APPARATUS AND ASSOCIATED METHODS

• US 20130219345A1
• Filed: 02/21/2012
• Published: 08/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: NURMI, Mikko, SAUKKO, Jari
• Granted Patent: US 9,964,990 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/863
• 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 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• 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 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector

Abstract

An apparatus including: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: in response to user input, disassociate the linking of the orientation of content with respect to the orientation of a display of a portable electronic device to retain the particular orientation of the content with respect to the orientation of the display during the user input.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

in response to user input, disassociate the linking of the orientation of content with respect to the orientation of a display of a portable electronic device to retain the particular orientation of the content with respect to the orientation of the display during the user input.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to detect the user input during use of one or more of a particular supplementary application of the portable electronic device and a home screen of the portable electronic device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to detect a hover gesture user input proximal to a proximity-sensitive display of the portable electronic device as the user input.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to detect a hover gesture user input only overlying one or more user interface elements displayed on a proximity-sensitive display of the portable electronic device as the user input.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the one or more user interface elements comprises one or more of a button, an icon, a form, a widget, a hyperlink, a slider, a scroll bar, or a virtual control element.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to respond to the user input from one or more of a proximity-sensitive display and a touch-sensitive display of the portable electronic device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to detect a hover gesture user input only proximal to a region not overlying one or more user interface elements displayed on a proximity-sensitive display of the portable electronic device as the user input.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to detect a hover input as the user input for response and a touch input to select a function associated with the touched region.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the one or more user interface elements comprises one or more of a button, an icon, a form, a widget, a hyperlink, a slider, a scroll bar, or a virtual control element.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to detect the user input for response made at one or more particular locations on the portable electronic device, the one or more particular locations being designated to provide for disassociation of the linking of the orientation of content with respect to the orientation of the display.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to detect the user input for response made at one or more particular locations on the display of the portable electronic device.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the user input comprises one or more of a tap, a swipe, a slide, a press, a hold, a rotate gesture, a static hover gesture proximal to the portable electronic device, a moving hover gesture proximal to the portable electronic device, bending at least part of the portable electronic device, squeezing at least part of the portable electronic device or a multi-finger gesture.

13. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the particular supplementary application is one or more of a calling/telephone application, text message application, e-mail application, video application, audio application, word processing or other productivity application, game, social media application, internet browser, contact list application, calendar application, photo application or calculator application.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises one or more of an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer to detect the orientation of the display.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to detect the user input for response.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the orientation of the display is defined with respect to a gravity vector.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a portable electronic device, a laptop computer, a mobile phone, a Smartphone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a digital camera, a watch, a server, a portable media player, or a module/circuitry for one or more of the same.

18. A method, the method comprising:

in response to user input, disassociating the linking of the orientation of content with respect to the orientation of a display of a portable electronic device to retain the particular orientation of the content with respect to the orientation of the display during the user input.

19. A computer program comprising code to:

in response to user input, disassociate the linking of the orientation of content with respect to the orientation of a display of a portable electronic device to retain the particular orientation of the content with respect to the orientation of the display during the user input.