Patent Description:
Currently, most vehicles are provided with an electronic display screen. A user interface on the electronic display screen may include multiple interface elements (e.g., tabs). When interface elements need to be moved, a user may move the interface elements using a physical button in the vehicle. For example, referring to <FIG>, which is an exemplary diagram illustrating movement of tabs by means of a physical button. Most buttons are provided with fixed touchpoints, each of which may indicate a movement direction, as shown in <FIG>. When the user presses or touches a touchpoint, interface elements may be controlled to move in a movement direction indicated by the touchpoint.

In practice, however, in moving a large number of interface elements, the user is often required to press or touch a touchpoint or touchpoints multiple times, which is cumbersome and results in inefficient movement.

Patent application publication <CIT>) discloses a multi-dimensional scroll wheel, which is provided to detect input gestures that traverse the center of the scroll wheel and to detect multi-touch input, wherein the scroll wheel can include a first plurality of sensor elements arranged in a first closed loop and a second plurality of sensor elements arranged in a second closed loop, the first and second closed loops being concentrically arranged about the center of the scroll wheel. Patent application publication <CIT>) is a document of the prior art in the technical field in question.

The present invention provides a method and a system for moving interface elements, a vehicle, and a storage medium, which allow quick movement of interface elements through sliding touch of a button, and improve efficiency in movement of interface elements.

Aspects of the present invention are set out in the accompanying independent claims. Optional features of the invention are set out in the accompanying dependent claims.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for moving interface elements.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for moving interface elements.

In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium.

Compared to the conventional art, the present invention can achieve the beneficial effects set out below.

When a finger performs a sliding touch on a physical button, a touch signal is triggered when the finger passes a touchpoint. In response to the touch signals triggered by the sliding touch, interface elements can be controlled to move in an interface element movement direction corresponding to the movement direction of the sliding touch. Thus, the interface elements can be quickly moved by one sliding touch, without multiple presses or touches, thereby improving efficiency of the movement.

In order to clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, brief description of the drawings pertinent to the embodiments will be provided. It should be apparent to a skilled person in the art that the drawings described below are for the purpose of illustrating embodiments of the present invention only. The skilled person will be able to devise further drawings based on the provided drawings herein without exercising any inventive efforts.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and thoroughly with reference to the accompanying drawings. The described embodiments merely show some but not all possible ways for practicing the present invention. All other embodiments that those of ordinary skills in the art could derive without inventive efforts fall within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

It is to be noted that terms "including," "comprising," "having," and any variations thereof herein are intended to encompass items listed thereafter non-exclusively. For example, a process, method, system, product, or device that comprises a series of steps or units is meant to not only include the listed steps or units, but also may optionally include additional steps or units not listed or any steps or units inherent to such a process, method, system, product, or device.

With the method and the system for moving interface elements, the vehicle and the storage medium disclosed, the interface elements can be quickly moved through a touch on a button on a button, thereby improving efficiency in movement. Details are described below.

Referring to <FIG>, which is a flowchart illustrating a method for moving interface elements according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in <FIG>, the method for moving interface elements include the following steps.

At step <NUM>, a touch signal triggered by a touch operation of a finger on a physical button is detected.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the physical button may be a touch button, and a touch operation of a finger touching the button can be detected. The physical button may be provided in advance with one or more touchpoints. When the finger touches a touchpoint, a touch signal will be triggered. Reference is made to <FIG> again, the physical button shown in <FIG> is provided with icons on its surface where touchpoints are located. An icon may be used to indicate a direction of movement corresponding to a touchpoint or an interactive function associated with the touchpoint.

A touch operation performed by a user touching the physical button with his / her finger may include a single touch on one touchpoint and a sliding touch passing through at least two touchpoints. The operation of touching one touchpoint may include a short-time touch and a long-time touch. The short-time touch refers to a touch operation performed on one touchpoint with a duration less than a time threshold T1. The long-time touch refers to a touch operation performed on one touchpoint with a duration greater than a time threshold T2. A sliding touch refers to a touch operation where a finger touches and moves from a touchpoint to another touchpoint. The sliding touch passes at least two adjacent touchpoints.

