Abstract:
A user interface in handheld devices has a touch screen for generating control signals for control of an electronic device, with a continuous touch movement detection on the touch area from a begin cell to an end cell via a middle cell, in the logic memory of the touch screen. The continuous touch movement detection in the logic memory creates substantially an arc touch movement from the begin cell to the end cell. The arc touch movement in the logic memory of the touch screen is used to generate a control command signal for the electronic device. The continuous touch movement creates substantially a ninety degree arc, or a semi-circle, or closed figure touch movement in the logic memory. The touch movement detections, clockwise or anticlockwise, convex or concave are used to generate different control signals for the device and thus provide a large number of navigation control functions.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/454,345, filed May 15, 2009, titled “Apparatus and method for touch screen user interface for handheld electronic devices part I” of Tara Chand Singhal. 
         [0002]    This application is related to and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/456,009, filed Jun. 10, 2009, titled “Apparatus and method for touch screen user interface for handheld electronic devices part II” of Tara Chand Singhal. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    The embodiments described herein are for touch screen user interface navigation and control for handheld electronic devices, such as remote controls, music devices, gaming devices, personal digital assistants and cell phones. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0004]    Touch screen control technology has been in use for many years in applications such as ATM and airport check-in kiosks among similar other applications. The touch sensitive technology has also been used in laptops for cursor control for many years. 
         [0005]    Recently, the touch screen control technology is being widely adapted in hand held electronic devices. Cell phones and particularly iphone® (iphone) are a prime example of that application. 
         [0006]    For application in iphone, the touch screen technology has been vastly improved in both the quality and speed of the touch response using capacitive touch sensors. In addition, the iphone touch screen application is designed to detect different type of touches such as, finger swipe, a pinch out and pinch in movement using a thumb and a finger, in addition to touching an icon to activate that icon function. 
         [0007]    While recently there has been vast improvement in touch screen user interface technology in handheld electronic devices, there is still a need to further improve the user interface experience in hand held electronic devices. 
         [0008]    Hence, it is the objective of the embodiments to have an improved user interface via a touch screen in hand held electronic devices. It is yet another objective to provide touch screen based control in those devices that do not use touch screen. 
         [0009]    It is also the objective of the embodiments to have an improved navigation and control function for user interface via a touch screen in hand held devices. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0010]    A user interface via touch screen in handheld devices of the embodiments has a bounded touch screen control surface. The bounded touch screen control surface is exclusively used for controlling the functions of the handheld device in contrast to the prior art touch screens that overlay a touch screen over a display screen and where the touch screen is used for selecting items that are displayed on the underlying display screen. 
         [0011]    The touch screen control surface of the embodiments described herein is operable by a thumb tip and is oversized to the size of a thumb tip. For illustration, the size of the control surface could be as ¾ inch by ¾ inch, though it could be a little larger or a little smaller than this size. It could be in a shape that is other than a square depending on the application on the handheld device. 
         [0012]    In some aspects, such a touch screen control surface provides the compactness and functionality of existing mechanical control switches that are used for navigation and cursor control via a closely spaced group of switches or a joystick or a roller ball. Such a control surface can be provided as a stand alone control surface that works for hand held devices that may already have an existing touch screen display or it can be provided in those devices that do not have a touch screen display. 
         [0013]    In some embodiments, the touch screen control surface may be limited in size to be ½ inch by ½ inch for positioning on a handheld electronic device. In this embodiment, for the purposes of distinguishing touches, the control surface is partitioned into a left and a right area and same surface is also partitioned into overlapping top and bottom areas. These overlapping four areas enable a thumb tip slide movement from the left area to the right area and vice versa and from the top area to the bottom area and vice versa for corresponding navigation and control functions in the handheld electronic device. 
         [0014]    The control surface may also have an overlapping center area that overlaps the four areas as above. A quick single or double touch on the center area of the control surface may be used for controlling the functions of the handheld device such as for a mode change control, such as power on/off, and it may also be used for controlling the functions of the handheld device. Such a touch screen control surface obviates the need for mechanical switch controls of the prior art. 
         [0015]    The touch screen control surface may be used for (i) a portable music device, (ii) a remote control device for controlling audio/visual devices, and (iii) a game controller where two control surfaces may be positioned on the controller to be simultaneously operated by the thumbs of the two hands. There are other applications and embodiments that are not ruled out. These navigation control functions are achieved without having to use and move a finger tip over the entire touch screen surface of the display screen as in prior art touch screen devices. 
