Definition and use of node-based points, lines and routes on touch screen devices

Abstract

A method and system are presented which will detect combinations of user touches on a touch screen device as nodes, and will create points of definition, lines, routes and corridors from these nodes. Where the device has a communications capability, the locally defined points of definition, routes and corridors can be shared with remote users and databases, and similar entities created by remote users can be viewed on a local display. The method and system are of particular benefit to navigation applications, map customization on touch screen devices, real estate management, scientific measurement, and geographic information systems.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A method for interpreting user touches on a touch screen device to create and edit points of definition, lines, routes and corridors on the display of said touch screen device, comprising:
 a. recognizing single and double, concurrent user touches to touch screen device,   b. interpreting said user touches as node positions, node touch sequences and associated node motions on the screen display of said touch screen,   c. interpreting said node positions, said node touch sequences and said node motions to determine the point, line segment or route segment entities to be drawn on the touch screen display,   d. retaining recognition and information of said entities persistently after said user touches to the touch screen device have ceased,   e. allowing reselection by a user of a previously defined entity for operation on that entity.   f. allowing reselection by a user of any node of a previously defined entity for operation on that node.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the number of said concurrent user touches is interpreted as one, and the node produced by said concurrent user touch remains substantially motionless for a predetermined length of creation time, thereby resulting in the creation of a point of definition and the drawing of a symbol on the touch screen to represent said point to the user. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein said user touch remains substantially motionless for an additional predetermined length of time after said creation time, thereby resulting in a means being provided to the user for adding and viewing alphanumeric name or identification information to the said point of definition. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the number of said concurrent user touches is interpreted as two, and the nodes produced by said concurrent user touches remain substantially motionless for a predetermined length of creation time, thereby resulting in the creation of a line segment and the drawing of a line on the touch screen between positions of the two user touches. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the said drawn line has a predetermined style, color and thickness. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein one or more latent nodes is automatically created at intervals along a line segment, allowing the user to identify, select and move any latent node whereby said latent node becomes a new node of the line segment which thereby becomes a multi-segment line. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4  wherein a node from one line segment is moved so that it is substantially at the same location on the touch screen as a second node of a different line segment, thereby resulting in the merging of the two nodes and the creation of a multi-segment line. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the number of said user touches is interpreted as two and there is a detected said node touch sequence with the time between the first touch and the second touch being within a predetermined time value of each other, thereby resulting in the creation of a route segment and the drawing of an arrow from the point of the first touch in the direction of the second touch on the touch screen using a predetermined style, color and thickness. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein one or more latent nodes is automatically created at intervals along a route segment, allowing the user to identify, select and move any latent node whereby said latent node becomes a new node of the route segment which thereby becomes a multi-segment route. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein a node from one route segment is moved so that it is substantially at the same location on the touch screen as a second node of a different route segment, thereby resulting in the merging of the two nodes and the creation of a multi-segment route. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the number of said concurrent user touches is interpreted as two, and the nodes produced by said concurrent user touches remain substantially motionless for a predetermined length of creation time, thereby resulting in the display of actual distance between the two user touches on the touch screen, to the user. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the number of said concurrent user touches is interpreted as two, and the nodes produced by said concurrent user touches remain substantially motionless for a predetermined length of creation time, thereby resulting in the display to the user of representative distance between the two node points created by the two user touches on the underlying map or image, taking into account the scaling of said underlying map or image. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the number of said user touches is interpreted as two and there is a detected said node touch sequence with the time between the first touch and the second touch being within a predetermined time value of each other, thereby resulting in the display of screen vector distance between the two user touches on the touch screen, to the user. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the number of said user touches is interpreted as two and there is a detected said node touch sequence with the time between the first touch and the second touch being within a predetermined time value of each other, thereby resulting in the display to the user of representative two dimensional vector distance between the two node points created by the two user touches on the underlying map or image, taking into account the scaling of said underlying map or image. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a said reselection by a user of a previously defined entity is performed and said operation on said entity is selected as corridor creation, whereby a bounded area around said entity is calculated and displayed to the user on the touch screen, defined by the logical union of circle area around all nodes of said entity and rectangle area around all line or route segments of said entity. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the corridor width is predetermined and therefore the radius of the circles around said nodes is made equal to the predetermined corridor width and the width of the rectangles around said segments is also made equal to the predetermined corridor width. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the corridor width is defined by touch by the user, and therefore the radius of the circles around said nodes is made equal to the user-specified corridor width and the width of the rectangles around said segments is also made equal to the user-specified corridor width. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a said reselection by a user of a previously defined entity is performed through the means of the entity having one or more key nodes whereby operations specific to the whole entity such as the movement, deletion or addition of data is performed. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said operation on a node is taken from the list including movement, deletion, labelling, addition of data and definition as a key node. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  wherein said movement operation on the node is by the user dragging the node around within the perimeters of the multi-touch enabled input device without any background map or image being scrolled. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19  wherein said movement of the node is by the user maintaining a touch within a predetermined distance of a perimeter of the touch screen, thereby causing the node to stay at the position of the touch, but any background map or image being scrolled in the opposite direction of said perimeter. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19  wherein if the geometric location coordinates of the moved node become substantially the same as the geometric location coordinates of an existing node, the two nodes are equated as being the same, and the new single node inherits the properties of said existing node. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 19  wherein said addition of data includes information taken from the list of start date, end date, elevation above sea level, planned altitude, depth below sea level, and free text information. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 19  wherein said deletion operation removes the node, and also a point of definition associated with a node. 
     
