Portable electronic apparatus and a display control method

• US 20030142081A1
• Filed: 01/27/2003
• Published: 07/31/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: Fukushima, Takayuki, Matsunaga, Kazuhisa, Iizuka, Nobuo
• Granted Patent: US 7,002,557 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

An electronic apparatus 20 is of a portable type and has a thin body integral with a display screen holdable by both hands HR, HL of a user for viewing purposes. Disposed on a front of the body 21 are a flat display panel 22 and various operation buttons 23-27, and first and second touch sensors 28 and 29. The first touch sensor 28 is disposed on the apparatus at a position where when the body 21 is held by both the hands of the user, a touch surface of the first sensor 28 is easily operated vertically by a finger of the user'"'"'s right-hand HR whereas the second touch sensor 29 is disposed at a position where when the body 21 is held by both the hands of the user, its touch surface is easily operated horizontally by a finger of the user'"'"'s left-hand HL (FIG. 1).

Claims

1. A portable electronic apparatus comprising:

a display device;

a first touch sensor provided so as to extend vertically on said display device;

a second touch sensor provided so as to extend horizontally on said display device; and

a memory having stored in a corresponding relationship a plurality of touch patterns sensed by said first and second touch sensors and a plurality of display control programs for controlling said display device.

2. The portable electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one of said first and second touch sensors comprises a plurality of sensing devices arranged.

3. The portable electronic apparatus according to the claim 2, wherein said plurality of sensing devices each comprise a tact switch.

4. The portable electronic apparatus according to the claim 2, wherein said plurality of sensing devices each comprise a static-induction touch switch.

5. The portable electronic apparatus according to the claim 2, further comprising:

means for sensing that some of said plurality of sensing devices were turned on successively in order of arrangement;

means for measuring a speed of the successive turning on of said some sensing devices sensed by said sensing means;

means for determining a touch pattern stored in said memory and corresponding to the speed measured by said measuring means; and

means for reading from said memory a display control program corresponding to the touch pattern determined by said determining means.

6. The portable electronic apparatus according to the claim 5, wherein said memory further comprises:

a first table in which the sensed speed and a display moving speed on said display device change in a linear relationship;

a second table in which the sensed speed and the display moving speed on said display device change in a non-linear relationship;

means for selecting and reading one of said first and second tables based on the speed measured by said measuring means; and

means for executing the display control program based on the table selected by said last-mentioned reading means.

7. The portable electronic apparatus according to the claim 6, further comprising:

means for rewriting said first or second table.

8. The portable electronic apparatus according to the claim 1, wherein the plurality of touch patterns stored in said memory comprise patterns of at least a single tap operation, a double tap operation and a scroll operation.

9. The portable electronic apparatus according to the claim 8, wherein said display device displays a scroll box;

and

said display control program moves a scroll thumb in said scroll box in conjunction with the sensing of a pattern of the scroll operation.

10. The portable electronic apparatus according to the claim 8, wherein said first and second touch sensors are disposed on said apparatus at positions where the fingers of both hands of a user are touchable, respectively, when the portable electronic apparatus is held by both the hands of the user.

11. In an electronic apparatus comprising a display device, a first touch sensor provided along a vertical side of the display device, and a second touch sensor provided along a horizontal side of the display device, a display control method comprising the step of:

controlling the display device depending on a respective one of a plurality of touch patterns to be sensed by said first and second touch sensors.

12. The display control method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

sensing that touches were successively sensed on said first or second touch sensor;

measuring a speed of movement of the touches; and

determining a touch pattern based on the measured speed.

13. The display control method according to claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

determining based on the sensed moving speed whether the sensed speed and the moving speed of the display presented on said display device should change in a linear relationship or in a non-linear relationship; and

changing the moving speed of the display based on the determination.

14. The display control method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of:

determining which of patterns of a single tap operation, a double tap operation and a scroll operation a respective one of the touch patterns sensed on said first and second touch sensors corresponds to.