Miniature character input mechanism
AssigneeSony Mobile Communications Inc.
InventorJoakim Martensson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device includes a touch screen with a maximum of nine distinct touch areas, displays an input interface on the touch screen, where the input interface includes a scrollable character wheel, receives selections of characters from the character wheel, and displays the selected characters on the user interface. The receiving of selections includes detecting a scrolling up or down of the character wheel to position a character in a particular location, and detecting a pressing action on the character in the particular location. The input interface provides a way for a user to enter a phone number and place a call using only nine distinct touch areas.
Claims20
A device, comprising:
- a touch screen:
- and
- logic configured to:
- display an input interface on the touch screen, wherein the input interface includes a scrollable character wheel,
- distinguish between a first type of input motion and a second type of input motion,
- scroll the scrollable character wheel by a first number of characters in response to detecting the first type of input motion,
- scroll the scrollable character wheel by a second number of characters in response to detecting the second type of input motion,
- receive a selection of a character from the character wheel, and
- display the selected character on the input interface, in response to receiving the selection.
A method performed by an electronic device, the method comprising:
- providing, by a processor of the electronic device, a user interface on a touch screen of the electronic device, where the user interface includes a scrollable character wheel;
- detecting by the processor, an input action via the scrollable character wheel;
- determining, by the processor, whether the detected input action corresponds to a first type of input action or a second type of input action:
- scrolling, by the processor, the scrollable character wheel by a first number of characters in response to determining that the input action corresponds to the first type of input action;
- scrolling, by the processor, the scrollable character wheel by a second number of characters, in response to determining that the input action corresponds to the second type of input action;
- receiving, by the processor, a selection of a character from the scrollable character wheel;
- and
- displaying, by the processor, the selected character in the user interface, in response to receiving the selection.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions executable by one or more processors of an electronic device, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising:
- one or more instructions to provide a user interface on a touch screen of the electronic device, where the user interface includes a scrollable character wheel and a call button;
- one or more instructions to detect an input action via the scrollable character wheel:
- one or more instructions to determine whether the detected input action corresponds to a first type of input action or a second type of input action;
- one or more instructions to scroll the scrollable character wheel by a first number of characters, in response to determining that the input action corresponds to the first type of input action;
- one or more instructions to scroll the scrollable character wheel by a second number of characters, in response to determining that the input action corresponds to the second type of input action:
- one or more instructions to detect a pressing action on a selected character on the scrollable character wheel;
- and
- one or more instructions to display the selected character in the user interface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.