US20100295799A1 - Touch screen disambiguation based on prior ancillary touch input - Google Patents

Abstract

A hand-held electronic device, method of operation and computer readable medium are disclosed. The device may include a case having one or more major surfaces. A visual display and a touch interface are disposed on at least one of the major surfaces. A processor is operably coupled to the visual display and touch screen. Instructions executable by the processor may be configured to a) present an image on the visual display containing one or more active elements; b) correlate one or more active portions of the touch interface to one or more corresponding active elements in the image on the visual display; c) highlight a most recently activated active element of the one or more active elements on the visual display in response to a user interaction with a corresponding one of the one or more active portions; and d) activate the most recently activated active element in response to a touch anywhere on the touch interface.

Description

CLAIM OF PRIORITY BENEFIT
• This application claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/180,400, filed May 21, 2009, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
• This application is related to commonly assigned co-pending application Ser. No. 12/______, (attorney docket number SCEA09019US00), to Charles Nicholson and Gary M. Zalewski entitled “CONTINUOUS AND DYNAMIC SCENE DECOMPOSITION FOR USER INTERFACE” filed the same day as the present application, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
• This application is related to commonly assigned co-pending application Ser. No. 12/______, (attorney docket number SCEA09021US00), to Charles Nicholson and Gary M. Zalewski entitled “HAND-HELD DEVICE WITH ANCILLARY TOUCH ACTIVATED TRANSFORMATION OF ACTIVE ELEMENT” filed the same day as the present application, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
• This application is related to commonly assigned co-pending application Ser. No. 12/______, (attorney docket number SCEA09020US00), to Charles Nicholson and Gary M. Zalewski entitled “HAND-HELD DEVICE WITH ANCILLARY TOUCH ACTIVATED ZOOM” filed the same day as the present application, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
• This application is related to commonly assigned co-pending application Ser. No. 12/______, (attorney docket number SCEA09023US00), to Charles Nicholson and Gary M. Zalewski entitled “TOUCH CONTROL WITH DYNAMICALLY DETERMINED BUFFER REGION AND ACTIVE PERIMETER” filed the same day as the present application, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
• This application is related to commonly assigned co-pending application Ser. No. 12/______, (attorney docket number SCEA09024US00), to Charles Nicholson and Gary M. Zalewski entitled “HAND-HELD DEVICE WITH TWO-FINGER TOUCH TRIGGERED SELECTION AND TRANSFORMATION OF ACTIVE ELEMENTS” filed the same day as the present application, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
• This application is related to commonly assigned co-pending application Ser. No. 12/______, (attorney docket number SCEA09043US00), to Charles Nicholson and Gary M. Zalewski entitled “DYNAMIC RECONFIGURATION OF GUI DISPLAY DECOMPOSITION BASED ON PREDICTIVE MODEL” filed the same day as the present application, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
• This application is related to commonly assigned co-pending application Ser. No. 12/______, (attorney docket number SCEA09044US00), to Charles Nicholson and Gary M. Zalewski entitled “CUSTOMIZATION OF GUI LAYOUT BASED ON HISTORY OF USE” filed the same day as the present application, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
• Embodiments of the present invention are related to handheld devices and more particularly to hand-held devices that utilize a visual display and touch interface.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• Handheld consumer electronic devices such as cellular telephones, portable internet devices, portable music players, and hand held gaming devices often include some form of visual display, such as a flat screen video display or a touchscreen display. Touchscreens are displays which also have the ability to detect the location of touches within the display area. This allows the display to be used as an input device, removing the keyboard and/or the mouse as the primary input device for interacting with the display's content. Such displays can be attached to computers or, as terminals, to networks. Touchscreens also have assisted in recent changes in the design of personal digital assistant (PDA), satellite navigation and mobile phone devices, making these devices more usable.
• Touchscreens have become commonplace since the invention of the electronic touch interface in 1971 by Dr. Samuel C. Hurst. They have become familiar in retail settings, on point of sale systems, on automatic teller machines (ATMs) and on PDAs where a stylus is sometimes used to manipulate a graphical user interface (GUI) and to enter data. The popularity of smart phones, PDAs, portable game consoles and many types of information appliances is driving the demand for, and the acceptance of, touchscreens.
• The visual displays used in hand-held devices are relatively small compared to computer screens or television screens. This often makes it difficult to see information displayed on the screen. Some hand-held devices allow the display to zoom-in on a selected portion of a larger image so that the selected portion may be magnified and viewed in greater detail. To implement such a zoom feature typically requires the hand-held device to implement some way of selecting the portion to be magnified. Prior art solutions include the use of a touchscreen as the visual display and software that allows the user to select the portion of the display to be magnified with his fingers or a stylus. Unfortunately, because the screen is small, the user's fingers often obscure the part that is to be selected making selection difficult.
• It is within this context that embodiments of the present invention arise.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• The teachings of the present invention can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
• FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating a portion of content containing active elements on a visual display of a handheld device.
• FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram illustrating decomposition of the portion of content displayed on the device inFIG. 1A into sensitive regions corresponding to active elements in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIGS. 1C-1I are schematic diagrams of possible handheld devices that may be used in conjunction with embodiments of the present invention.
• FIG. 2A is a side view diagram of a hand-held device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a hand-held device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 3A is a flow diagram of illustrating operation of a hand-held device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 3B is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a hand-held device illustrating magnification of a selected displayed active element according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 4A is a flow diagram of illustrating operation of a hand-held device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 4B is a three-dimensional schematic diagram illustrating selection of an active element with a touch pad on a handheld device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 4C is a plan view schematic diagram illustrating magnification of an active element in response to activation of a corresponding region of the touch pad.
• FIG. 4D is a three-dimensional schematic diagram illustrating selective magnification of a portion of content presented on a display of a handheld device using a touch pad according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 5 is a plan view schematic diagram of a handheld device illustrating an example of transformation of an active element presented on a visual display in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIGS. 6A-6E are plan view schematic diagrams of a hand-held device at different stages of operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIGS. 7A-7E are plan view schematic diagrams of a hand-held device at different stages of operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIGS. 8A-8C are plan view schematic diagrams of a hand-held device having a touch screen at different stages of operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 9A is a flow diagram of illustrating operation of a hand-held device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 9B is a plan view schematic diagram illustrating an example of how decomposition of displayed content may change as probability of subsequent actions change.
• FIG. 10A is a flow diagram of illustrating operation of a hand-held device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIGS. 10B-10C are plan view schematic diagrams of a hand-held device at different stages of operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS
• Although the following detailed description contains many specific details for the purposes of illustration, anyone of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that many variations and alterations to the following details are within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments of the invention described below are set forth without any loss of generality to, and without imposing limitations upon, the claimed invention.
• Continuous and Dynamic Scene Decomposition for User Interface
• According to certain embodiments of the present invention, content to be rendered on a hand held device may be decomposed into a number of regions that fill the area of a display screen. Each region may be associated with a different active element of the content that is displayed on the screen. These regions may be mapped to corresponding touch-sensitive regions of a user interface on the device. Each touch-sensitive region corresponds to a different active element. In some embodiments, the user interface may be a touch pad that is separate from the display screen. In other embodiments, the display screen may be a touch screen and the user interface may therefore be part of the display screen. Depending on the type of touch screen, a user may interact with the touch screen with a touch of the user's finger or by touching the screen with a stylus.
• By way of example, and not by way of limitation, content, such as a web page, rendered on a hand held device is decomposed into a number of regions. Each region may be associated with a different active element that is displayed. An entire area of a touch pad on the back of the device may be divided into touch sensitive regions. Each touch sensitive region may correspond to a different active element. The displayed web page can be broken into the active regions for the back touch by performing a Voronoi decomposition on the browser-rendered html canvas. A user can then “select” one of the active elements shown on the front screen by touching the corresponding region on the back touch. Since each area on the back touch is much larger than the displayed active element, the active elements are easier to select using the back touch than with the front touch screen.
• By way of a more detailed example, content in the form of an html document, such as a web page, may be decomposed into the active regions for the back touch by performing a mathematical decomposition referred to generally as a tessellation on the browser-rendered html canvas. The html canvas determines how the html document is displayed on a screen. The tessellation divides the portion of the document that is to be displayed into a finite number of regions that divide up the area of the screen. Each region corresponds to an active element in the portion of the document that is to be displayed on the screen. According to one embodiment, these regions may be mapped to corresponding touch-sensitive regions of a touch pad. A user can then “select” an active element shown on the front screen by touching the corresponding touch-sensitive region on the touch pad. As a result of the tessellation, each touch-sensitive region may be significantly larger than the corresponding active element displayed on the screen. Consequently, where the screen is a touch screen, the active elements may be easier to select using the touch pad than with the touch screen.
• There are a number of different ways in which the tessellation may be performed. In general, it is preferable for the tessellation to divide up the displayed portion of the document into convex regions. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, tessellation of the displayed portion into convex regions may be implemented as a Voronoi decomposition, sometimes also called a Voronoi tessellation, a Voronoi diagram, or a Dirichlet tessellation. The Voronoi decomposition is a kind of decomposition of a metric space determined by distances to a specified discrete set of objects in the space, e.g., by a discrete set of points. In a simplest case, a plane contains a set of points S referred to as Voronoi sites. Each Voronoi site s has a Voronoi cell, also called a Dirichlet cell, V(s) consisting of all points closer to s than to any other site. The segments of the Voronoi diagram (i.e., the edges of the Voronoi cells) are all the points in the plane that are equidistant to two sites. The Voronoi nodes (i.e., the corners of a cell where two edges meet) are the points equidistant to three (or more) sites.
• Transformation of active elements may be context sensitive. For example, it may make sense to simply magnify a button to make it easier to use with the touch screen. However, it may be more convenient to transform a scroll bar to a form that is more convenient for a user to manipulate on a touch screen.
• As an example, a web page might normally appear on the device's screen as depicted inFIG. 1A. In this example a portion of aweb page101 is displayed on a visual display of adevice102. Theweb page101 includes active elements. As used herein, an active element refers to a portion of the displayed web page that a user may interact with through a suitable user interface. Non-limiting examples of active elements include aradio button104, atext entry box106, a link108 (e.g., an html link or web link), and ascroll bar110. The web page may also include inactive content, such asnormal text112 or images.
• As depicted inFIG. 1B, the area of the displayedweb page101 may be decomposed into aradio button region114 that corresponds to theradio button104, a textentry box region116 corresponding to thetext entry box106, alink region118 corresponding to thelink108, and ascroll bar region120 corresponding to thescroll bar110. It is noted that there is no region corresponding to thetext112 since the text is not an active element in this example. According to some embodiments of the present invention, theradio button region114, textentry box region116, and linkregion118 may be mapped to corresponding regions on a touch sensitive interface.
• In some embodiments, the touch sensitive interface may be a touch screen that is part of the visual display. Alternatively, the touch sensitive interface may be a touch pad that is separate and apart from the visual display. There are a number of possible configurations for the visual display and touch pad. Possible examples of such configurations include one in which a visual display V and a touch pad T are on the same side of a case C, as shown inFIG. 1C, on adjacent sides of the case C, as shown inFIG. 1D, or on opposite sides of the case C as shown inFIG. 1E. Other examples include configurations in which the visual display V and touch pad T are located on separate case portions C₁and C₂respectively. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, the case portions C₁, C₂may be connected to each other in a sliding configuration, as shown inFIG. 1F, in a hinged configuration as shown, e.g., inFIG. 1G,FIG. 1H, orFIG. 1I. InFIG. 1F, the visual display V and touch pad T face inward when case portions C₁and C₂are in a closed position. Alternatively, as shown inFIG. 1G, the visual display V may face outward and the touch pad T may face inward (or vice versa) when the case portions C₁and C₂are in a closed position. Furthermore as shown inFIG. 1H, the visual display V and touch pad T face outward when case portions C₁and C₂are in a closed position.
• According to an embodiment of the invention, a shown inFIG. 2A, a handheldelectronic device200 may include acase201 with avisual display202 located on amajor surface225A of thecase201 referred to herein as the front surface. Atouch pad204 may be located on anothermajor surface225B of the case201 (referred to herein as the back surface) that is opposite the front surface. The case may be of sufficiently small size that it can be held in a user's hand.
• As seen inFIG. 2B, the device may include acontroller203, the components of which may be located within thecase201. Thecontroller203 includes aprocessor207 operably coupled to thevisual display202 and thetouch pad204. In some embodiments, thedevice200 may includemultiple processors207 if parallel processing is to be implemented. Thedevice200 may be configured for use as a game device, a phone, a portable media player, an email device, web browser device and the like.
• The hand-helddevice200 may also include well-known support functions, such as input/output (I/O) elements211, power supplies (P/S)213, a clock (CLK)215 andcache217. Thedevice200 may optionally include amass storage device219 such as a disk drive, CD-ROM drive, flash drive, or the like to store programs and/or data. Thetouch screen202,touch pad204,processor207,memory208 and other components of thedevice200 may exchange signals (e.g., code instructions and data) with each other via asystem bus220 as shown inFIG. 2B. In some embodiments, thedevice200 may include anetwork interface216, configured to allow the device to exchange signals with other devices over a network. Furthermore, the hand-helddevice200 may include one ormore sensors218. Such sensors may include, e.g., an inertial sensor such as an accelerometer or tilt sensor, an optical sensor, an acoustic sensor such as a microphone or microphone array. The sensors may generate inputs to theprogram instructions210 that reflect the environment in which the hand-held device operates.
