Manipulation of displayed objects by virtual magnetism

摘要

A computer implemented tactile user interface (TUI) and a method of manipulating objects with a virtual magnet are provided. The TUI includes a display comprising a touch-screen. The display is configured for displaying a set of graphic objects, each graphic object representing a respective one of a set of items, such as documents, e.g., text documents or images. A virtual magnet is caused to move on the display, in response to touching on the touch-screen, e.g., by dragging a finger or other implement across. The magnet is associated with a particular function command such that a subset of the graphic objects exhibits a response to the virtual magnet (e.g., is caused to move, relative to the virtual magnet or exhibits another visible response), each graphic object in the subset moving or otherwise responding as a function of an attribute of the underlying item represented by the graphic object.

主权项

1. A tactile user interface comprising:
a display comprising a touch-screen; instructions stored in memory for:
displaying a set of graphic objects on the display, each graphic object representing a respective item, the items comprising text documents,causing a virtual magnet to move on the display, in response to touching on the touch-screen, andcausing a subset of the graphic objects to exhibit a response to the virtual magnet, each graphic object in the subset responding as a function of an attribute of the item represented by the graphic object, the attribute being based on the frequency of a keyword found in the document; and a processor in communication with the memory and display for executing the instructions.