It will be appreciated that in an embodiment of the present invention, a touchpoint may be associated with an interactive function that is unrelated to movement of interface elements. In a case where a sliding touch passes such a touchpoint, movement of an interface element or elements, instead of control of the interactive function associated with the touchpoint, is performed in response to the sliding touch. In a case where a single touch is performed on such a touchpoint separately, the interactive function associated with the touchpoint is controlled in response to the touch operation. It can be understood that a single touch following a sliding touch may be erroneously identified as a sliding touch, which would affect the normal response of the interactive function to be controlled by the single touch.

In an optional embodiment, the following steps may be performed after step <NUM>:.

With the embodiment, a sliding touch and a single touch on one touchpoint can be accurately identified. With the embodiment, especially in a case where a user continuously touches N touchpoints by a sliding touch and after that touches one touchpoint separately, the N touchpoints corresponding to the sliding touch can be accurately distinguished from the single touchpoint corresponding to the single touch, thereby reducing the possibility of erroneously identifying a single touch performed after a sliding touch as a sliding touch. The preset time threshold may be determined based on the average time needed for a finger to pass two adjacent touchpoints during a sliding touch. It can be appreciated, performing a single touch after a sliding touch requires the user to perform an operation of lifting and then pressing of the finger. The time taken by such an operation is greater than the average time for the finger to slide through two adjacent touchpoints. Thus, a sliding touch can be distinguished from a single touch based on time.

Further optionally, after determining that the difference between the time when the currently detected touch signal is detected and the time when the previously detected touch signal is detected is greater than the preset time threshold and before determining the touch operation triggering the currently detected touch signal is a sliding touch, the following operations may be performed:.

With the embodiment, a verification as to whether a touch operation is a sliding touch or not can be further performed, so as to reduce the interference, caused by the user touching two touchpoints separately in a short period of time, on the determination of a sliding touch.

At step <NUM>, if the touch operation is a sliding touch, interface elements are moved in a direction corresponding to a movement direction of the touch operation, wherein the number of the interface elements moved is determined based on the number of touch signals triggered by the sliding touch.

In an embodiment of the present invention, if the touch operation is a sliding touch, the touch operation passes at least two adjacent touchpoints. A touch signal will be triggered when the sliding touch passes each touchpoint. The touch operation as a sliding touch may thus trigger at least two touch signals. Optionally, a touch signal corresponding to each touchpoint may have a unique signal identifier to be distinguished from other touch signals.

The interface elements described above may include, but not limited to, tabs, icons, application interface diagrams, scroll bars, dialog boxes, menus, and the like.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the physical button may have a visible touchpoint(s) and / or a hidden touchpoint(s). A visible touchpoint is visible on the surface of the physical button. For example, the touchpoints represented by the icons shown in <FIG> are visible touchpoints. A hidden touchpoint is invisible on the surface of the physical button. Referring to <FIG>, which is an exemplary diagram of a physical button including visible touchpoints and hidden touchpoints according to an embodiment of the present invention. With the physical button including both visible touchpoints and hidden touchpoints, precision of sliding touches can be improved without altering the original design of the physical button, thereby increasing the number of interface elements that can be moved through one round of touch slide on the physical button.

For example, as shown in <FIG>, the touchpoints represented by the icons may be labeled clockwise as touchpoint <NUM> ~ touchpoint <NUM>, and triggered touch signals corresponding to these touchpoints may be assigned signal identifiers as signal <NUM> ~ signal <NUM>.

Upon detection of a touch signal or touch signals triggered by a touch operation, a determination as to whether the touch operation is a sliding touch may be made based on the number of the detected touch signals and / or the differences between times at which the touch signals are detected. Further, after the touch operation is identified as a sliding touch, the order of receiving the touch signals may be determined from their signal identifiers, and the movement direction of the sliding touch may then be determined based on the receiving order.

