GB2515034A - User interfaces and associated methods for wallpaper user-notifications based on application events - Google Patents

Abstract

User notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device is enabled by changing a background wallpaper (411) on a display of the device. The events may be external e.g. a missed call and the background image may be a photographic image displayed as wallpaper set behind an application icon on a home screen. Internal events such as calendar events may also be notified. In one example album covers for a currently played album may be displayed behind a lock screen of the device. The change of wallpaper may be prioritized according to priority levels of respective applications.

Description

USER INTERFACES AND ASSOCIATED METHODS FOR WALLPAPER USER-

NOTIFICATIONS BASED ON APPLICATION EVENTS

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to user interlaces and user interlace elements, associated methods, computer programs and apparatus. Certain disclosed aspects/embodiments relate to portable electronic devices, in particular, so-called hand-portable electronic devices which may be hand-held in use (although they may be placed in a cradle in use).

Such hand-portable electronic devices include so-called Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile telephones, smartphones and other smart devices, and tablet PCs.

The portable electronic devices/apparatus according to one or more disclosed aspects/embodiments may provide one or more audio/text/video communication functions (e.g. tele-communication, video-communication, and/or text transmission (Short Message Service (SMS)/ Multimedia Message Service (MMS)Jemailing) functions), interactive/non-interactive viewing functions (e.g. web-browsing, navigation, TV/program viewing functions), music recording/playing functions (e.g. MP3 or other format and/or (FM/AM) radio broadcast recording/playing), downloading/sending of data functions, image capture function (e.g. using a (e.g. in-built) digital camera), and gaming functions.

Background

It is common for electronic devices to provide a user interface (e.g. a graphical user interface). A user interface may enable a user to interact with an electronic device, for example, to open applications using application icons, enter commands, to select menu items from a menu, or to enter characters using a virtual keypad.

The listing or discussion of a prior-published document or any background in this specification should not necessarily be taken as an acknowledgement that the document or background is part of the state of the art or is common general knowledge. One or more aspects/embodiments of the present disclosure may or may not address one or

more of the background issues.

Summary

I

In a first aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory including computer program code, the memory and the computer program code configured, with the processor, to cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: enable a user-notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device.

A background wallpaper may be considered to be an image (e.g. a single image) used as a background of a graphical user interface on a computer screen or mobile communications device. A background wallpaper may be displayed in the background of a home screen, a standby screen (e.g. a screen provided when a user has not interacted with the device (e.g. a locked mode screen or a screen saver) but which allows the user to be provided with some status information in the form of text and/or icons representing e.g. battery level, time, number of received messages etc.) and/or in an idle or locked mode.

The particular application events may be considered not to include (or exclude) user interactions with the electronic device (e.g. selecting an application icon by touching a touch screen).

The apparatus/device may be configured to provide user interface elements and/or information configured to overlie the displayed wallpaper. The user interface elements and/or information may be pre-existing displayed elements/information prior to the particular application event.

The wallpaper may be configured to be a passive display element. That is, the background wallpaper may be configured such that the user can not directly interact with the wallpaper to access device functionality. For example, the user may not be able to open an application by interacting with the background wallpaper. Nevertheless, some embodiments may allow the screen comprising the wallpaper to be moved (e.g. using a scrolling action) to reveal other content (e.g. to navigate between screens).

The background wallpaper may be provided at the operating system level. For example, the background wallpaper may be configured to be active regardless of which particular application or applications are running at the time.

The apparatus may be configured to provide for changing the background wallpaper by providing for replacing a first background wallpaper with a second different background wallpaper based on respective application events.

The application event associated with an electronic device may comprises at least one of: an internal event initiated by an application running internally to the electronic device itself; and an external event initiated by receipt of a communication by the electronic device io from a remote device external to the electronic device.

An internal event may comprise a scheduled event.

An internal event may comprise one or more of: is changing of an audio track playing on the electronic device (e.g. which may be streamed from another device/apparatus); and providing a meeting reminder (or other calendar reminder) using a calendar application; detecting that a friend or acquaintance is now physically close to them (for instance detecting the other person's device using Bluetooth Low Energy); providing an alarm; providing a scheduled software update; providing a scheduled anti-virus update; and providing a time and date based scheduled update.

An external event may comprise one or more of: receiving a missed call by the electronic device; receiving a traffic announcement by the electronic device; receiving a sports update by the electronic device; receiving a travel update by the electronic device; receiving a travel update by the electronic device; receiving a software update by the electronic device; receiving an email message by the electronic device; and receiving a text message by the electronic device. It will be appreciated that such receipts are based on activity external to the electronic device.

The wallpaper may comprise contextual information associated with the application event.

The apparatus may be configured to further provide a user interface element overlying the changed background wallpaper in response to detecting the application event associated with the electronic device, the user interface element configured to allow the user to access further information related to the event.

The apparatus may be configured to prioritise the changing from a first background wallpaper associated with a first application event to a second background wallpaper associated with a second application event based on a predetermined criteria relating to the priority level of the second application event relative to the priority level of the first application event.

The apparatus may be configured such that each background is provided on a respective layer associated with the priority given to the layer such that a user can scroll through respective background wallpaper layers in priority order.

