Apple files yet another touch screen patent
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Mar 9, 2006 at 10:43am
On March 9, the US Patent & Trademark Office revealed yet another Apple patent for a touch screen interface, originally filed in September 2005. This is Apple’s eighth touch screen patent filed this year.
Apple’s summary
A touch screen computer executes an application. A method of operating the touch screen computer in response to a user is provided. A virtual input device is provided on the touch screen. The virtual input device comprises a plurality of virtual keys. It is detected that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual key, and a behavior of the user with respect to touch is determined. The determined behavior is processed and a predetermined characteristic is associated with the nominally-activated at least one virtual key. A reaction to the nominal activation is determined based at least in part on a result of processing the determined behavior.
Key patent figures
Patent FIG. 3 illustrates using processing signals created by the multipoint sensing device in response to the user’s touch in order to infer the pressure with which the user’s touched the touch screen to activate a nominally-activated virtual key. Such processing is useful in the case where a pressure signal is not directly available from the touch screen, or to supplement a pressure signal that is directly available from the touch screen. The area 302 represents points on the touch screen that correspond to a particular virtual key. While the area 302 is a square, virtual keys need not be limited to being a particular shape.
Area 306 indicates (in a spatial domain) points on a touch screen that a user touched to nominally activate the virtual key of area 302. Similarly, area 304 indicates points on the touch screen that a user touched to nominally activate the virtual key of area 302. Which points are touched may be determined, for example, from the processing signals created by the multipoint sensing device in response to the user’s touch.
Referring to FIG. 4, this figure illustrates a table in which each row is for a different one of a plurality of virtual keys. For example, row 408 is for one virtual key; row 410 is for another virtual key; and row 412 is for yet another virtual key. Column 402 includes indications of the virtual keys. Column 404 includes indications of predetermined behavioral characteristics for the virtual keys.
The predetermined behavioral characteristics are discussed in detail later. Broadly speaking, the predetermined behavioral characteristics are predetermined values of user’s behavior (for example, specific values or ranges of values) in the spatial domain, the time domain or both. Using the FIG. 3 example, predetermined behavioral characteristics indicated in column 404 may include, for example, specific values of inferred pressure of a user’s touch of a touch screen to nominally activate a virtual key indicated in column 402. As another example, the predetermined characteristics indicated in column 404 may include ranges of values of inferred pressure of a user’s touch of the touch screen to nominally activate a virtual key indicated in column 402.
The column 406 includes indications of reactions corresponding to the predetermined characteristics indicated in column 404. That is, each reaction indicated in column 406 is an action to be taken (or, in some cases, not taken) when a determined behavior is matched to a particular predetermined behavioral characteristic in column 404.
Patent FIG. 9 illustrates a possible reaction is display of a menu 902. For example, the user may activate the “e” virtual key 906 with a particular behavior, and the reaction includes display of the menu 902. The menu 902, in the FIG. 9 illustration, includes additional virtual keys (e.g., 904a and 904b) corresponding to different forms of “e.” In some examples, actual display of the menu 902 is bypassed based on particular behaviors, although the virtual keys of the menu 902 are still present and able to be activated. For example, the user may nominally activate the “e” virtual key 906 with a “brush” gesture toward the additional virtual key 904 that is desired to be activated. The user would know the location of the additional virtual keys 904 based, for example, on previous use operation of the virtual keyboard. Not displaying the menu 902, a shortcut is provided for activating the additional virtual keys 904.
Patent FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a display having virtual GUI items that are not virtual keys of a virtual keyboard. The general concepts discussed above with the specific example of virtual keys of a virtual keyboard are generally applicable to virtual GUI items. For example, less pressure and/or shorter duration of touching (e.g., by a finger 1002) may be required to activate the “keep” virtual GUI item 1004 than to activate the “delete” virtual GUI item 1006. In addition, the processing may be such that activation of some GUI items (such as the “delete” GUI item, for example) require additional behavior, such as a “wiggle” or other gesture, which would serve as additional confirmation that it is intended for the GUI item to be activated.