• Thevisual display202 may be any suitable form of display capable of presenting visible symbols and/or graphical images. By way of example thevisual display202 may include a flat panel display, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or light emitting diode (LED) display. In some embodiments, thevisual display202 on the front surface may also incorporate a touch pad to provide an interface for receiving user commands. In some embodiments thetouch pad204 may optionally include a visual display. Thetouch pad204 on the back surface may be based on any suitable touch screen technology, such as resistive, surface-acoustic wave (SAW) capacitive, infrared, strain gauge, optical imaging, dispersive signal technology, acoustic pulse recognition, frustrated total internal reflection or graphics tablet based on magneto-strictive technology that responds to the proximity of a user's fingers. Any of these same technologies may also be incorporated into thevisual display202 on the front surface if desired. In a preferred embodiment, thevisual display202 includes a resistive touch screen coupled to thecontroller203 and thetouch pad204 includes a capacitive touch screen.
• By way of example a resistive touch screen panel may be composed of several layers including two thin metallic electrically conductive and resistive layers separated by thin space. When some object touches this kind of touch panel, the layers are connected at a certain point. The panel then electrically acts similar to two voltage dividers with connected outputs. This causes a change in the electrical current which is registered as a touch event which may be sent to theprocessor207 for processing.
• Surface Acoustic Wave technology uses ultrasonic waves that pass over the touch screen panel. When the panel is touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed. This change in the ultrasonic waves registers the position of the touch event and sends this information to the controller for processing.
• A capacitive touch screen panel may be coated with a material, e.g., indium tin oxide that conducts a continuous electrical current across the sensor. The sensor therefore exhibits a precisely controlled field of stored electrons in both the horizontal and vertical axes. When the capacitive touch screen's ‘normal’ capacitance field (its reference state) is altered by an externally applied electric field, e.g., from a user's finger, electronic circuits located at each corner of the panel measure a resultant ‘distortion’ in the characteristics of the reference field and send the information about the event to theprocessor207 for mathematical processing.
• An infrared touch screen panel may employ one of two different methodologies. One method uses thermal induced changes of the surface resistance. Another method is an array of vertical and horizontal IR sensors that detected interruption of a modulated light beam near the surface of the screen.
• In a strain gauge configuration the screen is spring mounted on the four corners and strain gauges are used to determine deflection when the screen is touched. This technology may also measure movement of thescreen202 along the Z-axis.
• In touch screen technology based on optical imaging, two or more image sensors may be placed around the edges (mostly the corners) of the screen. Infrared backlights may be placed in a camera's field of view on the other sides of the screen. A touch shows up as a shadow and each pair of cameras can then be triangulated to locate the touch.
• Dispersive signal technology may use sensors to detect mechanical energy in the glass that occurs due to a touch. Complex algorithms then interpret this information and provide the actual location of the touch.
• Touch screens based on acoustic pulse recognition may use more than two piezoelectric transducers located at some positions of the screen to turn the mechanical energy of a touch (vibration) into an electronic signal. This signal may then be converted into an audio file, and then compared to preexisting audio profile for every position on the screen.
• Touch screens based on frustrated total internal reflection use the principle of total internal reflection to fill a refractive medium with light. When a finger or other soft object is pressed against the surface, the internal reflection light path is interrupted, making the light reflect outside of the medium and thus visible to a camera behind the medium.
• In some embodiments, thedevice200 may include one or more optional buttons coupled to thecontroller203 to provide additional sources of input. There are a number of different possible locations for theoptional buttons206. By way of example, and without loss of generality, one or moreoptional buttons206 may be located on thefront surface225A, theback surface225B, along aside edge222 of thedevice200 or on a beveled edge224.
• The hand-helddevice200 may further include a memory208 (e.g., RAM, DRAM, ROM, and the like). A computer readable medium such as thememory208 may storeprogram instructions210 for execution on theprocessor207. Theprogram instructions210 may be configured to respond to inputs from one or more input sources on the device (e.g., thevisual display202, thetouch pad204, or buttons206) or from remote input sources that are coupled to the device. Theprogram instructions210 may includedisplay driver instructions212 configured to generate images displayed on thevisual display202. Theprogram210 may include touchpad driver instructions213 that respond to inputs received from thetouch pad204. It is noted that in some embodiments, the functions of thevisual display202 andtouch pad204 may be combined into a single touch screen interface that may serve as both an input and an output device.
• Hand-Held Device with Ancillary Touch Activated Transformation of Active Element
• By way of example, and not by way of limitation, in one version of this embodiment, a hand-held electronic device may have a case with one or more major surfaces. A visual display may be disposed on at least one of the major surfaces. A touch interface may be disposed on at least one of the major surfaces. A processor may be operably coupled to the display and the touch interface. An image containing content may be rendered on the display. The content may be divided into a number of regions. Each region may be associated with a different active element such as a link or check box that is displayed. The entire area of a touch interface may be divided into touch sensitive regions. Each touch sensitive region may correspond to a different active element shown on the display. A user may select an active element by touching the corresponding region on the touch interface. When the active element is selected its appearance and/or operation may be transformed so that the element is easier to manipulate with the touch interface. The transformation may be animated so that the user can easily see which active element is being transformed. After the user interacts with the transformed active element, the element may revert to its original form by a reverse animation.
• There are a number of different ways in which the reversion of a transformed element may be triggered. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, if the transformation is triggered by a user's touch on a region of thetouch interface204 corresponding to an active element, the reversion may be triggered by removal of the touch.
• By way of example and not by way of limitation, theprogram210 may further includetransformation instructions214, which may be configured, e.g., by appropriate software programming, to operate thedevice200 according to a method illustrated generally inFIG. 3A. As indicated at302 inFIG. 3A, a portion of content to be displayed on thedisplay202 may be decomposed, e.g., by Voronoi composition, as discussed above. Active elements within the displayed portion may be correlated corresponding portions of a touch interface, as indicated at304. The touch interface may be thetouch pad204 or thevisual display202, if it includes a touch screen. As a user manipulates the touch interface, theprogram210 may determine whether the user has selected any portion of the touch interface that corresponds to an active element, as indicated at306. If the user selects one of these active portions, a transformed view of the corresponding active element may then be presented on thevisual display202 as indicated at308.
• There are a number of ways in which an active element may be transformed. For example, as illustrated inFIG. 3B, anicon312 representing an active element may simply be presented in magnifiedform314. This allows the magnifiedform314 to be more easily manipulated by the user if thevisual display202 is a touch screen. The transformation of the selected active element may be animated so that the user can easily see which active element is being transformed. After the user interacts with the transformed active element, the element may revert to its original form by a reverse animation. The re-transformation may also be animated. There are a number of variations on the transformation of active elements within the scope of embodiments of the present invention. A number of these are discussed below.
