Touch wheel zoom and pan

• US 8,970,633 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2007
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Fong, Chee Keat
• Primary Examiner(s): WANG, JIN CHENG
• Application Number:
  US12/808,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20100271401A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,624 Days
• Field of Search: 345/659, 345660-667, 345/694, 345/810, 345/856, 345/619, 345173-174, 345/169
• US Class Current: 345/661
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• 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

Abstract

Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with controlling zooming and panning on a handheld computing device (e.g., personal digital assistant (PDA)) are described. A PDA may include a touch sensor that can generate both rotational and flick signals. A PDA may display images at different zoom levels. When “zoomed in”, less than an entire image may be displayed. Therefore a PDA may pan to different viewable image portions. An example system includes a receive logic to receive a rotational signal from the touch sensor. The rotational signal has a direction that indicates a desired zoom level change. The example system includes a control logic to change the zoom level in response to the rotational signal and to control the PDA to display the image in accordance with the updated zoom level.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

a touch sensor;

one or more processing resources; and

one or more memory resources storing a set of images and instructions that when executed by the one or more processing resources, cause the computing device to;

receive a rotational input on the touch sensor corresponding to a change in a zoom level of a displayed image from the set of images;

receive a flick input on the touch sensor, the flick input including flick direction;

in response to receiving the rotational input, change the zoom level of the displayed image;

in response to receiving the flick input, determine whether the zoom level is greater than a minimum zoom level;

in response to determining that the zoom level is greater than the minimum zoom level, pan the displayed image according to the flick direction; and

in response to determining that the zoom level is not greater than the minimum zoom level, scroll to a second image from the set of images.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the touch sensor is circular in shape comprising a closed loop defined by an outer ring and an inner ring, and wherein the rotational input is received on a surface of the closed loop in between the outer ring and the inner ring.

3. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the flick input is received on the surface of the closed loop in between the outer ring and the inner ring of the touch sensor.

4. The system computing device of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions cause the computing device to selectively increase the zoom level in response to a clockwise rotational input and selectively decrease the zoom level in response to a counterclockwise rotational input.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions further cause the computing device to:

determine an angular velocity of the rotational input;

wherein the executed instructions cause the computing device to change the zoom level of the displayed image at a rate based on the angular velocity.

6. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the flick input is received on a surface encompassed by the inner ring of the touch sensor.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions further cause the computing device to:

determine a flick velocity of the flick input;

wherein, when the zoom level is greater than the minimum zoom level, the executed instructions cause the computing device to scroll the image at a rate based on the flick velocity.

8. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the flick velocity is associated with a number of flick motion signals received by the touch sensor within a predetermined period of time.

9. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the executed instructions further cause the computing device to:

when the zoom level is not greater than the minimum zoom level, determine whether the flick direction is in a first predetermined direction or a second predetermined direction;

in response to determining that the flick direction is in the first predetermined direction, scroll to a previous image from the set of images; and

in response to determining that the flick direction is in the second predetermined direction, scroll to a subsequent image from the set of images.

10. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the touch sensor is at least one of a resistive touch sensor, a capacitive touch sensor, an inductive touch sensor, a surface acoustic wave sensing touch sensor, a pressure sensing touch sensor, an optical sensing touch sensor, or an electro-mechanical touch sensor.

11. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the touch sensor is either (i) overlaid on a keypad of the computing device, (ii) integrated into a keypad of the computing device, or (iii) integrated with a touch-sensitive display of the computing device.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving a zoom input on a touch sensor of the computing device, the zoom input corresponding to a change in a zoom level of a displayed image from a set of images;

in response to receiving the zoom input, changing the zoom level of the displayed image;

receiving a directional input on the touch sensor;

in response to receiving the directional input, determining whether the zoom level is greater than a minimum zoom level;

in response to determining that the zoom level is greater than the minimum zoom level, panning the displayed image in a direction corresponding to the directional input; and

in response to determining that the zoom level is not greater than the minimum zoom level, scrolling to a second image in the set of images.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the touch sensor is circular in shape comprising a closed loop, the closed loop being defined by an outer ring and an inner ring, and wherein the zoom input is received on a surface of the closed loop, and wherein the directional input is received on an area within the inner ring.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the zoom input is a rotational input, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to perform further operations comprising:

determining an angular velocity of the rotational input;

wherein the executed instructions cause the computing device to change the zoom state level at a rate based on the angular velocity.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to perform further operations comprising:

determining a directional velocity of the directional input;

wherein, when the zoom level is greater than the minimum zoom level, the executed instructions cause the computing device to scroll the displayed image at a rate based on the directional velocity.

16. A computer-implemented method for controlling zooming and panning of a displayed image, from a set of images, on computing device, the method being performed by one or more processors of the computing device and comprising:

receiving a zoom input on a touch sensor of the computing device, the zoom input corresponding to a change in a zoom level of the displayed image;

in response to receiving the zoom input, changing the zoom level of the displayed image;

receiving a directional input on the touch sensor;

in response to receiving the directional input, determining whether the zoom level is greater than a minimum zoom level;

in response to determining that the zoom level is greater than the minimum zoom level, panning the displayed image in a direction corresponding to the directional input; and

in response to determining that the zoom level is not greater than the minimum zoom level, scrolling to a second image in the set of images.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the touch sensor is circular in shape comprising a closed loop, the closed loop being defined by an outer ring and an inner ring, and wherein the zoom input is received on a surface of the closed loop, and wherein the directional input is received on an area within the inner ring.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining an angular velocity of the zoom input, the zoom input being a rotational input;

wherein the one or more processors are to change the zoom level at a rate based on the angular velocity.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining a directional velocity of the directional input;

wherein, when the zoom level is greater than the minimum zoom level, the one or more processors are to scroll the displayed image at a rate based on the directional velocity.