SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TOUCHSCREEN KNOB CONTROL

• US 20120226977A1
• Filed: 03/01/2011
• Published: 09/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lengeling, Gerhard, Junghanns, Marko
• Granted Patent: US 9,547,428 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/702
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for controlling a user interface. A system configured to practice the method displays a user interface element, such as a knob, on a touch-sensitive display. The system receives input from a user associated with the user interface element via the touch-sensitive display. For example, the user can provide input to the knob via a tap, twist, flick, press-and-hold, drag, slide, or other touch-based input with a single or multiple fingers or other points of contact. The system matches the input to an input category selected from a group of predefined input categories for the user interface element, and updates the user interface element based on the input and based on the input category. The system can also update a value represented by the user interface element, such as a value that affects output or other settings of a software application.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a user interface, the method comprising:

displaying a user interface element on a touch-sensitive display;

receiving, from a user, input associated with the user interface element via the touch-sensitive display;

matching the input to an input category selected from a plurality of predefined input categories for the user interface element; and

updating the user interface element based on the input and based on the input category.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the input is at least one of a touch, a tap, a swipe, a multi-finger gesture, a flick, a drag, and a press-and-hold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a first user input can update the user interface based on a first input category in an equivalent manner to a second user input based on a second input category.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein matching the input to the input category is based on a similarity threshold to one of the plurality of predefined input categories.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, if the input does not match any input category based on the similarity threshold:

prompting the user to for additional input defining a new predefined input category;

receiving the additional input from the user; and

creating the new predefined input category based on the additional input.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

translating the input to a standardized input based on the input category; and

updating the user interface element based on the standardized input.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user can toggle availability of a certain input category in the plurality of predefined input categories.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface element is a virtual knob.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a sensitivity for at least one input category in the plurality of input categories is user customizable.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the input is multi-modal input, and wherein a portion of the multi-modal input is matched to the input category.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising altering at least one aspect of a running software application based on the input and the input category.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface element is updated in substantially real time as the input is received.

13. A system for controlling a software application, the system comprising:

a processor;

a touch-sensitive display;

a first module configured to control the processor to display a plurality of user-manipulable user interface elements on the touch-sensitive display;

a second module configured to control the processor to receive a plurality of simultaneous user inputs associated with a subset of the plurality of user-manipulable user interface elements;

a third module configured to control the processor to match each of the plurality of simultaneous user inputs to a respective input category selected from a plurality of predefined input categories for the subset of the plurality of user-manipulable user interface elements; and

a fourth module configured to control the processor to control the software application based on each of the plurality of simultaneous user inputs and the respective input category.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the system is a mobile device.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the software application is one of a media creation application and a media consumption application.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of simultaneous user inputs are of a same input category.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of simultaneous user inputs are of different input categories.

18. The system of claim 13, further comprising a fifth module configured to control the processor to update the plurality of user-manipulable user interface elements based on the plurality of simultaneous user inputs and the respective input category for each simultaneous user input.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to dynamically interact with user input, the instructions comprising:

displaying, on a touch-sensitive display, a user interface element capable of accepting any of a plurality of different categories of predefined user input;

receiving from a user input associated with the user interface element via the touch-sensitive display;

matching the input to an input category selected from the plurality of predefined input categories for the user interface element; and

updating the user interface element based on the input and the input category.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, further comprising updating a value represented by the user interface element.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the input is at least one of a touch, a tap, a swipe, a multi-finger gesture, a flick, a drag, and a press-and-hold.

22. A method for controlling a software application running on a computing device, the method comprising:

displaying, on a touch-sensitive display, a virtual knob representing a value;

receiving input from a user, via the touch-sensitive display, associated with the virtual knob;

classifying the input as an input category from a plurality of predefined input categories associated with the virtual knob; and

updating the virtual knob and the value based on the input and based on the input category.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein classifying the input as the input category is based on a similarity threshold to one of the plurality of predefined input categories.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein a sensitivity for at least one of the plurality of predefined input categories is user customizable.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the input is multi-modal input, and wherein classifying the input is based on a portion of the multi-modal input.