Electronic Device and Method Using a Touch-Detecting Surface

• US 20130093705A1
• Filed: 10/09/2012
• Published: 04/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Huang, Meng
• Granted Patent: US 9,141,195 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

An electronic device includes a processor and one or more touch-detecting surfaces for detecting a gesture sequence including a first touch gesture and a subsequent second touch gesture. A related method includes detecting a first touch gesture applied to the touch-detecting surface; and initiating a sequential touch mode if the first touch gesture has a predetermined characteristic. When in the sequential touch mode, the method detects a second touch gesture that is subsequently applied to the touch-detecting surface, wherein the second touch gesture includes a glide movement. The method determines a first parameter and a second parameter associated with the second touch gesture, identifies a corresponding device function in accordance with the determined first parameter, and controls the execution of the identified device function in accordance with the determined second parameter.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a touch-detecting surface; and

a processor in electronic communication with the touch-detecting surface programmed to detect a first touch gesture applied to the touch-detecting surface, to initiate a sequential touch mode if the first touch gesture has a predetermined characteristic, to detect a subsequent second touch gesture including a glide movement applied to the touch-detecting surface in the sequential touch mode, and to determine a first parameter and a second parameter of the second touch gesture, wherein the first parameter is relative location of an initial location of the second touch gesture with respect to a location of the first touch gesture;

further wherein the processor identifies a corresponding one of a plurality of device functions of the electronic device in accordance with the determined first parameter, and controls the execution of the identified device function of the electronic device in accordance with the determined second parameter.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the sequential touch mode is initiated if a duration of the first touch gesture is greater than a predetermined duration.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, further wherein the processor is programmed to determine whether an applied second touch gesture occurs within a predetermined period after the first touch gesture, and provide instructions to exit the sequential touch mode if the applied second touch gesture occurs after the predetermined period.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, further wherein the processor is programmed to determine whether an applied second touch gesture has a duration greater than a predetermined duration, and to provide instructions to exit the sequential touch mode if the applied second touch gesture has a duration greater than the predetermined duration.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein a controlled device function of the electronic device includes one of a scaling function, a translation function, and a rotation function.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controlled device function controls the display of an item on a display screen of the electronic device.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the touch-detecting surface is one of a single-touch and a multi-touch touch-detecting surface.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the touch-detecting surface forms a touchscreen.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the touch-detecting surface is a touchpad.

10. A method for controlling an electronic device having a touch-detecting surface, the method comprising:

detecting a first touch gesture applied to the touch-detecting surface;

initiating a sequential touch mode if the first touch gesture has a predetermined characteristic;

in the sequential touch mode, detecting a second touch gesture that is subsequently applied to the touch-detecting surface, wherein the second touch gesture includes a glide movement;

determining a first parameter and a second parameter associated with the second touch gesture, wherein the first parameter is a relative location of an initial location of the second touch gesture with respect to a location of the first touch gesture;

identifying a corresponding device function in accordance with the determined first parameter; and

controlling the execution of the identified device function in accordance with the determined second parameter.

11. The method of claim 10, further including determining a duration of the applied first touch gesture and initiating the sequential touch mode if the duration of the applied first touch gesture is greater than a predetermined duration.

12. The method of claim 10, further including determining whether an applied second touch gesture occurs within a predetermined period after the first touch gesture, and if not, then exiting the sequential touch mode.

13. The method of claim 10, further including determining whether an applied second touch gesture has a duration less than a predetermined duration, and if so, then exiting the sequential touch mode.

14. The method of claim 10, further including controlling at least one of a scaling function, a translation function, and a rotation function.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the controlling includes controlling the display of an item on a display screen of the electronic device.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the second parameter is one of a touch distance, a duration, and a speed of the glide movement.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the second parameter is a direction of the glide movement.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the first parameter further includes a direction of the glide movement.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining a first parameter includes determining a movement pattern of the glide movement and the identifying includes identifying the controlled device function in accordance with the determined movement pattern.