• Hand-Held Device with Ancillary Touch Activated Zoom
• In this embodiment, a hand-held electronic device may have a case with one or more major surfaces. A visual display may be disposed on at least one major surface. A touch pad may be disposed on at least one of the major surfaces. A processor may be operably coupled to the visual display and the touch screen. Instructions executable by the processor may be configured to: a) present an image on the visual display; b) identify an active portion of the touch pad in response to user interaction with the touch pad; c) correlate the active portion of touch pad to a corresponding region of display; and d) present a magnified view of the corresponding region on the visual display. As an example, a user may slide his finger over touch pad on a back side of the device. The location of the user's finger may be mapped to a corresponding region of the display on the front side. A magnified view of this region may be displayed in a window on the display.
• In some versions of this embodiment, thetransformation instructions214 may be configured to track a user's manipulation of thetouch pad204 on the back surface as indicated at402 inFIG. 4A. A magnified view of a corresponding portion of an image may be presented on thevisual display202. For example, as shown in the flow diagram ofFIG. 4A theprogram210 may track a user's manipulation of thetouch pad204, as indicated at402, e.g., using thetouch pad driver213. Specifically, thetouch pad driver213 may determine whichportion412 of thetouch pad204 has been activated by a user's touch, as shown inFIG. 4B. Theactive portion412 may be correlated to a corresponding region of thevisual display202, as indicated at404. A magnified view of the content within thecorresponding region414 may be displayed on thedisplay202 as indicated at406.
• In some embodiments, thetouch pad204 may be tessellated into regions that correspond to active elements shown on thedisplay202. When a user activates one of the regions of thetouch pad204 that corresponds to an active element, that active element may be magnified on the touch screen as depicted inFIG. 4B. For instance, referring to the example described above with respect toFIG. 1A-1B, if the user presses theback touch region118 corresponding to thelink108, a magnifiedlink418 may be displayed on the touch screen as shown inFIG. 4C.
• In alternative versions of embodiment described with respect toFIG. 4A-4B, it is not strictly necessary to perform a tessellation or similar decomposition of displayed portion of content. Instead, theprogram210 may simply track the user's activation of a portion of thetouch pad204, correlate the activated portion to a corresponding region of content displayed on the screen and present a magnifiedview414 of the content in the corresponding region as shown inFIG. 4D. This makes it much easier to see and user the selected active elements shown on the screen. This also allows for an enhanced usability of thevisual display202 in the case where the visual display is also a touch screen.
• It is noted that within the context of embodiments of the present invention there are many alternative ways in which an active element may be transformed once it has been selected through activation of a corresponding region of a touch interface. For example, in addition to, or instead of, altering the displayed size of an active element, the appearance and or nature of operation of an active element may be altered by the transformation.
• By way of example, consider the case shown inFIGS. 1A-1B. It may be impractical to magnify thescroll bar110. It may also be awkward to manipulate the scroll bar displayed on a small touch screen in a conventional fashion by moving the small box or “clicking” on the up or down arrows at the ends of the scroll bar. Instead of magnifying thescroll bar110, a transformation may take place as depicted inFIG. 5. In this example, thescroll bar110 may be transformed into a transformedscroll bar130 that may operate differently from a conventional scroll bar. For example, the scroll speed and direction of the transformedscroll bar130 may depend on where the user places acursor132 within the scroll bar, e.g., using a stylus. This makes it much easier to use the scroll bar on a touch screen. There are a number of ways in which the appearance and/or nature of operation of an active element may be transformed. For example, a check box may be transformed into a toggle switch, which may be more intuitive to operate on a hand-held device.
• Touch Screen Disambiguation Based on Prior Ancillary Touch Input
• In this embodiment a hand-held electronic device may have a case with first and second major surfaces as discussed above. A touch screen display may be disposed on the first major surface and a touch pad may be disposed on another major surface. An image containing content is rendered on the display. The content can be divided into a number of regions. Each region may be associated with a different active element, e.g., as discussed above. An entire area of a touch pad may be divided into touch sensitive regions. Each touch sensitive region corresponds to a different active element shown on the touch screen. A user may select an active element by touching the corresponding region on the touch pad.
• As discussed above, when an active element is selected its appearance and/or operation may be transformed so that the element is easier to manipulate with the touch screen. As noted above, the transformation can be animated so that the user can easily see which active element is being transformed. After the user interacts with the transformed active element, the element may revert to its original form by a reverse animation. For example, when a user selects an active element by pressing the corresponding region on the touch pad, the active element may be magnified on a front display that also acts as a touch screen. After the user has manipulated the transformed active element, the transformed element may revert to its normal appearance. However, the active element that was manipulated may be highlighted on the touch screen so that the user can tell which active element was most recently changed. If the user wants to re-use the highlighted active element, this element can be selected by pressing on the general area of the element on the front touch screen. If the user's finger touches several active elements, this action may be disambiguated as an activation of the highlighted active element.
• By way of example, and not by way of limitation, as normally displayed, content, such as a web page containing multiple active elements, e.g., checkboxes602 may appear on atouch screen display202 as shown inFIG. 6A. The area of the displayed page may be broken up into ninedifferent regions612 as shown inFIG. 6B.
• In this example, eachcheck box region612 is mapped to a different corresponding region of a touch pad (not shown). The touch pad may be located on a different part of the device, e.g., on a back surface of acase201 or in some other configuration, e.g., as depicted inFIGS. 1C-1I. A user may “select” one of the nine check boxes shown on the touch screen by touching the corresponding region on the touch pad. Since each area on the back touch is much larger than the displayed check boxes, the check boxes are easier for the user to select. When a user selects an active element by pressing the corresponding region on the touch pad, the active element may be magnified or otherwise transformed on the touch screen. The user can then more easily see the active element and/or interact more easily with it using thetouch screen202.
• For example, if the user presses atouch pad region612C corresponding to acenter check box602C, a magnified center check622C box may be displayed on thetouch screen202 as shown inFIG. 6C. Portions of the displayed content that are associated with the text box, e.g., associatedtext624C may also be magnified so that they are easier to read.
• If the user wants to check thecenter check box602C, this box can be selected by pressing on the corresponding magnifiedcheck box622C on thetouch screen202, e.g., using a stylus or the user's finger. After the user has selected the magnifiedcenter check box622C, the magnifiedcheck box622C may revert to its normal appearance on within the displayed content. However, thecenter check box602 may be highlighted on thedisplay202 so that the user may easily perceive that the center check box was the one that was most recently changed as shown inFIG. 6D.
• Thetransform instructions214 may filter input from thetouch screen driver213 based on the fact that thecenter check box602C was the active element that was most recently modified. For example, the tessellated regions corresponding to displayed active elements may be mapped to thetouch screen202 as well as thetouch pad204. Thetransform instructions214 may be configured to filter signals corresponding to touch activation of these regions such that a user's touch of any one or more of these regions is interpreted as a touch of the most recently modified active element displayed. This way, an ambiguous input on the touch screen may be disambiguated based on previous user interaction with displayed active elements. Thus, e.g., if the user wants to un-check thecenter check box602C, this box can be selected or magnified by pressing on one or more of thecheck box regions612 that are mapped to thetouch screen202. Even if the user's finger F touches several check box regions, as depicted inFIG. 6E, thetransform instructions214 may interpret this action as a selection of thecenter check box602.
