GESTURE CAPTURE FOR MANIPULATION OF PRESENTATIONS ON ONE OR MORE DEVICE DISPLAYS
An intuitive technique for inputting user gestures into a handheld computing device is disclosed allowing a user to better manipulate different types of screen display presentations, such as desktops and application windows, when performing tasks thereon, e.g., minimization, maximization, moving between display screens, and increasing/decreasing a display thereof across multiple display screens. For manipulating an application window on a device display screen for performing tasks as identified above, user gestures are input to a corresponding gesture capture area for this display screen, wherein this capture area is separate from this display screen.
1 . A method for configuring a device having at least one display screen for displaying one or more of screen display presentations and for displaying one or more operably different screen display presentations, wherein the screen display presentations are able to be manipulated via user gesture input differently from the operably different screen display presentations, comprising:
receiving a first user gesture input to a gesture capture area associated with the at least one screen, the gesture capture area being separate from the at least one display screen;
determining whether a first of the one or more of screen display presentations is displayed on the at least one screen;
when the first screen display presentation is determined to be displayed, perform a step of interpreting the user gesture input for determining a predetermined operation to apply to the first screen display presentation;
performing the predetermined operation;
when none of the one or more screen display presentations are determined to be displayed in the step of determining, perform a step of preventing the device from using the user gesture input to change the at least one display screen;
receiving a second user gesture input in response to a user gesture input that includes user contact directly to the at least one screen;
second determining whether one of the operably different screen display presentations is displayed on the at least one screen;
when the one operably different screen display presentation is determined to be displayed on the at least one screen, performing a step of second interpreting the second user gesture input for determining a predetermined second operation to apply to the one operably different screen display presentation; and
when none of the operably different screen display presentations are determined in the step of second determining, perform a step of second preventing the device from using the second user gesture input to change the at least one display screen.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the gesture capture area includes a capacitive touch sensitive area for receiving the user gesture input.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the gesture capture area is not capable of displaying any of the screen display presentations, and is not capable of displaying any of the operably different screen display presentations.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first screen display presentation includes an application window.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one operably different screen display presentation includes a desktop.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user gesture input includes one of: a drag, a flick, a pinch, and a spread.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second user gesture input includes one of: a drag, a flick, a pinch, and a spread.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first screen display presentation and the one operably different screen display presentation has corresponding data included in a corresponding stack, wherein a user inputs user gestures to the device rearranging entries in each stack.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the user gesture input and the second user gesture input is for a same user gesture.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one display screen is one of a plurality of display screens of the device, and the predetermined operation moves the first screen display presentation from the at least screen to another of the plurality of screens.
11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the predetermined second operation moves the one operably different screen display presentation from the at least screen to another of the plurality of screens.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein there is a predetermined collection of a plurality of user gesture input descriptions for recognizing user gesture inputs that are interpretable in the step of interpreting,
wherein the one or more screen display presentations includes a plurality of application windows,
wherein each of a plurality of software applications provide a corresponding one of the plurality of application windows,
wherein each of the user gesture inputs (UGI) of the predetermined collection is operable for recognizing user gesture inputs for each application window (AW) of the plurality of application windows when: (1) the user gesture input UGI is an instance of the first user gesture input, and (2) the application window AW is an instance of the first screen display presentation for which the user gesture input UGI is an input.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein each of the software applications is operable on the device independently of each of the other of the software applications.
14 . A computer readable medium for configuring a device having at least one display screen for displaying one or more of screen display presentations and for displaying one or more operably different screen display presentations, wherein the screen display presentations are able to be manipulated via user gesture input differently from the operably different screen display presentations, comprising:
machine instructions for performing the following steps:
receiving a first user gesture input to a gesture capture area associated with the at least one screen, the gesture capture area being separate from the at least one display screen;
determining whether a first of the one or more of screen display presentations is displayed on the at least one screen;
when the first screen display presentation is determined to be displayed, perform a step of interpreting the user gesture input for determining a predetermined operation to apply to the first screen display presentation;
performing the predetermined operation;
when none of the one or more screen display presentations are determined to be displayed in the step of determining, perform a step of preventing the device from using the user gesture input to change the at least one display screen;
receiving a second user gesture input in response to a user gesture input that includes user contact directly to the at least one screen;
second determining whether one of the operably different screen display presentations is displayed on the at least one screen;
when the one operably different screen display presentation is determined to be displayed on the at least one screen, performing a step of second interpreting the second user gesture input for determining a predetermined second operation to apply to the one operably different screen display presentation; and
when none of the operably different screen display presentations are determined in the step of second determining, perform a step of second preventing the device from using the second user gesture input to change the at least one display screen.
15 . The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the step of interpreting is for rearranging of a stack for the screen display presentations so that an order of presentation of the screen display presentations is rearranged.
16 . The computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein each of the screen display presentations includes an application window.
17 . The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the step of second interpreting is for rearranging of a stack for the operably different screen display presentations so that an order of presentation of the operably different screen display presentations is rearranged.
18 . The computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein each of the operably different screen display presentations includes a desktop.
19 . A hand-held device, comprising:
at least one display screen for displaying one or more of screen display presentations and for displaying one or more operably different screen display presentations;
a gesture capture area associated with the at least one screen for receiving first user gesture input, the gesture capture area being separate from the at least one display screen;
wherein the screen display presentations are operably manipulated via the first user gesture input received by the gesture capture area;
wherein the at least one display screen is responsive to user touch for receiving second user gestures input for manipulating the operably different screen presentations;
a display manager for determining: (a) whether one of the screen display presentations is displayed on the at least one screen, and (b) whether one of the operably different screen display presentations is displayed on the at least one screen;
a gesture interpreter for interpreting each of the first and second user gesture inputs for determining an action to perform on a corresponding displayed one of the screen display presentations or a corresponding displayed one of the operably different screen display presentations, wherein the gesture interpreter compares each of the first and second user gesture inputs with a predetermined collection of a plurality of user gesture input descriptions for recognizing user gesture inputs that are interpretable;
wherein for the first user gesture input, if the one screen display presentation is determined to be displayed on the at least one screen, the interpreter interprets the first user gesture input for determining a predetermined first task to apply to the one screen display presentation;
wherein when none of the one or more screen display presentations are determined to be displayed in the display manger prevents the device from using the first user gesture input to change the at least one display screen;
wherein for the second user gestures input, if the one operably different screen display presentation is determined to be displayed on the at least one screen, the interpreter interprets the second user gesture input for determining a predetermined second task to apply to the one operably different screen display presentation; and
wherein when none of the operably different screen display presentations are determined to be displayed in the display manger prevents the device from using the second user gesture input to change the at least one display screen.
a task manager for performing the predetermined first and second tasks.
20 . The device of claim 19 , wherein the gesture capture area is not capable of displaying any of the screen display presentations, and is not capable of displaying any of the operably different screen display presentations.
21 . The device of claim 19 , wherein the one screen display presentation includes an application window.
22 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the one operably different screen display presentation includes a desktop.