Referring to the physical button as shown in <FIG>, for example, if the touch signals are received in an order as signal <NUM>, signal <NUM>, and signal <NUM>, it may be determined that the sliding touch passes the touchpoint <NUM>, touchpoint <NUM>, and touchpoint <NUM> in sequence. It thus may be determined that the sliding touch moves in a clockwise direction. For another example, if the touch signals are received in an order as signal <NUM>, signal <NUM>, signal <NUM>, and signal <NUM>, it may be determined that the sliding touch passes the touchpoint <NUM>, touchpoint <NUM>, touchpoint <NUM>, and touchpoint <NUM> in sequence. It thus may be determined that the sliding touch moves first in a clockwise direction and then in a counterclockwise direction.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the movement directions of interface elements may include, but not limited to, upward direction, downward direction, left, and right. Mapping between the movement directions of sliding touches and the movement directions of interface elements may be preset. In addition, one or more interface elements may be moved in response to one triggered touch signal.

As an example, it is assumed that a clockwise movement of a sliding touch corresponds to an upward movement of interface elements, and a counterclockwise movement of a sliding touch corresponds to a downward movement of interface elements, and that each triggered touch signal will cause one interface element to move.

Reference is made to <FIG>, which is an exemplary diagram showing movement of tabs through a sliding touch according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in <FIG>, the touch operation passes touchpoint <NUM>, touchpoint <NUM> and touchpoint <NUM> in sequence, and thus the tabs are shifted upwards by <NUM>.

Reference is made to <FIG>, which is another exemplary diagram showing movement of tabs through a sliding touch according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in <FIG>, the touch operation passes touchpoint <NUM>, touchpoint <NUM>, touchpoint <NUM> and touchpoint <NUM> in sequence, and thus the tabs are first shifted upwards by <NUM> and then shifted downwards by <NUM>.

In an optional embodiment, in moving the interface elements at step <NUM>, the number of interface elements to be moved in response to one touch signal may be determined based on the moving speed of the sliding touch. That is, the following steps may also be performed:.

The first value is greater than the second value. For example, the second value may be set to <NUM>. The first value may be set to <NUM>, namely, <NUM> interface elements are moved in response to each triggered touch signal. In addition, the trajectory of the sliding touch may be determined based the order of receiving the touch signals, and the moving speed of the sliding touch may be determined based on the length of the trajectory and time when each touch signal is received.

In the above embodiment, in case of a high moving speed (greater than the speed threshold), one touch signal will cause more interface elements to move, and the interface elements will move at a higher speed. In case of a low moving speed (less than or equal to the speed threshold), one touch signal will cause less interface elements to move, and the interface elements will move at a lower speed. Thus, the moving speed of the interface elements may be controlled based on the moving speed of the sliding touch.

In an optional embodiment, in moving the interface elements at step <NUM>, an interface element currently selected when the sliding touch passes the first touchpoint may be determined as a starting point of movement. Alternatively, the interface element corresponding to the first touchpoint passed by the sliding touch may be determined as the starting point of movement.

As an example, it is assumed that a clockwise movement of a sliding touch corresponds to a rightward movement of interface elements, and a counterclockwise movement of a sliding touch corresponds to a leftward movement of interface elements.

Referring to <FIG> and <FIG>, which are exemplary diagrams showing movement of tabs through a sliding touch according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in <FIG>, when a sliding touch passes the first touchpoint, the interface element currently selected is the "voice input" tab. Thus, tab selection will be shifted to the right by <NUM>, with the "voice input" tab as the starting point. As shown in <FIG>, the interface element currently selected before a sliding touch passes the first touchpoint is the "voice input" tab, and the interface element corresponding to the first touchpoint passed by the sliding touch is the "phone" tab. Thus, tab selection will be shifted to the right by <NUM>, with the "phone" tab as the starting point of the movement.

With the embodiments, a user can select an interface element as desired to be the starting point of a movement, which is not necessarily limited to the currently selected interface element. This can further improve the efficiency of the movement.

