Electronic touch communication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9846508-B2
Application number	US-201514839918-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2015
Priority date	Sep 2, 2014
Publication date	Dec 19, 2017
Grant date	Dec 19, 2017

Abstract

Touch inputs such as single-finger contacts and multiple-finger contacts are detected at an electronic device and translated into electronic touch communications for playback at an external electronic device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
at an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display:
detecting a user input and in response to detecting the user input, displaying a plurality of affordances representing contacts;
detecting user selection of a displayed affordance representing a contact;
in response to detecting user selection of the displayed affordance, replacing the display of the plurality of affordances with a display of contact information identifying a selected contact, the selected contact represented by the selected affordance;
detecting a touch on the touch-sensitive display while displaying the contact information;
in response to detecting the touch: displaying a drawing area, wherein the drawing area is responsive to touch input;
detecting a first touch input in the drawing area representing a first stroke, wherein the first stroke has characteristic kinematics;
displaying a visual representation, in the drawing area, representing a shape of the first stroke; and
sending data representing the shape of the first stroke and data indicating the characteristic kinematics of the first stroke to an external device associated with the selected contact, wherein the data triggers the external device to display a visual representation of the first stroke with the characteristic kinematics.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether a first predetermined duration of time has passed after the first touch input, and
wherein sending data representing the first stroke comprises sending the data in response to determining that the first predetermined duration has passed.

3. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising:
before the first predetermined duration has passed, detecting a second touch input in the on-screen drawing area representing a second stroke, where the first and second strokes are separated by an intervening amount of time; and
sending data to the external device associated with the second stroke and the intervening amount of time.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein sending the data triggers the external device to display a visual representation of the first stroke, followed by a pause of the intervening amount of time, and then display a visual representation of the second stroke.

5. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the second, third, and fourth predetermined durations of time are the same duration.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
fading out the displayed visual representation of the first stroke after the first stroke has been received for a second predetermined duration of time.

7. The method according to claim 6 ,
wherein a stroke has a beginning and an end, and
wherein fading out the visual representation of a stroke comprises fading out a corresponding beginning of the visual representation before fading out a corresponding end of the visual representation.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein sending the data triggers the external device to:
display an indication of the receiving of the data, and
display an affordance, wherein the affordance when selected causes the external device to display a visual representation of the first stroke.

9. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising:
fading out the visual representation of a stroke after determining the visual representation has been displayed for a third predetermined duration of time.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein sending the data triggers the external device to display a visual representation of the first stroke.

11. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving data from the external device, the data representing a third touch input detected by the external device, the third touch input representing a third stroke;
displaying a visual representation of the third stroke in the drawing area at the electronic device.

12. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:
fading out the visual representation of the third stroke after a fourth predetermined duration of time.

13. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
displaying a color-picker affordance in the drawing area, wherein the color-picker affordance has a color indicating a currently selected color,
wherein displaying the visual representation of the first stroke comprises displaying the visual representation in the currently selected color; and
in response to detecting a selection of the color-picker affordance, displaying a plurality of color affordances representing colors.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the plurality of color affordances include affordances representing previously-selected colors.

15. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:
in response to detecting a selection of a color affordance of the displayed plurality of color affordances, displaying a color palette.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the color palette comprises a plurality of portions having different colors, the method further comprising:
in response to detecting a selection of a portion of the color palette corresponding to a selected color:
displaying the drawing area; and
updating the color-picker affordance displayed in the drawing area such that the color-picker affordance is displayed with the selected color, and

wherein sending data representing the first stroke to the external device comprises sending data representing the selected color.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the electronic device comprises a rotatable input mechanism, the method further comprising:
at the electronic device:
while displaying the plurality of affordances representing contacts, detecting user input representing movement of the rotatable input mechanism;
in response to detecting the user input: zooming the display of the plurality of user-designated contacts, wherein zooming the display comprises changing the size of contacts being displayed.

18. The method according to claim 1 , wherein zooming the display comprises changing the number of contacts being displayed.

19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the touch-sensitive display comprises one or more sensors to detect the intensity of touches on the touch-sensitive display, the method further comprising:
while displaying the drawing area, detecting a touch on the touch-sensitive display, wherein the touch has a characteristic intensity;
determining whether the characteristic intensity exceeds a predetermined threshold intensity;
in response to a determination that the characteristic intensity exceeds the predetermined threshold intensity:
displaying a call affordance, wherein the call affordance, when selected, causes the electronic device to initiate a call to the external device associated with the contact; and

in response to a determination that the characteristic intensity does not exceed the predetermined threshold intensity, sending data representing the touch to the external device.

20. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the touch-sensitive display comprises one or more sensors to detect the intensity of touches on the touch-sensitive display, the method further comprising:
while displaying the drawing area, detecting a touch on the touch-sensitive display, wherein the touch has a characteristic intensity;
determining whether the characteristic intensity exceeds a predetermined threshold intensity;
in response to a determination that the characteristic intensit

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Anzures Freddy Allen
• Chaudhri Imran
• Dye Alan C
• Ive Jonathan P
• Kerr Duncan Robert
• King Nicholas V
• Lynch Kevin
• Novick Gregory
• Preston Daniel Trent
• Jenkins Monica
• Yang Lawrence Y

Classifications

• G06T11/20

  Drawing from basic elements · CPC title

• H04L51/066

  Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression · CPC title

• H04L51/10

  Multimedia information · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/0416 Primary

  Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers · CPC title