         [0016]    In one embodiment, the bounded touch screen control surface, sized to be operated by a thumb tip, is partitioned into nine areas, including one center area and eight surrounding areas. When the thumb tip is placed on any one of these areas and moved in a straight line or in an arc line by a sliding action between different areas of these nine areas, these movements can provide a large number of navigation and control functions. 
         [0017]    Not all electronic handheld devices have a display screen, as these handheld devices may only have an output or a controllable function that does not use a display screen. An example of such handheld devices would be small MP3 music players whose output would be audio for both selecting from an audio play list as well as playing the selected music track file. A bounded touch screen control surface may be used for controlling the functions of such a handheld electronic device. 
         [0018]    Such a bounded touch screen control surface could replace mechanical control switches in electronic handheld devices for navigation and control. Such a control surface can be easily operated with either hand, while holding the device in that hand, leaving other hand free for other tasks. 
         [0019]    The touch control surface of the embodiments, it is believed, provides a compact, versatile, and more effective user interface in handheld electronic devices. These and other features of the embodiments would become clear with the help of the description and accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0020]    Some of the novel features of the embodiments will be best understood from the accompanying drawings, taken in conjunction with the accompanying description, in which similar reference characters refer to similar parts, and in which: 
           [0021]      FIG. 1A  is a block diagram that illustrates features of an embodiment of a version of touch screen control surface user interface. 
           [0022]      FIG. 1B  is a block diagram that illustrates features of an embodiment of a version of touch screen control surface user interface. 
           [0023]      FIG. 2A  is a block diagram that illustrates features of an embodiment of a version of touch screen control surface user interface. 
           [0024]      FIG. 2B  is a block diagram that illustrates features of an embodiment of a version of touch screen control surface user interface. 
           [0025]      FIG. 3A  is a block diagram that illustrates features of the present embodiments of a version of different possible touch surface control movements. 
           [0026]      FIG. 3B  is a block diagram that illustrates features of the present embodiments of a version of different possible touch surface control movements. 
           [0027]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram that illustrates various applications of features of the present embodiments of the different possible touch surface. 
           [0028]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram that illustrates hardware and interface features of the present embodiments. 
           [0029]      FIG. 6  is a method diagram that illustrates features of the present embodiments of touch screen control surface. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
       [0030]    As illustrated with reference to  FIG. 1A , a handheld electronic device such as a music device  15  has a touch screen control surface  14 A placed on a part of the electronic device  15 , where the control surface  14 A is positioned separately from the display screen  12  of the device  15 . The touch screen control surface  14 A is over-sized to a thumb-tip for operation by a thumb-tip touch action on the control surface  14 A. 
         [0031]    In a similar embodiment, as illustrated with reference to  FIG. 1B , a handheld electronic device  10  such as for personal digital assistants and wireless mobile device has a touch screen control surface  14 B placed on a part of the electronic device  10 , where again the control surface  14 B is positioned separately from the display screen  12  of the device  10 . The touch screen control surface  14 B is over-sized to a thumb-tip for operation by a thumb-tip touch action on the control surface  14 B. 
         [0032]    The control surface  14 A,  14 B is sized  30 A and  30 B to include one of a size of, an inch by inch, 15/16 by 15/16 inch, ⅞×⅞ inch, 13/16× 13/16 inch, ¾×¾ inch, 11/16× 11/16 inch, ⅝×⅝ inch, 9/16× 9/16 inch, or ½×½ inch. Additionally the control surface in size may be less than or equal to one square inch and greater than or equal to ¼ square inch. The shape of the control surface may be other than a square and may be a rectangle depending upon the handheld device application. 
         [0033]    As illustrated in  FIG. 1A , the control surface  14 A has fewer touch areas, such as five overlapping areas, marked as 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and thus may be sized on the lower end of the sizes as above, where as the control surface  14 B, as illustrated in  FIG. 1B  has nine touch areas that do not overlap and are marked as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 and may be sized at the upper end of the sizes as above. A size of ½×½ inch may be preferred for small handheld devices  15  and size of ¾×¾ inch may be preferred for larger handheld devices  10 . 
         [0034]    The control surface  14 A,  14 B may be visually partitioned to show the touch areas by lines as in  FIGS. 1A and 1B . The visual partition may also use a combination of lines and/or shading. As a simplified illustration, in  FIG. 1A , a vertical divider as a dotted line and a horizontal divider as a dotted line in the middle of the control surface  14 A demarcate the overlapping top 1 and bottom 2, and the left 3 and right 4 touch areas. A square dotted line box area 5 on surface  14 A identifies the overlapping center touch area. 