The apparatus/device may be configured such that only one user-notification background wallpaper is provided at one time. An application event may be an active application event (e.g. an event which is configured to enable the user to be notified by providing a respective associated background wallpaper), or an inactive application event (e.g. an event which is no longer configured to enable the user to be notified by providing a respective associated background wallpaper). Deactivating a particular application event may be considered to change the application event from being an active application event to an inactive application event. Where there are multiple active application events, the apparatus/device may be configured to determine which background wallpaper associated with which active application event is provided to the user as a user-notification.

The apparatus may be configured to enable the ceasing of the display of the changed background wallpaper (or enable the deactivating of a particular application event) in response to one or more of: the user interacting with information relating to the detected application event; and a predetermined time period elapsing.

It will be appreciated that some events may be configured to remain active as long as the device detects/determines that the event is ongoing For example, for a friend proximity event (Le. when the device detects that a friend (or other person) is nearby), the friend proximity event may remain active for the time during which the device is detecting the proximity of the friend's device. Similarly, a music track event may be active as long as the music track is playing. That is, the apparatus may be configured to enable the ceasing of the display of the changed background wallpaper (or enable the deactivating of a particular application event) in response to the event ceasing.

It will be appreciated that the apparatus may be configured, in response to the active application event associated with the displayed background wallpaper being deactivated, to enable a user-notification of another particular (active) application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device. For example, a music event and a message event may both be active (i.e. both being configured to enable a background wallpaper to be provided to the user as a user-notification), and the apparatus may have enabled the background wallpaper associated with the music event to be provided. When the music event is deactivated (e.g. in response to the track finishing or a predetermined time elapsing), the apparatus may be configured to provide a background wallpaper associated with the is remaining active event (or one of the remaining active events) (i.e. the message event in this case).

The background wallpaper may be for use on the display during one or more of: a low power display mode, an in-use display mode, a locked mode, a general unlocked mode, and a home screen comprising a plurality of user interface elements.

The user interaction available in a locked mode of operation may be limited with respect to the general unlocked user interaction available in an unlocked mode of operation. The locked user interaction may be a subset of the general user interaction available in an unlocked mode. The general unlocked interaction may enable the user to interact with all of the applications of the device The general unlocked interaction may enable the user to access all of the functionality of the device. The locked interaction may not allow the user, in the locked mode, from accessing certain applications/functionality (which may be available in the unlocked mode of operation).

The apparatus may be configured to determine which background wallpaper of a plurality of said background wallpapers (each background wallpaper being associated with a respective (active) application event) is notified to the user based on one or more predetermined criteria. For example, if a missed call event (associated with a missed call background wallpaper) occurs, followed by a weather update event (associated with a weather update background wallpaper), the apparatus may be configured to determine which one would be provided as a user-notification (e.g. when both are active application events).

Providing a notification system which is configured to allow multiple user-notifications to be prioritised (or otherwise provided to the user) may allow the system to be extended by allowing further third party applications to provide notification& That is, if a third-party application event is deemed important in the context of when it occurred (e.g. if it is has a higher priority than other application events which are being enabled to be notified to the user) then a background relating to that third-party application event may be provided. In contrast, if a third-party application event is deemed not to be important in the context of when it occurred (e.g. if it has a lower priority than other application events which are being enabled to be notified to the user) then a background relating to one of the other application events (e.g. active application events) may be provided.

For example, some embodiments may provide the weather update background wallpaper as it was the weather update occurred last (e.g. using a temporal order based predetermined criteria). That is, the one or more predetermined criteria may be configured to prioritise which background wallpaper is notified based on the order in which the respective particular (active) application events occurred. Other embodiments may provide the missed call update background wallpaper as it the missed call event may be deemed to be more important (e.g. using an importance based predetermined criteria). That is, the one or more predetermined criteria may be configured to prioritise which background wallpaper is notified based on priority values assigned to the particular (active) application events. Of course, other embodiments may use a combination of one or more of: temporal, event-priority based and other criteria.

The plurality of said background wallpapers may comprise background wallpapers associated with a plurality of applications. For example, a first background wallpaper may be associated with a first application (e.g. a weather update application) and a second background wallpaper may be associated with a second different application (e.g. a phone application).

The plurality of said user-notification background wallpapers may comprise multiple background wallpapers associated with the same application. For example, the same application may be configured to provide different background wallpapers (e.g. a phone application may provide different background wallpapers for missed call events associated with different people; and/or for different types of event such as missed calls, and voicemails).

The apparatus/device may be configured to provide a series of user-notification background wallpapers. For example, the apparatus/device may be configured to cycle through each of the (active) application event background wallpapers. For example, if a missed call event and a weather update event were active, the apparatus/device may be configured to alternate between a missed call background wallpaper and a weather update background wallpaper. The apparatus may be configured to provide the next io background wallpaper in the sequence in response to one or more of: a predetermined period of time elapsing; and the user navigating to a particular screen where the background wallpaper is provided (e.g. a locked screen).

The background wallpaper may be changed to provide a user-notification without changing the screen. For example some example embodiments may be configured, in response to a missed call being received, to continue displaying the home screen (or locked screen) but the background wallpaper may be changed within that home screen (or locked screen).