• There are a number of possible variations on the embodiment described with respect toFIG. 6A-6E. These variations may address unforeseen problems associated with a handheld device that uses a touch screen on the front of the device and a touch pad on the back of the device. Many of these problems may arise since the user tends to primarily rely on the front side touch screen since the view of the position of the user's fingers on the backside touch pad is often obscured by the case.
• Touch Control with Dynamically Determined Buffer Region and Active Perimeter
• This embodiment deals with the problem of how to select multiple active elements on the touch screen of a hand-held device without the user having to hold down a control, e.g., on the backside touchpad, to keep the selected elements magnified or enhanced.
• Certain implementations of this embodiment may be based on a modal dialog box format that uses a non-responsive or inactive region that wraps around a perimeter of a state input touch field, and, a dynamically sized accept and cancel region that wraps around the inactive buffer region of the modal dialog box. It is noted that this embodiment may be implemented in a device having a single touch screen. Although two touch interfaces are not necessary, this embodiment may be employed in devices that have two touch interfaces, e.g., a front touch screen and a back touch pad. In one example of this embodiment, select and cancel regions may be dynamically set to a thickness based on the size of a dialog box while preserving buffer region.
• According to this embodiment, content rendered on a screen of a hand held device may be divided into a number of regions. Each region is associated with a different active element such as a link or check box that is displayed. The entire area of a touch interface, e.g., a touch screen onto which the content is rendered, or a separate touch pad on the back of the device may be divided into touch sensitive regions. Each touch sensitive region corresponds to a different active element. A user selects an active element by touching the corresponding touch sensitive region. A transformed or magnified active element may be displayed on the screen. The enhanced active element may be manipulated with the touch interface, e.g., a front touch screen or back touch pad. A buffer region surrounds the enhanced active element. Nothing happens if the user touches this area of the touch interface. The remaining region of the touch interface outside the buffer region is repurposed so that touching on this region can either commit to the manipulation of the active element or cancel the manipulation of the active element.
• By way of example, and not by way of limitation,content701, such as a web page, might normally be displayed a hand held device's touch screen as shown inFIG. 7A. In this example, the displayedcontent701 includes a number of active elements, such as aradio button702, atext entry box704, alink706 and a group ofcheck boxes708 and inactive elements, such astext710.
• As depicted inFIG. 7B, the active elements may be to corresponding tessellated regions of a touch screen or touch pad, e.g., as described above. Specifically, the displayedcontent701 may be decomposed into aradio button region712 that corresponds to theradio button702, a textentry box region714 corresponding to thetext entry box704, alink region716 corresponding to thelink706, and a textbox group region718 corresponding to thetext box group708. It is noted that there is no region corresponding to thetext710 since the text is not an active element in this example.
• A user may select the check box group, e.g., by touching thecorresponding region718 on device's the touch screen or a separate touch pad. An enhanced (e.g., transformed or magnified)text box group728 may then be displayed on the touch screen, e.g., as shown inFIG. 7C. Animation may be used to show the transformation or magnification of the text box group so that it will be clear that this is the particular active element that was selected. The transformation or magnification of thetext box group708 allows a user to more easily activate selected check boxes on the touch screen.
• Abuffer region721 of the touch screen surrounds the enhancedcheck box region728. Theprogram210 may be configured such that nothing happens if the user touches thebuffer region721. The remainingregion725 of the touch screen outside thebuffer region721 may be repurposed so that touching on this region can either commit to the selected boxes or cancel the text box selection and make the text boxes go away. For example, as depicted inFIG. 7D, one side of the remainingregion725A of the touch screen may be repurposed as a “commit” button and another side of the remainingregion725B may be repurposed as a “cancel” button. These regions may have different shading and icons may be displayed within each region as a guide to the user. Touching the “commit”region725A commits the selected check boxes and reverts the enhancedtext box region728 to the original form of thetext box group708. Touching the “cancel”region725B cancels the selection of the selected check boxes and reverts the enhancedtext box region728 to the original form of thetext box group708.
• The thickness of the remainingregion725 may be dynamically determined based on a size of the enhancedcheck box region728 in such a way that thebuffer region721 is preserved. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, thebuffer region721 may be preserved it the thickness of the remaining region is adjusted so that the thickness of thebuffer region721 around the enhancedcheck box region728 is greater than or equal to some minimum thickness. The minimum thickness may be determined empirically based on some criteria related to ease of use of the device. For example, a minimum thickness of the buffer region may be determined to reduce the likelihood that a user will inadvertently touch the “commit”region725A or cancelregion725B.
• There are a number of possible variations on the embodiment described above with respect toFIGS. 7A-7D. In one variation, the hand held device may include an inertial sensor (e.g., an accelerometer or tilt sensor), which may be used to detect a tilt of the device to toggle between commit and cancel. The user could then touch anywhere in there-purposed region725 to activate the commit or cancel. Alternatively, the user may commit or cancel by pressing on a separate touch pad, if the device includes one. A “commit” or “cancel” icon may be displayed on the touch screen depending on which way the device is tilted (as determined by a signal from the inertial sensor). According to another variation on this embodiment, the active element may be a color picker having two modes of operation that may be selected using are-purposed region725. For example, the color picker may have a default mode that allows a user to select from among a limited number of colors (e.g., 16 colors). By touching the re-purposed region725 a user may elect to enter an expanded mode that allows the user to select from a greater number of colors (e.g., 256 colors). The repurposedregion725 may include an icon or other indication to the user that this expanded mode is available.
• Another variation addresses the situation where a user has some information copied to a temporary memory location sometimes called a “clipboard”. In conventional touch screen interfaces, if the user needs to enter information into thetext entry box704, the device converts part of the touch screen to a virtual keyboard. In conventional hand-held devices, the user must then enter the text with the virtual keyboard. This is often inconvenient, particularly if text can be copied using the device.
• As shown inFIG. 7E, according to an embodiment of the invention, by contrast, aspecial icon734 may be shown on the touch screen in conjunction with an enhancedtext entry box724 if the user selects the textentry box region714 and data has been copied that may be pasted into the text entry box. In some embodiments portions of the touch screen may be repurposed as avirtual keyboard744, which may be displayed as part of or in conjunction with the enhancedtext entry box724. The user may touch theicon734 to paste the stored text into thetext entry box704. The user may also enter text via the virtual keyboard. The user may then return the device to normal operation, e.g., through interaction with the touch screen or touch pad. For example, if thetext entry box704 is selected by touching the textentry box region714 using the touch screen, the user may touch the textentry box region714 to trigger a return to normal view. Alternatively, if thetext entry box704 is selected by touching and holding the textentry box region714 on a touch pad on the back of the device, the user may touch the textentry box region714 to trigger a return to normal view by releasing his touch the touchpad to go back to normal operation. This procedure avoids having to bring up the virtual keyboard for text entry.
