Method and apparatus for providing sight independent activity reports responsive to a touch gesture

Abstract

A method for providing sight independent activity reports responsive to a touch gesture may include receiving an indication of a pulse gesture being performed by at least two fingers with respect to a selectable item displayed at a touch screen display, determining a status with respect to activity associated with an application corresponding to the selectable item, and causing provision of haptic feedback to the at least two fingers based on the status. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also provided.

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving an indication of a pulse gesture being performed by at least two fingers with respect to a touch screen display;   determining a status with respect to activity associated with an application in response to receipt of the indication of the pulse gesture; and   causing provision of haptic feedback to the at least two fingers based on the status.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein causing provision of the haptic feedback comprises causing provision of a frequency of pulses to the at least two fingers that is proportional to a frequency of activity associated with the application. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the indication of the pulse gesture comprises receiving the indication of the pulse gesture being performed by at least two fingers with respect to a selectable item displayed at the touch screen display, and wherein causing provision of the haptic feedback comprises causing provision of a frequency of pulses to the at least two fingers that is determined based on a ranking of the selectable item with respect to frequency of occurrence of an activity common to other selectable items associated with the application. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving an indication of movement of the at least two fingers out of the pulse gesture and into a pulse-exit gesture, the pulse-exit gesture being associated with a predetermined query, and causing provision of haptic feedback to the at least two fingers to provide a response to the query. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein receiving the indication of movement of the at least two fingers out of the pulse gesture and into the pulse-exit gesture comprises determining a direction of movement of the at least two fingers and determining a respective query associated with the direction of movement of the at least two fingers, and wherein causing provision of the haptic feedback comprises causing provision of the haptic feedback to provide a response to the respective query. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the indication of the pulse gesture comprises receiving the indication of the pulse gesture being performed by at least two fingers with respect to a selectable item displayed at the touch screen display, and wherein the selectable item is a specific portion of the touch screen display associated with a corresponding specific content item. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the indication of the pulse gesture comprises receiving the indication of the pulse gesture being performed by at least two fingers with respect to a selectable item displayed at the touch screen display, and wherein the selectable item is any portion of the touch screen display associated with the application and directing the feedback response to be applied via the touch screen display. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the status with respect to activity associated with the application comprises determining a status with respect to achieving a goal, completing a task, a frequency of performing an operation, a number of instances of performing an operation, arriving at a destination, receiving updates, or participating in an activity. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein causing provision of the haptic feedback comprises referencing a feedback lexicon defining a feedback response to be provided for the status determined for the application. 
     
     
         10 . An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 receive an indication of a pulse gesture being performed by at least two fingers with respect to a touch screen display;   determine a status with respect to activity associated with an application in response to receipt of the indication of the pulse gesture; and   cause provision of haptic feedback to the at least two fingers based on the status.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause provision of the haptic feedback by causing provision of a frequency of pulses to the at least two fingers that is proportional to a frequency of activity associated with the application. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to receive the indication of the pulse gesture by receiving the indication of the pulse gesture being performed by at least two fingers with respect to a selectable item displayed at the touch screen display, and wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause provision of the haptic feedback by causing provision of a frequency of pulses to the at least two fingers that is determined based on a ranking of the selectable item with respect to frequency of occurrence of an activity common to other selectable items associated with the application. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to receive an indication of movement of the at least two fingers out of the pulse gesture and into a pulse-exit gesture, the pulse-exit gesture being associated with a predetermined query, and cause provision of haptic feedback to the at least two fingers to provide a response to the query. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to receive the indication of movement of the at least two fingers out of the pulse gesture and into the pulse-exit gesture comprises determining a direction of movement of the at least two fingers and determine a respective query associated with the direction of movement of the at least two fingers, and wherein causing provision of the haptic feedback comprises causing provision of the haptic feedback to provide a response to the respective query 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to receive the indication of the pulse gesture by receiving the indication of the pulse gesture being performed by at least two fingers with respect to a selectable item displayed at the touch screen display, and wherein the selectable item is a specific portion of the touch screen display associated with a corresponding specific content item. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to receive the indication of the pulse gesture by receiving the indication of the pulse gesture being performed by at least two fingers with respect to a selectable item displayed at the touch screen display, and wherein the selectable item is any portion of the touch screen display associated with the application and directing the feedback response to be applied via the touch screen display. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to determine the status with respect to activity associated with the application by determining a status with respect to achieving a goal, completing a task, a frequency of performing an operation, a number of instances of performing an operation, arriving at a destination, receiving updates, or participating in an activity. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause provision of the haptic feedback by referencing a feedback lexicon defining a feedback response to be provided for the status determined for the application. 
     
     
         19 . A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions to:
 receiving an indication of a pulse gesture being performed by at least two fingers with respect to a touch screen display;   determining a status with respect to activity associated with an application in response to receipt of the indication of the pulse gesture; and   causing provision of haptic feedback to the at least two fingers based on the status.   
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 19 , wherein program code instructions for causing provision of the haptic feedback include instructions for referencing a feedback lexicon defining a feedback response to be provided for the status determined for the application.