The apparatus may be configured, following the user-notification, to allow the user to interact with the application to access further information about the application event (e.g. such that, by opening the associated application, the user is provided with further details of the application event).

The apparatus may be configured to enable the storage of information relating to the event in response to the application event (e.g. storing caller information about a missed call event, or storing a received email, or storing meeting details about a calendar event).

The apparatus may be a portable electronic device, a laptop computer, a mobile phone, a Smartphone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a digital camera, a watch, a server, a non-portable electronic device, a desktop computer, a monitor, a server, a wand, a pointing stick, a touchpad, a touch-screen, a mouse, a joystick or a module/circuitry for one or more of the same.

According to a further aspect there is provided a method, the method comprising: enabling a user-notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device.

According to a further aspect there is provided a computer program comprising computer program code, the computer program code being configured to perform at least the following: enable a user-notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device.

According to a further aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising: means for enabling configured to enable a user-notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device.

According to a further aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising: an enabler configured to enable a user-notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device.

The present disclosure includes one or more corresponding aspects, embodiments or features in isolation or in various combinations whether or not specifically stated (including claimed) in that combination or in isolation. Corresponding means and corresponding function units (e.g. a determiner, an enabler) for performing one or more of the discussed functions are also within the present disclosure.

Corresponding computer programs for implementing one or more of the methods disclosed are also within the present disclosure and encompassed by one or more of the described embodiments.

The above summary is intended to be merely exemplary and non-limiting.

Brief Description of the Figures

A description is now given, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 depicts an example apparatus embodiment comprising a number of electronic components, including memory and a processor; Figure 2 depicts an example apparatus embodiment comprising a number of electronic s components, including memory, a processor and a communication unit; Figure 3 depicts an example apparatus embodiment comprising a number of electronic components, including memory, a processor and a communication unit; Figure 4a-4d depicts an example embodiment wherein background wallpapers are provided in the home screen and in an application screen; Figure 5a-5f depicts a further example embodiment wherein background wallpapers are provided in the home screen and in a locked screen; Figures 6a-6b illustrate an example apparatus in communication with a remote server/cloud; Figure 7 illustrates a flowchart according to an example method of the present disclosure; and Figure 8 illustrates schematically a computer readable medium providing a program.

Description of Example Aspects/Embodiments

It is common for an electronic device to have a user interface (which may or may not be graphically based) to allow a user to interact with the device to enter and/or interact with information. For example, the user may use a keyboard user interlace to enter text, or use icons to open applications. Some user interfaces include displays, such as touch screens, which can display information to the user.

On an electronic device, it may be advantageous if new information is provided to the user. For example, new user interface elements may be provided to notify the user that new voicemail has become available, or a pop-up window may be provided to indicate that a software update should be downloaded. However, providing too much information in the form of additional user interface elements may cause the graphical user interface to be come cluttered. The present disclosure relates to enabling a user-notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device Other embodiments depicted in the figures have been provided with reference numerals that correspond to similar features of earlier described embodiments. For example, feature number 1 can also correspond to numbers 101, 201, 301 etc. These numbered features may appear in the figures but may not have been directly referred to within the description of these particular embodiments. These have still been provided in the figures to aid understanding of the further embodiments, particularly in relation to the features of similar earlier described embodiments.

Figure 1 shows an apparatus 101 comprising memory 107, a processor 108, input I and output 0. In this embodiment only one processor and one memory are shown but it will be appreciated that other embodiments may utilise more than one processor and/or more than one memory (e.g. same or different processor/memory types).

In this embodiment the apparatus 101 is an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) for a portable electronic device with a touch sensitive display. In other embodiments the apparatus 101 can be a module for such a device, or may be the device itself, wherein the processor 108 is a general purpose CPU of the device and the memory 107 is general purpose memory comprised by the device.

The input I allows for receipt of signalling to the apparatus 101 from further components, such as components of a portable electronic device (like a touch-sensitive display) or the like. The output 0 allows for onward provision of signalling from within the apparatus 101 to further components. In this embodiment the input I and output 0 are part of a connection bus that allows for connection of the apparatus 101 to further components.

The processor 108 is a general purpose processor dedicated to executing/processing information received via the input I in accordance with instructions stored in the form of computer program code on the memory 107. The output signalling generated by such operations from the processor 108 is provided onwards to further components via the output 0.

The memory 107 (not necessarily a single memory unit) is a computer readable medium (solid state memory in this example, but may be other types of memory such as a hard drive, ROM, RAM, Flash or the like) that stores computer program code. This computer program code stores instructions that are executable by the processor 108, when the program code is run on the processor 108. The internal connections between the memory 107 and the processor 108 can be understood to, in one or more example embodiments, provide an active coupling between the processor 108 and the memory 107 to allow the processor 108 to access the computer program code stored on the memory 107.

In this example the input I, output 0, processor 108 and memory 107 are all electrically connected to one another internally to allow for electrical communication between the respective components I, 0, 108, 107. In this example the components are all located proximate to one another so as to be formed together as an ASIC, in other words, so as to be integrated together as a single chip/circuit that can be installed into an electronic device. In other examples one or more or all of the components may be located separately from one another.