         [0035]    Also as a simplified illustration, in  FIG. 1B , two vertical and two horizontal dotted lines on the control surface  14 B demarcate the nine touch areas that include a center area 0 and eight surrounding areas labeled 1 to 8. In addition triangle arrows may be shaded on the four touch areas 1, 3, 2 and 4 around the center area 0. 
         [0036]    Not all devices are likely to have a display screen such as a very small MP3 music playing and storage device. When the handheld device  10 ,  15  does have a display screen  12 , the touch screen control surface  14 A,  14 B is positioned on the device separately from the display screen  12 . 
         [0037]    A touch screen detection logic (not shown) in the handheld electronic device  15 ,  10  receives touch inputs from the control surface  14 A,  14 B and provides a user interface for controlling and navigating the functions of the handheld device  15 ,  10 . 
         [0038]    The control surface  14 A,  14 B is placed on the handheld device as a single control surface, operable by a left or right thumb tip, while the device is held in the palm of a left or right hand, and enables navigation control by the thumb tip and operation of the device with one hand alone, as in  FIGS. 1A and 1B . 
         [0039]    Alternatively, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , two touch screen control surfaces are positioned on a handheld electronic device, enabling the thumb tips of a left and a right hand to be used for controlling the functions of the device, for handheld device applications  72  and  76 . 
         [0040]    The touch screen control surface  14 A,  14 B is partitioned into multiple touch areas for detecting touch inputs. In some applications, there may be at least two touch areas enabling a thumb-tip to slide between these two areas (not shown). In other applications, as illustrated with reference to  FIGS. 1A and 1B , there may be multiple overlapping touch areas on the control surface  14 A to include, a top area, a bottom area, a left area, and a right area, where a sliding touch action on the areas creates a set of navigation control commands, and a center area, where a touch creates functional mode commands for the handheld device  15 . 
         [0041]    As illustrated in  FIGS. 2A and 2B , in yet other applications, as in control surface  14 B, there may be nine separate touch areas, with a center area and eight surrounding areas, where a sliding thumb-tip movement from any one area to any of the other areas creates a set of unique control command for control and navigation functions. 
       Control Surface  14 A 
       [0042]    In one of the embodiments, as illustrated with reference to  FIGS. 1A and 1B , a touch screen control surface  14 A is limited in size for operation by a thumb tip, and for positioning on a handheld electronic device  15 . The control surface  14 A is partitioned into a left and a right area. The same area is partitioned into a top and a bottom area that overlaps the left and right areas. These overlapping areas enable a thumb tip slide movement from the left area to the right area and vice versa and from the top area to the bottom area and vice versa for corresponding control functions in the handheld electronic device  15 . A quick touch action on the surface  14 A anywhere preferably in the center is used for controlling the functions of the handheld device  15 . 
         [0043]    Hence, as shown in  FIG. 1B , the control surface  14 A is partitioned into a left area 3 and a right area 4 divided by a vertical divider and an overlapping top area 1 and a bottom area 2 divided by a horizontal divider. These overlapping areas enable a thumb tip slide movement from the left area 3 to the right area 4 and vice versa and from the top area 1 to the bottom area 2 and vice versa for corresponding control functions in the handheld electronic device  15 . 
         [0044]    A quick touch in the center area 5 may be used for controlling the functions of the handheld device and a quick double touch in the center area may be used for a mode change control, such as power on/off. These touch controls are used for controlling the functions of the handheld device that obviate the need for mechanical switch controls. 
         [0045]    In such a touch screen control surface  14 A, the surface may be limited in size  30 A× 30 B to be ½ inch by ½ inch for operation by a thumb tip, and for positioning on a handheld electronic device  15 . The size may be a little larger and the size  30 A× 30 B is determined by the physical space available on the handheld device  15 . 
         [0046]    The number of control functions may be less than six functions or more than six functions, as described above, depending upon the functions to be controlled in a handheld electronic device and the control surface itself in the handheld devices may not be a square and may be a shape such as a rectangle. For example, if the control functions required in an electronic handheld device are a, forward/rewind and a play/pause function, that are likely for a music device, then the touch screen control surface is configured to provide such fewer than six control functions. 
         [0047]    Therefore, in one embodiment, a user interface for navigation control in a handheld electronic device with a display screen has a touch sensitive control surface on a front part of the handheld device, positioned next to the display screen. The control surface is oversized to a thumb tip. The control surface is partitioned into overlapping a top area, a left area, a right area, and a center area for detecting touch control actions. 
