Electronic device and method of controlling a display

• US 8,902,184 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2012
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Rydenhag, Daniel Tobias, Lessing, Robert Simon, Lindsay, Donald James, Kaiser, Devin Jay
• Primary Examiner(s): Hicks, Charles V
• Application Number:
  US13/563,444
• Publication Number:
  US 20130227478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 854 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• 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: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041

Abstract

A method comprises detecting, by a portable electronic device having a display, a gesture, selecting a category of selectable items based on the gesture. The method further comprises identifying one or more selectable items within the selected category to be displayed, and displaying the one or more selectable items.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by a portable electronic device having a display, a gesture;

selecting, based on the gesture, a category of selectable items from a plurality of categories, each of the plurality of categories defined by a characteristic unique to the selectable items of each category;

identifying, based on a selection criteria, one or more selectable items within the selected category to be displayed, wherein the selectable items within at least one of the selected category to be displayed include information associated with a communication received by the electronic device; and

displaying the one or more selectable items.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is operable in at least one of a low-power condition and a locked condition.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the gesture comprises at least one of a gesture detected by a touch-sensitive display and a 3D spatial gesture.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising detecting a direction of movement of the gesture.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the gesture comprises a first section and a second section and as the gesture progresses from the first section to the second section, the portable device is arranged to display the identified one or more selectable items.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first section of the gesture comprises a single pointing gesture.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein detecting the gesture comprises detecting continuous movement from the first section to the second section.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

detecting a change in direction of the movement of the gesture from the first section to the second section; and

triggering the selecting a category of selectable items based on the detected change in direction.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a direction of movement of the gesture, and wherein displaying the one or more selectable items comprises animating the one or more selectable items, wherein the animation is aligned with the detected direction of the gesture.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected category of selectable items is selected from a group comprising notifications, communications, application icons, and widgets, and wherein the characteristic unique to the selectable items is unique to the selected category and the selectable items within the selected category.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein when the selected category is selected to be notifications, the method further comprises identifying at least one notification and an associated informational icon for each notification identified.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one notification comprises at least one of an email notification, a text message notification, and a calendar event.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one notification comprises a device condition of the portable electronic device.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising categorizing the at least one notification into one of two or more privacy categories, and varying an amount of additional information displayed in connection with the at least one notification in dependence on the identified privacy category.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein each of the two or more privacy categories are selected to be one of a secure category and a non-secure category.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising displaying one or more of sender details and content details for each notification identified as belonging to a non-secure category.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein when the portable electronic device is in a locked condition, the method further comprising displaying one or more of sender details and content details for each notification identified as belonging to a non-secure category.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to selection of a selectable item, the method comprises displaying the selectable item in an associated application.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein selection of a selectable item comprises detecting continuation of the gesture to an area displaying the selected selectable item.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein when the portable electronic device is in a locked condition, and when a selectable item has been selected, displaying an unlock option, and subsequently displaying the selected item upon successful authentication via the unlock option.

21. The method of claim 2, further comprising returning the portable electronic device to the low power condition when the gesture is discontinued or reverses toward a starting position of the gesture.

22. The method of claim 2, wherein no information is displayed on the display during the low-power condition.

23. The method of claim 10, wherein when the selected category of selectable items comprises widgets, the method comprises displaying a widget interface for displaying additional information.

24. The method of claim 10, wherein when the selected category of selectable items include application icons, the method comprises selecting a subset of application icons based on one or more selection criteria selected from the group comprising:

recently used, most popular, recently added, and user-defined favorites; and

displaying the subset of application icons.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising, when the portable electronic device is in a low-power condition and in response to detecting the first section of the gesture:

identifying any informational icons to be displayed; and

progressively illuminating the display while displaying the identified informational icons.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein progressively illuminating occurs while the gesture is detected.

27. An electronic device configured to perform the method of claim 1 and comprising a touch-sensitive display that detects the gesture.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable code executable by at least one processor of a portable electronic device to perform the method of claim 1.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the gesture corresponds to the category of selectable items.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the gesture is one of a plurality of gestures and wherein each of the plurality of gestures corresponds to one of a plurality of categories of selectable items.

31. The method of claim 5, further comprising unlocking or waking the device in response to detecting the first section of the gesture and displaying the category of the selectable items in response to detecting the second section of the gesture.

32. The method of claim 5, further comprising detecting a change in direction of the movement from the first section to the second section and displaying the category of selectable items upon detection of the change in direction.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the gesture comprises detecting the start location at any position on at least one of the display or a non-display area adjacent the display and proceeding along a path in one of a plurality of directions, wherein each category of selectable items from the plurality of categories is associated with a respective one of the plurality of directions.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising detecting movement of the gesture in a first direction of the plurality of directions.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising displaying a first category of selectable items from the plurality of categories in response to detecting the movement of the gesture in the first direction.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising detecting the gesture in a second direction of the plurality of directions and displaying a second category of selectable items from the plurality of categories in response to detecting the movement of the gesture in the second direction.

37. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the gesture comprises detecting a gesture having a start location not contingent on a predetermined start location.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the gesture comprises detecting a first instance of the gesture having a first start location and a second instance of the gesture having a second start location, the first instance being different than the second instance, and the first start location being at a position on at least one of the display or a non-display area adjacent the display that is different from a position of the second start location.