Figure 2 depicts an apparatus 201 of a further example embodiment, such as a mobile phone. In other example embodiments, the apparatus 201 may comprise a module for a mobile phone (or PDA or audio/video player), and may just comprise a suitably configured memory 207 and processor 208. The apparatus in certain embodiments could be a portable electronic device, a laptop computer, a mobile phone, a Smartphone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a digital camera, a watch, a server, a non-portable electronic device, a desktop computer, a monitor, a server, a wand, a pointing stick, a touchpad, a touch-screen, a mouse, a joystick or a module/circuitry for one or more of the same The example embodiment of figure 2, in this case, comprises a display device 204 such as, for example, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or touch-screen user interface. The apparatus 201 of figure 2 is configured such that it may receive, include, andtor otherwise access data. For example, this example embodiment 201 comprises a communications unit 203, such as a receiver, transmitter, and/or transceiver, in communication with an antenna 202 for connecting to a wireless network and/or a port (not shown) for accepting a physical connection to a network, such that data may be received via one or more types of networks. This example embodiment comprises a memory 207 that stores data, possibly after being received via antenna 202 or port or after being generated at the user interface 205. The processor 208 may receive data from the user interlace 205, from the memory 207, or from the communication unit 203.

It will be appreciated that, in certain example embodiments, the display device 204 may incorporate the user interface 205. Regardless of the origin of the data, these data may be outputted to a user of apparatus 201 via the display device 204, andtor any other output devices provided with apparatus. The processor 208 may also store the data for later use in the memory 207. The memory 207 may store computer program code and/or applications which may be used to instruct/enable the processor 208 to perform functions (e.g. read, write, delete, edit or process data).

Figure 3 depicts a further example embodiment of an electronic device 301, such as a tablet personal computer, a portable electronic device, a portable telecommunications device, a server or a module for such a device, the device comprising the apparatus 101 of figure 1. The apparatus 101 can be provided as a module for device 301, or even as a processor/memory for the device 301 or a processor/memory for a module for such a device 301. The device 301 comprises a processor 305 and a storage medium 307, which are connected (e.g. electrically and/or wirelessly) by a data bus 380. This data bus 380 can provide an active coupling between the processor 308 and the storage medium 307 to allow the processor 308 to access the computer program code. It will be appreciated that the components (e.g. memory, processor) of the device/apparatus may be linked via cloud computing architecture. For example, the storage device may be a remote server accessed via the internet by the processor.

The apparatus 101 in figure 3 is connected (e.g. electrically and/or wirelessly) to an input/output interface 370 that receives the output from the apparatus 101 and transmits this to the device 301 via data bus 380. Interface 370 can be connected via the data bus 380 to a display 304 (touch-sensitive or otherwise) that provides information from the apparatus 101 to a user. Display 304 can be part of the device 301 or can be separate.

The device 301 also comprises a processor 308 configured for general control of the apparatus 101 as well as the device 301 by providing signalling to, and receiving signalling from, other device components to manage their operation.

The storage medium 307 is configured to store computer code configured to perform, control or enable the operation of the apparatus 101. The storage medium 307 may be configured to store settings for the other device components. The processor 308 may access the storage medium 307 to retrieve the component settings in order to manage the operation of the other device components. The storage medium 307 may be a temporary storage medium such as a volatile random access memory. The storage medium 307 may also be a permanent storage medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a remote server (such as cloud storage) or a non-volatile random access memory. The storage medium 307 could be composed of different combinations of the same or different memory types.

Figures 4a -4d depicts an example embodiment of the apparatus depicted in figure 2 comprising a portable electronic communications device 401, e.g. such as a mobile phone, with a user interface comprising a touch screen user interface 405, 404, a memory (not shown), a processor (not shown) and an antenna (not shown) for transmitting and/or receiving data (e.g. emails, textual messages, phone calls, information corresponding to web pages).

In the present example, as shown in figure 4a, the home screen is configured to display a number of application icon user interface elements, including a calendar application user interlace element 421 and a phone application user interface element 422. Each of the application user interface elements 421 422 is selectable by the user to open the corresponding application. Behind the user interface elements 421, 422 is provided a background wallpaper 41 la. That is, from the point of view of the user, the icon user interface elements overlie the background wallpaper so as to obscure a portion of the background wallpaper. In the situation depicted in figure 4a, the background wallpaper 411a isa default wallpaper chosen by the user. In this case, the background wallpaper 411a comprises a photograph of a rural scene. In this case, the extent of the is background wallpaper 411a corresponds to the size of the screen 404. That is, the background wallpaper 41 la is configured to extend across the entire screen 404.

When the electronic device 401 is displaying the home screen, a phone call is received.

However, the user did not answer the phone in time and so the call was missed thereby activating a missed call event. The reception of a missed call may be considered to be an external event as the phone call event is initiated by receipt of a communication by the electronic device 401 from a remote device external to the electronic device 401. In this case, the remote device external to the electronic device is the phone of the person initiating the call (or an intermediate exchange/server).