         [0048]    The user interface has a touch control logic that may function in cursor control way or menu control way both ways was as described below. In the cursor control way, the control logic imparts continuous movement to a cursor on the display screen when a thumb tip is first positioned on the left area or the right area or the top area or the bottom area is slid to the right area or the left area, or the bottom area or the top area respectively, in a corresponding direction. When the thumb tip is slid back, the logic stops the cursor movement, thereby providing improved user interface of the handheld device, from the control surface alone. 
         [0049]    In the menu control way, the control logic creates continuous navigation movements to lateral and hierarchical menus on the display screen when the thumb tip is first positioned on the left area or the right area or the top area or the bottom area is slid to the right area or the left area, or the bottom area or the top area respectively, in a corresponding direction. When the thumb tip is slid back, the logic stops the navigation movement, thereby providing user interface of the handheld device, from the control surface alone. 
         [0050]    Also the control logic activates a function when the thumb tip taps the center area, thereby providing ability to control the device, with one hand, when the device is held in the hand. A quick touch for a tap action on the control surface is used for controlling the functions of the handheld device and obviates the need for mechanical switch controls. A quick double touch on the control surface for a mode change control, such as power on/off, is used for controlling the functions of the handheld device that obviate the need for mechanical switch controls. 
         [0051]    As illustrated in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , a smaller bounded control surface  14 A may be used with fewer areas and fewer control functions for handheld music electronic device  15  as well as other applications as described later with reference to  FIG. 4  as compared to the embodiment for control surface  14 B described with reference to  FIGS. 2A and 2B  which describe as many as nine control areas that provide a larger number of control actions. 
         [0052]    As illustrated in  FIG. 3A , the six control functions of the simpler control surface  14 A may be achieved by the control surface  14 A. These six control actions would be up slide action  66  and down slide action  67  with a thumb tip for up and down cursor or scroll and left slide action  68  and right slide action  69  with a thumb tip for left and right cursor or scroll. A single tap  70  by a thumb tip for item selection and a double touch tap  71  would be used for a mode change such as power on and off. Control logic for these functions is described below.
       IF (touch on area 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 at time T detected)   AND THEN   IF (touch on area 2 or 1 or 4 or 3 detected within time delta of T, representing a sliding motion from area 1 to 2 or from 2 to 1, or from 3 to 4 or from 4 to 3)   THEN Issue menu scroll or cursor movement command in that specific direction.   IF (sense touch on center area for time delta T)   THEN Issue activate function command.   IF (sense touch on center area at time T 1  and another touch within time delta of T 1 )   THEN Issue device mode change command.       
 
         [0061]    The control surface may be used in one of the embodiments of (i) a portable music device, (ii) a remote control device for control applications, and (iii) two control surfaces positioned on a game controller, (iv) a general purpose computing device to include a personal digital assistant, a wireless communication device, and a direction finding device. As illustrated in  FIGS. 1A , and  FIG. 4 , the control surface  14 A may be used in one of the embodiments of (i) a handheld multi-purpose device  72 , with a slide or folding screen, (ii) a portable music device  73 , without a display screen (iii) a portable music device with a display screen  15 , (iv) a remote control device for controlling appliances  74 , (v) or two surfaces positioned on a game controller  76 . The remote control device  74  may have a wireless remote  74 A and another device  76  may have a wired remote  76 A. 
         [0062]    As in application  72 , the control surface  14 A may be part of the existing touch screen, if a touch screen is provided (not shown) or it may be a separate touch screen control surface, if the device does not have a touch screen display surface (as shown). Two touch control surfaces  14 A on device  72  would facilitate use of both surfaces  14 A by the thumb tip of each hand simultaneously, as also in the game controller  76 . 
         [0063]    In some embodiments, it is not required that the handheld electronic device has a display screen for using the touch screen control surface of the present embodiments, as these handheld devices may only have an output or a controllable function that does not use a display screen. An example of such handheld devices would be music players whose output would be audio for both selecting from an audio play list as well as playing the selected music track file. As in application  73 , the control surface  14 A may be separate from the device  73  that may be a portable music player, which are small devices without a display screen. 
       Control Surface  14 B 
       [0064]    In one embodiment, with reference to  FIG. 2A , a bounded touch screen control surface  14 B is on a handheld electronic device  10  with a display screen  12  overlaid with a touch screen  12 A. The device  10  may also have other control switches  20 . The control surface  14 B has a center area  16  and four surrounding areas  18 A-D within the control surface  14 B. 
