METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REPRESENTING A DEVICE'S TRAVERSAL ALONG A ROUTE

• US 20150348512A1
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2014
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Sabatelli, Alessandro F.
• Application Number:
  US14/502,612
• Publication Number:
  US 20150348512A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/08 Arrangements within a display terminal for setting, manually or automatically, display parameters of the display terminal
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/103 Detection of image changes, e.g. determination of an index representative of the image change
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/22 Detection of presence or absence of input display information or of connection or disconnection of a corresponding information source
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/00 Specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/363 Graphics controllers
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/37 Details of the operation on graphic patterns G09G5/38 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/377 for mixing or overlaying two or more graphic patterns G09G5/02, G09G5/397 take precedence

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a device that employs novel processes for displaying data regarding its movement in a region. For instance, in some embodiments, the device displays concurrently two independent indicators of its movement in a user interface (UI) that it displays on a display screen (e.g., on its display screen). One indicator is a displayed route representation that illustrates the device'"'"'s past translational movement within the region. The other indicator is a displayed orientation representation that illustrates the device'"'"'s current orientation within the region. When the device can move rotationally, the current-orientation representation illustrates the device'"'"'s rotational movement at the current location of the device. In some embodiments, the orientation indicator is, or is part of, a current-location identifier that is placed at an end of the route representation to identify the current location of the device within the region. The current-location identifier in some of these embodiments is a compass, with the orientation indicator being the needle of this compass.

Claims

1. A method of representing a device'"'"'s traversal in a region, the method comprising:

on a display screen of the device, displaying a representation of the device'"'"'s translational movement within the region; and

concurrently with the displayed representation, displaying an orientation indicator that represents a current orientation of the device independently of the displayed representation of the device'"'"'s translational movement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the representation of translational movement of the device does not include a map of roadways or pathways in a physical space traversed by the device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the representation of the device'"'"'s movement comprises a plurality of graphical temporal indicators for a plurality of locations along a route that the device traversed in the region, each particular graphical temporal indicator representing a duration of time that the device spent at a particular one of the locations.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least two different graphical temporal indicators of two different locations have two different appearances to indicate two different durations of time at the two different locations.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the two different appearances are two different sizes.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the two different appearances are two different colors.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the representation of the device'"'"'s translational movement provides an indication of a rate of movement of the device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the representation of the device'"'"'s translational movement comprises a plurality of discrete location identifiers for a plurality of locations along a route that the device traversed within the region, wherein densities of the location identifiers are indicative of a rate of movement of the device.

9. The method of any of claims 1, wherein displaying the orientation indicator comprises:

displaying a current-position indicator to identify a current position of the device;

displaying the orientation indicator as part of the current-position indicator.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the orientation indicator is a graphical object that rotates to identify the orientation of the device.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the device comprises a magnetometer that detects the earth'"'"'s magnetic field at the current position of the device;

wherein the current-position indicator is a compass that includes (i) a needle to identify a magnetic direction along the earth'"'"'s detected magnetic field, and (ii) the graphical object to rotate about the compass to identify the current orientation of the device.

12. The method of claim 1,

wherein the device comprises a magnetometer that detects (i) the earth'"'"'s magnetic field at a current position of the device, and (ii) the orientation of the device with respect to the earth'"'"'s magnetic field;

wherein displaying the representation of the device'"'"'s translational movement comprises;

displaying an indication of at least one particular magnetic direction in the detected magnetic field; and

displaying the translational movement representation according to the particular magnetic direction.

13. The method of claim 1,

wherein the device comprises a magnetometer that detects (i) the earth'"'"'s magnetic field at a current position of the device, and (ii) the orientation of the device with respect to the earth'"'"'s magnetic field;

wherein displaying the representation of the device'"'"'s movement comprises displaying the movement representation according to the orientation of the device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the representation of the device'"'"'s translational movement comprises displaying a representation of a route traversed by the device, the method further comprising:

detecting a movement of the device; and

in response to the detected movement, expanding the displayed representation of the route along a first direction while having the orientation indicator identify a second different direction as the orientation of the device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the independent display of the translational movement representation and the orientation indicator allows the orientation indicator to indicate the device'"'"'s alignment with a direction of a traversed route for a first duration of time during a movement of the device, while also allowing the orientation indicator to indicate the device'"'"'s misalignment with the direction of travel for a second duration of time during the movement of the device.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

for at least one particular incremental translational movement of the device, expanding the representation in a first direction while having the orientation indicator identify a second different direction as the orientation of the device.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting an incremental translational movement of the device;

computing a direction of the incremental translational movement of the device;

expanding the translational movement representation in the computed direction;

during the incremental translational movement, using an internal compass of the device to determine whether the orientation of the device has changed; and

upon detecting a change in the orientation of the device during the incremental translational movement, adjusting the orientation indicator to identify a new orientation for the device.

18. The method of any of claims 1,

wherein the device comprises a magnetometer that detects (i) the earth'"'"'s magnetic field at a current position of the device, and (ii) the orientation of the device with respect to the earth'"'"'s magnetic field;

wherein the displayed orientation indicator is based on the detected orientation of the device;

wherein displaying the representation of the device'"'"'s movement comprises iteratively computing incremental translational movements of the device, and generating the movement representation based on the incremental computations.

19. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program comprising sets of instructions for:

on a display screen of a device, displaying a representation of a route traversed by the device;

receiving a request to travel back to a location on the route; and

to facilitate the device'"'"'s backward travel along the route to the location, displaying on the screen an orientation tool to allow an orientation of the device to be aligned with the displayed route representation as the device travels backward along the route to the location.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 19, wherein the set of instructions for receiving the request comprises receiving an identification of the location on the displayed route representation.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 19, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for providing a navigation presentation to assist the device'"'"'s backward traversal along the route to the location, wherein the set of instructions for providing the navigation presentation comprises a set of instructions for displaying the orientation tool.

22. The machine readable medium of claim 19,

wherein the orientation tool includes an orientation indicator that identifies the orientation of the device;

wherein the orientation tool updates a position of the orientation indicator as the device changes directions.

23. The machine readable medium of claim 19,

wherein the orientation tool includes an orientation region that generally specifies the orientation of the device;

wherein the orientation tool updates the position of the orientation region as the device changes directions.

24. The machine readable medium of claim 19, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for providing feedbacks to maintain the alignment of the orientation of the device with the displayed route representation as the device traverses backwards along the route.

25. The machine readable medium of claim 24, wherein the feedbacks comprise at least a visual feedback.

26. The machine readable medium of claim 25, wherein the visual feed back comprises displaying a colored user interface (UI) item over the route representation when the orientation of the device is not aligned with the route representation.

27. The machine readable medium of claim 24, wherein the feedbacks comprise at least one of a haptic feedback and an audio feedback.

28. The machine readable medium of claim 22, wherein the location is presented with a selectable user interface (UI) item, wherein the set of instructions for receiving the request to travel back to the location comprises a set of instructions for receiving a selection of the UI item.

29. The machine readable medium of claim 28, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for displaying elevation information associated with the location upon selection of the UI item.

30. The machine readable medium of claim 29, wherein the elevation information is based on data provided by one or more sensors of the device.

31. The machine readable medium of claim 30, wherein the one or more sensors comprise at least a barometer.

32. A device comprising:

a display screen; and

a back tracking tool to provide a representation of a route traveled by the device and to provide an orientation indicator that identifies an orientation of the device, the orientation indicator facilitating the device'"'"'s backward travel through the route by allowing the orientation of the device to be aligned with the representation of the route as the device travels backwards along the route.