Abstract:
Systems and methods for enabling the use of multi-touch applications on touch screens configured to receive only a single touch input at a time are disclosed. Systems and methods for dual heap memory allocation are also disclosed. Systems and methods for meta-layer rendering for mark-up code on mobile devices and storage of the meta-layers is also disclosed. Combinations of the above systems and methods are further disclosed.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    This invention relates to systems and methods for enhancing mobile devices and/or devices with touch-sensitive display screens. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    Phones such as the Apple iPhone (Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.) use a multi-touch system for user interface functionality. Multi-touch refers to the device having a touch screen that can sense two or more simultaneous contact inputs. Gestures such as dragging and pinching two fingers together, or widening two fingers apart when dragging on the screen are used to control program functionality. In most devices, however, the touch screen can only sense one contact input at a time. This is inconvenient for programs desirous of the ability to utilize a multi-touch input without a touch screen capable of receiving multiple touch inputs. Multi-touch screens can also be inconvenient for users with only one hand to use on the device (i.e., needing to hold the device and to drag multiple fingers on the face of the device concurrently with a single hand), for example while driving or for disabled users with a single hand or missing digits. 
         [0005]    Therefore, a need exists for emulation software for allowing multi-touch behavior using a touch screen capable of supporting only a single contact input. 
         [0006]    Certain operating systems, such as those operating on mobile devices, for example WindowsCE (Microsoft, Inc. or Redmond, Wash.), place a limit on the amount of heap memory available to each process. However, there is also a shared memory space for memory that is unassigned, but that a process could use in addition to its own private memory if assigned to the process. For example, on a 64MB device, some operating systems limit the process-designated memory to 32MB, yet there is still additional memory available to the process in the shared memory area. 
         [0007]    Therefore, a need exists for software that can allocate shared memory to the private heap memory, regardless of the per process memory limitation by the operating system. 
         [0008]    Usually high interactivity is desired on a client device display for functions such as zooming and panning when viewing a web page or other rendered mark-up code. In the past, there was not enough computational power on the client device to allow for smooth and full browser rendering on the client device. As shown in  FIG. 6 , a common solution to the computation limitations of the client device was to split the rendering functions between the client and server devices. Typically, the server does much rending and sends the page in a simplified format to the client. The client then renders a simplified version of the page using the simplified format description. This allows the client to display the page using less computational power, but often page interactivity is lost. 
         [0009]    Alternatively, as shown in  FIG. 7 , the client device can perform the entire rendering without the server. This eliminates the delay from the server device, but requires the client device to re-render the entire page from the original mark-up if particular manipulations (e.g., scale changes for zooming) are required. 
         [0010]    Therefore, there exists a need for a rendering process that can be performed entirely on the client device, yet also preserves partial rendering of the page. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    A system and method for enabling the use of multi-touch applications on a device with a touch screen configured to only receive a single touch input at a time is disclosed. For example, the device can be a computer such as a cellular phone or PDA. The device can perform manipulation of at least the first cursor and a second cursor. For example, this can be performed by a multi-touch software application (i.e., computer code), process, or function. 
         [0012]    The device can receive a first touch input on the touch screen. The device can then control the first cursor location for the first cursor based on the first touch input (e.g., if the first touch input is dragged across the screen, the first cursor can similarly move across the screen). The device can then toggle off the first cursor being the active cursor and make the second cursor the active cursor. The device can then receive a second touch input on the touch screen. The device can then control the second cursor location for the second cursor with the second touch input. 
         [0013]    The device can then toggle off the second cursor being the active cursor and either toggle back to the first cursor being the active cursor or signal completion of the controlling of the first cursor and the second cursor. If completion of the cursor controls is signaled, the device can deliver the initial, and/or final, and/or change in locations of the first cursor and the second cursor to a multi-touch function (e.g., the operating system, a web browser, a picture or video viewer, an audio player). 
