Systems and methods for facilitating an input to an electronic device

• US 8,819,576 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2011
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Ignor, Matthew Michael, Coulson, Simon Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): TITCOMB, WILLIAM D
• Application Number:
  US13/103,359
• Publication Number:
  US 20120290965A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,205 Days
• Field of Search: 715/744, 715/740, 715/764, 345/173, 345/168
• US Class Current: 715/779
• 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 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• 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

Systems and methods for facilitating an input to an electronic device are described herein. An example method for facilitating an input field of an electronic device includes presenting a menu item for selection while the electronic device is in a first physical state and identifying the menu item selected when the electronic device is in the first physical state. The method includes detecting whether the electronic device is in a second physical state after selection of the menu item and presenting an input field associated with the menu item selected.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating an input to an electronic device, the method comprising:

presenting a menu item for selection while the electronic device is in a first orientation, wherein the menu item corresponds to an application;

detecting a first instance and a second instance associated with the application that are running or active when the electronic device is in the first orientation, the first instance being different than the second instance;

displaying only the first instance of the application when the electronic device is in the first orientation;

detecting that the electronic device in a second orientation different than the first orientation; and

displaying a first icon representative of the first instance and a second icon representative of the second instance in response to detecting the electronic device moving from the first orientation to the second orientation when the first instance of the application is displayed in the first orientation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first orientation comprises the electronic device being in a portrait orientation and the second orientation comprises the electronic device being in a landscape orientation.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a cursor location when the first application is in a single application dedicated level and the electronic device is in the first orientation.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising displaying the first and second icons representative of the first and second instances when the cursor is detected in a first location or field input of the first instance of the application when the electronic device is in the first orientation prior to the electronic device being moved to the second orientation.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing a signal provided by an accelerometer to determine if the electronic device is in the first orientation or a vertical orientation and in the second orientation or a horizontal orientation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the application comprises an internet browser application and the first and second icons presented when the electronic device is in the second orientation are representative of respective first and second active web pages of the internet browser application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the application comprises an instant message application and the first and second icons presented when the electronic device is in the second orientation are representative of respective first and second active instant messages.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the application comprises an email application and the first and second icons presented when the electronic device is in the second orientation are representative of respective first and second active email messages.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling selection of the first and second icons representative of the respective first and second instances when the electronic device is in the second orientation.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising identifying selection of the second icon representative of the second instance when the electronic device is in the second orientation.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising detecting the electronic device being rotated from the second orientation to the first orientation after selection of the second icon when the electronic device is in the second orientation.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying only the second instance in a single application dedicated level in response to detecting the electronic device being rotated from the second orientation to the first orientation.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a third icon representative of a second application when the electronic device is in the second orientation, wherein the second application is active but not displayed when the electronic device is in the first orientation.

14. A method for facilitating an input to an electronic device comprising:

detecting a first application and a second application that are running or active when the electronic device is in a portrait orientation;

displaying only the first application when the electronic device is in a portrait orientation; and

displaying for selection a first icon representative of the first application and a second icon representative of the second application in response to detecting a housing of the electronic device being moved from the portrait orientation to a landscape orientation when the first application is displayed in the portrait orientation.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting whether the housing of the electronic device is in the portrait orientation or the landscape orientation comprises processing a signal provided by an accelerometer to detect whether the housing is rotated.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining a state of the first application when the electronic device is in the portrait orientation.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the state of an application comprises determining whether the first application being presented is in a single application dedicated level when the electronic device is in the portrait orientation.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising detecting whether a cursor is in a “

text”

field and detecting whether the cursor is in a “

to sender”

field when the first application is in the single application dedicated level prior to displaying the first and second icons representative of the respective first and second applications in response to detecting the electronic device being moved to the landscape orientation.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising displaying the first and second icons representative of the first and second applications when the cursor is detected in the “

text”

field when the first application is displayed in the portrait orientation.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising enabling selection between the first icon representative of the first application and the second icon representative of the second application when the electronic device is in the landscape orientation.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising identifying the second icon representative of the second application selected when the housing is in the landscape orientation.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising displaying only the second application in a single application dedicated level in response to detecting the housing being moved from the landscape orientation to the portrait orientation, wherein the first application is running or active and not displayed when the housing is moved from the landscape orientation to the portrait orientation.

23. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying a third icon representative of a first instance associated with the first application that is active and running and a fourth icon representative associated with a second instance of the first application that is active and running when the first icon representative of the first application is highlighted or selected when the electronic device is in the landscape orientation.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising displaying a fifth icon representative of a third instance associated with the second application that is active and running and a sixth icon representative of a fourth instance associated with the second application that is active and running when the second icon representative of the second application is highlighted or selected when the electronic device is in the landscape orientation.

25. The method of claim 14, further comprising identifying a selection of sixth icon representative of the fourth instance of the second application and displaying the fourth instance of the second application in a single application dedicated level in response to detecting the electronic device from the landscape orientation to the portrait orientation.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising displaying the first and second icons representative of the respective first and second applications on a first row and displaying the third, fourth, fifth and sixth icons representative of the respective first, second, third and fourth instances on a second row different than the first row.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising displaying only the third and fourth icons representative of the respective first and second instances in the second row when the first icon representative of the first application is selected or highlighted when the electronic device is in the landscape orientation.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising displaying only the fifth and sixth icons in the second row representative of the respective third and fourth instances when the second icon representative of the second application is selected or highlighted when the electronic device is in the landscape orientation.

29. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to:

present a menu item for selection when an electronic device is in a first orientation, wherein the menu item corresponds to an application;

detect a first instance and a second instance associated with the application that are running or active when the electronic device is in the first orientation;

display only the first instance of the application when the electronic device is in the first orientation;

detect the electronic device in a second orientation different than the first orientation; and

display a first icon representative of the first instance and a second icon representative of the second instance in response to detecting the electronic device moving from the first orientation to the second orientation when the first instance of the application is displayed in the first orientation.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as defined in claim 29 comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to detect the first orientation of the electronic device and detect the second orientation of the electronic device.

31. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as defined in claim 29 comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to detect proximity of cursor location when the application is in a single application dedicated level and the electronic device is in the first orientation.

32. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as defined in claim 31 comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to display the first icon and the second icon in response to detecting the cursor being in a first location or input field when the electronic device is in the first orientation prior to detecting movement of the electronic to the second orientation.

33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as defined in claim 29 comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to identify selection of the second icon representative of the second instance when the electronic device is in the second orientation and detect the electronic device being rotated to the first orientation after selection of the second icon while the electronic device is in the second orientation.

34. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as defined in claim 33 comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to display the second instance in a single application dedicated level in response to detecting the electronic device being moved to the first orientation after identifying selection of the second icon when the electronic device is in the second orientation.