• Although a number of the embodiments described above relate to a device having a front touch screen and a back touch pad, embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in devices that utilize only a touch screen.
• Hand-Held Device with Two-Finger Touch Triggered Selection and Transformation of Active Elements
• According to this embodiment, content rendered on a display of a hand held device may be divided into a number of regions as discussed above. Each region may be associated with a different active element that is rendered on the display. The entire area of the display is divided into regions that correspond to touch sensitive regions of a touch interface. Each touch sensitive region corresponds to a different active element shown on the display. Touching the touch interface in a first mode (e.g., with a single finger) operates the touch interface normally. Touching one of the touch sensitive regions in another mode of touch (e.g., with two fingers) activates an enhancement (e.g., transformation or magnification) of the active element corresponding to that region. The first and second modes of operation may be defined arbitrarily. However, in a preferred embodiment, a single finger touch operates the touch interface normally and a two-finger touch on a screen region corresponding to an active element initiates the enhancement of that element.
• By way of example, and not by way of limitation,content801, such as a web page might normally appear on atouch screen803 as shown inFIG. 8A. Thecontent801 may include active elements, such as aradio button802, atext entry box804, alink806 and acheck box808. Inactivenormal text810 or images may also be displayed. In a conventional mode of operation a single finger touch by operates the screen normally. For example, a “swipe” across the surface of thetouch screen803 with a finger F may be interpreted as an instruction to trigger scrolling of the displayedcontent801.
• As discussed above, the area of the displayedcontent801 may be broken up into four different regions as shown inFIG. 8B. These regions include aradio button region812 that corresponds to theradio button802, a textentry box region814 corresponding to thetext entry box804, alink region816 corresponding to thelink806, and acheck box region818 corresponding to thecheck box group808. It is noted that there is no region corresponding to thetext810 since the text is not an active element in this example.
• A user can then “select” one of the four active elements shown on thetouch screen803 by touching the corresponding region on the touch screen with a second touch mode, e.g., a two-fingered touch. Since each sensitive area is much larger than the displayed active element, the active elements are easier to select. When a user selects an active element by pressing the corresponding region on the touch screen with two fingers, theprogram210 may interpret this action as an instruction to enhance the corresponding active element, which may then be enhanced, e.g., magnified or transformed, as discussed above. The user can then more easily see the active element and interact more easily with it using thetouch screen803.
• For example, as shown inFIG. 8C, if the user presses thetouch screen region816 for the link with two fingers F₁, F₂anenhanced link826 may be displayed on thetouch screen803. By way of example, theenhanced link826 may show a pre-rendered image of the web page or other content to which the user may navigate by activating the link.
• This embodiment facilitates viewing and using the active elements shown on the screen. This also allows for an enhancement of conventional use of a touch screen. Specifically, a two finger touch on one of the active element regions of thetouch screen803 may be interpreted as equivalent to touch on a corresponding region of a touch pad on a backside of the device. Using two different touch modes, as opposed to two different touch interfaces, may simplify the design of a hand-held device and reduce the devices complexity and cost. Using two different touch modes, may also be advantageous even if the device includes both a touch screen and a separate touch pad. The dual mode touch screen may provide additional flexibility and ease of operation.
• In some variations of this embodiment theprogram210 may interpret two fingered touch mode actions by tracking the two fingers F₁, F₂independently. For example, if the two fingers F₁, F₂move in the same direction, the movement may be interpreted as a “swipe” command. If the two fingers F₁, F₂move in different directions, this movement may be interpreted as a “pinch” command.
• There are other variations on this embodiment. For example, two-fingered touch may be used to trigger element magnification/transformation and single finger touch may be used for scrolling or vice versa. This embodiment may also be combined with other embodiments described above, for example, touching a re-purposed region of thetouch screen803 outside the portion of the screen that displays an enhanced active element may cancel or close the active element. In addition, the concept in this embodiment may be extended to encompass tracking of three or more fingers and associating different modes of operation commands with the number of fingers that are determined to be touching the touch screen and/or touch pad.
• The features of this embodiment may be combined the features of other embodiments. For example, use of different touch modes may be control the degree of magnification of an active element or portion of displayed content in the embodiments discussed above with respect toFIGS. 4A-4B. Specifically, the degree of magnification may be correlated to the number of fingers used in the mode of touch.
• Dynamic Reconfiguration of GUI Display Decomposition Based on Predictive Model
• In this embodiment, content, e.g., a web page rendered on a display, may be decomposed into a number of regions, each of which is associated with a different active element shown on the display. An entire area of a related touch interface may be divided into touch sensitive regions, each of which corresponds to a different active element shown on the display. A user may select one of the active elements by touching the corresponding touch sensitive region. The decomposition may be skewed according to a prediction of which active element is likely to be selected next. The prediction may be determined from a predictive model based on a history of use of thedevice200 by the user. The predictive model may be continuously updated as the user uses the device. In some versions of this embodiment, the “skew” of the decomposition may decay over time to a “non-skewed” decomposition that is not based on a prediction. The features of the other embodiments described herein may be combined with the features of this embodiment.
• By way of example and not by way of limitation, as noted above, theprogram210 may further include aprediction engine210, which may be configured, e.g., by appropriate software programming, to operate thedevice200 according to a method illustrated generally inFIG. 9A. As indicated at902 inFIG. 9A, a portion of content to be displayed on thedisplay202 may be decomposed, e.g., by Voronoi composition, as discussed above. Active elements within the displayed portion may be correlated corresponding portions of a touch interface, as indicated at904. The touch interface may be thetouch pad204 or thevisual display202, if it includes a touch screen. As a user manipulates the touch interface, theprogram210 may optionally determine whether the user has taken an action as indicated at906. By way of example, theprogram210 may detect that the user has selected any portion of the touch interface that corresponds to an active element. Theprogram210 may then adjust proportions of the decomposition of the content shown on the display according to a probability of one or more subsequent actions. The decomposition of the content and correlation of the active regions to corresponding portions of the touch interface may be repeated iteratively over time. By way of example, the prediction engine221 may compute probabilities for subsequent actions based on past patterns of user behavior following an action of a given type with thedevice200. The past behavior may be correlated to a type of content displayed on thedisplay102. The probabilities may be updated as the user uses thedevice200. Thescreen driver212 may re-compute the decomposition of the displayed portion of the content according to the probabilities as indicated at908. The size and/or shape of the resulting active regions of thetouch pad204 may change as a result of the re-computation of the decomposition.
