Portable electronic device and method of controlling same

• US 8,976,129 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: 2236008 Ontario Inc. (Blackberry Limited), Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Lazaridis, Mihal, Dodge, Danny Thomas, Lindsay, Donald James
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Quan-Zhen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lin, Chun-Nan
• Application Number:
  US13/243,677
• Publication Number:
  US 20120105345A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,264 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-184
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• 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 is provided for an electronic device with a processor and a touch-sensitive display, the touch-sensitive display including a display area and a non-display area. The method includes providing a boundary based on the display area and the non-display area.

Claims

1. A method for an electronic device with a processor and a touch-sensitive display, the touch-sensitive display comprising a display area and a non-display area, the method comprising:

providing a boundary between the display area and the non-display area, wherein providing comprises providing a width of the boundary, and the width of the boundary corresponds to a predetermined number of pixels;

displaying first information associated with a first application on the touch-sensitive display;

detecting a gesture and determining that the gesture has an origin in the non-display area and crosses the boundary between the display area and the non-display area;

in response to determining that the gesture crosses the boundary, identifying the gesture as a meta-navigation gesture; and

replacing the first information with second information associated with a second application by displaying the second information on the touch-sensitive display.

3. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable code executable by at least one processor of an electronic device to perform the method of claim 1.

2. An electronic device comprising:

a display including a display area and a non-display area;

a touch-sensitive overlay extending over the display area and the non-display area;

a processor coupled to the display and the touch-sensitive overlay, wherein the processor is configured to;

provide a boundary between the display area and the non-display area, display first information associated with a first application on the touch-sensitive display, wherein the boundary includes a width, and the width of the boundary corresponds to a predetermined number of pixels,

detect a gesture and determine that the gesture has an origin in the non-display area and crosses the boundary between the display area and the non-display area,

in response to determining that the gesture crosses the boundary, identify the gesture as a meta-navigation gesture, and

replace the first information with second information associated with a second application by displaying the second information on the touch-sensitive display.