         [0014]    The device can have a dual heap software application (i.e., computer code), process or function that can allocate shared and private memory to an executing software application. The dual heap process can allocate memory in a variation selected by the user or by a default (e.g., manufacturer-based) setting, or optimized base on the executing software application, or a combination thereof. The dual heap process can use the same memory allocation scheme for a single executing software application and/or a variety of memory allocations for a single executing software application. 
         [0015]    The dual heap process can allocate memory so that the private memory is completely utilized before the shared memory is allocated. The dual heap process can allocate memory so that the memory allocation is alternated between the private and shared memory in about equal portions or for every memory request by the software application. The dual heap process can allocate memory so that small memory needs for the executing software application are allocated from one of the memory heaps (e.g., private or shared) and large memory needs are allocated from the other memory head (e.g., shared or private, respectively). 
         [0016]    The device can have a meta-layer software application (i.e., computer code), process or function. The meta-layer process can render mark-up code. For example, the meta-layer process, or an application (e.g., web browser) within which the meta-layer process is functioning can receive a complete mark-up code file. The device (e.g., via the application and/or meta-layer process) can partially render the mark-up code, save the partially-rendered meta-layer mark-up code, and then complete the rendering and output (e.g., via the display and/or speakers) the completely rendered mark-up code. The saved meta-layer mark-up code can be finally rendered later, if needed, for example to alter the scale of the output of the fully rendered mark-up code. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]      FIG. 1   a  illustrates a variation of a client device having a touch screen. The client device can be a mobile phone or personal data assistant, for example. 
           [0018]      FIG. 1   b  illustrates the device of  FIG. 1   a  with a variation of a method for the client device in multi-touch mode with two cursors shown. 
           [0019]      FIG. 1   c  illustrates the device of  FIG. 1   a  with a variation of a method for moving a first cursor on the screen during multi-touch mode. 
           [0020]      FIG. 1   d  illustrates the device of  FIG. 1   a  with a variation of a method for toggling between cursors in multi-touch mode. 
           [0021]      FIGS. 1   e  and  1   f  illustrate the device of  FIG. 1   a  with a variation of a method for moving the second cursor during multi-touch mode. 
           [0022]      FIG. 1   g  illustrates the device of  FIG. 1   a  with a variation of a method for releasing multi-touch mode and activating the multi-touch function. 
           [0023]      FIG. 2  illustrates a variation of a method for utilizing a multi-touch device. 
           [0024]      FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b  illustrate a variation of a method for using a dual-heap system. 
           [0025]      FIGS. 4   a ,  4   b  and  4   c  illustrate a variation of a method for using a dual-heap system. 
           [0026]      FIGS. 5   a  through  5   d  illustrate a variation of a method for using a dual-heap system. 
           [0027]      FIGS. 6 and 7 , not the invention, illustrate variations of methods for rendering mark-up pages utilizing client devices. 
           [0028]      FIG. 8  illustrates a variation of a method for rendering mark-up pages utilizing a client device. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0029]      FIG. 1  illustrates a variation of a client device  10 . The client device  10  can be a computer, such as a mobile phone (e.g., cellular phone, satellite phone, cordless phone), a personal data assistant, a peripheral input/output device attached to a desktop or laptop computer or a retail device (e.g., an optical scanning “gun” connected to a retail register). The client device  10  can be in continuous or sporadic communication with a server. For example, the client device  10  can be wired or wirelessly connected to a server. 
         [0030]    The client device  10  can have a touch screen  12 . The touch screen  12  can be configured to receive inputs on the touch screen  12  due to pressure, for example via contact from a stylus or one or more of the user&#39;s digits. The touch screen  12  can be configured to receive a single pressure source (e.g., stylus, finger) at a given time. 
         [0031]    The client device  10  can have a multi-touch button or key  14 . The multi-touch key  14  can be the only non-screen based input device on the client device  10  or the multi-touch key  14  can be one of two or more non-screen based input devices, such as being part of or separate from a keyboard  16 . The multi-touch key  14  can be on the front, either side, back, top or bottom of the client device  10 . The client device  10  can have more than one multi-touch key  14 . 
