Method of single-handed software operation of large form factor mobile electronic devices

Abstract

A method of enabling single-handed user-software interactions in a large form-factor electronic device having a touch screen for receiving user thumb input actions via an operating system desktop, the method comprising the steps of: positioning a single-handed utilization zone on the mobile electronic device desktop at about a determined location of the thumb of a device holding user; and populating said single-handed utilization zone with a plurality of actionable icons arranged in a horizontal pitch and a vertical pitch determined based on a user profile and the size said single-handed utilization zone.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This nonprovisional utility patent application claims benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61 / 771,036, Entitled, “Method for Enabling One-Handed Operation of Large Form Factors Electronic Devices,” by Roy Varada Prasad, filed on Feb. 28, 2013.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates in general to the manner in which a user of a mobile electronic device interacts with the operating system software of the device and more particularly it relates to a method of single-handed software operations with the operating system and application software associated with a large form factor mobile electronic device being held in one hand of a user.BACKGROUND[0003]The present day mobile phones have grown in scope from being simple cellular telephones to smart phones that are multi-functional devices at the convergence of several large industries, including telecommunications, networking, computer, consumer electronics, digital media, ele...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0018]Additionally, the present invention delivers a number of other benefits which address both certain deficiencies in mobile devices today, as well as certain capabilities that will likely be required in the future to make using mobile devices a more comfortable, productive and safer experience.

[0065]In an embodiment of the tenth aspect of the present invention single-handed utilization zone facilitates a hierarchical schema using a plurality of overlapping windows within said single-handed utilization zone to efficiently navigate through at least one folder or at least one group to locate a specific document or program within said proxy desktop by user navigation using only the thumb of the device-holding hand of the user.

Problems solved by technology

For this reason, many manufacturers are reluctant to make phones with very large screens.

While there are smart phones with five inch diagonal screens such as the Samsung Galaxy® that are very popular indeed, many users find them frustrating because they are too big to use with one hand.

With their smaller form-factor, there is a natural tendency to use them like smart phones, so their large size relative to phones makes them cumbersome to use with one hand.

Although the weight of a large tablet such as the Apple iPad® with its 10″ screen makes it difficult to both hold and use it with one hand, smaller tablets such as the Amazon Kindle Fire® or the Apple iPad Mini® with their 7-8″ screens are sufficiently light in weight to both hold and operate with one hand.

In fact, it is rather cumbersome to use one of these with two hands if a user is used to a standard sized iPad.

Images