Further optionally, if a touch operation is a single touch on one visible touchpoint, a corresponding function may be performed in response to a touch signal corresponding to the visible touchpoint. It can be appreciated that the function corresponding to the touch signal triggered by touching the visible touchpoint may not relate to movement of interface elements. For example, it is assumed that the "phone" icon corresponds to a visible touchpoint. When a touch signal triggered by touching the visible touchpoint is detected, a Bluetooth phone function may be enabled in response to the touch signal.

If the touch operation is a single touch on one hidden touchpoint, the method does not respond to the touch signal corresponding to the hidden touchpoint. In other words, the single touch on the hidden touchpoint will cause no function to perform.

Further optionally, physical buttons may be provided on the steering wheel of a vehicle to facilitate driver's operation. Referring to <FIG>, which is an exemplary diagram illustrating an arrangement of physical buttons according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in <FIG>, the physical buttons may be provided on two sides of the steering wheel of the vehicle separately. For a first physical button provided on one side of the steering wheel, a set of movement directions of sliding touches on the first physical button corresponds to a set of movement directions of interface elements. For a second physical button provided on the other side of the steering wheel, a set of movement directions of touch operations on the second physical button corresponds to another set of movement directions of interface elements.

In an embodiment of the present invention, it will be appreciated that the set of movement directions of touch operations may consist of a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction. The set of movement directions of interface elements may consist of two opposite directions. That is, an upward direction and a downward direction may constitute a set of movement directions of interface elements, and a leftward direction and a rightward direction may constitute a set of movement directions of interface elements.

For example, a clockwise sliding touch on the first button provided on the left side of the steering wheel may correspond to leftward movement of interface elements, a counterclockwise sliding touch on the first button may correspond to rightward movement of interface elements. Then, a clockwise sliding touch on the second button provided on the right side of the steering wheel may correspond to upward movement of interface elements, and a counterclockwise sliding touch on the second button may correspond to downward movement of interface elements.

With the embodiment, the driver can generally perform common operations for moving interface elements through sliding touches on the physical buttons provided on both sides of the steering wheel.

In summary, in the method shown in <FIG>, the interface elements can be quickly moved through sliding touches on the physical buttons. Such quick movement requires no multiple touches or presses and thus improves the efficiency of movement of the interface elements. Further, hidden touchpoints may be provided on the physical button. Provision of the hidden touchpoints increases the number of interface elements that can be moved through one round of touch slide, without altering the original design of the physical button. Furthermore, the physical buttons are respectively provided on both sides of the steering wheel, and the physical button provided on one side can control interface elements to move in one set of movement directions, and the physical button provided on the other side can control interface elements to move in another set of movement directions. Such arrangement can substantially satisfy the typical needs of drivers for moving interface elements. In addition, the starting point of the movement of the interface elements may be the selected as the interface element corresponding to the first touchpoint through which the sliding touch passes. This allows the user to select a desired interface element as the starting point of the movement, further improving the efficiency of the movement. Moreover, the speed of moving the interface elements may be controlled based on the moving speed of the sliding touch. The faster the sliding touch moves, the faster the interface elements move.

Referring to <FIG>, which is a schematic structural diagram illustrating a system for moving interface elements according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in <FIG>, the system for moving interface elements may include:.

The detection unit <NUM> may be configured to, after detecting a touch signal triggered by a touch operation of a finger on a physical button,.

After determining that the touch operation is a sliding touch, the detection unit <NUM> may trigger the movement unit <NUM> to, if the touch operation is a sliding touch, move the interface elements in a direction corresponding to a movement direction of the sliding touch, wherein the number of the interface elements moved corresponds to the number of touch signals triggered by the sliding touch.

With the embodiment, N touchpoints corresponding to a sliding touch can be accurately distinguished from one touchpoint corresponding to a single touch, such that the number of interface elements to be moved meets the needs of users.

In addition, the physical button can include visible touchpoints and / or hidden touchpoints. A visible touchpoint is visible on the surface of the physical button, and a hidden touchpoint is invisible on the surface of the physical button. With the physical button including hidden touchpoints, precision of sliding touches can be improved without altering the original design of the physical button, thereby increasing the number of interface elements that can be moved through one round of touch slide on the physical button.

