Mobile communication terminal and method

Abstract

It is shown a method to move focus from a first user interface element to a second user interface element shown on a display of a mobile communication terminal, said mobile communication terminal further comprising an input device. The method comprises the steps of: detecting a directional input via said input device, said input indicating a desired direction to move; determining a set of candidate user interface elements being eligible to receive focus; for each candidate user interface element in said set of candidate user interface elements, determining a weighted distance between said candidate user interface element and said first user interface element by applying a function including, as an input parameter, an overlap between said first user interface element and said candidate user interface element in a direction orthogonal to said desired direction; and determining said second user interface element to be a particular candidate user interface element in said set of candidate user interface elements that has a minimum weighted distance to said first user interface element.

1 . A method to move focus from a first user interface element to a second user interface element shown on a display of a mobile communication terminal, said mobile communication terminal further comprising an input device, said method comprising the steps of: 
 detecting a directional input via said input device, said input indicating a desired direction to move;    determining a set of candidate user interface elements being eligible to receive focus;    for each candidate user interface element in said set of candidate user interface elements, determining a weighted distance between said candidate user interface element and said first user interface element by applying a function including, as an input parameter, an overlap between said first user interface element and said candidate user interface element in a direction orthogonal to said desired direction; and    determining said second user interface element to be a particular candidate user interface element in said set of candidate user interface elements that has a minimum weighted distance to said first user interface element.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said mobile communication terminal further comprises a current focus position related to said first user interface element, said method comprising the further step of: 
 determining a new focus position related to said second user interface element, such that a component distance, along an axis orthogonal to said desired direction, of an absolute distance between said current focus position and said new focus position, is minimized.    
   
   
       3 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein in said step of determining a new focus position, said new focus position is determined such that it is placed inside said second user interface element, at least a margin distance from any border thereof.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said step of detecting an input involves detecting an input from a directional input device.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said step of detecting an input involves detecting an input from a device selected from the group consisting of a four way input device, a five way input device, an eight way input device, a nine way input device, a joystick, a joypad and a navigation key.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said overlap between said first user interface element and said candidate user interface element in a direction orthogonal to said desired direction is restricted to an overlap being visible on said display.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of: 
 providing a visual representation of said focus position on said display.    
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein said visual representation is a graphical symbol.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step, after said step of detecting an input, of: 
 determining a search area in a currently displayed document in which said first and second user interface elements are included, wherein said step of determining a set of candidate user interface elements is confined to user interface elements included in said search area.    
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein said search area is a combination of a part of said document currently visible on said display and a part of said document that would be visible if said document is scrolled in said desired direction.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said applied function is:  
       dist basic +dist parallel +2*dist orthogonal −√{square root over (overlap)},  wherein dist basic  is a Euclidian distance between a current focus position related to said first user interface element and a candidate focus position related to said candidate user interface element;    dist parallel  is a component along an axis parallel to said desired direction of a distance between a first point of said first user interface element utmost in said desired direction and a second point of said candidate user interface element utmost in a direction opposite said desired direction;    dist orthogonal  is a component along an axis orthogonal to said desired direction of a distance between a third point, which may be the same as said first point, of said first user interface element closest to said candidate user interface element and a fourth point, which may be the same as said second point, of said candidate user interface element closest to said first user interface element; and    overlap is a distance of overlap between said first user interface element and said candidate user interface element in a direction orthogonal to said desired direction.    
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein dist parallel  is set to 0 if said first user interface element and said candidate user interface element overlap in a direction parallel to said desired direction.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein dist orthogonal  is set to 0 if said first user interface element and said candidate user interface element overlap in a direction orthogonal to said desired direction.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein if a component of said current focus position on an axis orthogonal to said desired direction equals a component of said candidate focus position on an axis orthogonal to said desired direction, dist basic  is determined to be 0.  
   
   
       15 . A mobile communication terminal comprising a display and an input device, said terminal being configured to allow movement of focus from a first user interface element to a second user interface element shown on said display, said terminal furthermore comprising: 
 means for detecting a directional input via said input device, said input indicating a desired direction to move;    means for determining a set of candidate user interface elements being eligible to receive focus;    means for determining, for each candidate user interface element in said set of candidate user interface elements, a weighted distance between said candidate user interface element and said first user interface element by applying a function including, as an input parameter, an overlap between said first user interface element and said candidate user interface element in a direction orthogonal to said desired direction; and    means for determining said second user interface element to be a particular candidate user interface element in said set of candidate user interface elements that has a minimum weighted distance to said first user interface element.    
   
   
       16 . A computer program product, directly loadable into a memory of a digital computer, comprising software code portions for performing a method according to  claim 1.