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Samsung patents swipe-to-select feature for grid-based screens

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

Samsung has filed a patent for a way to select multiple items on a screen arranged in rows and columns. The method allows users to enter a selection mode and then swipe from one item to another, which automatically selects all items in the rows between the start and end points.

Why it mattersThis improves the speed of selecting large groups of files or contacts in grid layouts, a common task in file managers and contact lists.

In the filing’s own words

A method for controlling an electronic device is provided. The method includes displaying a first set of items among a plurality of items on a screen by rows and columns, detecting a user input for entering a multiple selection mode without selecting an item among the plurality of items, while in the multiple selection mode, detecting a first touch input on a first item on a first row of the first set of items on the screen, and selecting the first item in response to the first touch input being detected after entering the multiple selection mode, while in the multiple selection mode, detecting that the first touch input is moved from the selected first item on the first row to a second item on a third row through a second row of the first set of items, and while in the multiple selection mode, based on the first touch input being moved from the first row to the third row, selecting all of the items arranged in the second row and the third row, the all of the items including at least one touched item arranged in the second row of the first set of items, and at least one untouched item arranged in the second row of the first set of items.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method of controlling an electronic device, the method comprising: displaying a first set of items among a plurality of items on a screen by rows and columns; detecting a user input for entering a selection mode; and while in the selection mode: detecting a first touch input on a first item on a first row of the first set of items on the screen, selecting the first item in response to the first touch input being detected after entering the selection mode, detecting that the first touch input is moved from the selected first item on the first row to a second item on a third row, wherein at least one second row of the first set of items is positioned between the first row and the third row, and based on the first touch input being moved from the first row to the third row, selecting all of the items arranged in the at least one second row and the third row, the all of the items including at least one touched item on the at least one second row, and at least one untouched item on the at least one second row.

Facts

Company
Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
Official title
METHOD OF SELECTING ONE OR MORE ITEMS ACCORDING TO USER INPUT AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE THEREFOR
Publication number
US20260329414A1
Application number
19723359
Filed
Jun 29, 2026
Published
Oct 22, 2026
Inventors
5
Claims
20

Classified under

G06F 3/0482 Physics & computingG06F 3/04842 Physics & computingG06F 3/0485 Physics & computingG06F 3/0488 Physics & computingG06F 2203/04808 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.