In this case, the apparatus/device is configured to enable a user-notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device. In this case, to notify the user that a call has been missed the apparatus/device is configured to replace the user-chosen background 411a with a missed call event background wallpaper 4llb (as shown in figure 4b). In this case, the missed call background wallpaper 41 lb comprises a photographic image of the person associated with the device which initiated the phone call which was missed. The missed call event may be considered to be activated when the call is missed. That is, after the call is missed the event is then configured to enable the user to be notified by providing a respective associated

background wallpaper.

In addition to changing the background, the apparatus/device is configured to provide an icon overly 422x on the phone application icon 422 to indicate that there has been one missed call. That is, in this case, there is provided a user interface element 422 overlying the changed background wallpaper 411b, the user interface element 422 configured to allow the user to access further information related to the event. For example, if the user selected the phone application user interface element 422, the apparatus/device would enable the display of information relating to the missed call event (e.g. who called, when the missed call was received and so on). It will be appreciated that, in other example embodiments, the background wallpaper 411 b may itself comprise contextual information (e.g. who called, when the missed call was received and so on).

After the missed call has been received, a preset alarm is activated by the calendar application to remind the user of a lunch engagement with friends (thereby activating an alarm event). This may be considered to be an internal event as the phone call event is initiated by an application (in this case the calendar application) running internally to the electronic device itself. The calendar information could, of course, be provided by exchange with a remote server, for example, if the calendar application on the device synchronised with calendar information form other sources e.g. from OutlookTM on the user's work computer of from their FacebookTM account.

In this case, the apparatus/device is configured to enable a user-notification of the particular alarm application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device. In this case, to notify the user that a call has been missed the apparatus/device is configured to replace the missed call event background wallpaper 411b with an alarm event background wallpaper 411c (as shown in figure 4c). In this case, the alarm event background wallpaper 411 c comprises an alarm clock icon.

In addition to changing the background, the apparatus/device is configured to provide an icon overly 421x on the calendar application icon 421 to indicate that the time of the planned lunch. That is, in this case, there is provided a user interface element 421 overlying the changed background wallpaper 411c, the user interface element 421 configured to allow the user to access further information related to the event It will be appreciated that, in some example embodiments, the apparatus/device may be configured to provide such a user interface element overlying the changed background wallpaper in response to the application event. For example, a calendar application icon user interface element may be revealed in response to a preset alarm being activated.

In this case, the user elects to select the calendar application user interface element 421 to view additional information regarding the event (and to acknowledge the calendar application event). In response to the user selecting the calendar application user interface element 421, the apparatus/device is configured to enable display information relating to the alarm calendar application event. This is shown in figure 4d. In this case, the apparatus/device is configured to display information relating to the meeting 432 and a number of user interface elements including: a return user interface element 431a configured to allow the user to return to the home screen; and a cancel user interface element 432b configured to allow the user to cancel the meeting. In this case, the apparatus/device is configured to show the same background wallpaper 411c in the application screen as that shown in the home screen. That is, the background may be Is considered to be provided at an operating system level as it is provided whether or not an application is running in the foreground.

In this case, the user wishes to return to the home screen and so selects the return user interface element 431a. Because the user has acknowledged the calendar application event by interacting with information relating to the event, the apparatus/device is configured to cease display of the corresponding alarm event background wallpaper 41 ic. That is, the alarm event is deactivated such that it no longer enables a corresponding background wallpaper to be shown to notify the user of the alarm event.

In this case, as the user has not acknowledged the missed call phone application event, the apparatus/device is configured to again display the missed call phone application background wallpaper 411b (because the missed call event remains an active event).

That is, the screen would look the same as that shown in figure 4b. It will be appreciated that, if the user acknowledges the missed call phone application event (thereby deactivating the missed call phone application event), the apparatus/device would enable the ceasing of the display of the corresponding missed event background wallpaper 411 b.

The home screen would then look the same as that shown in figure 4a.

It will be appreciated that other example embodiments may be configured to provide other background wallpapers. For example other background wallpapers may comprise a single colour (e.g. red for a missed call application event, green for a meeting calendar application event).

Figures 5a -Sf depicts an further example embodiment 501 of the apparatus comprising a portable electronic communications device 501, e.g. such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), with a user interlace comprising a touch screen user interface 505, 504, a memory (not shown), a processor (not shown) and an antenna (not shown) for transmitting and/or receiving data (e.g. emails, textual messages, phone calls, information corresponding to web pages).

In the present example, as shown in figure Sa, the user is listening to music (which is stored locally on the device, but in other examples, could be stored remotely and be streamed to the device) using the electronic device 501 whilst the electronic device is in a locked mode. In this case, when the device is in a locked mode, the device is configured to provide time and date information 541 and the name of the album 542a which is playing (this screen may be considered to be a standby screen). Behind the information is provided a background scene Slid. That is, from the point of view of the user, the information text 542a, 541 overlies the background scene 511d so as to

obscure a portion of the background wallpaper.

