Customization of GUI layout based on history of use

• US 9,927,964 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2015
• Issued: 03/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Zalewski, Gary M., Nicholson, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Maikhanh
• Application Number:
  US14/671,851
• Publication Number:
  US 20150199117A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,096 Days
• 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 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04805 Virtual magnifying lens, i.e. window or frame movable on top of displayed information to enlarge it for better reading or selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars
• 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: G06N 7/01 Probabilistic graphical models, e.g. probabilistic networks

Abstract

A hand-held electronic device has a processor that is operably coupled to the visual display and touch interface. The hand held electronic device includes instructions executable by the processor configured to present an image on the visual display containing one or more active elements; perform a tessellation that divides the image into one or more regions that fill the display, each region corresponds to a different active element, a size of each region depends on a corresponding probability of use of the corresponding active element within a given time frame; correlate one or more active portions of the touch interface to a corresponding one or more of the regions; and activate a particular active element in response to a touch on a corresponding active portion.

Claims

1. A hand-held electronic device, comprising:

a processor operably coupled to a visual display and a touch interface; and

instructions executable by the processor configured such that, when executed, the instructions cause the device to;

a) present an image on the visual display containing one or more active elements;

b) perform a tessellation of the image so that the image is divided into one or more regions that fill the display, wherein each region corresponds to a different active element, wherein a size of each region depends on a corresponding probability of use of the corresponding active element within a given time frame;

c) correlate one or more active portions of the touch interface to a corresponding one or more of the regions; and

d) activate a particular active element of the one or more of the active elements in response to a touch on a corresponding active portion of the one or more active portions.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are configured to decay the layout to a non-predictive layout over time.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a prediction engine configured to compute a probability for a subsequent action based on a past pattern of user behavior following an action of a given type with the device.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the past pattern of user behavior is correlated to a type of content displayed on the display.

5. The device of claim 3, wherein the prediction engine is configured to update the probability for the subsequent action as the user uses the device.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are configured to adjust the layout in a way that facilitates one or more subsequent actions that are most probable.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the instructions are configured to adjust the layout by locating active elements that are likely to be used in sequence closer together than in a default layout.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein the instructions are configured to adjust an appearance of the active elements.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein active elements likely to be used are highlighted or more brightly colored than other elements.

10. The device of claim 6, wherein the instructions are configured to adjust an operation of one or more of the active elements.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the tessellation divides the image into one or more convex regions.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the tessellation is a Voronoi decomposition.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein a size of each region depends on a corresponding probability that a user will use the corresponding active element within a given time frame.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein b) includes making a first region with a first corresponding probability larger than a second region with a second corresponding probability when the first corresponding probability is greater than the second corresponding probability.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein the probability that the user will use the corresponding active element depends on a history of use of the device.

16. The device of claim 1, wherein the visual display is a touch screen that includes the touch interface.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the touch interface is a touch pad.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein the visual display is a touch screen that is separate from the touch pad.

19. The device of claim 1, wherein the visual display includes a touch screen and the touch interface includes the touch screen.

20. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more active portions fill the touch interface.

21. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, are configured to iteratively repeat a), b), and c).

22. A method for operating a hand-held electronic device having a processor operably coupled to the visual display and the touch interface;

and instructions executable by the processor to implement the method, the method comprising;

a) presenting an image on the visual display containing one or more active elements;

b) performing a tessellation of the image when the instructions are executed, so that the image is divided into one or more regions that fill the display, wherein each region corresponds to a different active element,

wherein a size of each region depends on a corresponding probability of use of the corresponding active element within a given time frame;

c) correlating one or more active portions of the touch interface to a corresponding one or more of the regions; and

d) activating a particular active element of the one or more of the active elements in response to a touch on a corresponding active portion of the one or more active portions.

23. A non-transitory computer readable medium programmed with computer executable instructions for operating a hand-held electronic device having a processor operably coupled to the visual display and the touch interface, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to implement a method comprising:

a) presenting an image on the visual display containing one or more active elements;

b) performing a tessellation of the image when the instructions are executed, so that the image is divided into one or more regions that fill the display, wherein each region corresponds to a different active element;

wherein a size of each region depends on a corresponding probability of use of the corresponding active element within a given time frame;

c) correlating one or more active portions of the touch interface to a corresponding one or more of the regions; and

d) activating a particular active element of the one or more of the active elements in response to a touch on a corresponding active portion of the one or more active portions.