         [0032]    The client device  10  can have a processor and memory and be configured to execute computer software. The client device  10  can be, for example, an HTC 8925 (HTC Corporation of Taoyuan, Taiwan). 
         [0033]    The client device  10  can execute a multiple-touch (“multi-touch”) software application that can allow a user to control the location of multiple cursors on the touch screen with a single contact point. For example, the multi-touch software can enable the client device  10  to use a software application requiring multiple contact points (e.g., an application that zooms when two fingers are dragged toward or away from each other). The multi-touch software application can be executed concurrently with other programs. For example, the multi-touch software application can be executed concurrently with a graphics-displaying application, such as a video or image file displaying application and/or a web browser. 
         [0034]      FIG. 1   b  illustrates that the device  10  can be placed into a multi-touch emulation mode (“multi-touch mode”). When the multi-touch mode is activated, for example, a first cursor  18  and a second cursor  20  can be displayed on the touch screen  12 . Additional (e.g., third, fourth) cursors can also be displayed on the touch screen  12 . 
         [0035]    The multi-touch mode can be indicative that the multi-touch software is executing at all, or the multi-touch mode can be activated by the multi-touch software even though the multi-touch software can also be executing in a “sleep” mode when the multi-touch mode is off. The multi-touch mode can be activated by a control, such as the multi-touch key  14 , a menu item selected via the keyboard, the touch screen, or audio control (e.g., voice activation) via an audio transducer, such as a microphone, or combinations thereof. 
         [0036]    The first cursor  18  can initially be at a first cursor first x-location  22   a  and a first cursor first y-location  22   b  on the touch screen  12 . The second cursor  20  can be at a second cursor first x-location  24   a  and a second cursor first y-location  24   b . The first cursor first x-location  22   a  can be equal to, greater than or less than the second cursor first x-location  24   a . The first cursor first y-location  22   b  can be equal to, greater than or less than the second cursor first y-location  24   b . For example, the first cursor  18  and the second cursor  20  can be vertically aligned. The first cursor  18  and the second cursor  20  can be vertically or horizontally aligned. The first cursor and second cursor first x and y-locations  22   a ,  22   b ,  24   a  and  24   b , can be preset to match user-defined preferences. For example, the user can set the first cursor and second cursor first x and y-locations  22   a ,  22   b ,  24   a  and  24   b  to fit the user&#39;s hand size and/or handedness. 
         [0037]    The multi-touch software can have predefined (e.g., by the user and/or by the manufacturer) left and right-handedness settings for the first cursor and second cursor first x and y-locations  22   a ,  22   b ,  24   a  and  24   b . For example, the right-handedness can have a smaller first cursor first x-location  22   a  than the second cursor first x-location  24   a  setting. The left-handedness setting can have a larger first cursor first x-location  22   b  than the second cursor second x-location  24   b  setting. The multi-touch software can have predefined hand size settings (e.g., small, medium and large) for the first cursor and second cursor first x and y-locations  22   a ,  22   b ,  24   a  and  24   b . For example, the larger the hand size, the farther away the first cursor  18  is located from the second cursor  20  in the first locations  22   a ,  22   b ,  24   a  and  24   b.    
         [0038]    Other predefined settings can include whether to initially move the first cursor, the second cursor, or both (or all) cursors concurrently. 
         [0039]    The user&#39;s hand  26  (digits such as finger  28  and thumb  30  are also shown) can be near the client device  10 . The hand  26  is shown in  FIG. 1   b  in phantom lines to indicate it is not in contact with the client device  10 . 
         [0040]    The multi-touch software can define the first cursor  18  as the initially active cursor. The active cursor can be the cursor to be moved or otherwise controlled by user interaction with the touch screen. 