In this situation shown in figure 5a, the background scene Slid is configured to correspond to the album which is playing. In this case, the background scene Slid comprises a photograph of a drum kit which is associated with the album Rock Mix' which is playing. It will be appreciated that the user may have associated this image with the album or that the image may be associated automatically with the album (e.g. an image of the artist or an image of the album cover provided when the user bought the album). In this case, the size of the background scene 51 id is commensurate with the size of the screen 504. That is, the background scene Slid is configured to extend substantially across the entire screen 504 (e.g. the area of the background wallpaper is greater than 80% of the size of the available screen). It will be appreciated that in other example embodiments where the screen is partitioned into multiple portions, the background wallpaper may extend substantially across a subset (e.g. only one) of the partitioned portions.

When the electronic device 501 is displaying the locked screen shown in figure Sa, the album Rock Mix' finished playing and the music application selects the next album, which is called Piano concertos' (thereby activating an album change event). This may be considered to be an internal event as the album change event is initiated by an application (in this case the music application) running internally to the electronic device 501 itself. It will be appreciated that, in other example embodiments, if the music is being streamed from a remote server, the changing of an album or track may be an external event as in that case, the event would be initiated by receipt of a communication by the electronic device from a remote device external to the electronic device.

S In this case, the apparatus/device is configured to enable a user-notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device. In this case, to notify the user that the album has changed apparatus/device is configured to replace the Rock mix' music application background scene Slid with a Piano concerto' music application background scene 511e (as shown in figure 5b). In this case, the Piano concerto' music application background scene 51 le comprises a photographic image of a piano.

In addition to changing the background, the apparatus/device is configured to provide updated information text 542b to indicate that the album currently playing is called Piano concertos'. It will be appreciated that, in other example embodiments, such text may form part of the background wallpaper (e.g. the text may form part of the background wallpaper image).

After the album has changed, a travel alert is received by the electronic device 501 to the user indicating that his flight has been delayed (thereby activating a travel alert event).

This may be considered to be an external event as the travel alert event is initiated by receipt of a communication by the electronic device 501 from a remote device external to the electronic device. In this case, the remote device external to the electronic device may be a server or computer configured to authorise transmission of the travel updates (e.g. a server controlled by the airline or travel company). The travel alert event may be considered to be activated when the travel alert is received by the device. That is, after the travel alert is received the event is enables the user to be notified by providing a

respective associated background wallpaper.

In this case, the apparatus/device is configured to enable a user-notification of the particular travel update application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device. In this case, to notify the user that a plane has been delayed the apparatus/device is configured to replace the Piano concertos' album background scene 511e with a flight background wallpaper 51 if comprising a plane icon (as shown in figure Sc). That is, in this case, the embodiment is configured to determine which of a plurality of said background wallpapers (each associated with an active application event) is notified to the user based on one or more predetermined criteria.

In this case, the apparatus is configured to prioritise the changing from a first background wallpaper associated with a first (active) application event to a second background wallpaper associated with a second (active) application event based on a predetermined criteria relating to the priority level of the second (active) application event relative to the priority level of the first (active) application event. That is, because the flight delay application event has a higher priority than that of the album application event, the apparatus is configured to prioritise the changing from the album background scene She associated with a music application event to a flight delayed background wallpaper 51 if associated with a travel update application event, It will be appreciated that this does not necessarily mean that the function of the first application is paused or stopped when the background wallpaper is changed. For example, in this case, although the flight delayed background wallpaper takes priority over the album background wallpaper, the apparatus is configured to continue playing the Piano concertos' album. The information text corresponding to the album being played 542b is also configured to persist.

It will also be appreciated that other example embodiments may be configured to take into account the order in which the events happened when determining which background wallpaper (e.g. of which active application event) to provide. For example, the apparatus may use criteria such that backgrounds wallpapers associated with (active) application events which occurred later are prioritised over backgrounds wallpapers associated with (active) application events which occurred earlier.

In addition to changing the background, the apparatus/device is configured to provide updated information text 543 to indicate that the flight has been delayed. The user can unlock the electronic device 501 in order to get further information relating to the event from the travel update application, for example, once the home screen with the flight application iconfcalendar event is displayed.

After the delayed flight notification has been received, an incoming call is received thereby activating an incoming call event. This may be considered to be an external event as the phone call event is initiated by receipt of a communication by the electronic device from a remote device external to the electronic device. In this case, the remote device external to the electronic device is the phone which was used to initiate the call.

In this case, the apparatus/device is configured to enable a user-notification of the particular phone application event associated with an electronic device by providing a background scene on a display of the electronic device. In this case, to notify the user that an incoming call has been received the apparatus/device is configured to replace the flight delayed background wallpaper 51 if with a incoming call background scene 51 ig comprising an image of the person whose phone was used to initiate the incoming call (as shown in figure 5d).

Because the incoming call phone application event has a higher priority than that of the travel update application event (because the incoming call requires an immediate response), the apparatus is configured to prioritise the changing from the flight delayed background wallpaper 51 if associated with a travel update application event to a incoming call background scene Silg associated with a phone application event.

It will be appreciated that some example embodiments may be configured such that each background is provided on a respective layer associated with the priority given to the layer such that a user can scroll through respective background wallpaper layers in priority order. That is, in such embodiments, the user would see the most important (or high priority) notification background wallpapers by default, but could interact with the display to display other notification background wallpapers.

In addition to replacing the previously displayed background wallpaper, the apparatus/device is configured to provide updated information text to indicate that an incoming call is being received. The user can unlock the electronic device in order to get further information relating to the event from the associated phone application.