• FIG. 9B illustrates an example of how the decomposition of the display may change as probability of subsequent actions change. By way of example, as depicted inFIG. 9B, the device may display content such as a web page in response to an initial user action. In this example, the displayed content, e.g., aweb page101 displayed on a visual display ofdevice102 may include active elements, such as aradio button104, atext entry box106, a link108 (e.g., an html link or web link), and ascroll bar110. The content may also include inactive content, such asnormal text112 or images. As described above, the area of the displayedcontent page101 may be decomposed into aradio button region114 corresponding to theradio button104, a textentry box region116 corresponding to thetext entry box106, alink region118 corresponding to thelink108, and ascroll bar region120 corresponding to thescroll bar110. No region corresponds to thetext112 since, in this example, the text is not an active element. Theradio button region114, textentry box region116,link region118, andscroll bar region120 may be mapped to corresponding regions on a touch sensitive interface.
• The prediction engine221 may determine that, based on passed user behavior, the user is more likely than not to next use thescroll bar110 than theradio button104 once thecontent101 is displayed. Consequently, thedisplay driver212 may compute a decomposition of thecontent101 in whichscroll bar region120 is initially made larger and theradio button region114, textentry box region116 andlink region118 may be made smaller than would otherwise be the case if these regions were determined from a simple unbiased decomposition ofcontent101, e.g. by tessellation of an html canvas. Thedisplay driver212 may compute the relative areas of theradio button region114, textentry box region116,link region118, andscroll bar region120 in accordance with the relative probabilities that the user is likely to use these regions within a given time frame.
• The likelihood that the user will next use thescroll bar110 may change over time. Thus, e.g., as a result of iteration of the decomposition and correlation processes, the boundary between thescroll bar region120 and the other three regions may move over time making the scroll bar region smaller and the other three regions larger until the boundary is located where it would be if determined from a simple unbiased decomposition of thecontent101. Other variations are possible based on the amount of information available to the prediction engine about past user behavior. For example, as time passes it may become more likely that the user will use thetext box106. If so, thetext box region116 may grow relative to the other three regions. It is noted that the corresponding probabilities for each active region may decay over time to an unbiased probability. Consequently, the tessellation of the image may decay over time to an unbiased tessellation in such a case.
• The features of this embodiment may be mixed with the features of other embodiments described herein. By way of further non-limiting example, the features of this embodiment may be mixed with the features described above with respect toFIGS. 6A-6E. Specifically, the decay of the skew in the decomposition of the displayed content may be applied where an ambiguous input on the touch interface is to be disambiguated based on previous user interaction with displayed active elements as described e.g., with respect toFIG. 6E. In general, the tessellation of the displayed content may decay from a biased tessellation in which a touch anywhere on the touch interface is interpreted as an activation of a most recently transformed active element to an unbiased tessellation. Specifically, the decomposition may decay over time from one in which thecenter check box602C, may be selected or magnified by pressing on one or more of thecheck box regions612 that are mapped to thetouch screen202 to one in which the center check box can only be selected or magnified by pressing on the portion of the touch interface that corresponds to the center check box.
• Customization of GUI Layout Based on History of Use
• In a variation on the embodiments described above, the layout of content on a display of a graphical user interface (GUI) may be arranged in a predictive fashion based on a history of use of the GUI. The “layout” may include which items are displayed, where they are displayed, in what order they appear, how they appear, and how they work. The layout may decay to a non-predictive layout over time. The features of the other embodiments described herein may be combined with the features of this embodiment.
• If the GUI includes a touch interface, the entire area of a touch interface may be divided into touch sensitive regions, each of which corresponds to a different active element. A user can select one of the active elements by touching the corresponding touch sensitive region. The decomposition may be skewed according to a prediction of which active element is likely to be selected next. The prediction may be determined from a predictive model based on user behavior.
• By way of example and not by way of limitation, as noted above, theprogram210 may further include aprediction engine210, which may be configured, e.g., by appropriate software programming, to operate thedevice200 according to a method illustrated generally inFIG. 10A. As indicated at1002 inFIG. 10A, a portion of content to be displayed on thedisplay202 may optionally be decomposed, e.g., by Voronoi composition, as discussed above. Active elements within the displayed portion may be correlated corresponding portions of a touch interface, as indicated at1004. The touch interface may be thetouch pad204 or thevisual display202, if it includes a touch screen. As a user manipulates the touch interface, theprogram210 may optionally determine whether the user has taken an action as indicated at1006. By way of example, theprogram210 may detect that the user has selected any portion of the touch interface that corresponds to an active element. Theprogram210 may then adjust the layout of the content shown on the display according to a probability of one or more subsequent actions as indicated at1008. The adjustment of the content layout and subsequent decomposition of the content and correlation of the active regions to corresponding portions of the touch interface may be repeated iteratively over time.
• By way of example, the prediction engine221 may compute probabilities for subsequent actions based on past patterns of user behavior following an action of a given type with thedevice200. The past behavior may be correlated to a type of content displayed on thedisplay102. The probabilities may be updated as the user uses thedevice200. Thescreen driver212 may adjust the layout of the displayed portion of the content according to the probabilities. There are a number of different ways in which the layout may be adjusted. Preferably, the layout is adjusted in a way that facilitates one or more subsequent actions that are most probable. As noted above, this may include adjusting the placement of active elements, e.g., by locating active elements that are likely to be used in sequence closer together than in a default layout. In addition, the appearance of the active elements may be adjusted, e.g., active elements likely to be used may be highlighted or more brightly colored. Furthermore, operation of one or more of the active elements may be adjusted, e.g., the order of items in a list, such as a contact list may be ordered with the most commonly used items near the top of the list.
• By way of example, in a “default” setting, absent any information regarding past user behavior, a device may display content, e.g., a web page, containing aradio button802,text entry box804, link806,check box808, and inactivenormal text810 as shown inFIG. 10B. The prediction engine221 may determine, based on past user history, that when this page (or similarly configured content) is displayed the user has a high probability of checking thecheck box808 and entering text in thetext entry box804. Based on these probabilities, thedisplay driver212 may modify display of the web page so that thetext entry box808 andcheck box804 are made larger and/or more prominent and placed in close proximity to each other as shown inFIG. 10B.
• In some implementations, the decomposition of the displayed content into regions and division of the touch interface into corresponding portions may change as a result of the modification of the display of the content. For example, thedisplay driver212 may modify the html canvas for the displayed content. After this happens thetouch screen driver212 may perform a new tessellation of the html canvas that thetouch screen driver213 may use to divide the touch interface into corresponding portions.
• While the above is a complete description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to use various alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be determined not with reference to the above description but should, instead, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with their full scope of equivalents. Any feature described herein, whether preferred or not, may be combined with any other feature described herein, whether preferred or not. In the claims that follow, the indefinite article “A”, or “An” refers to a quantity of one or more of the item following the article, except where expressly stated otherwise. The appended claims are not to be interpreted as including means-plus-function limitations, unless such a limitation is explicitly recited in a given claim using the phrase “means for.”

