Miniature character input mechanism

• US 8,264,471 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2009
• Issued: 09/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Martensson, Joakim
• Primary Examiner(s): Tzeng, Fred
• Application Number:
  US12/564,419
• Publication Number:
  US 20110069012A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,085 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173, 345/167, 379/406.05, 379/21, 455/420, 340/438
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• 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

Abstract

A device includes a touch screen with a maximum of nine distinct touch areas, displays an input interface on the touch screen, where the input interface includes a scrollable character wheel, receives selections of characters from the character wheel, and displays the selected characters on the user interface. The receiving of selections includes detecting a scrolling up or down of the character wheel to position a character in a particular location, and detecting a pressing action on the character in the particular location. The input interface provides a way for a user to enter a phone number and place a call using only nine distinct touch areas.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a touch screen; and

logic configured to;

display an input interface on the touch screen, wherein the input interface includes a scrollable character wheel,

distinguish between a first type of input motion and a second type of input motion,

scroll the scrollable character wheel by a first number of characters in response to detecting the first type of input motion,

scroll the scrollable character wheel by a second number of characters in response to detecting the second type of input motion,

receive a selection of a character from the character wheel, and

display the selected character on the input interface, in response to receiving the selection.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the input interface further includes control buttons, wherein the control buttons comprise one or more of

a save button that saves selected characters in a memory,

a delete button that deletes a last character of the selected characters,

a call button that places a call using the selected characters, and

a return button that terminates display of the input interface.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the input interface comprises a three by three grid of input fields.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the scrollable character wheel includes characters of a telephone keypad.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the receiving one or more selections of characters include:

detecting a scrolling up or down of the scrollable character wheel to position a character in a particular location; and

detecting a pressing action on the character in the particular location.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the first type of input motion includes a dragging motion and the second type of input motion includes a flicking motion.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the logic is further configured to:

continue to scroll the scrollable character wheel while pressure is being applied to the scrollable character wheel.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the logic is further configured to:

detect a selection of a displayed character to edit, based on a horizontal dragging motion associated with the displayed character.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the scrollable character wheel comprises one or more character wheels, and where each of the one or more character wheels includes a subset of letters of an alphabet.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a mobile communication device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type of input motion includes a dragging motion and the second type of input motion includes a flicking motion.

11. A method performed by an electronic device, the method comprising:

providing, by a processor of the electronic device, a user interface on a touch screen of the electronic device, where the user interface includes a scrollable character wheel;

detecting by the processor, an input action via the scrollable character wheel;

determining, by the processor, whether the detected input action corresponds to a first type of input action or a second type of input action;

scrolling, by the processor, the scrollable character wheel by a first number of characters in response to determining that the input action corresponds to the first type of input action;

scrolling, by the processor, the scrollable character wheel by a second number of characters, in response to determining that the input action corresponds to the second type of input action;

receiving, by the processor, a selection of a character from the scrollable character wheel; and

displaying, by the processor, the selected character in the user interface, in response to receiving the selection.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving a selection of a character comprises:

detecting a scrolling up or down of the scrollable character wheel to position a character in a particular location; and

detecting a pressing action on the character in the particular location.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving a selection of a character and displaying the selected character are repeated multiple times to input a phone number into the electronic device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the user interface includes a call button, the method further comprising:

detecting a selection of the call button; and

placing a telephone call using the entered phone number.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving a selection of a character and displaying the selected character are repeated multiple times to display a set of displayed character, the method further comprising:

detecting a first horizontal dragging action associated with the displayed set of characters;

detecting a selection of one of the displayed set of characters;

detecting a selection of a character from the scrollable character wheel to replace the selected one of the displayed set of characters; and

detecting a second horizontal dragging action to resume entry of characters.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the user interface includes a maximum of nine distinct touch areas.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the scrollable character wheel comprises multiple letter wheels, each of the multiple letter wheels including a subset of characters of an alphabet, the method further comprising:

detecting a horizontal dragging motion to select one of the letter wheels, the selected letter wheel becoming the scrollable character wheel.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the user interface includes a character wheel icon and where receiving the selection of a character comprises:

detecting a pressure applied to the character wheel icon;

moving the scrollable character wheel while the pressure is applied to the character wheel icon;

detecting that the pressure is no longer applied to the character wheel icon;

stopping movement of the scrollable character wheel when the pressure is no longer applied to the character wheel icon; and

detecting a pressing action on a character located in a particular position of the scrollable character wheel.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions executable by one or more processors of an electronic device, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising:

one or more instructions to provide a user interface on a touch screen of the electronic device, where the user interface includes a scrollable character wheel and a call button;

one or more instructions to detect an input action via the scrollable character wheel;

one or more instructions to determine whether the detected input action corresponds to a first type of input action or a second type of input action;

one or more instructions to scroll the scrollable character wheel by a first number of characters, in response to determining that the input action corresponds to the first type of input action;

one or more instructions to scroll the scrollable character wheel by a second number of characters, in response to determining that the input action corresponds to the second type of input action;

one or more instructions to detect a pressing action on a selected character on the scrollable character wheel; and

one or more instructions to display the selected character in the user interface.