Peekable user interface on a portable electronic device

• US 9,778,706 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2012
• Issued: 10/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: McKenzie, Donald Somerset
• Primary Examiner(s): EARLES, BRYAN E
• Application Number:
  US13/404,308
• Publication Number:
  US 20130222323A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,048 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1633 Protecting arrangement for the entire housing of the computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• 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 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/04 Supports for telephone transmitters or receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A method and portable electronic device are provided that presents a user interface based upon detected input, such as a touch contact with a touch-sensitive display of the portable electronic device, from displacement of a covering apparatus to uncover a portion of the display while the display is in a low power condition such as a sleep state. The information in the user interface that is displayed is determined at least in part by the extent of the displacement of the covering apparatus. The user of the device can peek at the user interface of the device and not have to completely uncover or remove the device from the covering apparatus to view particular types of information.

Claims

1. A method of displaying a user interface on a touch-sensitive display of a portable electronic device when the portable electronic device is in a deformable covering apparatus, the method comprising:

detecting, in a locked state of the electronic device wherein the touch-sensitive display in said locked state is unilluminated and active, a gesture implemented by contact of at least one finger on a portion of the unilluminated touch-sensitive display;

determining, from the contact, and prior to illuminating said unilluminated display, a number of touch contact positions and displacement of the touch contact positions relative to an edge of the display;

using the determined number of touch contact positions and displacement of the touch contact positions on the unilluminated display, to define a closed shape encompassing a starting position and end position of the determined touch contact positions on the touch-sensitive display;

scaling the user interface according to the defined closed shape; and

displaying the scaled user interface by illuminating the unilluminated display only in the defined closed shape, the user interface presenting information other than an unlock user interface screen, and the information being determined at least in part by a type of the gesture detected.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying a type of the covering apparatus wherein expected characteristics of the gesture and associated user interface information are defined in relation to the type of covering apparatus.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the gesture comprises one or more positions of input relative to the display wherein the information presented by the user interface is based upon an area defined by the uncovered portion of the display defined by the one or more positions of the gesture relative to the edge of the touch-sensitive display and the type of covering apparatus.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising sensing the covering apparatus over the touch-sensitive display by one or more sensors of the portable electronic device and a type of covering apparatus is determined by one or more methods selected from a group comprising:

a selection by a predefined covering apparatus type previously selected, receiving one or more sensor inputs to determine the covering apparatus type, or receiving a radio frequency identifier associated with the covering apparatus to identify the covering apparatus type.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the information presented in the user interface is further determined in part based upon an application state on the portable electronic device prior to entering a power conservation state.

6. The method of claim 1, further including illuminating at least the uncovered portion of the display, by only illuminating pixels required to show the information presented in the user interface.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein further displacement of the covering apparatus changes the type of information displayed on the display.

16. The method of claim 1, further including illuminating at least the uncovered portion of the touch-sensitive display and displaying the user interface based upon a position of the capacitive element along the display.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the type of information displayed on the display is further based upon the position of a capacitive element along the display.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the gesture is a meta-navigation gesture determined based upon a swipe from a touch-sensitive non-display area from the edge of the display towards a center of the touch-sensitive display.

7. A portable electronic device comprising:

a touch-sensitive display;

a processor coupled to the touch-sensitive display;

a memory coupled to the processor containing instructions which when executed by the processor perform;

detecting in a locked state of the device wherein the touch-sensitive display in said locked state is unilluminated and active, a gesture implemented by contact of at least one finger on a portion of the unilluminated touch-sensitive display;

determining from the contact, and prior to illuminating said unilluminated display, a number of touch contact positions and displacement of the touch contact positions relative to an edge of the display;

using the determined number of touch contact positions and displacement of the touch contact positions on the unilluminated display to define a closed shape encompassing a starting position and end position of the determined touch contact positions on the touch-sensitive display;

scaling the user interface according to the defined closed shape; and

displaying the scaled user interface by illuminating the unilluminated display only in the defined closed shape, the user interface presenting information other than an unlock user interface screen, and the information being determined at least in part a type of the gesture detected.

8. The portable electronic device of claim 7 further comprising identifying a type of the covering apparatus wherein expected characteristics of the gesture and associated user interface information are defined in relation to the type of covering apparatus.

9. The portable electronic device of claim 8 wherein the gesture comprises one or more positions of input relative to the display wherein the information presented by the user interface is based upon a determined amount of display area defined by the uncovered portion of the display defined by the one or more positions of the gesture relative to the edge of the touch-sensitive display and the type of covering apparatus.

10. The portable electronic device of claim 7 further comprising sensing the covering apparatus over the touch-sensitive display by one or more sensors of the portable electronic device and a type of covering apparatus is determined by one or more methods selected from a group comprising:

a selection by a predefined covering apparatus type previously selected, receiving one or more sensor inputs to determine the covering apparatus type, or receiving a radio frequency identifier associated with the covering apparatus to identify the covering apparatus type.

11. The portable electronic device of claim 7 wherein the information presented in the user interface is further determined in part based upon an application state on the portable electronic device prior to entering a power conservation state.

12. The portable electronic device of claim 7, including illuminating at least the uncovered portion of the display by only illuminating pixels required to show the information presented in the user interface.

15. The portable electronic device of claim 7 wherein further displacement of the covering apparatus changes the type of information displayed on the display.

13. A non-transitory, tangible computer readable memory containing instructions for presenting a user interface on a portable electronic device when the portable electronic device is in a deformable covering apparatus, the instructions which when executed by a processor performing the method comprising:

detecting in a locked state of the electronic device wherein the touch-sensitive display in said locked state is unilluminated and active a gesture implemented by contact of at least one finger on a portion of the unilluminated touch-sensitive display; and

determining from the contact, and prior to illuminating said unilluminated display, a number of touch contact positions and displacement of the touch contact positions relative to an edge of the display;

using the determined number of tough contact positions and displacement of the touch contact positions on the unilluminated display, to define a closed shape encompassing a starting position and end position of the determined touch contact positions on the display;

scaling the user interface according to the defined closed shape; and

displaying the scaled user interface by illuminating the unilluminated display only in the defined closed shape, the user interface presenting information other than an unlock user interface screen, and the information being determined at least in part by a type of the gesture detected.