ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE USER INTERFACE THEREOF

• US 20100287469A1
• Filed: 11/11/2009
• Published: 11/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FIH (Hong Kong) Limited (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.), Shenzhen Futaihong Precision Industrial Company Limited (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: FIH (Hong Kong) Limited (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.), Shenzhen Futaihong Precision Industrial Company Limited (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: YU, TZU-CHENG, LIN, BOR-CHUAN, LIN, JIAN-CHENG, CHENG, PEI-HSI, HOU, YU-SHENG, ELIZABETH, EL-HINN, YU, JIING-RENN, WANG, CHUNG-HSIANG, CHEN, ZHI-FANG
• Granted Patent: US 8,250,471 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/702
• 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 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• 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 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• 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

An electronic device and a method for controlling an user interface thereof are provided. The method includes detecting an orientation of the electronic device, determining a arrangement of the user interface according to the detected orientation, displaying a shortcut key area and a status area on the user interface, and adjusting the user interface according to the operational signals from a touch panel of the electronic device.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a touch panel for displaying an user interface and transmitting an operational signal to a processor of the electronic device upon receiving a user input from the user interface;

an orientation module to detect an orientation of the electronic device;

a user interface (UI) controlling module to control an arrangement of the user interface, the user interface comprising a vertical arrangement and a horizontal arrangement, wherein the arrangement is determined by the orientation detected by the orientation module; and

wherein the user interface further comprises a shortcut key area and a status area, the shortcut key area comprising a plurality of shortcut keys for activating applications of the electronic device, and customized adjustments of the shortcut key area is performed in accordance with the operational signal from the touch panel.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the UI control module adjusts a position of a specific shortcut key arranged in the shortcut key area of the user interface if the operational signal indicates that the specific shortcut key is dragged to another position in the shortcut key area.

3. The device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the UI control module designates the specific shortcut key as a most frequent key if the operational signal indicates that the specific shortcut key is dragged to the position of the status area.

4. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the UI control module sets a selected application installed in the electronic device as one shortcut key if the operational signal indicates that a “

Add-Key”

is touched and one of the applications installed in the electronic is selected.

5. The device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the UI control module sets a contact item saved in an address book in the electronic device as one shortcut key if the operational signal indicates that a “

Add-Key”

is touched and one of the contact items saved in the address book is selected.

6. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the UI control module displays the extended shortcut key area if the operational signal is indicative of a horizontal slide on the touch panel.

7. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the UI control module displays the shortcut key area and the window of one executed application at the same time if the operational signal indicates that the window size of the executed application is adjusted to be smaller than a dimension of the touch panel.

8. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the UI control module is capable of displaying windows of two executed applications at the same time.

9. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electronic device further comprises a sense module positioned near at least one end surface of the electronic device, the sense module transmits a switch signal to the UI control module upon detecting a pressure applied to the end surface is larger than a threshold to quickly switch the user interface to another executed application.

10. A computer-implemented method for controlling a user interface of an electronic device, the method comprising:

detecting an orientation of the electronic device;

determining an arrangement of the user interface according to the detected orientation, the user interface comprising a vertical arrangement and a horizontal arrangement;

displaying a shortcut key area and a status area on the user interface, the shortcut key area comprising a plurality of shortcut keys for activating applications of the electronic device; and

adjusting the user interface according to operational signals from a touch panel of the electronic device.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the adjusting step further comprising:

dragging a specific shortcut key to another position in the shortcut key area of the user interface.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the adjusting step further comprising:

dragging a specific shortcut key to the position of the status area.

13. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the shortcut key area comprises at least one “

Add-Key,” and

the adjusting step further comprising;

receiving an operational signal indicative that the “

Add-Key”

is touched and at least one application installed in the electronic device or a contact items saved in the address book is selected; and

setting the selected application or contact item as one shortcut key.

14. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the adjusting step further comprising:

displaying an extended shortcut key area on the user interface upon receiving an operational signal indicative of a horizontal slide on the touch panel.

15. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the adjusting step further comprising:

adjusting a window size of the executed application so as to display the shortcut key area on the user interface at the same time.

16. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the adjusting step further comprising:

adjusting a window size of the executed application so as to display another window of the executed applications on the user interface at the same time.

17. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the electronic device further comprises a sense module positioned near at least one end surface of the electronic device, and the method further comprising:

detecting a pressure applied to the end surface installed with the sense module; and

quickly switch the user interface to another executed application upon determining that the applied pressure is larger than a threshold.

18. A computer-readable medium for controlling a user interface of an electronic device, the computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the electronic device, cause the electronic device to:

detect an orientation of the electronic device;

determine an arrangement of the user interface according to the detected orientation, the user interface comprising a vertical arrangement and a horizontal arrangement;

display a shortcut key area and a status area on the user interface, the shortcut key area comprising a plurality of shortcut keys for activating applications of the electronic device; and

adjust the user interface according to operational signals from a touch panel of the electronic device.

19. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 18, wherein the adjusting step further comprising:

drag a specific shortcut key to another position in the shortcut key area of the user interface.

20. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 18, wherein the shortcut key area comprises at least one “

Add-Key,” and

the adjusting step further comprising;

receive an operational signal indicative that the “

Add-Key”

is touched and at least one application installed in the electronic device or a contact items saved in the address book is selected; and

set the selected application or contact item as one shortcut key.