In this case, the user elects to answer the call. The user therefore unlocks the phone (e.g. using a predetermined unlocking gesture) to display the phone application screen (as shown in figure Se). In the phone application screen is provided a number of user interface elements 532a-d allowing the user to: accept the call 532a; reject the call 532b; open a numeric keypad 532c; and return to a home screen 532d. The phone application screen, in this case is also configured to display the incoming call background scene 511g.

After the user has completed the call, the device is configured to return to the unlocked home screen. In this case, the apparatus/device is configured to enable the ceasing of the display of the background scene 511g in response to the user acknowledging the event (in this case by interacting with information relating to the detected application event associated with the displayed background wallpaper). This may be considered to correspond to deactivating the application event such that the apparatus/device no longer enables a user-notification of the event to be provided. That is, because the user answered the incoming phone call, the user interacted with information relating to the incoming call phone application event. Therefore, in this case, the device is configured to enable the ceasing of the display of the incoming call background scene 511g. In this case, the apparatus/device is configured to display the background wallpaper displayed prior to the latest change. In this example, the apparatus/device is configured to display the delayed flight background wallpaper 51 if (as shown in figure Sf).

It will be appreciated that other example embodiments may be configured to enable the ceasing of the display of the changed background wallpaper (or deactivating a particular application event) in response to a predetermined time period elapsing (e.g. between 30 seconds and 30 minutes). The predetermined time may be set automatically or set by the user.

It will be appreciated that the background scenes associated with receiving/accepting an incoming call and/or changing an audio track (or album) may or may not be considered to be a background wallpaper configured to provide a user-notification of a particular application event.

It will be appreciated that, in other example embodiments, the background wallpaper may be provided on the display during one or more of: a low power display mode, an in-use display mode, a locked mode, and a home screen comprising a plurality of user interface elements.

Although the above described embodiments are portable electronic devices, it will be some embodiments may be configured to enable a user-notification of a particular application event associated with a non-portable electronic device (e.g. desktop computer, television) by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the non-portable electronic device.

It will be appreciated that providing a background wallpaper in such a way may be a non-intrusive and intuitive way to inform the user that something has changed. It will also be appreciated that such a background wallpaper may be used to convey information without unduly cluttering up the graphical user interface.

Figure 6a shows an example embodiment of an apparatus in communication with a remote server. Figure Sb shows an example embodiment of an apparatus in communication with a "cloud" for cloud computing. in figures Ba and 6b, apparatus 601 (which may be apparatus 101, 201 or 301 is in communication with a display 604). Of course, the apparatus 601 and display 604 may form part of the same apparatus/device, although they may be separate as shown in the figures. The apparatus 601 is also in io communication with a remote computing element. Such communication may be via a communications unit, for example.

Figure Ba shows the remote computing element to be a remote server 695, with which the apparatus may be in wired or wireless communication (e.g. via the internet, Bluetooth, a USB connection, or any other suitable connection as known to one skilled in the art). In figure Sb, the apparatus 601 is in communication with a remote cloud 696 (which may, for example, by the Internet, or a system of remote computers configured for cloud computing). It may be that the background wallpapers are stored at the remote computing element 695, 696) and accessed by the apparatus 601 for display 604. The enabling of a user-notification of a particular application event may be performed at the remote computing element 695, 696. The apparatus 601 may actually form part of the remote sever 695 or remote cloud 696.

Figure 7 illustrates the process flow according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. The process comprises enabling 781 a user-notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device.

Figure 8 illustrates schematically a computer/processor readable medium 800 providing a program according to an embodiment. In this example, the computer/processor readable medium is a disc such as a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) or a compact disc (CD).

In other embodiments, the computer readable medium may be any medium that has been programmed in such a way as to carry out the functionality herein described. The computer program code may be distributed between the multiple memories of the same type, or multiple memories of a different type, such as ROM, RAM, flash, hard disk, solid state, etc. Any mentioned apparatus/device/server and/or other features of particular mentioned apparatus/device/server may be provided by apparatus arranged such that they become configured to carry out the desired operations only when enabled, e.g. switched on, or the like. In such cases, they may not necessarily have the appropriate software loaded into the active memory in the non-enabled (e.g. switched off state) and only load the appropriate software in the enabled (e.g. on state). The apparatus may comprise hardware circuitry and/or firmware. The apparatus may comprise software loaded onto memory. Such software/computer programs may be recorded on the same memory/processor/functional units and/or on one or more memories/processors/ functional units.

In some embodiments, a particular mentioned apparatus/device/server may be pre-programmed with the appropriate software to carry out desired operations, and wherein the appropriate software can be enabled for use by a user downloading a "key", for example, to unlock/enable the software and its associated functionality. Advantages associated with such embodiments can include a reduced requirement to download data when further functionality is required for a device, and this can be useful in examples where a device is perceived to have sufficient capacity to store such pre-programmed software for functionality that may not be enabled by a user.

Any mentioned apparatus/circuitry/elements/processor may have other functions in addition to the mentioned functions, and that these functions may be performed by the same apparatus/circuitry/elements/processor. One or more disclosed aspects may encompass the electronic distribution of associated computer programs and computer programs (which may be source/transport encoded) recorded on an appropriate carrier (e.g. memory, signal).

