CROWN INPUT FOR A WEARABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE

• US 20160170598A1
• Filed: 02/20/2016
• Published: 06/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Zambetti, Nicholas, Chaudhri, Imran, DASCOLA, Jonathan R., Dye, Alan C., FOSS, Christopher Patrick, GUZMAN, Aurelio, Karunamuni, Chanaka G., Kerr, Duncan Robert, Lemay, Stephen O., Wilson, Christopher, Wilson, Eric Lance, YANG, Lawrence Y., BUTCHER, Gary Ian, Ive, Jonathan P., Lynch, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 10,503,388 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to manipulating a user interface on a wearable electronic device using a mechanical crown. In some examples, the user interface can be scrolled or scaled in response to a rotation of the crown. The direction of the scrolling or scaling and the amount of scrolling or scaling can depend on the direction and amount of rotation of the crown, respectively. In some examples, the amount of scrolling or scaling can be proportional to the change in rotation angle of the crown. In other examples, a speed of scrolling or a speed of scaling can depend on a speed of angular rotation of the crown. In these examples, a greater speed of rotation can cause a greater speed of scrolling or scaling to be performed on the displayed view.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for:

receiving crown position information associated with a physical crown of an electronic device;

determining whether a rotation of the physical crown has occurred based on the received crown position information; and

in response to determining that the rotation of the physical crown has occurred, causing at least a portion of a plurality of applications displayed on a touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of applications comprises all applications stored on the electronic device.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of applications comprises all open applications on the electronic device.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of applications comprises a user-generated set of applications on the electronic device.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium further comprises instructions for causing a display of a first application of the plurality of applications on the touch-sensitive display, and wherein causing at least a portion of a plurality of applications displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled based on the rotation of the physical crown comprises:

in response to the rotation of the physical crown being in a first rotation direction, causing a scrolling to a second application of the plurality of applications in a first scroll direction; and

in response to the rotation of the physical crown being in a second rotation direction;

causing a scrolling to a third application of the plurality of applications in a second scroll direction.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprises a watch.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein determining whether the rotation of the physical crown has occurred based on the received crown position information comprises determining an amount of rotation of the physical crown of the electronic device, and wherein causing at least a portion of a plurality of applications displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled comprises causing the touch-sensitive display to scroll through the at least a portion of the plurality of applications by a distance that is proportional to the amount of rotation of the physical crown.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein determining whether the rotation of the physical crown has occurred based on the received crown position information comprises determining a speed and a direction of rotation of the physical crown of the electronic device, and wherein causing at least a portion of a plurality of applications displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled comprises causing the touch-sensitive display to scroll through the at least a portion of the plurality of applications by a distance that is based on the speed and direction of rotation of the physical crown.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the crown position information comprises an absolute rotational position of the physical crown.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the crown position information comprises a change in rotational position of the physical crown over a length of time.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the physical crown is a mechanical crown.

12. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving crown position information associated with a physical crown of an electronic device;

determining whether a rotation of the physical crown has occurred based on the received crown position information; and

in response to determining that the rotation of the physical crown has occurred, causing at least a portion of a plurality of applications displayed on a touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled.

13. An electronic device comprising:

one or more processors;

a physical crown operatively coupled to the one or more processors; and

a touch-sensitive display operatively coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more processors configured to;

receive crown position information associated with the physical crown;

determine whether a rotation of the physical crown has occurred based on the received crown position information; and

in response to determining that the rotation of the physical crown has occurred, cause at least a portion of a plurality of applications displayed on the touch-sensitive display to be scrolled.