         [0065]    As shown in  FIGS. 2A , the bounded touch screen control surface  14 B may be visually partitioned in a center area  16 , a top area  18 A, a left area  18 C, a right area  18 D and a bottom area  18 B by lines and shades, making it easy for the user to use the touch screen control surface  14 B of this embodiment. As an illustration, the areas  18 A-D are visually marked by triangle shape arrows. 
         [0066]    Using these five areas on the control surface  14 B, one center area  16  and four areas, on top  18 A, bottom  18 B, left  18 C and right  18 D, and other remainder four areas of the nine areas of the control surface  14 B, a large number of navigation actions and cursor control operations are possible. These are described later in the specification and illustrated with reference to  FIG. 3B . 
         [0067]    Hence, a user interface for navigation control in a handheld electronic device  10  with a display screen  12 , has (a) a touch sensitive control surface  14 B on a front part of the handheld device  10 , positioned next to the display screen  12 . The control surface  14 B is oversized sized to a thumb tip and is partitioned into a center area  16 , a top area  18 A, a left area  18 C a right area  18 D and a bottom area  18 B. 
         [0068]    A touch screen control logic creates continuous navigation movements to lateral and hierarchical menus on the display screen  12  when the thumb tip first positioned on the center area  16  of the control surface  14 B is slid up or down or slid left or right into the corresponding areas  18 A-D, and when the thumb tip is slid back into the center area  16 , the logic stops the navigation movement, thereby providing user interface of the handheld device  10 , from the control surface  14 B alone. 
         [0069]    The logic activates a function that is highlighted by a cursor when the thumb tip taps the center area  16 , thereby providing ability to control the hand held device  10 , with one hand, when the device is held in the hand. 
         [0070]    The touch control logic that imparts continuous movement of a cursor on the display screen when a thumb tip first positioned on the center area  16  is slid up or down or slid left or right into the corresponding areas  18 A-D, and when the finger tip is slid back into the center area  16 , the logic stops the cursor movement provides improved user interface of the handheld device  10 , from the control surface  14 B alone. 
         [0071]    The logic activates scroll navigation function based on thumb tip movement from (i) top area  18 A to the bottom area  18 B over the center area  16  and vice versa and (ii) from left area  18 C to the right area  18 D over the center area  16  and vice versa. The control logic may activate other navigation function based on thumb tip circular movement from a right area  18 D to a top area  18 A and vice versa. 
         [0072]    As shown in  FIG. 2B , the bounded control surface  14 B may be partitioned into nine areas, with a center area identified as area 0 and eight surrounding areas identified as areas 1 to 8. The size of the control surface  14 B represented as  30 A and  30 B and is sized to an oversize of a thumb tip where the thumb tip is positioned on any one of the nine areas and then slid across to other areas to provide a large number of control function through this one touch screen control surface  14 B. 
         [0073]    As a simplified illustration of the use and operation of the touch screen control surface  14 B, as in  FIG. 2B , a thumb tip may be positioned on the center area 0 and slid up to area 1 and then slid back to center area 0 to cause a cursor to move up for a time or distance on a display screen. The duration of the time or the distance would be represented by how long the thumb tip touch is maintained on area 1, before sliding it back to the center area. The same would be applicable when the thumb tip is positioned on the center area and slid to areas 2, 3 or 4, for corresponding movements in these three directions of down, left or right. Further, the rate of navigation movement may be set up as a parameter in the control logic. 
         [0074]    When the thumb tip is tapped twice on the center area, that is, touched twice with a very short time interval, such a control action on the control surface  14 B may be used to select the function that is highlighted by the cursor on the display screen. 
         [0075]    The size of the control surface  14 B could be 0.75×0.75 inch or it could be a little larger or smaller, depending upon the physical space available on the top of a handheld electronic device. A size such as  30 A× 30 B is suitably sized to place a thumb tip over one of the nine areas of the control surface  14 B and slide to other areas of the control surface  14 B that would provide a large range of control functions as described in detail later in here with reference to  FIG. 3B . 
         [0076]    The different navigation functions that are used in the prior art handheld devices with a display screen are moving a cursor on a display screen and when there is a large number of choices to fit on a display screen, scrolling vertically or horizontally a list of items or icons that identify menu choices to select from and that are arranged in a vertical and lateral hierarchical arranged menus. 
         [0077]    Hence, a touch-screen control logic described later herein provides many functions that facilitate the use of the control surface  14 B for providing a range of control navigation functions. As one example of a navigation control function, the logic creates continuous navigation movements to lateral menus on the display screen when the thumb tip first positioned on the center area is slid left or right into the corresponding other area, and when the thumb tip is slid back into the center area, the logic stops the lateral navigation movement. 
