Selectability of objects on a touch-screen display

• US 8,799,777 B1
• Filed: 07/13/2009
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Lee, Woojae, Perez, Cesar, Dreiling, Ryan Patrick, Cole, Jason D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdul-Ali, Omar
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUONG H
• Application Number:
  US12/501,719
• Time in Patent Office: 1,849 Days
• Field of Search: 715/773, 715/702, 345/173
• US Class Current: 715/702
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• 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 system and method for disambiguating a selection made on a touch-screen display is provided. Embodiments of the present invention determine when selectable objects are either too small or too closely spaced together to be easily selected through a touch-screen display. The selectablity of these objects may be improved by presenting them for selection in an enhanced presentation. The enhanced presentation may be generated by zooming into selectable objects or rerendering the display to increase the space between the selectable objects. Display of the enhanced presentation may be triggered by detecting selection of a selectable object.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having one or more computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of enhancing selectability of objects displayed on a touch-screen display, the method comprising:

determining that a selection cluster is displayed in a user interface on the touch-screen display, wherein the selection cluster comprises a threshold number of two or more selectable objects displayed within a threshold screen area, and wherein the selectable objects are separated by a distance which is less than a threshold distance, wherein the threshold distance is based on a size of each of the selectable objects such that the threshold distance is shorter for large objects and longer for small objects;

receiving through the touch-screen display a first user selection of an individual selectable object within the selection cluster;

displaying an enhanced presentation that includes the individual selectable object and at least a portion of the selectable objects within the selection cluster, wherein the enhanced presentation increases the distance between the selectable objects within the selection cluster by zooming into a portion of the user interface comprising the selection cluster and at least one non-selectable object according to a degree of zoom based on the distance between the selectable objects and a size of each selectable object;

receiving a second user selection through the touch-screen display of the individual selectable object within the enhanced presentation; and

changing content displayed on the touch-screen display according to instructions associated with selection of the individual selectable object.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein determining that the two or more of the selectable objects form the selection cluster is based on an analysis of recent user selections that indicate the user is selecting an unintended selectable object.

3. The media of claim 2, wherein the user is selecting the unintended selectable object when two selections of a particular selectable object are followed by a back arrow within a threshold period of time.

4. The media of claim 1, wherein said selection cluster includes textual links with less than a threshold line spacing.

5. The media of claim 1, wherein the enhanced presentation is generated by automatically zooming into a portion of the user interface around the individual selectable object.

6. The media of claim 5, wherein the enhanced presentation is displayed in a pop-up window.

7. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having one or more computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of enhancing selectability of objects displayed on a touch-screen display, the method comprising:

receiving, through the touch-screen display, a first indication that a physical object is contacting the touch-screen display at a first location corresponding to a first selectable object being displayed in a user interface on the touch-screen display, thereby indicating a presumptive selection of the first selectable object;

determining that the first selectable object is part of a selection cluster comprising a threshold number of two or more selectable objects displayed within a threshold screen area and wherein the first selectable object is less than a threshold distance from a second selectable object of the selection cluster, wherein the threshold distance is based on a size of each of the selectable objects such that the threshold distance is shorter for large objects and longer for small objects;

prior to taking action based on the presumptive selection of the first selectable object, displaying an enhanced presentation of the selection cluster, wherein the enhanced presentation increases a distance between the selectable objects within the selection cluster by zooming into a portion of the user interface comprising the selectable objects and at least one non-selectable object according to a degree of zoom based on the distance between the selectable objects and a size of each selectable object; and

receiving, through the touch-screen display, a second indication that the physical object is touching the touch-screen display at a second location corresponding to an individual selectable object presented in the enhanced presentation, thereby indicating a definite selection of the individual selectable object.

8. The media of claim 7, wherein the first selectable object and the second selectable object are textual links, and wherein the threshold distance is less than a threshold line spacing.

9. The media of claim 7, wherein the enhanced presentation is generated by automatically zooming into an area around the first selectable object and the second selectable object.

10. The media of claim 9, wherein the enhanced presentation is displayed in a pop-up window.

11. The media of claim 7, wherein the enhanced presentation displays the first selectable object and the second selectable object with increased distance between the first selectable object and the second selectable object without changing a size of the first selectable object and the second selectable object.

12. The media of claim 7, further comprising highlighting the first selectable object within the enhanced presentation, thereby indicating the first selectable object is presumptively selected.

13. A method of disambiguating a selection of an object on a touch-screen display, the method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile device that is coupled to the touch-screen display, a first indication that a physical object is held on the touch-screen display at a first location on the touch-screen display longer than a threshold time period;

determining that a selectable object is displayed on a user interface proximate to the first location on the touch-screen display, wherein the selectable object is part of a selection cluster comprising a threshold number of two or more selectable objects displayed within a threshold area of the touch-screen display and separated by a distance which is less than a threshold distance, wherein the threshold distance is based on a size of each of the selectable objects such that the threshold distance is shorter for large objects and longer for small objects;

changing the user interface to enlarge the selection cluster indicating that the selectable object within the enlarged selection cluster is presumptively selected by zooming into a portion of the user interface comprising the selectable objects and at least one non-selectable object according to a degree of zoom based on the distance between the selectable objects and a size of each selectable object;

receiving a second indication that the physical object has been removed from the touch-screen display and was last in contact with the touch-screen display at a second location that is proximate to where a particular selectable object is displayed on the touch-screen display within the selection cluster; and

changing the user interface according to an instruction associated with selecting the particular selectable object.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first location is the same as the second location and the particular selectable object is the same as the selectable object.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further includes:

determining that the physical object moved to the second location without breaking contact with the touch-screen display;

determining that a new selectable object is displayed on the touch-screen display proximate to the second location;

changing an appearance of the new selectable object to indicate that the new selectable object is presumptively selected by a user of the mobile device; and

wherein the new selectable object is the particular selectable object.