Dial control for mobile devices

• US 8,954,895 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Issued: 02/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Yaksick, Jeffrey D., Brown, David A., Cleron, Michael A., Rosaen, Karl, Gandhi, Amar S., Miller, James B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuyetlien
• Application Number:
  US13/250,010
• Time in Patent Office: 1,229 Days
• Field of Search: 715/834, 715/863, 715/864
• US Class Current: 715/863
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• 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 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Implementations of the present disclosure provide dial controls on a mobile computing device. In one aspect, a method includes displaying a first function graphic in a dial control, the first function graphic being displayed at a first base position on a touchscreen display of a mobile device, detecting a user selection in a first region of the touchscreen display, the first region being associated with the first function graphic, detecting user motion corresponding to the user selection, animating the dial control to rotate for arcing movement of the first function graphic from the first base position on the touchscreen display in response to detecting user motion, determining a measure of user motion, comparing the measure of user motion to a threshold measure, and performing one or more functions on the mobile device in response to the measure of user motion exceeding the threshold measure.

Claims

1. A mobile device, comprising:

a touchscreen display;

one or more processors; and

a computer-readable storage medium coupled to the one or more processors having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

displaying a first function graphic in a first dial control, a second function graphic in a second dial control, and a third function graphic in a third dial control, the first, the second, and the third dial controls displayed within an arc, the first dial control displayed at a first base position on the touchscreen display, the second dial control displayed at a second base position on the touchscreen display, and the third dial control displayed at a third base position on the touchscreen display, with the first, second and third base positions each differing;

detecting a user selection in a first region of the touchscreen display, the first region associated with the first function graphic;

in response to detecting the user selection in the first region associated with the first function graphic, removing the second function graphic from the second dial control and removing the third function graphic from the third dial control;

detecting user motion corresponding to the user selection;

in response to detecting the user motion,

animating an arcing movement of the first dial control, including the first function graphic, from the first base position on the touchscreen display across the arc, and animating an arcing movement of the second dial control, absent the second function graphic, from the second, differing base position on the touchscreen display across the arc;

determining a measure of the user motion;

comparing the measure of the user motion to a threshold measure;

performing one or more functions on the mobile device associated with the user selection in response to the measure of the user motion exceeding the threshold measure; and

modifying the first function graphic based on performing the one or more functions associated with the first function graphic.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the one or more functions comprise entering or exiting an unlocked mode, answering or declining a received call, changing a mode of a ringer, and executing an application on the mobile device.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise continuing animation of the first dial control to rotate on the touchscreen display in response to the measure of the user motion exceeding the threshold measure.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting cessation of the user selection;

determining, upon detecting cessation of the user selection, that the degree of the user motion is less than the threshold degree; and

animating the first dial control to rotate for arcing movement of the first dial control back to the first base position on the touchscreen display.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the one or more functions further comprise:

removing the arc from the touchscreen display; and

displaying a plurality of icons on the touchscreen display, each icon corresponding to a respective application executable by the mobile device.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise displaying a first instructional graphic in response to detecting the user selection.

7. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the first instructional graphic comprises characters and an arcing arrow.

8. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

displaying a first function graphic in a first dial control, a second function graphic in a second dial control, and a third function graphic in a third dial control, the first, the second, and the third dial controls displayed within an arc, the first dial control displayed at a first base position on a touchscreen display of a mobile device, the second dial control displayed at a second base position on the touchscreen display of the mobile device, and the third dial control displayed at a third base position on the touchscreen display of the mobile device, with the first, second and third base positions each differing;

detecting a user selection in a first region of the touchscreen display, the first region associated with the first function graphic;

in response to detecting the user selection in the first region associated with the first function graphic, removing the second function graphic from the second dial control and removing the third function graphic from the third dial control;

detecting user motion corresponding to the user selection;

in response to detecting the user motion,

animating an arcing movement of the first dial control, including the first function graphic, from the first base position on the touchscreen display across the arc, and animating an arcing movement of the second dial control, absent the second function graphic, from the second, differing base position on the touchscreen display across the arc;

determining a measure of the user motion;

comparing the measure of the user motion to a threshold measure;

performing one or more functions on the mobile device associated with the user selection in response to the measure of the user motion exceeding the threshold measure; and

modifying the first function graphic based on performing the one or more functions associated with the first function graphic.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

displaying a first function graphic in a first dial control, a second function graphic in a second dial control, and a third function graphic in a third dial control, the first, the second, and the third dial controls displayed within an arc, the first dial control displayed at a first base position on a touchscreen display of a mobile device, the second dial control displayed at a second base position on the touchscreen display of the mobile device, and the third dial control displayed at a third base position on the touchscreen display of the mobile device, with the first, second and third base positions each differing;

detecting a user selection in a first region of the touchscreen display, the first region associated with the first function graphic;

in response to detecting the user selection in the first region associated with the first function graphic, removing the second function graphic from the second dial control and removing the third function graphic from the third dial control;

detecting user motion corresponding to the user selection;

in response to detecting the user motion,

animating an arcing movement of the first dial control, including the first function graphic, from the first base position on the touchscreen display across the arc, and animating an arcing movement of the second dial control, absent the second function graphic, from the second, differing base position on the touchscreen display across the arc;

determining a measure of the user motion;

comparing the measure of the user motion to a threshold measure;

performing one or more functions on the mobile device associated with the user selection in response to the measure of the user motion exceeding the threshold measure; and

modifying the first function graphic based on performing the one or more functions associated with the first function graphic.