Any computer" described herein can comprise a collection of one or more individual processors/processing elements that may or may not be located on the same circuit board, or the same region/position of a circuit board or even the same device. In some embodiments one or more of any mentioned processors may be distributed over a plurality of devices. The same or different processor/processing elements may perform one or more functions described herein.

The term "signalling" may refer to one or more signals transmitted as a series of transmitted and/or received electrical/optical signals. The series of signals may comprise one, two, three, four or even more individual signal components or distinct signals to make up said signalling. Some or all of these individual signals may be transmitted/received by wireless or wired communication simultaneously, in sequence, and/or such that they temporally overlap one another.

With reference to any discussion of any mentioned computer and/or processor and memory (e.g including ROM, CD-ROM etc), these may comprise a computer processor, Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or other hardware components that have been programmed in such a way to carry out the inventive function.

The applicant hereby discloses in isolation each individual feature described herein and any combination of two or more such features, to the extent that such features or combinations are capable of being carried out based on the present specification as a whole, in the light of the common general knowledge of a person skilled in the art, is irrespective of whether such features or combinations of features solve any problems disclosed herein, and without limitation to the scope of the claims. The applicant indicates that the disclosed aspects/embodiments may consist of any such individual feature or combination of features. In view of the foregoing description it will be evident to a person skilled in the art that various modifications may be made within the scope of the

disclosure.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features as applied to example embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices and methods described may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the disclosure. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiments may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. Furthermore, in the claims means-plus-function clauses are intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents, but also equivalent structures. Thus although a nail and a screw may not be structural equivalents in that a nail employs a cylindrical surface to secure wooden parts together, whereas a screw employs a helical surface, in the environment of fastening wooden parts, a nail and a screw may be equivalent structures.

Claims (21)

1. CLAIMS1. An apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory including computer program code, the memory and the computer program code configured, with the processor, to cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: enable a user-notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device.
2. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the application event associated with an electronic device comprises at least one of: an internal event initiated by an application running internally to the electronic device itself; and an external event initiated by receipt of a communication by the electronic device from a remote device external to the electronic device.
3. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the internal event comprises one or more of: changing of an audio track playing on the electronic device; and providing a meeting reminder using a calendar application; providing an alarm; providing a scheduled software update; providing a scheduled anti-virus update; and providing a time and date based scheduled update.
4. 4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the external event comprises one or more of: receiving a missed call by the electronic device; receiving a traffic announcement by the electronic device; receiving a sports update by the electronic device; receiving a travel update by the electronic device; receiving a travel update by the electronic device; receiving a software update by the electronic device; receiving an email message by the electronic device; and receiving a text message by the electronic device.
5. 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wallpaper comprises contextual information associated with the application event.
6. 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to further provide a user interface element overlying the changed background wallpaper in response to detecting the application event associated with the electronic device, the user interface element configured to allow the user to access further information related to the event.
7. 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to prioritise the changing from a first background wallpaper associated with a first application event to a second background wallpaper associated with a second application event based on a predetermined criteria relating to the priority level of the second application event relative to the priority level of the first application event.
8. 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to determine which background wallpaper of a plurality of said background wallpapers associated with respective application events is notified to the user based on one or more predetermined is criteria.
9. 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the plurality of said background wallpapers comprise background wallpapers associated with a plurality of applications.
10. 10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the plurality of said user-notification background wallpapers comprise multiple background wallpapers associated with the same application.
11. 11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more predetermined criteria is configured to prioritise which background wallpaper is notified based on the order in which the respective particular application events occurred.
12. 12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more predetermined criteria is configured to prioritise which background wallpaper is notified based on priority values assigned to the particular application events.
13. 13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured such that each background is provided on a respective layer associated with the priority given to the layer such that a user can scroll through respective background wallpaper layers in priority order.
14. 14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to enable the ceasing of the display of the changed background wallpaper in response to one or more of: the user interacting with information relating to the detected application event; and a predetermined time period elapsing.
15. 15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the background wallpaper is for use on the display during one or more of: a low power display mode, an in-use display mode, a locked mode, and a home screen comprising a plurality of user interface elements.
16. 16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured, following the user-notification, to allow the user to interact with the application to access further information about the application event.
17. 17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to enable the storage of information relating to the event in response to the application event.
18. 18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the change in the background scene associated with receiving an incoming call or changing a track is not a said background wallpaper providing a user-notification of a particular application event.
19. 19. The apparatus of any preceding apparatus claim, wherein the apparatus is a portable electronic device, a laptop computer, a mobile phone, a Smartphone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a digital camera, a watch, a server, a non-portable electronic device, a desktop computer, a monitor, a server, a wand, a pointing stick, a touchpad, a touch-screen, a mouse, a joystick or a module/circuitry for one or more of the same.
20. 20. A method, the method comprising: enabling a user-notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device.
21. 21. A computer program comprising computer program code, the computer program code being configured to perform at least the following: enabe a user-notification of a particular application event associated with an electronic device by providing for changing a background wallpaper on a display of the electronic device.