         [0078]    As another navigation control function, the touch screen control logic creates continuous navigation movements to hierarchical menus on the display screen when the thumb tip first positioned on the center area is slid up or down into the corresponding other areas, and when the thumb tip is slid back into the center area, the logic stops the navigation movement. 
         [0079]    As yet another navigation control function, the touch screen control logic activates a function that is highlighted by a cursor on the screen when the thumb tip taps the center area. Thus the user interface of this embodiment via the control surface  14 B alone enables a set of navigation controls in the handheld device  10  as illustrated in  FIG. 2B , where these three control functions provide the basic control functions that are inherent in prior art, mouse-like controls for navigation control. 
         [0080]    Also, the touch control logic that may impart continuous movement of a cursor on the display screen when a thumb tip first positioned on the center area is slid up or down or slid left or right in that direction. When the thumb tip is slid back into the center area, the logic stops the cursor movement. Thus the user interface via the control surface  14 B thereby provides improved user interface of the handheld device, from the control surface  14 B alone. Thus, the bounded control surface  14 B on the device  10  of this embodiment, with one hand, provides navigation user interface of the handheld device  10 , as in  FIG. 2B . 
         [0081]    Alternatively, the touch control logic does not impart continuous movement of a cursor on the display screen, when a thumb tip first positioned on the center area is slid up or down or slid left or right in that direction and then lifted up, but provides movement that is proportional to the single slide movement of the thumb tip. Alternatively, also the movement of the cursor could be in any direction to match the movement of the thumb tip to resemble a roller ball type movement. 
         [0082]    The control surface  14 B may be further portioned into four corner areas, where a sliding thumb-tip movement from center area to any of the four corner areas create a set of unique additional control commands that may used for navigation functions. Further, a vertical sliding and horizontal sliding thumb-tip movement from one area to another area over the center area may be used to create a set of scroll navigation control commands. Yet further, a circular arc sliding thumb-tip movement in clockwise and anti-clockwise manner from one touch area to an area that is one over away may be used to create an additional set of unique navigation control commands. 
         [0083]    The control surface  14 B, operable by a left or right thumb tip, while the handheld device is held in the palm of the left or right hand, enables navigation control by the thumb tip alone and thus operation of the device  10  with one hand alone. The control surface  14 B is oversized for a thumb tip enabling the thumb tip to exercise control of the navigation. 
         [0084]    With reference to  FIG. 3B , a variety of controls with the help of the touch screen control logic that may be provided are described as follows.
       IF (touch on center area 0 at time T detected)   AND THEN   IF (touch on any one of four surrounding areas 1, 2, 3 or 4 detected within time delta of T, representing a sliding motion from area 0 to areas 1, 2, 3 or 4)   THEN   Issue menu scroll or cursor movement command in that specific direction.   THEN   IF (sense touch on center area 0 at time T 1 )   THEN   Issue scroll/cursor stop movement command   THEN   IF (touch on center area within time delta of T 1 )   THEN Issue activate function command.       
 
         [0097]    With reference to  FIG. 3B , the controls with the help of the touch screen control logic that may be provided are described as follows. 
         [0098]    IF (touch on a non-center area of control patch and then touch on center area and a third touch on a non-center area within time T to represent a slide action between these area by the thumb tip) THEN Issue specific control command as follows:
       IF (touch area sequence=1, 0 and 2) issue control 1 command   IF (touch area sequence=2, 0 and 1) issue control 2 command   IF (touch area sequence=3, 0 and 4) issue control 3 command   IF (touch area sequence=4, 0 and 3) issue control 4 command   IF (touch area sequence=8, 0 and 5) issue control 5 command   IF (touch area sequence=5, 0 and 8) issue control 6 command   IF (touch area sequence=6, 0 and 7) issue control 7 command   IF (touch area sequence=7, 0 and 6) issue control 8 command       
 
         [0107]    IF (touch on a non-center area of control patch and then touch on another non-center area and a third touch on yet another non-center area within time T to represent a slide action between these area by the thumb tip) THEN Issue specific control command as follows:
       IF (touch area sequence=1, 6 and 4) issue control 9 command   IF (touch area sequence=4, 6 and 1) issue control 10 command   IF (touch area sequence=2, 7 and 3) issue control 11 command   IF (touch area sequence=3, 7 and 2) issue control 12 command       
 
         [0112]    IF (touch on a non-center area of control surface and then subsequent touches on four other non-center areas within time T to represent a slide action between this area by the thumb tip) THEN Issue specific control command as follows:
       IF (touch area sequence=1, 6, 4, 8, and 2) issue control 13 command   IF (touch area sequence=2, 8, 4, 6, and 1) issue control 14 command       
 
         [0115]    Control commands 1 to 14 may represent a range of navigation control functions as illustrated in  FIG. 3B , such as hierarchical navigation movement  50 , lateral navigation movement  52 , oblique navigation movement  54  and  56 , scroll up/down navigation movement  58 , scroll left/right navigation movement  60 , zoom in/out navigation movement  62 , and toggle navigation movement  64 . 