     
         25 . A distance measurement and display system graphical user interface for touch screen devices with a mapping, navigation or image background, comprising:
 a. a detection of two concurrent user touches to a touch screen means that will permit a user to input two points of definition on a background map or image for which it is desired to know the distance between, and   b. a measurement means for calculating the representative distance between the two concurrent touches including scaling and conversion to the measurement units and axes of the background map or image, and   c. a means of display of the calculated representative distance between the two concurrent touches to the user of the touch screen device.   
     
     
         26 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a. a touch screen module incorporating a touch panel adapted to receiving user input in the form of multi-touch shape gestures including finger touches and finger movements, and a display surface adapted to present point of definition, line, route and corridor information to the user,   b. a control module which is operatively connected to said touch screen module to determine node and point of definition positions from said finger touches, to determine node motions and touch sequence from said finger movements, to recognize a line or route segment from combinations of said node positions and touch sequences, to create multi-segment lines and routes from individual segments by node position equivalence detection, to create multi-segment lines and routes from detection of latent node selection and movement on line and route segments, to detect a selection touch to a pre-existing entity from the list including point of definition, line segment, route segment, multi-segment line and multi-segment route, to control the editing of said pre-existing entity, to control other modules and to generate a continuous graphical image including said node positions and plurality of said pre-existing entities for display on the touch screen module,   c. a memory module logically connected to said control module which is able to store from and provide to said control module a logical element selected from the group consisting of operating systems, system data for said operating systems, applications which can be executed by the control module, data for said applications, node data, point of definition data, line segment data, route segment data, multi-segment line data, multi-segment route data and corridor data.   
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 26 , wherein the apparatus is selected from the group consisting of a mobile telephone with a touch screen, a tablet computer with a touch screen, a satellite navigation device with a touch screen, an electronic book reader with a touch screen, a television with a touch screen, a desktop computer with a touch screen, a notebook computer with a touch screen, a touch screen display which interacts with medical and scientific image display equipment and a workstation computer of the type used in command and control operations centers such as air traffic control centers, but having a touch screen. 
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 26 , wherein the node, point of definition, line segment, route segment, multi-segment line, multi-segment route and corridor information presented to the user includes symbols and lines currently detected or selected and those recalled from memory, previously defined, or received from a remote database, device or application. 
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 26 , wherein a communications module is incorporated adapted to the transfer of node, point of definition, line segment, route segment, multi-segment line, multi-segment route and corridor information including node position and entity type, to and from other devices, networks and databases. 
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 29 , wherein the control module will accept external said information from said communications module and pass them to the touch screen module for display to the user. 
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 29 , wherein the control module will pass locally created said information to the communications module for communication to other devices, networks and databases. 
     
     
         32 . The apparatus of  claim 26 , wherein the entities recognised by said control module from the said detected node positions, touch sequences and node motions include nodes, points of definition, line segments, route segments, multi-segment lines, multi-segment routes and corridors. 
     
     
         33 . The apparatus of  claim 26 , wherein the said editing of pre-existing entities includes the movement of points of definition, the movement of entire entities, the deletion of entire entities, the stretching of lines by the movement of their individual nodes, the editing of a corridor width, the creation of multi-segment lines and routes by joining segments at common nodes, and the addition of a new node between two existing nodes of an entity. 
     
     
         34 . The apparatus of  claim 26 , wherein the said nodes and points of definition recognised by said control module represent locations on a two dimensional image, map or surface having its own coordinate system which are readable by said control module from the memory module.