Touch-enabled device navigation system

• US 9,367,229 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Dowd, Geoffrey, Eismann, Ethan, Ing, Shikhiu, Moskalonek, Christoph
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisen, Alexander
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lin, Chun-Nan
• Application Number:
  US13/243,953
• Publication Number:
  US 20130127734A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,726 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-178
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces

Abstract

A touch-enabled device establishes a two-way connection with a computing device through a network. The computing device has a content authoring program stored therein. Further, the touch-enabled device displays a navigation menu. In addition, the touch-enabled device receives an input indicating a selected item from the navigation menu. The touch-enabled device sends the selected item to the computing device such that the computing device utilizes the selected item in the content authoring program. Further, the touch-enabled device receives, from the computing device, an indication that the computing device is utilizing the selected item in the content authoring program.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer useable storage device having a computer readable program that, responsive to execution on a touch-enabled device having a touch-enabled display device that is viewable by a user, causes the touch-enabled device to:

establish, from the touch-enabled device, a two-way connection with a computing device through a network, the computing device having a display device that is viewable by the user and a content authoring program stored therein that is configured to modify content, the display device of the computing device being different from the touch-enabled display device of the touch-enabled device;

receive, at the touch-enabled device, content from the content authoring program;

display, at the touch-enabled device, the content received from the content authoring program;

recognize, by the touch-enabled device, a disconnection of the two-way connection;

receive, at the touch-enabled device and from the user of the touch-enabled device, an input as part of user interaction editing the content received from the content authoring program; and

responsive to re-establishing the two-way connection at the touch-enabled device, send, from the touch-enabled device, the edited content to the content authoring program on the computing device such that the content authoring program is updated with the edited content, the updating enabling continuation of the user interaction with the content authoring program through the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the input editing the content received from the content authoring program is a touch gesture received at the touch-enabled device.

3. A method comprising:

establishing, from a touch-enabled device, a two-way connection with a computing device through a network, the touch-enabled device having a touch-enabled display that is viewable by a user and displaying a first graphical user interface, the computing device having a display that is viewable by the user and displaying a second graphical user interface and a content authoring program stored therein that is configured to modify the content, the display of the computing device being different from the touch-enabled display of the touch-enabled device;

displaying, at the touch-enabled device and in the first graphical user interface, a navigation menu;

receiving, at the touch-enabled device, an input as part of user interaction indicating a selection from within the navigation menu;

sending, from the touch-enabled device, the selection to the content authoring program on the computing device; and

causing the content authoring program on the computing device to display an indication of the selection in the second graphical user interface, the displayed indication enabling continuation of the user interaction with the content authoring program through the second graphical user interface.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the selection from within the navigation menu is a command selected to be performed by the content authoring program.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the command is selected from a command to change a color in the content authoring program, a command to change a tool in a toolbar in the content authoring program, or a command to select an image in the content authoring program.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising receiving a result of the command performed by the content authoring program through the network.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising caching the result such that the touch-enabled device retains the result if the two-way connection is disconnected.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the selection from within the navigation menu is a selection to zoom in on a document, and the indication of the selection displayed in the second graphical user interface is a display of the zoomed-in document.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the selection from within the navigation menu is a selection to change the layout of a set of documents, and the indication of the selection displayed in the second graphical user interface is a display of the documents in the changed layout.

10. The system of claim 3, wherein the selection from within the navigation menu is a selection to create a new document, and the indication of the selection displayed in the second graphical user interface is a display of the new document.

11. A system comprising:

an establishment module that establishes, from a touch-enabled device having a touch-enabled display that is viewable by a user, a two-way connection with a computing device through a network, the computing device having a display that is viewable by the user and a content authoring program stored therein that is configured to modify content, the display of the computing device being different from the touch-enabled display of the touch-enabled device;

a graphical user interface that displays, on the touch-enabled display of the touch-enabled device that is viewable by the user, a navigation menu, the navigation menu containing tools to be utilized for content authoring in the content authoring program on the computing device;

an input module that receives, at the touch-enabled device, a first input as part of user interaction customizing the navigation menu containing tools and a second input as part of the user interaction indicating a selected tool from the navigation menu;

a transmission module that sends, from the touch-enabled device, the selected tool to the computing device, the sending enabling continuation of the user interaction with the content authoring program via utilization of the selected tool to modify the content using the content authoring program on the computing device; and

a reception module that receives, at the touch-enabled device from the computing device, an indication that the selected tool is being utilized by the content authoring program on the computing device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first input customizing the navigation menu is a drag and drop touch gesture at the touch-enabled device.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the first input customizing the navigation menu adds a tool to the navigation menu, deletes a tool from the navigation menu, or reorders tools displayed in the navigation menu.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the selected tool is a command that is performed by the content authoring program.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the command is a command to change a color in the content authoring program, a command to change a tool in a toolbar in the content authoring program, or a command to select an image in the content authoring program.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the reception module also receives a result of the command performed by the content authoring program through the network.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the selected tool is utilized through a graphical user interface that is displayed at the computing device by the content authoring program.