Claims (48)

1. A hand-held electronic device, comprising:

a case having first and second major surfaces;

a visual display disposed on the first major surface;

a touch interface disposed on at least one of the major surfaces;

a processor operably coupled to the visual display and the touch interface; and

instructions executable by the processor configured such that, when executed, the instructions cause the device to:

a) present an image on the visual display containing one or more active elements;

b) correlate one or more active portions of the touch interface to one or more corresponding active elements in the image on the visual display;

c) highlight a most recently activated active element of the one or more active elements on the visual display in response to a user interaction with a corresponding one of the one or more active portions; and

d) activate the most recently activated active element in response to a touch anywhere on the touch interface.

2. The device ofclaim 1 wherein b) includes performing a tessellation of the image so that the image is divided into one or more regions that fill the display, wherein each region corresponds to a different active element.

3. The device ofclaim 2 wherein the tessellation divides the image into one or more convex regions.

4. The device ofclaim 3, wherein the tessellation is a Voronoi decomposition.

5. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the visual display is a touch screen that includes the touch interface.

6. The device ofclaim 1 wherein the touch interface is a touch pad.

7. The device ofclaim 6 wherein the visual display is a touch screen that is separate from the touch pad.

8. The device ofclaim 7 wherein the visual display is located on first surface of a case and the touch pad is located on a second surface of the case that is opposite the first surface.

9. The device ofclaim 7 wherein the visual display and touch pad are disposed on the same side of the case.

10. The device ofclaim 7 wherein the visual display and touch pad are disposed on different sides of the case.

11. The device ofclaim 10 wherein the visual display is disposed on a front side of the case and the touch pad is disposed on a back side of the case.

12. The device ofclaim 7 wherein the case includes first and second case portions wherein the visual display is disposed on the first case portion and wherein the touch pad is disposed on the second case portion.

13. The device ofclaim 12 wherein the first and second case portions are slidably connected to each other.

14. The device ofclaim 12 wherein the first and second case portions are connected to each other in a hinged configuration.

15. The device ofclaim 14 wherein the visual display and touch pad face inward when the first and second portions are in a closed position.

16. The device ofclaim 14 wherein one of the visual display and touch pad faces inward and the other of the touch pad and visual display faces outward when the first and second portions are in a closed position.

17. The device ofclaim 14 wherein the visual display and touch pad face inward when the first and second portions are in a closed position.

18. The device ofclaim 1 wherein the visual display includes a touch screen and the touch interface includes the touch screen.

19. The device ofclaim 1 wherein c) includes activating one or more of the elements in response to a distinct mode of touch that is distinct from a normal mode of touch that does not activate the one or more active elements.

20. The device ofclaim 19 wherein the distinct mode of touch is a two finger touch and wherein the normal mode of touch is a single finger touch.

21. The device ofclaim 1 wherein the instructions are further configured to present a transformed element on the display in response to a user interaction with the touch interface, wherein the transformed element interacts with the touch interface in a different mode of operation than a mode of operation of the corresponding active element prior to its transformation.

22. The device ofclaim 21 wherein the transformed element appears magnified on the visual display compared to the active element prior to transformation into the transformed active element.

23. The device ofclaim 22 wherein the instructions are configured to control a degree of magnification of the transformed element according to a mode of touch on the touch interface.

24. The device ofclaim 21 wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction configured to revert the transformed element to a form the active element had prior to being transformed into the transformed element in response to a signal from the touch interface or after an interaction with the transformed element is completed.

25. The device ofclaim 24 wherein the instructions are configured to revert the transformed active element in response to a removal of a touch on the touch interface.

26. The device ofclaim 21, wherein the visual display is a touch screen and wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to re-purpose one or more portions of the touch screen outside the transformed element to act as inputs for commands associated with the transformed active element.

27. the device ofclaim 26 wherein the one or more re-purposed portions of the touch screen include a buffer region around the transformed active element, wherein the instructions are configured such that a touch to the buffer region is ignored.

28. The device ofclaim 26 wherein the one or more re-purposed regions of the touch screen include a region configured to initiate a “cancel” or “commit” command.

29. The device ofclaim 26 wherein the one or more re-purposed regions of the touch screen include a region configured to initiate a “paste” command.

30. A method for operating a hand-held electronic device having a case with one or more major surfaces, a visual display disposed on at least one of the first major surfaces, a touch interface disposed on at least one of the major surfaces, a processor operably coupled to the visual display and the touch interface; and instructions executable by the processor to implement the method, the method comprising:

a) presenting an image on the visual display containing one or more active elements;

b) correlating one or more active portions of the touch interface to one or more corresponding active elements in the image on the visual display;

c) highlighting a most recently activated active element of the one or more active elements on the visual display in response to a user interaction with a corresponding one of the one or more active portions; and

d) activating the most recently activated active element in response to a touch anywhere on the touch interface.

31. The method ofclaim 30 wherein b) includes performing a tessellation of the image so that the image is divided into one or more regions that fill the display, wherein each region corresponds to a different active element.

32. The method ofclaim 31 wherein the tessellation divides the image into one or more convex regions.

33. The method ofclaim 32, wherein the tessellation is a Voronoi decomposition.

34. The method ofclaim 30 wherein c) includes activating one or more of the elements in response to a distinct mode of touch that distinct from a normal mode of touch that does not activate the one or more active elements.

35. The method ofclaim 34 wherein the distinct mode of touch is a two finger touch and wherein the normal mode of touch is a single finger touch.

36. The method ofclaim 30, further comprising presenting a transformed element on the display in response to user interaction with an active region corresponding to one or more of the active elements, wherein the transformed element interacts with the touch interface in a different mode of operation than a mode of operation of the corresponding active element prior to its transformation.

37. The method ofclaim 36 wherein the transformed element interacts with the touch screen in a different mode of operation than a mode of operation of the corresponding active element prior to its transformation.

38. The method ofclaim 37 wherein the transformed element appears magnified on the visual display compared to the active element prior to transformation into the transformed active element.

39. The method ofclaim 38 wherein a mode of touch on the touch interface controls a degree of magnification of the transformed element.

40. The method ofclaim 36, further comprising reverting the transformed element to a form the active element had prior to being transformed into the transformed element in response to a signal from the touch interface.

41. The method ofclaim 40 wherein a removal of a touch on the touch interface triggers reverting the transformed element.

42. The method ofclaim 36 wherein c) comprises highlighting an active element that was most recently transformed.

43. The method ofclaim 42 wherein a touch anywhere on the touch interface activates the most recently transformed active element.

44. The method ofclaim 36, wherein the visual display is a touch screen, the method further comprising re-purposing one or more portions of the touch screen outside the transformed element to act as inputs for commands associated with the transformed element.

45. The method ofclaim 44 wherein one or more re-purposed portions of the touch screen include a buffer region around the transformed active element, wherein a touch to the buffer region is ignored.

46. The method ofclaim 44 wherein the one or more re-purposed regions of the touch screen include a region configured to initiate a “cancel” or “commit” command.

47. The method ofclaim 44 wherein one or more re-purposed regions of the touch screen include a region configured to initiate a “paste” command.

48. A computer readable medium programmed with computer executable instructions for operating a hand-held electronic device having a case with one or more major surfaces, a visual display disposed on at least one of the first major surfaces, a touch interface disposed on at least one of the major surfaces, a processor operably coupled to the visual display and the touch interface, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to implement a method comprising:

a) presenting an image on the visual display containing one or more active elements;

b) correlating one or more active portions of the touch interface to one or more corresponding active elements in the image on the visual display;

c) highlighting a most recently activated active element of the one or more active elements on the visual display in response to a user interaction with a corresponding one of the one or more active portions; and

d) activating the most recently activated active element in response to a touch anywhere on the touch interface.

Images