Tilt-based pointing for hand-held devices
First Claim
1. A hand-held device, comprising:
- a display screen operable to display a pointer at any one of a plurality of pointer screen locations;
an orientation sensor operable to provide an indication of orientation of the hand held device; and
a controller configured to compute a pointer screen location where a pointer is to be displayed on the display screen based upon multiple device orientation indications provided by the orientation sensor over time;
wherein the controller is operable to compute an average position of the hand-held device based upon multiple device orientation indications provided by the orientation sensor over time, the controller is operable to compute a relative center position of the display screen based upon the computed average hand-held device position, and the controller is operable to compute the pointer screen location with respect to the computed relative center position of the display screen.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods of pointing in hand-held devices are described. In accordance with this scheme, a user may control the position where a pointer is displayed on a display screen simply by changing the orientation of the hand-held device relative to a currently preferred device orientation, which is tracked automatically. In addition, unintentional device orientation changes, such as periodic device orientation changes that might be caused by carrying the hand-held device while walking or driving, are filtered out dynamically. In this way, the pointer may be positioned accurately and reliably at any one of a plurality of pointer screen locations based upon changes in device orientation under a wide variety of different usage conditions.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A hand-held device, comprising:
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a display screen operable to display a pointer at any one of a plurality of pointer screen locations;
an orientation sensor operable to provide an indication of orientation of the hand held device; and
a controller configured to compute a pointer screen location where a pointer is to be displayed on the display screen based upon multiple device orientation indications provided by the orientation sensor over time;
wherein the controller is operable to compute an average position of the hand-held device based upon multiple device orientation indications provided by the orientation sensor over time, the controller is operable to compute a relative center position of the display screen based upon the computed average hand-held device position, and the controller is operable to compute the pointer screen location with respect to the computed relative center position of the display screen. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A hand-held device, comprising:
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a display screen operable to display a pointer at any one of a plurality of pointer screen locations;
an orientation sensor operable to provide an indication of orientation of the hand held device; and
a controller configured to compute a pointer screen location where a pointer is to be displayed on the display screen based upon multiple device orientation indications provided by the orientation sensor over time;
wherein the controller is configured to update the computed pointer screen location once every sampling period, and the controller is configured to cause the location where the pointer is displayed on the display screen to be updated once every tracking delay period; and
wherein the controller is configured to increment the computed pointer screen location one unit toward a center display screen location before causing the pointer to be displayed on the display screen.
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8. A hand-held device, comprising:
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a display screen operable to display a pointer at any one of a plurality of pointer screen locations;
an orientation sensor operable to provide an indication of orientation of the hand held device; and
a controller configured to compute a pointer screen location where a pointer is to be displayed on the display screen based upon multiple device orientation indications provided by the orientation sensor over time;
wherein the controller is configured to update the computed pointer screen location once every sampling period, and the controller is configured to cause the location where the pointer is displayed on the display screen to be updated once every tracking delay period; and
wherein the controller is configured to compute a tracking delay period based upon changes in device tilt direction from one sampling period to another. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A method of pointing in a hand-held device, comprising:
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providing an indication of orientation of the hand-held device;
computing a pointer screen location where a pointer is to be displayed on a display screen based upon multiple device orientation indications provided by an orientation sensor over time;
computing an average position of the hand-held device based upon multiple device orientation indications provided by the orientation sensor over time;
computing a relative center position of the display screen based upon the computed average hand-held device position; and
computing the pointer screen location with respect to the computed relative center position of the display screen. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of pointing in a hand-held device, comprising:
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providing an indication of orientation of the hand-held device; and
computing a pointer screen location where a pointer is to be displayed on a display screen based upon multiple device orientation indications provided by an orientation sensor over time, wherein the computed pointer screen location is updated once every sampling period; and
updating the location wherein the pointer is displayed on the display screen once every tracking delay period;
further comprising incrementing the computed pointer screen location one unit toward a center display screen location before the pointer is displayed on the display screen.
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18. A method of pointing in a hand-held device, comprising:
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providing an indication of orientation of the hand-held device; and
computing a pointer screen location where a pointer is to be displayed on a display screen based upon multiple device orientation indications provided by an orientation sensor over time, wherein the computed pointer screen location is updated once every sampling period; and
updating the location wherein the pointer is displayed on the display screen once every tracking delay period;
further comprising computing a tracking delay period based upon changes in device tilt direction from one sampling period to another. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. A hand-held device, comprising:
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a display screen;
an orientation sensor configured to provide an indication of orientation of the hand-held device; and
a controller configured to compute a pointer screen location based on device orientation indications provided by the orientation sensor over a period of time and to display a pointer at the pointer screen location on the display screen, wherein length of time between successive pointer screen locations computed and displayed depends at least in part on whether a change in tilt direction of the hand-held device has occurred. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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24. A method of pointing in a hand-held device, comprising:
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providing indications of orientation of the hand-held device over time; and
computing a pointer screen location based on the provided device orientation indications and displaying a pointer on a display screen at the pointer screen location;
wherein the computing and displaying step includes determining an amount of time from which device orientation indications can be used in computing and displaying the pointer screen location, the determining being based on whether a change in tilt direction of the hand-held device has occurred. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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Specification