Patent FIG. 11 illustrates a finger 1102 whose touch may be activating either the “w” virtual key or the “e” virtual key. The temporary overlay 1108 displays an indication that the “e” virtual key is to-be activated, before the “e” virtual key activation is committed as typed text 1110. For example, the finger 1102 being lifted while a particular virtual key is indicated as being to be activated may cause the particular virtual key to actually be activated. In the FIG. 11 example, if the “e” virtual key is not to be activated, then the finger 1102 may be moved (e.g., without lifting it) on the touch screen to activate a different virtual key.
Patent claims
There are a total of 54 claims to this patent. The following are random examples:
1. A method of operating a touch screen computer in response to a user, the touch screen computer executing an application, comprising: providing a virtual input device, comprising a plurality of virtual graphical user interface (GUI) items, on the touch screen; detecting that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual GUI item and determining a behavior of the user with respect to said touch; processing said determined behavior and a predetermined characteristic associated with said nominally-activated at least one virtual GUI item; and determining a reaction to said nominal activation based at least in part on a result of said processing step.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein: the virtual GUI items are virtual keys of a virtual keyboard; the behavior of the user is a duration between the user touching the touch screen to nominally activate the first virtual key and the user touching the touch screen to nominally activate the one of the new virtual keys; and if the duration is less than a predetermined time, omitting the step of causing the virtual keyboard display to be modified to display indications corresponding to the new virtual keys.
21. A computer-readable medium having a computer program tangibly embodied thereon, the computer program including steps for operating a touch screen computer in response to a user while the touch screen computer executing an application, the steps of the computer program comprising: providing a virtual input device, comprising a plurality of virtual graphical user interface (GUI) items, on the touch screen; detecting that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual GUI item and determining a behavior of the user with respect to said touch; processing said determined behavior and a predetermined characteristic associated with said nominally-activated at least one virtual GUI item; and determining a reaction to said nominal activation based at least in part on a result of said processing step.
35. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein: the behavior of the user is a duration between the user touching the touch screen to nominally activate the first virtual key and the user touching the touch screen to nominally activate the one of the new virtual keys; and if the duration is less than a predetermined time, omitting the step of causing the virtual keyboard display to be modified to display indications corresponding to the new virtual keys.
36. A touch screen computer operating at least partially in response to a user, the touch screen computer executing an application including steps of: providing a virtual input device, comprising a plurality of virtual graphical user interface (GUI) items, on the touch screen; detecting that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual GUI item and determining a behavior of the user with respect to said touch; processing said determined behavior and a predetermined characteristic associated with said nominally-activated at least one virtual GUI item; and determining a reaction to said nominal activation based at least in part on a result of said processing step.
41. A method of operating a touch screen computer in response to a user, the touch screen computer executing an application, comprising: providing a virtual keyboard, comprising a plurality of virtual keys, on the touch screen; detecting that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual key and determining a behavior of the user with respect to said touch; processing said determined behavior and a predetermined characteristic associated with said nominally-activated at least one virtual key; and determining a reaction to said nominal activation based at least in part on a result of said processing step.
46. A computer-readable medium having a computer program tangibly embodied thereon, the computer program including steps for operating a touch screen computer in response to a user while the touch screen computer executing an application, the steps of the computer program comprising: providing a virtual keyboard, comprising a plurality of virtual keys, on the touch screen; detecting that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual key and determining a behavior of the user with respect to said touch; processing said determined behavior and a predetermined characteristic associated with said nominally-activated at least one virtual key; and determining a reaction to said nominal activation based at least in part on a result of said processing step.
NOTICE
Macsimum News presents only a brief summary of patents with associated graphic(s) for journalistic news purposes as each such patent application and/or grant is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any patent applications and/or grants should be read in its entirety for further details.
The sole inventor listed on patent 0053387 is Bas Ording.
neo@macsimumnews.com
Other recent Apple patents on touch screen applications:
Virtual input device placement on a touch screen user interface
Apple files patent for ‘Visual expander’
Apple’s touch displays may go into commercial and industrial applications
More on Apple’s touch sensitive display for iTunes, iPhoto & ebook
Apple patents display leap frog concepts for touch sensitive displays
Apple’s new accelerometer patent reveals a stunning tablet PC
Apple’s new patent reveals a unique gaming tablet application
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Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
