Portable electronic device, method, and graphical user interface for displaying a vertical bar with scrollable content

Inventors

Forstall, Scott • Lamiraux, Henri C. • Platzer, Andrew Emilio • Matas, Michael • Chaudhri, Imran

Assignees

Apple Inc

Abstract

In a computer-implemented method, a portion of an electronic document is displayed on a touch screen display of a portable multifunction device. The displayed portion has a vertical position and a horizontal position in the electronic document. An object is detected on or near the displayed portion of the electronic document. In response to detecting the object, a vertical bar and a horizontal bar are displayed on top of the displayed portion. The vertical bar has a vertical position on top of the displayed portion that corresponds to the vertical position in the electronic document of the displayed portion. The horizontal bar has a horizontal position on top of the displayed portion that corresponds to the horizontal position in the electronic document of the displayed portion. After a predetermined condition is met, display of the vertical bar and of the horizontal bar is ceased.

Core Innovation

The invention provides a portable multifunction device with a touch-sensitive display that detects an object near the portion of an electronic document or list that is currently displayed. The device displays a portion of scrollable content on the touch-sensitive display and, concurrently, overlays translucent vertical and/or horizontal bars on top of the displayed content. The bars correspond to positions within the overall electronic document or list by matching vertical and/or horizontal positions to the scrollable content positions of the displayed portion.

The invention positions the vertical bar so that it has a vertical position corresponding to the vertical position in the scrollable content of the displayed portion. In response to user input corresponding to translating the scrollable content in a first direction, the device translates the scrollable content so that a new portion of the scrollable content is displayed and moves the vertical bar to a new vertical position that corresponds to the vertical position of the newly displayed portion. After determining the scrollable content has been translated to an edge of the scrollable content, the device continues detecting user input in the first direction and, in response to continuing detection, changes a length of the vertical bar.

The invention further includes ceasing display of the vertical bar in response to a predetermined condition, while continuing to display the scrollable content. Variants described include list versus document behavior in which only a vertical bar is displayed for lists, or both vertical and horizontal bars are displayed for documents. The disclosure also describes geometric constraints for the bar, such as having a major axis and leaving an uncovered portion of the scrollable content along the major axis, and an initial timed appearance of the bar to signal scrollability.

Claims Coverage

The independent claims cover an electronic device, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, and a method that display scrollable content together with a concurrent vertical bar whose vertical position corresponds to the displayed portion, and that update both the content and the bar as the user translates the scrollable content. The claims further include edge behavior and then changing a length of the vertical bar, with dependent refinements adding conditional/timed bar cessation and geometric constraints such as coverage along the bar’s major axis.

Across the independent claims, the core coverage is a scrollable-content display paired with a concurrent vertical bar whose vertical position tracks the displayed portion, updated as content is translated in a first direction. The claims also cover special behavior after translation reaches an edge, where continued input changes the length of the vertical bar, with further coverage for conditional/timed cessation and for a major-axis geometry constraint where part of the scrollable content remains uncovered.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications