Qualcomm Incorporated

Apple Inc.

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p.

Pixo, Inc.

Paul Mercer

Richard R Dellinger

Peter Nils Skillman

Ralph Thomas

Matias Gonzalo Duarte

Jeremy Godfrey Lyon

Daniel Marc Gatan Shiplacoff

John R Meier

John William Sullivan

Srikiran Prasad

Daniel Shiplacoff

Kiran Prasad

Daniel Marc G Shiplacoff

Dianne Parry Dominguez

A mobile computing device runs multiple activities concurrently and provides at least two modes for interacting with the activities. The user may toggle between the modes as desired. In a full-screen mode, one activity occupies substantially an entire display screen. In a windowed mode, the activity is visible within a window, and a portion of at least one other window is also visible. In the windowed mode, the user can cause windows to move, thereby changing focus from one activity to another. For example, the window having focus can be moved off the screen, to be replaced by a new window that is then given focus. The windows are ordered in a sequence and move in concert with one another; pushing one window off one edge of the screen causes a new window to appear at the opposite edge. A persistent positional relationship can be established among windows.

Navigating among activities in a computing device

A computing device runs multiple activities concurrently and provides at least two modes for interacting with the activities. The user may toggle between the modes as desired. In a full-screen mode, one activity occupies substantially an entire display screen. In a windowed mode, the activity is visible within a window, and a portion of at least one other window is also visible. In the windowed mode, the user can cause windows to move, thereby changing focus from one activity to another. For example, the window having focus can be moved off the screen, to be replaced by a new window that is then given focus. The windows are ordered in a sequence and move in concert with one another; pushing one window off one edge of the screen causes a new window to appear at the opposite edge. A persistent positional relationship can be established among windows.

A user of a mobile computing device may provide a first user preference for a first type of event and a second user preference for a second type of event, and the mobile computing device may detect an event comprising reception of the first type of event or the second type of event. The mobile computing device may present, along an edge of a touch-sensitive display of the mobile computing device, a banner alert in response to detecting the first type of event, and may present, on the touch-sensitive display, a pop-up notification in response to detecting the second type of event. The mobile device may dismiss the banner alert based on a user swiping the banner alert off the touch-sensitive display.

Notifying a user of events in a computing device

In a computing device, event notifications take the form of alerts that can be presented in different ways. The particular form of each event notification depends on the nature of the event, the user task being performed at the time the event occurs, the user's preferences, or any combination thereof. In one aspect, the present invention presents event notifications in the form of banner alerts. Obtrusiveness is minimized by presenting the notification at a location near the edge of the screen (such as a bottom edge), and slightly shrinking the active display area to make room for the event notification. In this manner, event notifications can be presented without obscuring any part of the active display area. In addition, the user can obtain more information about the event by activating the notification (for example by tapping on it). In another aspect, the present invention provides a summary of pending event notifications. Thus, if the user is unable to (or does not wish to) respond to or acknowledge a notification when it is presented, the user can later view the event notification summary at his or her convenience, and can act on the event notifications at that time.

Menu items are displayed on a screen, for example in the form of user-activatable on-screen buttons. A root menu is displayed, including a 'more' button that allows the user to navigate to one or more sub-menus. Each menu can contain function buttons, menu buttons, or any combination thereof. Function buttons provide direct access to functions. Menu buttons provide access to sub-menus, which may be provided in a hierarchical arrangement. In some sub-menus, a menu title button replaces the 'more' button and provides access to a previously displayed menu. The user can activate a displayed function button in any menu or sub-menu to perform an action associated with the function button. In one aspect, all menus are displayed in the same area of the screen. When a menu is to be displayed, it replaces the previously displayed menu.

On-screen menu buttons including multiple modes

Presentation descriptions are provided to an operating system of a computing device to present outputs associated with the applications in an organized and intuitive manner to the user. The presentation descriptions provide the operating system with information about the structure and meaning of the output element. The task of organizing at least part of the output elements associated with applications is delegated to the operating system. The operating system analyzes the presentation descriptions, and organizes the output elements associated with the applications at least partly based on the presentation descriptions.

Structured displaying of visual elements

A method is disclosed for presenting static and dynamic data corresponding to an entity within an application on a mobile device. An entity object is created as part of a data model within the application such that the entity object has a plurality of fields with the plurality of fields having static data corresponding to the entity. Based on the static data corresponding to the entity, dynamic data corresponding to the entity is received into the entity object from at least one of a plurality of applications executable within the mobile device. The static and dynamic data from the entity object corresponding to the entity is displayed simultaneously within a user interface of the application in a single presentation view.

Integration of static and dynamic data for database entities and the unified presentation thereof

A system and a method are disclosed for implementing a single-axis window manager on a mobile computing device to view and access multiple applications in a limited display area utilizing limited input capabilities. The mobile computing device initializes a virtual display space having a first dimension with a fixed size. For example, the virtual display space is initialized to have a horizontal dimension equal to the horizontal dimension of the display screen. At least one window is generated having a fixed size in the first dimension but also sizeable in a second direction. For example, the at least one window has a fixed horizontal dimension but is vertically sizeable. The at least one window is then inserted into the virtual display space and displayed on a display device.

Single-axis window manager

Abbreviations are displayed for user-entered text commands, to facilitate discovery of keyboard shortcuts and to reinforce branding. Users enter commands by typing them into a text input field. Commands can be provided in a verb-noun structure, where the verb specifies what is to be done and the noun specifies the object or a parameter for the verb. Upon user entry of a command, or portion thereof, the entered portion is replaced by an abbreviation. The abbreviation can represent a single key, key combination, or multi-character string. The abbreviation can also include a logo or other graphic component, if desired. The abbreviation can replace the verb portion of the entered command, or it can be shown alongside or adjacent to the text input field, or it can be shown in an overlay or according to any other mechanism. A transition effect can be performed when introducing the abbreviation.

Displaying mnemonic abbreviations for commands

A visual indicator distinguishes between newly displayed content and previously displayed content during and/or after a scrolling operation. The newly displayed content is displayed in a different format, or with a different background, or with some other visual indication, as compared with content that was previously displayed and is still displayed after the scrolling operation. In this manner, the user is given a visual context for scrolling operations that provides an intuitive reference point when scrolling through a document. A user can easily determine where the newly displayed content picks up from where the previously displayed content left off. The visual indicator can be transitory if desired, so that it gradually fades after some period of time.

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Paul Mercer