Further, if the detection unit <NUM> determines that the touch operation is a single touch on one hidden touchpoint, it may not respond to the touch signal corresponding to the hidden touchpoint. In other words, the single touch on the hidden touchpoint will cause no function to perform.

The movement unit <NUM> may be further configured to, when the touch operation is a sliding touch,.

The physical buttons may be provided on two sides of the steering wheel of the vehicle separately,.

The movement unit <NUM> may be further configured to:.

With the embodiment, a user can directly choose the currently selected interface element as the starting point of the movement, which is more intuitive. The user can also choose an interface element as the starting point of the movement as needed, and the starting point is not necessarily limited to the currently selected interface element. Thus, the efficiency of movement can be further improved.

With the system for moving interface elements as shown in <FIG>, interface elements can be efficiently moved through sliding touches, without multiple touches or presses. Further, hidden touchpoints may be provided on the physical button. Provision of the hidden touchpoints increases the number of interface elements that can be moved through one round of touch slide, without altering the original design of the physical button. Furthermore, the physical buttons are respectively provided on both sides of the steering wheel, and the physical button provided on one side can control interface elements to move in one set of movement directions, and the physical button provided on the other side can control interface elements to move in another set of movement directions. Such arrangement can substantially satisfy the typical needs of drivers for moving interface elements. In addition, the starting point of the movement of the interface elements may be the selected as the interface element corresponding to the first touchpoint through which the sliding touch passes. This allows the user to select a desired interface element as the starting point of the movement, further improving the efficiency of the movement.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle comprising the system for moving interface elements as shown in <FIG>.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored a computer program, wherein execution of the computer program causes a computer to perform the method for moving interface elements as shown in <FIG>.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored a computer program thereon, and execution of the computer program causes a computer to perform the method for moving interface elements as shown in <FIG>.

It should be understood that references throughout the specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the phrase "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" used throughout the specification is not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. In addition, the specific features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the embodiments described herein are alternative embodiments, not all illustrated acts or modules are required to implement the present invention.

In various embodiments of the present invention, it should be understood that the order of the sequence numbers of the processes described above is not meant to imply the necessary ordering in which the processes are performed. Rather the ordering of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logics. The order of the sequence numbers should not be construed as any limitation on the scope of the embodiments of the present invention.

The units described above as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units. That is, they may be located in one place, or may be distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected in accordance with actual needs in order to achieve the purpose of the embodiments of the present invention.

Furthermore, the various functional units may be integrated in one processing unit, or may physically exist as separate units, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The aforementioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional units.

The aforementioned integrated units may be stored in a computer accessible memory when implemented in the form of a software functional units and sold or used as a standalone product. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention in essence, or all or part of the technical solution that contributes to the state of the art, may be embodied in the form of a software product. The software product may be stored on a memory device and includes a number of instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, or the like, particularly a processor in a computer device) to perform some or all of the steps of the methods of the various embodiments of the present invention as described above.

Those of ordinary skills in the art will appreciate that all or some of the steps of the various methods of the embodiments described above may be accomplished by relevant hardware under instructions of a computer program. The computer program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), one-time programmable read-only memory (OTPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), compact-disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage device, magnetic disk storage device, magnetic tape storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store data.

Claim 1:
A method for moving interface elements, comprising:
detecting (<NUM>) touch signals triggered by a touch operation of a finger on a physical button, wherein the physical button is provided on a steering wheel of a vehicle; and
determining (<NUM>), when a time difference between a currently detected touch signal and a previously detected touch signal preceding to the currently detected touch signal is less than or equal to a preset time threshold, that the touch operation is a sliding touch, and moving, using an interface element corresponding to the first one of the touchpoints passed by the sliding touch as a starting point, the interface elements in a direction corresponding to a movement direction of the sliding touch, wherein the number of steps the interface elements are moved by is determined based on the number of touch signals triggered by the sliding touch,
wherein the sliding touch passes at least two adjacent touchpoints on the physical button, and the touch signals are triggered when the finger contacts the touchpoints, each touchpoint corresponding to one touch signal.