         [0116]    The navigation movement  64  that represent an arc using three of the nine areas may be used in a variety of ways. The navigation movement  62  that represent a semicircle using five of the nine areas may be used for a variety of other navigation control functions. Thus, these fourteen or more different types of touch screen movements on the bounded touch screen control surface  14 B provides a large range of navigation and control functions that may be quickly carried out by the thumb tip movements on this relatively small touch control surface  14 B in size such as ¾ by ¾ inch. 
         [0117]    For the group of nine separate areas as in control surface  14 B, a touch control logic, based on inputs from the detection logic, imparts continuous movement of a cursor on the display screen when a thumb tip first positioned on the center area is slid up or down or slid left or right into the corresponding areas, in that direction and when the thumb tip is slid back into the center area, the logic stops the cursor movement, thereby providing improved user interface of the handheld device, from the control surface alone. 
         [0118]    For the group of nine separate areas as in control surface  14 B, a touch screen control logic based on inputs from the detection logic creates continuous navigation movements to lateral menus on a display screen when the thumb tip first positioned on the center area is slid left or right into the corresponding other area, and when the thumb tip is slid back into the center area, the control logic stops the lateral navigation movement; and the touch screen control logic creates continuous navigation movements to hierarchical menus on the display screen when the thumb tip first positioned on the center area is slid up or down into the corresponding other area, and when the thumb tip is slid back into the center area, the logic stops the navigation movement, thereby the user interface enables navigation in the handheld device from the control surface. 
         [0119]    For the group of nine separate areas, as in control surface  14 B, the control logic activates a function that is highlighted by a cursor on the display screen when the thumb tip taps the center area, wherein, the control surface on the device with one hand provides navigation user interface of the handheld device. 
         [0120]    For the group of nine separate areas, as in control surface  14 B, navigation functions may include (i) a vertical sliding and horizontal sliding thumb-tip movement from one area to another area over the center area, create a set of scroll navigation control commands, (ii) a sliding thumb-tip movement from center area to any of the four corner areas create a set of unique control command that may used for navigation functions, and (iii) a circular sliding thumb-tip movement in clockwise and anticlockwise manner from one area to an area one-over creates a set of unique navigation control command. 
         [0121]    The control surface  14 A and  14 B are sized and designed to be operated by a thumb tip. However, they may also be operated by a finger tip. The embodiments  14 A and  14 B as described above may be manufactured with different features depending upon how the different applications in the market would choose to embed such touch sensor controls in their handheld devices. 
       Touch Screen Module Device  100   
       [0122]    Touch screen technology is prior art. In prior art, the conducting and non-conducting layers that make up the touch screen sensitive surface are placed over a glass substrate that is the display screen of the device. An additional protective layer is placed over the touch sensitive surface layers. Since the underlying display screen must be visible through the touch screen, touch screen layers are designed to transmit light. In the prior art, upward of 90% light is transmitted through the touch screen layers. 
         [0123]    However, in the embodiments described here, the touch sensor surface may be placed on a suitable substrate that is not a glass surface of a display screen. Alternatively, it may be a glass surface that may be marked with visual markings that identify different touch areas for touch slide movements as well as names of control functions. Since there is not an underlying display screen providing light, such touch screens may be backlit. Backlighting a screen is prior art technology. An embodiment of how the touch sensor controls may be manufactured is illustrated with reference to  FIG. 3 . 
         [0124]    As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , a touch sense control device  100  has a capacitive touch sense surface module  102  that is limited in touch surface size  104  to be around in its longest dimension at near one inch or less. The module  102  is used in an application device  106  in a manner where it is not placed over a display screen  107  of the device  106 . 
         [0125]    The module  102  has electrical interfaces  108  on a periphery of the module  102  that enable the module  102  to be directly attached to a receiving interface socket  110  in the device  106 . The interface pins  108  may be in a horizontal configuration  108 B or in the vertical configuration  108 A relative to the module  102  depending, upon what type of interface socket  110  would be used. 
