The present day mobile phones have grown in scope from being simple cellular telephones to smart phones that are multi-functional devices at the convergence of several large industries, including telecommunications, networking, computer, consumer electronics, digital media, electronic commerce, and software. Consequently, the smart phones of today are built with a wide range of capabilities such as internet browsing, email, instant messaging, GPS navigation, photography, video conferencing, e-book reading, video playback, radio, and hundreds of thousands of software applications that provide entertainment, education, utility and productivity. In fact, the traditional cellular voice telephony has become just one of a very large number of functions available on modern day mobile or hand held electronic devices.
Most, if not all such modern day mobile devices are built with touch-sensitive screens, and designed to be held in the palm of one hand and supported by the fingers on that hand, which frees the thumb to interact with the touch screen to act as an input mechanism to the operating system software of the device and any other programs or applications running on the device. The thumb can be used as an input device which can be used to make a variety of gestures, such as touch or tap an area of the screen, touch and hold an object, drag an object, double-tap, swipe in various directions, hover, or draw out a pattern. An application program (app) or the operating system (OS) of the device can be designed to work with such inputs as a component of their user interface.
Of course, whatever action is performed by the thumb of the hand in which the device is being held can also be performed by the thumb or another finger on the other hand or even by another user, or other means. Also, many of the applications on smart phones do require or prefer the use of two hands. However, routine tasks, such as turning on a device, entering a security password, answering an incoming phone call, making an outgoing phone call, configuring many of the functions on the device, and running many of the applications require nothing more than the thumb of the hand in which the device is held, which makes them usable with one hand by and large. That makes these devices extremely easy and convenient to use.
With all the new uses playing an increasingly dominant role, there is growing pressure on smart phone makers to use larger screens that are capable of showing more data or richer content. Advances in display and battery technologies are enabling devices with larger screens with more resolution that are also lighter in weight and can run for longer times. However, the larger the screen, the farther a phone moves away from its compact form factor and the convenience of being used with one hand. For this reason, many manufacturers are reluctant to make phones with very large screens. While there are smart phones with five inch diagonal screens such as the Samsung Galaxy® that are very popular indeed, many users find them frustrating because they are too big to use with one hand.
At the same time, tablets have grown into an enormous market in recent years. The original iPad from Apple was launched with a 10″ diagonal screen, and many new notebook computers are being designed as hybrid devices that can double as tablets with 10″ to 11″ screens. Since the original iPad, the industry has extended the tablet footprint to smaller form factors in the 7″ to 8″ inch screen sizes. The smaller tablets are increasingly headed in the direction of smart phones, resulting in a new category of devices sometimes called “phablets”. With their smaller form-factor, there is a natural tendency to use them like smart phones, so their large size relative to phones makes them cumbersome to use with one hand.
Thus, there is a need to not lose the convenience of one-handed operation of smart phones, as they grow large in their screen size, and at the same time, to gain the convenience of one-handed operation of tablets, or at least the smaller form-factor tablets, as they find uses that were once the exclusive domain of smart phones.
There are similar trends towards offering larger screen sizes for digital media players such as the iPod Touch®, as they become a part of the form factor continuum of smart phones, phablets and tablets. The growing convergence between all these devices is a natural consequence of these devices being built on a common OS such as Android® from Google, Inc., iOS® from Apple, Inc., Windows®-8 from Microsoft, Inc., etc. This practically assures that all devices, regardless of their form factor, that use the same operating system can provide a similar user experience.
For the purpose herein, all the above devices are referred to as “mobile devices”, although they could be operated while being connected to a power source, or tethered to or plugged into other equipment.
Mobile devices are now increasingly finding use as control panels for equipment (e.g., automobiles or machinery), front-ends for transactional systems (e.g., point of sale or service terminals), and as devices for dedicated uses (e.g., e-book readers or gaming consoles). A point of sale terminal can be built in a small form factor (e.g., with an Apple iPod Touch® with an added credit card reader), while a point of service terminal might require a larger form factor to display more information (e.g., a package delivery or field service solution built with a tablet). It is often desirable to hold such a device in one hand and operate it as much as possible with the thumb of the hand in which the device is being held, while freeing up the other hand for other uses (e.g., to swipe a credit card, or carry a package, or to simply hold on for support).
Thus, there is a broader need in the industry to make larger form factor mobile devices as usable as practicable with one hand.
Now, it must be pointed out that there are times when two hands are needed to operate even small form-factor devices. Even a very small phone with only a 1.5″ or 2″ screen sometimes requires the use of both hands (e.g., when one has to type in text). The point is, by and large, the smaller form-factor devices are designed to be both held and operated with one hand, while the larger form-factor devices almost necessitate the use of both hands, one to hold and the other to use, or sometimes both hands to hold and use at the same time. Thus, in this context, single-handed usability does not mean the total elimination of ever having to use both hands. Rather, it means the ability to both hold and use larger form-factor devices with one hand to essentially the same degree to which smaller form-factor devices could be both held and used at the same time with one hand.
Also, for the purposes herein, using or operating a mobile device refers to using the software on the device by means of the touch-sensitive display or screen and the thumb of a user's hand in which the device is held. Any use of the device that requires a tool such as a stylus or a keyboard, any operation of physical controls on the device, such as buttons and switches on the device, are beyond the scope of the present invention.
Although the weight of a large tablet such as the Apple iPad® with its 10″ screen makes it difficult to both hold and use it with one hand, smaller tablets such as the Amazon Kindle Fire® or the Apple iPad Mini) with their 7-8″ screens are sufficiently light in weight to both hold and operate with one hand. In fact, it is rather cumbersome to use one of these with two hands if a user is used to a standard sized iPad. However, if a smaller tablet could be mostly used with one hand, it would be a far more convenient form factor than a 10″ tablet. Realizing this and finding a solution for such use is a major breakthrough implemented in accordance with the present invention as disclosed hereinafter, where the solution is extendible to large-screen smart phones and other hand held electronic devices which utilize a touch screen panel as a user input device.