Portable electronic device and method of controlling same

• US 10,795,562 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2014
• Issued: 10/06/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Lee, John Jong-Suk, Griffin, Jason Tyler, Langlois, Michael George, Mujkic, Alen, Bukurak, David William
• Primary Examiner(s): Chavez, Renee D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lobo, Carl P
• Application Number:
  US14/268,633
• Publication Number:
  US 20140245220A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,349 Days
• 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
• 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

Abstract

A method of controlling a portable electronic device that has a touch-sensitive display includes displaying information on the touch-sensitive display, detecting a gesture on the touch-sensitive display, scrolling through the information in a first scrolling mode when the gesture is associated with a first area of the touch-sensitive display, and scrolling through the information in a second scrolling mode when the gesture is associated with a second area of the touch-sensitive display.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing text for display on a touch-sensitive display of an electronic device;

displaying a first portion of the text in an area of the touch-sensitive display and providing a virtual keyboard disposed below the area relative to the orientation in which the first portion of text is displayed;

receiving a first gesture on the touch-sensitive display, the first gesture including an origin and an end point;

determining, by a processor of the electronic device, the origin of the first gesture on the touch-sensitive display;

in response to determining by the processor, that the origin of the first gesture is on the area of the touch-sensitive display, scrolling through the text to display a second portion of the text in the area, wherein the second portion of the text is different from the first portion of the text, and an amount of scrolling through the text in response to determining that the origin of the first gesture is on the area of the touch-sensitive display, is dependent on a length of the first gesture;

receiving a second gesture on the virtual keyboard, the second gesture including an origin and an end point; and

in response to determining by the processor, that the origin of the second gesture is on the virtual keyboard and that the second gesture continues across keys of the virtual keyboard, scrolling a cursor, indicating an editing position within the text, through the text, starting from the second portion of the text, in a direction dependent on a direction of the second gesture such that the cursor scrolls through the text in an upward direction in response to detecting the second gesture is in the upward direction, and the cursor scrolls through the text in a downward direction in response to detecting the second gesture is in the downward direction, and displaying a third portion of the text in the area to advance the cursor through the third portion of the text during scrolling the cursor when the cursor is located near an edge of the area, wherein the third portion of the text is different from the second portion of the text and includes text not included in the second portion of the text, and an amount of scrolling the cursor through the text from the second portion of the text to the third portion of the text is dependent on a length of the second gesture across the keys of the virtual keyboard.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the amount of scrolling through the text in response to determining that the origin of the first gesture is on the area of the touch-sensitive display, is also dependent on a total amount of the text provided for display.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein scrolling through the text in response to determining that the origin of the first gesture is on the area of the touch-sensitive display, comprises page scrolling.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the virtual keyboard is configured to receive input to add to the text provided for display in the area.

4. The method according to claim wherein the first and second gesture comprises a swipe.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable code executable by at least one processor of the portable electronic device to:

provide text for display on a touch-sensitive display of an electronic device;

display a first portion of the text in an area of the touch-sensitive display and provide a virtual keyboard disposed below the area relative to the orientation in which the first portion of text is displayed;

receive a first gesture on the touch-sensitive display, the gesture including an origin and an end point;

determining, by a processor of the electronic device, the origin of the first gesture on the touch-sensitive display;

in response to determining, by the processor, that the origin of the first gesture is on the area of the touch-sensitive display, scroll through the text to display a second portion of the text in the area, wherein the second portion of the text is different from the first portion of the text, and an amount of scrolling through the text in response to determining that the origin of the first gesture is on the area of the touch-sensitive display, is dependent on a length of the first gesture;

receiving a second gesture on the virtual keyboard, the second gesture including an origin and an end point; and

in response to determining, by the processor, that the origin of the second gesture is on the virtual keyboard and that the gesture continues across keys of the virtual keyboard, scroll a cursor, indicating an editing position within the text, through the text, starting from the second portion of the text, in a direction dependent on a direction of the second gesture such that the cursor scrolls through the text in an upward direction in response to detecting the second gesture is in the upward direction, and the cursor scrolls through the text in a downward direction in response to detecting the second gesture is in the downward direction, and display a third portion of the text in the area to advance the cursor through the third portion of the text during scrolling the cursor when the cursor is located near an edge of the area, wherein the third portion of the text is different from the second portion of the text and includes text not included in the second portion of the text, and an amount of scrolling the cursor through the text from the second portion of the text to the third portion of the text is dependent on a length of the second gesture across the keys of the virtual keyboard.

7. A portable electronic device comprising:

a touch-sensitive display configured to receive a first gesture including an origin and an end point;

and a processor coupled to the touch-sensitive display and configured to;

provide text for display on a touch-sensitive display of an electronic device;

display a first portion of the text in an area of the touch-sensitive display and provide a virtual keyboard disposed below the area relative to the orientation in which the first portion of text is displayed;

detect the first gesture received on the touch-sensitive display;

determine, by the processor, the origin of the first gesture on the touch-sensitive display;

in response to determining that the origin of the first gesture is on the area of the touch-sensitive display, scroll through the text to display a second portion of the text in the area, wherein the second portion of the text is different from the first portion of the text, and an amount of scrolling through the text is dependent on a length of the first gesture;

receiving a second gesture on the virtual keyboard, the second gesture including an origin and an end point; and

in response to determining that the origin of the second gesture is on the virtual keyboard and that the gesture continues across keys of the virtual keyboard, scroll a cursor, indicating an editing position within the text, through the text, starting from the second portion of the text, in a direction dependent on a direction of the second gesture such that the cursor scrolls through the text in an upward direction in response to detecting the second gesture is in the upward direction, and the cursor scrolls through the text in a downward direction in response to detecting the second gesture is in the downward direction, and display a third portion of the text in the area to advance the cursor through the third portion of the text during scrolling the cursor when the cursor is located near an edge of the area, the third portion of the text is different from the second portion of the text and includes text not included in the second portion of the text, and an amount of scrolling the cursor through the text from the second portion of the text to the third portion of the text, is dependent on a length of the second gesture across the keys of the virtual keyboard.