Privately unlocking a touchscreen

• US 9,652,605 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2015
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte., Ltd. (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte., Ltd. (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wei, Zhi Qiang, Li, Jian Zhong, Fu, ZhenDe, Jiang, Tao, Fleming, Mark S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdul-Ali, Omar
• Application Number:
  US14/613,428
• Publication Number:
  US 20150227306A1
• Time in Patent Office: 832 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/36 by graphic or iconic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

A device, method and computer program product are provided for unlocking a touchscreen. In response to entering a touchscreen unlocking interface, a slide-to-unlock button is displayed on a touchscreen at its initial position, wherein the slide-to-unlock button is divided into two portions. In response to pressing a first portion of the slide-to-unlock button and sliding the slide-to-unlock button along a specified trace, information about a position of the slide-to-unlock button on the specified trace is displayed on a second portion of the slide-to-unlock button. In response to performing a first action on the pressed first portion of the slide-to-unlock button, information about a position of the slide-to-unlock button on the specified trace when the first action is performed on the first portion of the slide-to-unlock button is received.

Claims

1. A method of unlocking a touchscreen, comprising:

in response to entering a touchscreen unlocking interface, displaying a slide-to-unlock button on a touchscreen at its initial position, wherein the slide-to-unlock button is divided into two portions;

in response to pressing a first portion of the slide-to-unlock button and sliding the slide-to-unlock button along a specified trace, displaying on a second portion of the slide-to-unlock button information about a position on the specified trace where the slide-to-unlock button has been positioned by sliding; and

in response to performing a first action on the pressed first portion of the slide-to-unlock button, receiving information about a position on the specified trace where the slide-to-unlock button is positioned when the first action is performed on the first portion of the slide-to-unlock button.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein performing the first action comprises one of:

releasing the first portion where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed;

retaining the first portion where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed at the position on the specified trace where the slide-to-unlock button is positioned for more than a predetermined time period.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein method further comprises:

in response to performing the first action of releasing the first portion where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed, after receiving information about a position on the specified trace where the slide-to-unlock button is positioned when the first portion of the slide-to-unlock button is released, returning the slide-to-unlock button to its initial position on the touchscreen.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first portion of the slide-to-unlock button is pressed several times, and the slide-to-unlock button is slid along the specified trace several times, wherein a touchscreen unlocking password is formed from information about various positions on the specified trace where the slide-to-unlock button is positioned when the first action is performed on the first portion of the slide-to-unlock button several times.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein information about positions on the specified trace where the slide-to-unlock button is positioned is one of:

numbers, characters or a combination thereof.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the slide-to-unlock button is divided into two portions automatically according to a position where slide-to-unlock button is pressed, wherein the two portions are one of:

upper and lower portions, left and right portions, upper left and lower right portions;

upper right and lower left portions.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step of dividing the slide-to-unlock button into two portions automatically according to a position where it is pressed comprises:

in response to pressing the slide-to-unlock button, obtaining an area where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed and a location of the area on the slide-to-unlock button;

determining the two portions that the slide-to-unlock button is divided into and the first portion that is pressed according to the location of the area where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the location of the area is one of:

the centroid of the area where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed; and

the geometrical center of the area where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the specified trace is selected from a straight line and a curve.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the first portion of the slide-to-unlock button is pressed and slid along the specified trace, information about a position of the slide-to-unlock button on the specified trace is displayed nearby the specified trace.

11. A touchscreen unlocking device, comprising:

a display means configured to, in response to entering a touchscreen unlocking interface, display a slide-to-unlock button on a touchscreen at its initial position, wherein the slide-to-unlock button is divided into two portions;

a sliding means configured to, in response to pressing a first portion of the slide-to-unlock button and sliding the slide-to-unlock button along a specified trace, display on a second portion of the slide-to-unlock button information about a position of the slide-to-unlock button on the specified trace; and

a receiving means configured to, in response to performing a first action on the pressed first portion of the slide-to-unlock button, receive information about a position of the slide-to-unlock button on the specified trace when the first action is performed on the first portion of the slide-to-unlock button.

12. The device according to claim 11, wherein performing the first action comprises one of:

releasing the first portion where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed;

retaining the first portion where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed at the position of the slide-to-unlock button on the specified trace for a period exceeding a predetermined time period.

13. The device according to claim 12, wherein, in response to performing the first action of releasing the first portion where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed, after information about a position of the slide-to-unlock button on the specified trace when the first portion of the slide-to-unlock button is released is received by the receiving means, the display means returns the slide-to-unlock button to its initial position on the touchscreen.

14. The device according to claim 12, wherein in the sliding means, the first portion of the slide-to-unlock button is pressed several times, and the slide-to-unlock button is slid along the specified trace several times, and wherein a touchscreen unlocking password is formed from information about various positions on the specified trace where the slide-to-unlock button is slid to when the first action is performed on the first portion of the slide-to-unlock button several times.

15. The device according to claim 14, wherein information about positions of the slide-to-unlock button on the specified trace is one of:

numbers, characters or a combination thereof.

16. The device according to claim 11, further comprising:

a slide-to-unlock button dividing means configured to divide the slide-to-unlock button into two portions automatically according to a position where it is pressed, wherein the two portions are one of;

upper and lower portions, left and right portions, upper left and lower right portions;

upper right and lower left portions.

17. The device according to claim 16, wherein the slide-to-unlock button dividing means comprises:

an area location obtaining means configured to obtain an area where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed and a location of the area in response to pressing the slide-to-unlock button; and

a division determination means configured to determine the two portions that the slide-to-unlock button is divided into and the first portion that is pressed according to the location of the area where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed.

18. The device according to claim 17, wherein the location of the area is one of:

the centroid of the area where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed;

or

the geometrical center of the area where the slide-to-unlock button is pressed.

19. The device according to claim 11, wherein the specified trace is one of:

a straight line, or a curve.

20. The device according to claim 11, wherein when the first portion of the slide-to-unlock button is pressed and slid along the specified trace, the display means displays, nearby the first portion, the specified trace information about a position where the slide-to-unlock button is retained on the specified trace.

21. A computer program product for unlocking a touchscreen, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

in response to entering a touchscreen unlocking interface, displaying a slide-to-unlock button on a touchscreen at its initial position, wherein the slide-to-unlock button is divided into two portions;

in response to pressing a first portion of the slide-to-unlock button and sliding the slide-to-unlock button along a specified trace, displaying on a second portion of the slide-to-unlock button information about a position on the specified trace where the slide-to-unlock button has been positioned by sliding; and

in response to performing a first action on the pressed first portion of the slide-to-unlock button, receiving information about a position on the specified trace where the slide-to-unlock button is positioned when the first action is performed on the first portion of the slide-to-unlock button.