TOUCH-SENSITIVE DISPLAY AND METHOD OF CONTROL

• US 20110083110A1
• Filed: 10/07/2009
• Published: 04/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Wood, Todd Andrew, Grenier, Steven Robert, Steele, Joel Paul, Furukawa, Shigeharu, Gao, Yu, Griffin, Jason Tyler, Lazaridis, Mihal
• Granted Patent: US 8,347,221 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/863
• 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 includes displaying one or more selection options on a touch-sensitive display and detecting a hovering touch associated with a first option of the one or more selection options. Information associated with the first option is previewed in a first format in an information field in response to detecting the hovering touch. A selection of one of the one or more selection options is detected, and a function associated with the selected option is performed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying one or more selection options on a touch-sensitive display;

detecting a hovering touch associated with a first option of the one or more selection options;

previewing, in a first format in an information field, information associated with the first option in response to detecting the hovering touch;

detecting a selection of one of the one or more selection options;

performing a function associated with the selected option.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the function comprises displaying, in a second format, the information associated with the selected option in response to detecting the selection, wherein the first format is different from the second format.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the function comprises displaying at least one alternate selection option that is different than the one or more selection options.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the selection comprises detecting depression of a movable touch-sensitive display.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the selection comprises detecting selection in an area other than where the one or more selection options are displayed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the one or more selection options comprises displaying a keyboard comprising a plurality of characters.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying in the second format comprises displaying in a format of information previously entered in the information field.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein previewing comprises displaying a character in a faded format.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein previewing comprises displaying a character in a font that is different than the font of the second format.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein previewing comprises displaying a character in a color that is different than the color of the second format.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein previewing comprises displaying an underscored, italicized, or bolded character.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein previewing comprises displaying a blinking or highlighted character.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein previewing comprises displaying a shaded, shadowed, enlarged, or shrunken version of a character.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein previewing comprises displaying information associated with the first option in a window, box, or balloon located remotely from the first option when the information comprises two or more characters.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein previewing comprises displaying a character after a last character entered in the information field.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein previewing comprises displaying a character in the middle of a character string entered in the information field.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein previewing comprises displaying a character with a cursor in the information field.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising moving a cursor after the information associated with the first option after detecting the selection and entering the information.

19. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable code executable by at least one processor of the portable electronic device to perform the method of claim 1.

20. A method comprising:

displaying a first keyset of a plurality of selectable sets of keys;

detecting a hovering touch associated with a first key of the first keyset, wherein the first key is associated with a first character;

displaying the first character in a first format in an information field in response to detecting the hovering touch;

detecting a selection of the first key;

displaying the first character in a second format in response to detecting the selection, wherein the first format is different from the second format.

21. A portable electronic device comprising:

a touch-sensitive display depressible through movement with respect to a housing of the portable electronic device;

at least one processor configured to;

display one or more selection options on the touch-sensitive display;

detect a hovering touch associated with a first option of the one or more selection options;

previewing by displaying, in a first format in an information field, information associated with the first option in response to detecting the hovering touch;

detect a selection of the first option;

display, in a second format, the information associated with the first option in response to detecting the selection, wherein the first format is different from the second format.

22. A method comprising:

displaying a first keyset of a plurality of selectable sets of keys on a touch-sensitive display that is movable with respect to a housing of a portable electronic device;

detecting a hovering touch associated with a first key of the first keyset, wherein the first key is associated with a first character;

in response to detecting the hovering touch, displaying the first character in a first format in an information field displayed on the touch-sensitive display, wherein entered characters are displayed in the information field;

detecting a selection of the first key by detecting depression of the touch-sensitive display;

displaying the first character in a second format in response to detecting the selection, wherein the first format is different from the second format.