Patent ID: 8405677

Claim:
A method of inputting commands through a touch-sensitive screen of a portable electronic device, the method comprising: displaying a plurality of soft buttons on the touch-sensitive screen; detecting touch input on the touch-sensitive screen at a touch location; identifying a closest soft button that is nearest to the touch location; magnifying the closest soft button, magnifying the entire row or the entire column of soft buttons that the closest soft button is located in, and magnifying one or more other rows or columns of soft buttons in the immediate vicinity of the row or column that the closest soft button is located in; reducing the size of soft buttons other than the magnified soft buttons; detecting release of the touch input on the touch-sensitive screen at a release location after the soft buttons have been magnified; identifying a selected soft button located at the release location upon detecting release of the touch input; and executing a command corresponding to the selected soft button.