         [0041]      FIG. 1   c  illustrates that a stylus or digit, such as the thumb  30 , can be pressed to the touch screen  12  (indicated by the thumb  30  being in solid lines in  FIG. 1   c ), for example on the first cursor  18 . The thumb  30  can then drag across the touch screen  12 . The multi-touch software can move, as shown by arrow, the first cursor  18  with the movement of the thumb  30 . The multi-touch software can move, as shown by arrow, the second cursor  20  concurrently, for example in identical motion, with the first cursor  18 , or the second cursor  18  can remain motionless during the motion of the first cursor  18 . Whether the second cursor  18  moves or remains motionless during the motion of the first cursor  20  can be a default setting or manually selected in the user preference settings of the multi-touch software. 
         [0042]      FIG. 1   d  illustrates that after the first cursor  18  is moved, the first cursor  18  can be at a first cursor second x-location  32   a  and a first cursor second y-location  32   b  on the touch screen  12 . The second cursor  20  can be at a second cursor second x-location  34   a  and a second cursor second y-location  34   b  on the touch screen  12 . If the multi-touch software is set to not move the second cursor  20  during movement of the first cursor  18 , the second cursor second x and y-locations  34   a  and  34   b  can be identical to the second cursor first x and y-locations  24   a  and  24   b.    
         [0043]    Once the active first cursor  18  has been moved, for example to a desired final location, the active cursor can be toggled by the multi-touch software so the second cursor  20  is the active cursor. Toggling the active cursor from the first cursor  18  to the second cursor  20  can be performed by triggering a control, such as a button on the keyboard or elsewhere, multi-touch key  14 , voice command, or menu command selected from the touch screen with the keyboard joystick, other input device, time-out mechanism, or combinations thereof. For example, the thumb  30  can be lifted away from the touch screen  12  and press the multi-touch key  14  to toggle the active cursor. The multi-touch key can be pressed and released to toggle the active cursor, or pressed and held (e.g., releasing the multi-touch key  14  can signal the completion of all cursor movement) to toggle the active cursor. The active cursor can be toggled back and forth one or more times between the first and second cursors  18  and  20 , and other cursors if available. 
         [0044]      FIG. 1   e  illustrates that the finger  28  can be pressed (as indicated by the finger  18  being shows in solid lines) to the touch screen  12 , for example when the second cursor  20  is the active cursor. The finger  28  can be dragged, as shown by arrow, across the touch screen  12 . The multi-touch software can keep the first cursor  18  motionless and move the second cursor  20  corresponding to the movement of the finger  28 . 
         [0045]      FIG. 1   f  illustrates that after the second cursor  20  is moved, the second cursor can be at a second cursor third x-location  36   a  and a second cursor third y-location  36   b  on the touch screen  12 . 
         [0046]    After moving the second cursor  20 , the active cursor can be toggled back to the first cursor  18  if desired. The method can also be used to toggle between and move additional active cursors, such as third and fourth cursors. 
         [0047]      FIG. 1   g  illustrates that after the first cursor  18  and the second cursor  20  are moved to final desired positions, the user&#39;s hand  26  can be removed from the touch screen  12 . The multi-touch function can then be activated, for example, by pressing or releasing the multi-touch key  14 , voice activation, or combinations thereof. The multi-touch function that is the process or application that receives the location of the cursors as input. The multi-touch function can be, for example, a function within a program for viewing images, video, playing audio files, web browsers, word processing, spreadsheets, animation effects, scientific data viewing/analysis, or combinations thereof. The multi-touch function can be for zooming (e.g., in/out, center, cursor-based zooming, default zoom settings), panning, scrolling, toggling between applications or options within applications, web browser operations (e.g., page forward, page back, refresh page), rotating, stretching, animation and lighting special effects, or combinations thereof 
         [0048]      FIG. 2  illustrates a functional flow of the use of the multi-touch software application. For example, the multi-touch mode can be activated. The first and second (and any additional) cursors can then appear on the touch screen if the cursors were not already displayed on the touch screen. The user can then touch and drag the first cursor with a stylus or first digit, such as the thumb. The user can then lift the stylus or first digit off the touch screen. The user can then toggle the active cursor from the first cursor to the second cursor. The toggling can occur by pressing and holding the multi-touch key, and/or pressing and releasing the multi-touch key, or by other methods described herein. The user can now touch the second cursor, now the active cursor, and drag the second cursor to a desired location. The user can touch the second cursor with the stylus or the first or a second digit, such as the forefinger. If desired, the user can toggle the active cursor back to the first cursor and reposition the first cursor, and then toggle to the second cursor and reposition the second cursor, ad infinitum. When the first and second (and other) cursors are in desired locations, the multi-touch key can be released or pressed and held, or other input signal can be given to activate the multi-touch function. 
         [0049]      FIG. 3   a  illustrates that an executing software application  50  on the client device can interact with a dual heap process  52 . The executing software application  50  can be a web browser, photo effects program, any other application listed herein, or other applications. 
         [0050]    The client device can have private memory  54  and shared memory  56 . Shared memory  56  is memory not yet assigned to an executing application. The private memory  54  can be allocated by the operating system to the executing software application. The dual heap process  52  can execute within the operating system of the client device, as a stand-alone application or within the executing software application. The dual heap process  52  can access the shared memory  56  and the private memory  54 . The dual heap process  52  can control the location of the memory used by the executing software application  50 . 
         [0051]    As shown in  FIG. 3   a , the dual heap process can allocate memory for the executing software application from the private memory. The dual heap process can continue to utilize the private memory for the executing software until the private memory is completely used. 
         [0052]      FIG. 3   b  illustrates that when the private memory is substantially completely used by the executing software application, the dual heap process can begin to allocate the shared memory for the executing application. After the private memory is initially filled, if any private memory is freed from use during the executing of the executing software application, the dual heap process can assign the recently-freed private memory to the executing software application (i.e., to refill the private memory before returning to use additional shared memory). 
         [0053]      FIG. 4   a  illustrates that the dual heap process  52  can initially allocate memory from the private memory  54  to the executing software application  50 . The amount of memory initially allocated from the private memory  54  can be a predetermined quantity of memory (e.g., about 200 kBytes). 
         [0054]      FIG. 4   b  illustrates that once the predetermined quantity of memory has been initially allocated from the private memory  54 , the dual heap process  52  can allocate memory from the shared memory  56  to the executing software application  50 . The amount of memory initially allocated from the shared memory  56  can be a predetermined quantity of memory (e.g., about 2 MB). 
         [0055]      FIG. 4   c  illustrates that once the predetermined quantity of memory has been initially allocated from the shared memory  56 , the dual heap process  52  can allocate additional memory from the private memory  54  to the executing software application  50 . The amount of memory additionally allocated from the private memory  54  can be a predetermined quantity of memory, for example the same predetermined quantity of memory allocated initially from the private memory  54  and/or shared memory  56  (e.g., about 2 MB). 
         [0056]    The dual head process  52  can continue to alternate memory allocation to the executing software application  50  between the private memory  54  and the shared memory  56  in approximately equally sized increments of memory (e.g., about 2 MB) until the private memory  54  or shared memory  56  is filled, at which time the dual heap process  52  can allocate no additional memory to the executing software application  50 , or the dual heap process  52  can allocate additional memory to the executing software application  50  from whichever of the private or shared memories  54  or  56  that still have available memory. 
         [0057]    The evenly alternating memory allocation method by the dual heap process  52  shown in  FIGS. 4   a  through  4   c  can begin by allocating memory from the private memory  54  (as shown) or from the shared memory  56 . 
         [0058]      FIGS. 5   a  through  5   d  illustrate that the dual heap process  52  can alternate allocation of memory between the private memory  54  and the shared memory  56  based on the size of the individual allocation of memory needed. For example, the dual heap process can allocate larger individual allocations (e.g., greater than about 200 kBytes) of memory from the shared memory  56  and smaller individual allocations (e.g., smaller than about 200 kBytes) of memory from the private memory  54 , or vice versa (i.e., smaller allocations from the shared memory  56  and larger allocations from the private memory  54 ). 
