposed between a first housing portion and a second housing portion to determine if the electronic device is in the first physical state or a closed position and in the second physical state or an open position.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing a signal provided by an accelerometer to determine if the electronic device is in the first physical state or a vertical orientation and in the second physical state or a horizontal orientation.

14. A method for facilitating an input to an electronic device comprising:

identifying a selected menu item being displayed at the electronic device;

determining the menu item identified;

detecting whether a housing of the electronic device is in a first physical state when determining the menu item identified;

detecting whether the housing of the electronic device is moved to a second physical state different than the first physical state after determination of the menu item selected; and

initiating an input field associated with the menu item selected when the housing of the electronic device is in the second physical state.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting whether the housing of the electronic device is in the first or second physical state comprises processing a signal provided by a sensor disposed between a first housing portion and a second housing portion to detect whether the housing is in a closed position or an open position.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting whether the housing of the electronic device is in the first or second physical state comprises processing a signal provided by an accelerometer to detect whether the housing is rotated between a first position and a second position.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein presenting the input comprises displaying a plurality of instances associated with the menu item selected when the electronic device is rotated between the first orientation and the second orientation.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining a state of an application or notification event represented by the menu item selected when the electronic device is in the first physical state.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein determining the state of an application comprises determining whether the application being presented is in a first state or a home screen state when the menu item is selected or whether the application being presented is in a second state or a single application dedicated level when the menu item is selected.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising initiating a first input field associated with the application being in the first state when the menu item is selected or initiating a second input field associated with the application being in the second state when the menu item is selected, the first input field being different than the second input field.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein initiating a first input field comprises presenting an input prompt to compose a new email communication and initiating a second input field comprises presenting an input prompt to reply, reply to all, or forward an email communication.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein determining the first state of the application comprises detecting whether a cursor is in a “

text”

field and determining the second state of the application comprises detecting whether the cursor is in a “

to sender”

field when the application is in a single application dedicated level.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising initiating a first input field associated with the application being in the first state by displaying a plurality of tabs representative of instances associated with the application, and initiating a second input field associated with the application being in the second state by displaying a contacts list.

24. A tangible machine accessible medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to:

;

present a menu item for selection while the electronic device is in a first physical state;

identify the menu item selected when the electronic device is in the first physical state;

detect whether the electronic device is in a second physical state after selection of the menu item identified; and

present an input field associated with the menu item selected.

25. The tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 24 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to detect whether a first housing portion of the electronic device is in a closed position relative to a second housing position of the electronic device and detect whether the first housing portion of the electronic device is in an open position relative to the second housing portion.

26. The tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 24 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to detect a first orientation of the electronic device and detect a second orientation of the electronic device, the first orientation being different than the second orientation.

27. The tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 26 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to display a plurality of instances associated with the menu item selected when the electronic device is rotated between the first orientation and the second orientation.

28. The tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 24 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to determine a state of an application or event notification represented by the menu item selected when the electronic device is in the first physical state.

29. The tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 28 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to detect whether the menu item was selected when the application was in a first state or a second state.

30. The tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 29 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to detect the first state when a first menu item is selected from a home screen state and detect the second state when a second menu item is selected from a single application dedicated level.

31. The tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 30 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to initiate an first input field when the menu item is selected from the home screen and initiate a second input field when the menu is selected from the single application dedicated level.

32. The tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 31 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to present an input field to compose a new email communication when the first input field is initiated, and presenting a prompt to a user to reply, reply to all, or forward an email communication when the second input field is initiated.

33. The tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 28 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to detect proximity of cursor location when the menu item selected is in a single application dedicated level and the electronic device is in the first physical state.

34. The tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 33 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to initiate a first input field by displaying a plurality of tabs or icons representative of different instances associated with the menu item selected when the menu item selected is in a first state, and initiate a second input by displaying a contacts list when the

menu item selected is in a second state.