Touch accommodation options

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016357281-A1
Application number	US-201514863195-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 23, 2015
Priority date	Jun 7, 2015
Publication date	Dec 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure generally relates to methods and devices for providing touch accommodations to users with tremors or other fine motor impairments to improve the accuracy of such users' touch inputs on touch-sensitive surfaces. Such methods and devices include various approaches for compensating for brief, inadvertent touch inputs; touch inputs with inadvertent motion across the touch-sensitive surface; and/or touch inputs with inadvertent recoil contacts. In some embodiments, the touch accommodations are implemented in a software layer separate from the application layer, such as the operating system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device with a display and a touch-sensitive surface, cause the electronic device to:
display, on the display, a user interface associated with an application; detect, on the touch-sensitive surface, a first touch input on the touch-sensitive surface including a first contact on the touch-sensitive surface; in response to detecting the first touch input, generate data representing at least a portion of the first touch input; in accordance with a determination that a hold duration setting is enabled:
determine whether a set of one or more hold duration criteria have been met for the first touch input, wherein the hold duration criteria are based on a hold duration time period that corresponds to the hold duration setting;
in accordance with a determination that the set of one or more hold duration criteria have been met for the first touch input, wherein the hold duration criteria include a hold duration criterion that is met when a duration of the first contact exceeds the hold duration time period, provide the data representing at least a portion of the first touch input to the application; and
in accordance with a determination that the set of one or more hold duration criteria have not been met, forgo providing the data representing at least a portion of the first touch input to the application.

2 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein detecting the first touch input includes detecting a touchdown of the first contact.

3 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein detecting the first touch input includes detecting a movement of the first contact across the touch-sensitive surface.

4 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 2 , wherein the first touch input is detected when the touchdown of the first contact is detected.

5 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein the data is provided to the application when the hold duration criteria are first met.

6 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein the data is provided to the application in response to detecting a liftoff of the first contact.

7 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 2 , wherein the data provided to the application includes an indication of a location, on the touch-sensitive surface, of the touchdown of the first contact.

8 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 2 , wherein the data provided to the application includes an indication of a final location, on the touch-sensitive surface, of the first contact.

9 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 8 , wherein the final location is associated with the location, on the touch-sensitive surface, where a liftoff of the first contact is detected.

10 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 8 , wherein the final location is associated with a location of the first contact, on the touch-sensitive surface, when the hold duration criteria are met.

11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 3 , wherein the data provided to the application does not include an indication of the movement of the first contact.

12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1 , further comprising instructions to cause the electronic device to:
further in response to detecting the first touch input and in accordance with a determination that the hold duration setting is enabled:
while the first contact continues to be detected on the touch-sensitive surface, display a first user interface element, on the display, at a location on the display that is associated with the location of the first contact on the touch-sensitive surface, without providing any data representing the first touch input to the application, wherein the first user interface element is not associated with the application.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 12 , wherein the first user interface element is displayed in response to detecting the touchdown, on the touch-sensitive surface, of the first contact.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 12 , further comprising instructions to cause the electronic device to:
in accordance with a determination that the hold duration criteria have been met, cease to display the first user interface element.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 3 , further comprising instructions to cause the electronic device to:
in response to detecting the movement of the first contact, and in accordance with a determination that the hold duration criteria have been met, scroll the user interface of the application in accordance with the movement.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 12 , further comprising instructions to cause the electronic device to:
in response to detecting the movement of the first contact, and in accordance with a determination that the hold duration criteria have not been met, change the displayed location of the first user interface element, on the display, in accordance with the movement of the first contact without scrolling the user interface of the application based on the movement.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 12 , wherein the first user interface element is a circle.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 12 , wherein the first user interface element includes a dynamic indication of a time remaining until the duration of the contact exceeds the hold duration time period.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1 , further comprising instructions to cause the electronic device to:
while the first contact continues to be detected on the touch-sensitive surface and before the hold duration criteria is met for the first touch input, detect, on the touch-sensitive surface, a second touch input including a second contact on the touch-sensitive surface;
in response to detecting the second touch input, generate data representing at least a portion of the second touch input;
in accordance with a determination that the hold duration setting is enabled:
determine whether a second set of one or more hold duration criteria have been met for the second touch input, wherein the hold duration criteria are based on the hold duration time period;
in accordance with a determination that the second set of one or more hold duration criteria have been met for the second touch input, wherein the hold duration criteria include a hold duration criterion that is met when a duration of the second contact exceeds the hold duration time period, provide the data representing at least a portion of the second contact to the application; and
in accordance with a determination that the second set of one or more hold duration criteria have not been met, forgo providing the data representing at least a portion of the second touch input to the application.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium accordin

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Fleizach Christopher
• KASEMSET Clare
• KANNAMANGALAM SUNDARA RAMAN Nandini

Classifications

• G06F3/04883

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · CPC title

• G06F3/0486 Primary

  Drag-and-drop · CPC title

• G06F3/0412

  Digitisers structurally integrated in a display · CPC title

• H04N3/155

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06F3/0414

  using force sensing means to determine a position · CPC title