Flexible touch-based scrolling

• US 9,164,670 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2010
• Issued: 10/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Lobo, Philomena, Lim, Yu-Xi, Xu, Yang
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Phi
• Application Number:
  US12/882,906
• Publication Number:
  US 20120062604A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,861 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173, 345/661
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A flexible touch-based scrolling system receives user input comprising a gesture on a touchscreen. The system compares the gesture velocity with one or more velocity ranges. For example, the system determines whether the gesture velocity is above a threshold velocity or below a threshold velocity. The system selects between different types of movement (e.g., smooth scrolling movement, page-by-page movement) of the visual information in the user interface, based on the comparison of the gesture velocity with the velocity ranges. For example, the system selects smooth scrolling movement if the gesture velocity is below a threshold velocity, and the system selects page-by-page movement if the gesture velocity is above the threshold velocity.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

storing at least two predetermined values, the predetermined values comprising at least two threshold velocities defining a jump displacement velocity range;

receiving first user input comprising a gesture on a touchscreen, the gesture having a gesture velocity;

comparing the gesture velocity with the at least two threshold velocities, wherein possible gesture velocities of received user inputs fall within either a smooth scrolling velocity range or the jump displacement velocity range;

upon determining that the gesture velocity falls within the jump displacement velocity range, selecting jump displacement movement of visual information in a user interface, wherein the visual information comprises multiple pages, and wherein the jump displacement movement advances a currently displayed page to a next page in a direction of the gesture; and

rendering the jump displacement movement of the visual information for display.

2. One or more computer-readable storage devices having encoded thereon computer-executable instructions operable to cause a computer to perform the method of claim 1.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the rendered jump displacement movement in a display area.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the display area comprises a display area of the touchscreen.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the gesture comprises a flick gesture.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing comprises determining that the gesture velocity exceeds one of the at least two threshold velocities separating the smooth scrolling velocity range from the jump displacement range.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a portion of the visual information included in the currently displayed page is also included in the next page.

8. A computing device, comprising:

a memory storing a smooth scrolling velocity range and a jump displacement velocity range, the jump displacement velocity range bound by at least two threshold velocities;

a touchscreen sensor operable to receive first user input comprising a gesture on the touchscreen, the gesture having a gesture velocity;

a processor operable to;

perform a comparison by comparing the gesture velocity with one of the smooth scrolling velocity range and the jump displacement velocity range, wherein possible gesture velocities of received user inputs fall within either the smooth scrolling velocity range or the jump displacement velocity range; and

based on the comparing, select a first selected movement of visual information in a user interface, wherein the first selected movement is selected between smooth scrolling movement and jump displacement movement, wherein the visual information comprises multiple pages, and wherein the jump displacement movement advances a currently displayed page to a next page in a direction of the gesture and by an amount of data that fits within a viewport of the touchscreen; and

a screen operable to display the first selected movement of the visual information in the display area.

9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the comparing comprises comparing the gesture velocity with a threshold velocity separating the smooth scrolling velocity range from the jump displacement range.

10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the comparing comprises determining that the gesture velocity exceeds the threshold velocity, and wherein the first selected movement comprises the jump displacement movement.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the jump displacement movement comprises movement of the visual information by a displacement equivalent to a page of the visual information.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein one or more dimensions of the page are based on one or more dimensions of a viewport in the display area.

13. The computing device of claim 9, wherein during the comparing, the processor is further operable to determine that the gesture velocity is less than the threshold velocity, and wherein the first selected movement comprises the smooth scrolling movement.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the smooth scrolling movement comprises moving the visual information at a scrolling speed proportional to the gesture velocity.

15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further operable to apply inertia movement to the smooth scrolling movement.

16. The computing device of claim 14, wherein:

the touchscreen sensor is further operable to receive a second user input comprising a second gesture on the touchscreen, the second gesture having a second gesture velocity;

the processor is further operable to;

compare the second gesture velocity with at least one of the smooth scrolling velocity range or the jump displacement velocity range; and

based on the comparing, select a second selected movement of the visual information in the user interface, wherein the second selected movement is selected between the smooth scrolling movement and the jump displacement movement and the second selected movement differs from the first selected movement; and

the screen further operable to display the second selected movement of the visual information in the display area.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the first selected movement is the smooth scrolling movement, and wherein the second selected movement is the jump displacement movement.

18. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the first selected movement is the jump displacement movement, and wherein the second selected movement is the smooth scrolling movement.

19. One or more computer-readable memory having encoded thereon computer-executable instructions causing a computer to perform a method, the stored instructions comprising:

instructions to receive user input comprising a gesture on a touchscreen having a display area, the gesture having a gesture velocity and a gesture direction;

instructions to determine whether to display smooth scrolling movement of visual information in a user interface in the display area based on whether the gesture velocity is within a first velocity range;

instructions to determine whether to display page-by-page movement of the visual information in the user interface based on whether the gesture velocity is within a second velocity range, the page-by-page movement comprising a displacement of a visual information equivalent to a page of the visual information in a direction that corresponds to the gesture direction, wherein the page is defined according to at least one dimension of a viewport in the user interface;

instructions to determine whether to display beginning-or-end movement of the visual information in the user interface based on whether the gesture velocity associated with the received user input is within a third velocity range, the beginning-or-end movement comprising moving the visual information such that the viewport is aligned with a beginning of the visual information or an end of the visual information depending on the gesture direction, wherein possible gesture velocities of received user inputs fall within either the first velocity range, the second velocity range, or the third velocity range, wherein the first, second and third velocity ranges are non-overlapping;

instructions to select between the smooth scrolling movement, the page-by-page movement and the beginning-or-end movement based on at least one of the determining steps; and

instructions to render the selected movement for display in the display area.

20. A computing device, comprising:

one or more processors;

a touchscreen having a display area; and

one or more computer readable storage media having stored therein computer-executable instructions, the stored instructions comprising;

instructions to receive first user input comprising a gesture on the touchscreen, the gesture having a gesture velocity;

instructions to perform a single comparison by comparing the gesture velocity with one of a smooth scrolling velocity range or a jump displacement velocity range, wherein possible gesture velocities of received user inputs fall within either the smooth scrolling velocity range or the jump displacement velocity range;

instructions to select, based on the comparison, a first selected movement of visual information in a user interface, wherein the first selected movement is selected between smooth scrolling movement and jump displacement movement, wherein the visual information comprises multiple pages, and wherein the jump displacement movement advances a currently displayed page to a next page in a direction of the gesture; and

instructions to display the first selected movement of the visual information in the display area;

wherein the instructions to perform a single comparison comprise;

instructions to compare the gesture velocity with a threshold velocity separating the smooth scrolling velocity range from the jump displacement range; and

instructions to determine that the gesture velocity exceeds the threshold velocity, and wherein the first selected movement comprises the jump displacement movement;

wherein the jump displacement movement comprises movement of the visual information by a displacement equivalent to a page of the visual information;

wherein one or more dimensions of the page are based on one or more dimensions of a viewport in the display area;

wherein the visual information comprises a contact list, wherein the page comprises a number of contacts that can be displayed within the dimensions of the viewport, and wherein the jump displacement movement comprises shifting the contact list by a number of contacts equal to the number of contacts that fits within the viewport.