PREVENTING SCREEN ROTATION DURING USE

• US 20170154610A1
• Filed: 12/01/2015
• Published: 06/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Jianbang, Li, Jian, Qian, Ming, Wang, Song
• Granted Patent: US 10,176,786 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/38 with means for controlling the display position

Abstract

For preventing a display from automatically rotating while receiving input from a user, an apparatus, method, and computer program product are disclosed. The apparatus includes a display device for presenting the user interface, a processor, and a memory that stores code executable by the processor. The processor (by executing the code) monitors for a user input event, prevents rotation of the user interface for a predetermined amount of time responsive to detecting the user input event, and allows rotation of the user interface responsive to expiration of the predetermined amount of time. The processor may initiate a timer to measure the predetermined amount of time. The processor may further detect an additional user input event during the predetermined amount of time and reset that the predetermined amount of time, responsive to detecting the additional user input event.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a display device for presenting a user interface;

a processor;

a memory that stores code executable by the processor to;

monitor for a user input event;

prevent rotation of the user interface for a predetermined amount of time in response to detecting the user input event; and

allow rotation of the user interface in response to expiration of the predetermined amount of time.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory further comprises code executable by the processor to initiate a timer in response to detecting the user input event, the timer measuring the predetermined amount of time, wherein allowing rotation of the displayed user interface in response to expiration of the predetermined amount of time comprises allowing rotation of the displayed user interface in response to expiration of the timer.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory further comprises code executable by the processor to monitor for a screen rotation event, wherein preventing rotation of a displayed user interface for a predetermined amount of time comprises preventing reporting of the screen rotation event.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory further comprises code executable by the processor to:

detect an additional user input event during the predetermined amount of time; and

reset the predetermined amount of time.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein detecting a user input event comprises detecting whether an on-screen software keyboard is being used.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein detecting a user input event comprises detecting a plurality of single-tap touch events within a threshold time frame. (Original) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein detecting a user input event comprises detecting text being inserted into a text input field.

8. A method comprising:

detecting, by use of a processor, a user input event;

preventing rotation of a displayed user interface for a predetermined amount of time in response to detecting the user input event; and

allowing rotation of the displayed user interface in response to expiration of the predetermined amount of time.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising initiating a timer in response to detecting the user input event, the timer measuring the predetermined amount of time.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein allowing rotation of the displayed user interface in response to expiration of the predetermined amount of time comprises allowing rotation of the displayed user interface in response to expiration of the timer.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising monitoring for a screen rotation event, wherein preventing rotation of a displayed user interface for a predetermined amount of time comprises preventing reporting of the screen rotation event.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

detecting an additional user input event during the predetermined amount of time; and

resetting the predetermined amount of time.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein detecting a user input event comprises detecting a plurality of single-tap touch events within a threshold time frame.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein detecting a user input event comprises detecting that a user is typing.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting that a user is typing comprises detecting that an on-screen software keyboard is being used.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting a user input event comprises detecting text being inserted into a text input field.

17. A program product comprising a computer readable storage medium that stores code executable by a processor, the executable code comprising code to perform:

monitoring for a user input event;

preventing rotation of a displayed user interface for a predetermined amount of time in response to detecting the user input event; and

allowing rotation of the displayed user interface in response to expiration of the predetermined amount of time.

18. The program product of claim 17, the code further to perform initiating a timer in response to detecting the user input event, the timer measuring the predetermined amount of time.

19. The program product of claim 17, the code further to perform:

detecting an additional user input event during the predetermined amount of time; and

resetting the predetermined amount of time.

20. The program product of claim 17, wherein detecting a user input event comprises an action selected from the group comprising:

detecting that a user is typing and detecting a voice input from the user.