         [0059]      FIG. 5   a  illustrates that the dual heap process  52  can allocate a first small individual memory allocation from the private memory  54  for the executing software application  50 . 
         [0060]      FIG. 5   b  illustrates that the dual heap process  52  can then allocate a second small individual memory allocation from the private memory  54  for the executing software application  50 . 
         [0061]      FIG. 5   c  illustrates that the dual heap process  52  can then allocate a first large individual memory allocation from the shared memory  56  for the executing software application  50 . 
         [0062]      FIG. 5   d  illustrates that the dual heap process  52  can then allocate a third small individual memory allocation from the private memory  54  for the executing software application  50 . 
         [0063]      FIGS. 6 and 7  illustrate various known methods of rendering mark-up code.  FIG. 6  illustrates that a server device  60  can receive or retrieve the unrendered mark-up code  62 , for example hyper-text mark-up for a web page. The unrendered mark-up code  62  is then processed by the server device to partially render  70   a  the code to meta-mark-up code  64 . The meta mark-up code can be a simplified version of the unrendered mark-up code  62 , for example that can be processed into completely rendered mark-up code more easily by the client device  10 . The meta mark-up code  62  is then sent to the client device  10 . The client device  10  can perform final complete rendering  70   b  on the meta-mark-up code  64 . The client device  10  can then output the final completely rendered mark-up  66 , for example in the form of graphics, text, video, audio, other output or actions or combinations thereof. 
         [0064]      FIG. 7  illustrates that the complete rendering  70  of the mark-up code  62  is performed entirely on the client device  10 , resulting in the final completely rendered mark-up  66 . 
         [0065]      FIG. 8  illustrates that the client device  10  (e.g., via a web browser) can receive or retrieve the unrendered mark-up  62 . The unrendered mark-up code  62  can then be partially rendered  70   a  into a meta mark-up code  64  (i.e., a meta layer) within the client device  10 . For example, a meta-layer client process or application can partially render and/or save  72  the partially rendered meta mark-up code  64 . The meta-layer client process can be executed within the operating system, as a stand-alone application, within the mark-up rendering application (e.g., a web browser), or a combination thereof. 
         [0066]    The meta mark-up code  64  can then be finally and completely rendered  70   b  into the final completely rendered mark-up  66  by the client device  10 . 
         [0067]    If the final rendering  70   b  is desired to be re-performed (e.g., to rescale a web page for zooming, panning, or to render for pull down menus or other click-activated actions), the client device  10  can retrieve the saved meta mark-up code  64  from memory on board the client device  10 . The client device  10  can then re-perform the final complete rendering on the meta mark-up code  64  with the new criteria (e.g., rescale ratio), for example, without the need to retrieve or receive the unrendered mark-up  62  nor the need to partially render the unrendered mark-up to the meta mark-up  64  configuration. Therefore, the meta-layer client process can reduce the processing resources and time required by the client device  10 , and reduce repeated downloading of unrendered of partially rendered mark-up  62  or  64  from the server device  60  to the client device  10 . 
         [0068]    The first meta mark-up code  64  can be saved on the client device  10  while the client device retrieves and processes a second, third, or more mark-up codes  62 . Also, first, second, third, or more meta mark-up codes  64  can also be concurrently saved  72  on the client device  10 , and retrieved as desired. 
         [0069]    The mark-up code can be HTML, XML, SVG, SMIL, XHTML, or combinations thereof. 
         [0070]    The multi-touch software application, the dual heap process and the meta-layer client process can be used concurrently and/or sequentially with each other on a single client device, for example with and/or in a single web browser application. 
         [0071]    As used herein, software applications are a set of instructions that can be executed by one or more processors in the client device  10 . The software applications can be executed within the operating system of the client device  10  or as a process separate from the operating system. 
         [0072]    It is apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to this disclosure, and equivalents employed, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Elements shown with any variation are exemplary for the specific variation and can be in used on or in combination with other variations within this disclosure.