US 8,689,135 B2Granted

Method of driving an interactive system and user interface system

AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.

InventorsThomas Portele, Christian Benien, Jens Friedemann Marschner

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Abstract

The invention describes a method of driving an interactive system (1) comprising a user interface system (2) with an inherently sequential input/output modality (12) and comprising a plurality of applications (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An). In this method a first application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An) is currently controlling the input/output modality (12) for performing an interaction with the user (U), wherein, at least for a certain period of time, a focus level is assigned to the first application (A1, A2, A3, An). The current interaction process of the first application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An) is only terminated or paused and the control of the input/output modality (12) for performing an interaction is only transferred to a second application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An) when an application-switching command (ASC) is received from the user (U) and according to the focus level of the first application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An). Furthermore, an appropriate user interface system (2) with an inherently sequential input/output modality (12) and an interactive system (1) comprising such a user interface system (2) is described.

Claims8

Dependent claims

A method of driving an interactive system (1) comprising a user interface system (2) with an inherently sequential input/output modality (12) and comprising a plurality of applications (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An),

wherein a first application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An) is assigned a focus level and is currently controlling the inherently sequential input/output modality (12) for performing an interaction with a user (U), at least for a certain period of time based on information pertaining to type of current interaction process of said first application and a state of operation of said interaction, wherein in a first focus level the first application is uninterruptable and in a second focus level the first application is interruptible;
and
wherein a second application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An), which is currently not interactive and which is configured to perform an interaction with the user (U), sends a notification request to an interaction control unit (3), and
wherein responsive to the notification request, the interaction control unit (3):
determines a focus level of said first application;
issues a notification (N) to the user (U) when the current interaction process of the first application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An) is terminated or is assigned to at least the second focus level;
said-notification (N) being distinguishable from any output signals (OS) of the interaction of the first application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An);
wherein the current interaction process of the first application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An), responsive to said notification (N), is one of:
terminated, and the control of the inherently sequential input/output modality (12) for performing interaction is transferred to the second application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An) according to the focus level of the first application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An) not being in the first focus level and in response to an application-switching command (ASC) received from the user (U);
and
paused, for a limited period of time, to allow for a request for information regarding said notification (N) during said limited period of time, wherein control of the inherently sequential input/output modality (12) remains with said first application.

8 more elements

A user interface system (2) with an inherently sequential input/output modality (12), which can be used by a plurality of applications (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An) of an interactive system (1), independently of each other, for interacting with a user (U) of the interactive system (1), said system comprising:

an assigning unit (5) for assigning a focus level to a first, currently interactive application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An), which is currently controlling the inherently sequential input/output modality (12) for interacting with the user (U), said focus level being assigned, at least for a certain period of time, based on information pertaining to type of current interaction process of said first application and a state of operation of said current interaction process, wherein in a first focus level the first application is uninterruptable and in a second focus level the first application is interruptible for a limited period of time;
means (12, 4) for receiving an application-switching command from the user (U);
means for receiving a notification request from a second application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An), which is currently not interactive and is configured to perform an interaction with the user (U),
means (6, 13) for outputting a notification (N) to the user upon receiving a notification request when the first application is not in the first focus level, said notification being distinguishable from any output signals (OS) of the interaction of the first application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An),
an interaction control unit (3), responsive to said notification (N), causing the current process of the first application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An) to be one of:
terminated and the control of the inherently sequential input/output modality (12) for performing an interaction transferred to the second application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An) when the focus level of the first application (A1, A2, A3, . . . , An) is not in the first focus level and in response to the application-switching command (ASR) received from the user (U);
and
paused, for a limited period of time, to allow for a request for information regarding said notification (N) during said limited period of time, wherein control of the inherently sequential input/output modality (12) remains with said first application.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.