List scrolling in response to moving contact over list of index symbols

• US 20070132789A1
• Filed: 12/23/2005
• Published: 06/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Chaudhri, Imran, Christie, Greg, Ording, Bas, Forstall, Scott, Lemay, Stephen
• Application Number:
  US11/322,553
• Publication Number:
  US 20070132789A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/684
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• 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

Movement of a point of contact by a user over an index on a touch-sensitive display is determined. The displayed index has a sequence of index items. In response to the movement, a list of information items on the touch-sensitive display is scrolled. The list of information items may include a sequence of information item subsets corresponding to the sequence of index items. The scrolling may include scrolling through a respective information item subset if the point of contact moves over a corresponding respective index item.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining movement of a point of contact by a user over an index displayed on a touch-sensitive display;

the displayed index having a sequence of index items; and

scrolling through a list of information items on the touch-sensitive display in response to the movement, the list of information items including a sequence of information item subsets corresponding to the sequence of index items;

wherein the scrolling includes scrolling through a respective information item subset if the point of contact moves over a corresponding respective index item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the scrolling has an associated scrolling speed based on a speed of movement of the point of contact over the respective index item and a number of items in the information item subset corresponding to the respective index item.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the scrolling includes scrolling through all items in a plurality of the information item subsets in response to the point of contact moving over the corresponding index items in the displayed index.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the index includes an alphabetical index, and the list of information items includes an alphabetically ordered list of information items.

5. The method of claim 1, including detecting that the point of contact corresponds to the respective index item in the index;

and

responsive to detecting that the point of contact corresponds to the respective index item in the index, scrolling the list of information items to a corresponding subset of the list of information items.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying respective index symbols adjacent to corresponding subsets of the list of information items while scrolling through the list of information items.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a point of contact with the touch-sensitive display corresponding to user selection of a respective information item in the list of information items, and displaying on the touch-sensitive display information corresponding to the respective information item in response to the detecting.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the scrolling is in accordance with a simulation of an equation of motion having friction.

9. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining a movement of a point of contact by a user on an index bar in a touch-sensitive display; and

scrolling through a list of items on the touch-sensitive display in response to the movement;

wherein the index bar corresponds to an ordered index of item subsets in the list of items and the scrolling speed is based on a number of entries in a respective subset and a speed of movement of the point of contact.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the list of items is an alphabetically ordered listing of items that include contact information.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the scrolling is in accordance with a simulation of an equation of motion having friction.

12. A portable electronic device, comprising:

a touch-sensitive display;

one or more processors;

a memory; and

a program, wherein the program is stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the program including;

instructions for determining movement of a point of contact by a user over an index displayed on a touch-sensitive display;

the displayed index having a sequence of index items; and

instructions for scrolling through a list of information items on the touch-sensitive display in response to the movement, the list of information items including a sequence of information item subsets corresponding to the sequence of index items;

wherein the scrolling includes scrolling through a respective information item subset if the point of contact moves over a corresponding respective index item.

13. A portable electronic device, comprising:

touch-sensitive means;

processor means;

memory means; and

a program mechanism, wherein the program mechanism is stored in the memory means and configured to be executed by the processor means, the program mechanism including;

instructions for determining movement of a point of contact by a user over an index displayed on a touch-sensitive display;

the displayed index having a sequence of index items; and

instructions for scrolling through a list of information items on the touch-sensitive display in response to the movement, the list of information items including a sequence of information item subsets corresponding to the sequence of index items;

wherein the scrolling includes scrolling through a respective information item subset if the point of contact moves over a corresponding respective index item.