Systems and methods for multitasking on an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9648062-B2
Application number	US-201514732618-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 5, 2015
Priority date	Jun 12, 2014
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods for multitasking using touch-sensitive devices are disclosed herein. In one aspect, a method includes: displaying, on a touch-sensitive display (“TSD”) of a device, first and second applications such that the first and second applications occupy substantially all of the TSD and are separated at a border between the first and second applications. The method further includes: detecting a swipe gesture at the second application , the swipe gesture moving in a direction that is substantially parallel to the border. In response to detecting the swipe gesture, the method includes: determining whether the swipe gesture satisfies a threshold. Upon determining that the swipe gesture satisfies the threshold, the method includes: replacing the second application with an application selector that includes a plurality of selectable affordances corresponding to applications available on the device, the application selector being displayed in an area of the TSD previously occupied by the second application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display, cause the electronic device to:
display a first application in a full-screen mode on the touch-sensitive display;
receive a first input on the touch-sensitive display;
in response to receiving the first input, display an application selector on the touch-sensitive display, wherein the displayed application selector overlays at least a portion of the displayed first application;
while displaying the application selector on the touch-sensitive display:
display a first set of affordances within the application selector;
detect a gesture substantially within the application selector; and
in response to detecting the gesture:
determine whether the application selector is associated with additional affordances not contained within the first set of affordances;
in accordance with a determination that the application selector is associated with additional affordances, display one or more of the additional affordances;
in accordance with a determination that the application selector is not associated with additional affordances, continue to display the first set of affordances;

detect a second input at an affordance displayed within the application selector;
in response to detecting the second input at the affordance:
cease to display the application selector; and
display a second application corresponding to the selected affordance in an area of the touch-sensitive display previously occupied by the application selector.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein displaying the application selector on the touch-sensitive display comprises revealing a first portion of the application selector and revealing additional portions of the application selector in accordance with movement of the first input on the touch-sensitive display.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
before receiving the first input:
detect a gesture on the touch-sensitive display; and
in response to detecting the gesture, display an affordance used to launch the application selector.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 3 , wherein the first input on the touch-sensitive display is at the displayed affordance used to launch the application selector.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein displaying the application selector includes populating the application selector with a plurality of default affordances.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
monitor an application usage history associated with a user of the electronic device and replace the plurality of default affordances with affordances corresponding to applications selected in accordance with the application usage history.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein detecting the second input at the affordance displayed within the application selector comprises determining whether an intensity associated with the second input satisfies an intensity threshold.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
display content within the first application or the second application;
detect a gesture on the touch-sensitive display, at a location of the displayed content, the gesture moving towards an edge of the touch-sensitive display;
in response to detecting the gesture, determine whether the gesture has moved to within a predetermined distance of an edge of the touch-sensitive display; and
upon determining that the gesture has moved to within the predetermined distance of the edge, temporarily display the application selector with a plurality of affordances.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
detect movement of the gesture towards a displayed affordance of the plurality of affordances within the application selector, wherein the displayed affordance corresponds to a third application;
detect a liftoff of the gesture from the touch-sensitive display; and
in response to detecting the liftoff, open the third application and display the content within the third application.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of affordances is filtered to display affordances corresponding only to applications capable of displaying the content.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
detect a third input at an affordance displayed within the application selector, wherein the third contact lasts for an amount of time;
determine whether the amount of time satisfies a threshold amount of time;
upon determining that the amount of time satisfies the threshold amount of time, display a remove affordance within the application selector; and
detect a fourth input at the remove affordance and, in response to detecting the fourth contact, remove the affordance from the application selector.

12. A method, comprising:
at an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display:
displaying a first application in a full-screen mode on the touch-sensitive display;
receiving a first input on the touch-sensitive display;
in response to receiving the first input, displaying an application selector on the touch-sensitive display, wherein the displayed application selector overlays at least a portion of the displayed first application;
while displaying the application selector on the touch-sensitive display:
displaying a first set of affordances within the application selector;
detecting a gesture substantially within the application selector; and
in response to detecting the gesture:
determining whether the application selector is associated with additional affordances not contained within the first set of affordances;
in accordance with a determination that the application selector is associated with additional affordances, displaying one or more of the additional affordances;
in accordance with a determination that the application selector is not associated with additional affordances, continuing to display the first set of affordances;

detecting a second input at an affordance displayed within the application selector;
in response to detecting the second input at the affordance:
ceasing to display the application selector; and
displaying a second application corresponding to the selected affordance in an area of the touch-sensitive display previously occupied by the application selector.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display, cause the electronic device to:
display, on the touch-sensitive display, a first application and a second application such that the first and second applications occupy substantially all of the touch-sensitive display and are separated at a border between the first and second applications;
detect a swipe gesture at the second application, the swipe gesture moving in a direction that is substantially parallel to the border;
in response to detecting the swipe gesture, determine whether the swipe gesture

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Chaudhri Imran A
• Khoe May-Li
• Zambetti Nicholas
• Yang Lawrence Y

Classifications

• G06F3/0481

  based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance · CPC title

• G11B27/10

  Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel · CPC title

• G06F3/04883 Primary

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

• H04N21/854

  Content authoring · CPC title

• H04N21/00

  Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD] (real-time bi-directional transmission of motion video data H04N7/14 {; broadcast or conference over packet switching networks H04L12/18}) · CPC title