         [0126]    The touch sense control module  102  has a capacitive touch sense surface that with a substrate  109 D, a conducting layer  109 C, a non-conductive layer  109 B, and a protective layer  109 A. The touch surface of the module  102  is limited in touch surface size to be in its maximum dimension at near 1.0 inch, where the module  102  is used in a device  106  in a manner where it is not placed over a display screen  107  of the device  106 . 
         [0127]    A processor  112  embedded in the device  106  receives touch surface inputs from the module  102  via the interface  110  and processes them to identify a one or more control command from the device  100 . The processor  112  may have two separate processor functions  112 A and  112 B. The processor function  112 A is for identifying the specific area of the touch surface that has been touched, and processor function  112 B may be used to process such touch into touch sensitive control commands, that distinguish between slide actions between different touch areas and touch or tap actions on different touch areas. Alternatively, the module  102  and the processor  112  may be one assembly device  100  that can be manufactured in different sizes for different applications for directly interfacing to the interface socket  110  on handheld device  106 . 
         [0128]    The module  102  has electrical interfaces on the periphery of the module that enable the module  102  to be directly attached to a receiving interface socket  110  in the device  106 . 
         [0129]    In one embodiment, the handheld device  106  would have a processor  112  that would receive raw touch surface inputs from the interface  110  and processes them to identify a one or more control commands for the handheld device  106 . In another embodiment, the processor  112  would be embedded in the module  102  itself, thus the module device  100  providing one or more standardized control commands to a processor (not shown) that controls the functions of the handheld device  106 . 
         [0130]    A first processor function  112 A embedded in the module receives inputs from the touch surface and processes them to identify a touch location on the touch surface. A second processor function  112 B, (i) stores boundary data of multiple touch areas of the control surface (ii) receives touch surface inputs from the first processor function, and (iii) processes them to identify a one or more control command of a touch on a touch area of the surface and a slide between two touch areas of the surface for output from the module  102  to the device  106 . 
         [0131]    As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the protective surface  109 A of module  102  may be contoured. Such a contour, it is believed, would facilitate a tactical feel when the thumb tip is used for effecting touch sensitive controls on the control surface  14 A,  14 B. The contour on protective surface  109 A may be in a variety of forms. The examples that are illustrated are a bevel flat surface  114 A, a slightly convex surface  114 B, a slightly concave surface, and small indentations  114 D. These contour examples may be used in any combination that facilitates touch sensitive control by the thumb tip. 
         [0132]    As illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the method steps for touch screen control surface functions are defined below. Not all steps may be used or used in the order specified. 
         [0133]    At step  80 , bounding a control surface  14 B that is oversized to a thumb tip and partitioning the control surface  14 B into a center area  16  and four surrounding areas  18 A-D. 
         [0134]    At step  82 , positioning a thumb tip in the center area  16  and sliding on the control surface  14 B in any one of four directions causing a corresponding movement of a cursor on the display screen  12 , and sliding the thumb tip back to the center area  16  to stop the cursor movement. 
         [0135]    At step  84 , tapping twice, that is touching twice in a short interval of time, the center area  16  to activate a function that is highlighted by the cursor. 
         [0136]    At step  86 , further partitioning the control surface  14 B into additional four areas situated in the four corners of the control surface  14 . 
         [0137]    At step  88 , positioning the thumb tip in the center area  16  and sliding to any one of four corner areas causing a corresponding movement of a cursor on the display screen, then sliding the thumb tip back, without lifting the thumb tip, to the center area to stop the cursor movement. 
         [0138]    At step  90 , using the eight areas around the center area  16 , creating a set of movements from a group of, (i) up/down, left/right for scroll function (ii) from a right area to a top area and vice versa for an arc movement, (iii) from a top area to a bottom area around the center area, for a semi-circle movement and vice versa. 
         [0139]    Similar method steps may be applicable for the embodiment as illustrated with reference to  FIG. 1A  with fewer touch areas on the control surface  14 A. 
         [0140]    In summary, the embodiments provide an improved user interface using a touch screen control surface for hand held electronic devices. The embodiments provide an improved user interface using a touch screen control surface for hand held electronic devices that can be used for those devices that currently use touch screen and also for those devices that currently do not use a touch screen display. 
         [0141]    While the particular embodiments, as illustrated herein and disclosed in detail is fully capable of obtaining the objective and providing the advantages herein before stated, it is to be understood that they are merely illustrative of the embodiments and that no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown other than as described in the appended claims.