Crown input for a wearable electronic device

• US 10,503,388 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2016
• Issued: 12/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Zambetti, Nicholas, Chaudhri, Imran, Dascola, Jonathan R., Dye, Alan C., Foss, Christopher Patrick, Guzman, Aurelio, Karunamuni, Chanaka G., Kerr, Duncan Robert, Lemay, Stephen O., Wilson, Christopher, Wilson, Eric Lance, Yang, Lawrence Y., Butcher, Gary Ian, Ive, Jonathan P., Lynch, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Theriault, Steven B
• Application Number:
  US15/049,049
• Publication Number:
  US 20160170598A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,389 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to manipulating a user interface on a wearable electronic device using a mechanical crown. In some examples, the user interface can be scrolled or scaled in response to a rotation of the crown. The direction of the scrolling or scaling and the amount of scrolling or scaling can depend on the direction and amount of rotation of the crown, respectively. In some examples, the amount of scrolling or scaling can be proportional to the change in rotation angle of the crown. In other examples, a speed of scrolling or a speed of scaling can depend on a speed of angular rotation of the crown. In these examples, a greater speed of rotation can cause a greater speed of scrolling or scaling to be performed on the displayed view.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for:

at an electronic device with a housing, a touch-sensitive display, and a physical crown that has a fixed axis about which the physical crown rotates relative to the touch-sensitive display and the housing;

receiving crown position information associated with the physical crown of the electronic device including a rotational position of the physical crown;

determining whether a rotation of the physical crown about the fixed axis relative to the touch-sensitive display and to the housing has occurred based on the received rotational position of the physical crown;

in response to determining that the rotation of the physical crown has occurred about the fixed axis relative to the touch-sensitive display and to the housing, causing at least a portion of a first data displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled in a first direction parallel to the fixed axis about which the physical crown rotates relative to the touch-sensitive display and the housing;

determining whether the rotation of the physical crown about the fixed axis relative to the touch-sensitive display and to the housing has stopped based on the received rotational position of the physical crown; and

in response to determining that the rotation of the physical crown has stopped, causing at least the portion of the first data displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled in a second direction opposite the first direction parallel to the fixed axis about which the physical crown rotates relative to the touch-sensitive display and the housing.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first data comprises all applications stored on the electronic device.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first data comprises all open applications on the electronic device.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first data comprises a user-generated set of applications on the electronic device.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprises a watch.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein determining whether the rotation of the physical crown has occurred based on the received crown position information comprises determining an amount of rotation of the physical crown of the electronic device, and wherein causing at least the portion of the first data displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled comprises causing the touch-sensitive display to scroll through the at least the portion of the first data by a distance that is proportional to the amount of rotation of the physical crown.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein determining whether the rotation of the physical crown has occurred based on the received crown position information comprises determining a speed and a direction of rotation of the physical crown of the electronic device, and wherein causing at least the portion of the first data displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled comprises causing the touch-sensitive display to scroll through the at least the portion of the first data by a distance that is based on the speed and direction of rotation of the physical crown.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the crown position information comprises a change in rotational position of the physical crown over a length of time.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the physical crown is a mechanical crown.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

at an electronic device with a housing, a touch-sensitive display, and a physical crown that has a fixed axis about which the physical crown rotates relative to the touch-sensitive display and the housing;

receiving crown position information associated with the physical crown of the electronic device including a rotational position of the physical crown;

determining whether a rotation of the physical crown about the fixed axis relative to the touch-sensitive display and to the housing has occurred based on the received rotational position of the physical crown;

in response to determining that the rotation of the physical crown has occurred about the fixed axis relative to the touch-sensitive display and to the housing, causing at least a portion of a first data displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled in a first direction parallel to the fixed axis about which the physical crown rotates relative to the touch-sensitive display and the housing;

determining whether the rotation of the physical crown about the fixed axis relative to the touch-sensitive display and to the housing has stopped based on the received rotational position of the physical crown; and

in response to determining that the rotation of the physical crown has stopped, causing at least the portion of the first data displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled in a second direction opposite the first direction parallel to the fixed axis about which the physical crown rotates relative to the touch-sensitive display and the housing.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first data comprises all applications stored on the electronic device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first data comprises all open applications on the electronic device.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the first data comprises a user-generated set of applications on the electronic device.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the electronic device comprises a watch.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein determining whether the rotation of the physical crown has occurred based on the received crown position information comprises determining an amount of rotation of the physical crown of the electronic device, and wherein causing at least the portion of the first data displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled comprises causing the touch-sensitive display to scroll through the at least the portion of the first data by a distance that is proportional to the amount of rotation of the physical crown.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein determining whether the rotation of the physical crown has occurred based on the received crown position information comprises determining a speed and a direction of rotation of the physical crown of the electronic device, and wherein causing at least the portion of the first data displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled comprises causing the touch-sensitive display to scroll through the at least the portion of the first data by a distance that is based on the speed and direction of rotation of the physical crown.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the crown position information comprises a change in rotational position of the physical crown over a length of time.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the physical crown is a mechanical crown.

19. An electronic device comprising:

a housing;

one or more processors;

a touch-sensitive display;

a physical crown that has a fixed axis about which the physical crown rotates relative to the touch-sensitive display and the housing operatively coupled to the one or more processors; and

the touch-sensitive display operatively coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more processors configured to;

receive crown position information associated with the physical crown of the electronic device including a rotational position of the physical crown;

determine whether a rotation of the physical crown about the fixed axis relative to the touch-sensitive display and to the housing has occurred based on the received rotational position of the physical crown;

in response to determining that the rotation of the physical crown has occurred about the fixed axis relative to the touch-sensitive display and to the housing, cause at least a portion of a first data displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled in a first direction parallel to the fixed axis about which the physical crown rotates relative to the touch-sensitive display and the housing;

determine whether the rotation of the physical crown about the fixed axis relative to the touch-sensitive display and to the housing has stopped based on the received rotational position of the physical crown; and

in response to determining that the rotation of the physical crown has stopped, cause at least the portion of the first data displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled in a second direction opposite the first direction parallel to the fixed axis about which the physical crown rotates relative to the touch-sensitive display and the housing.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the first data comprises all applications stored on the electronic device.

21. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the first data comprises all open applications on the electronic device.

22. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the first data comprises a user-generated set of applications on the electronic device.

23. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the electronic device comprises a watch.

24. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein determining whether the rotation of the physical crown has occurred based on the received crown position information comprises determining an amount of rotation of the physical crown of the electronic device, and wherein causing at least the portion of the first data displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled comprises causing the touch-sensitive display to scroll through the at least the portion of the first data by a distance that is proportional to the amount of rotation of the physical crown.

25. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein determining whether the rotation of the physical crown has occurred based on the received crown position information comprises determining a speed and a direction of rotation of the physical crown of the electronic device, and wherein causing at least the portion of the first data displayed on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device to be scrolled comprises causing the touch-sensitive display to scroll through the at least the portion of the first data by a distance that is based on the speed and direction of rotation of the physical crown.

26. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the crown position information comprises a change in rotational position of the physical crown over a length of time.

27. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the physical crown is a mechanical crown.