Symbol selector and symbol selection method

• US 20050030286A1
• Filed: 05/27/2004
• Published: 02/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ishida, Takehisa
• Granted Patent: US 7,360,176 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/157
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/018 Input/output arrangements for oriental characters
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

A symbol selector has: a storage unit which stores a symbol list including predetermined symbols arrayed; a manipulator unit for manipulating a pointing position of a virtual pointer which virtually moves over the symbol list stored in the storage unit; a sensor unit which detects acceleration per unit time which is applied to the manipulator unit; a motion direction determination unit which determines a motion direction of the virtual pointer, based on a detection result from the sensor unit; a motion unit which moves the virtual pointer in units of symbols in the motion direction determined by the motion direction determination unit; and a selection unit which selects a symbol currently pointed by the virtual pointer moved by the motion unit. A symbol selector comprising a storage unit which stores a symbol list including predetermined arrayed symbols; a manipulator unit for manipulating a pointing position of a virtual pointer which moves virtually over the symbol list stored in the storage unit; a sensor unit which detects acceleration per unit of time that is applied to the manipulator unit; a motion direction determination unit which determines a motion direction of the virtual pointer, based on a detection result from the sensor unit; a motion unit which moves the virtual pointer in units of symbols in the motion direction determined by the motion direction determination unit; and a selection unit which selects a symbol currently pointed to by the virtual pointer moved by the motion unit.

Claims

1. A symbol selector comprising:

a storage unit which stores a symbol list including predetermined arrayed symbols;

a manipulator unit for manipulating a pointing position of a pointer (hereinafter referred to as a virtual pointer) which moves virtually over the symbol list stored in the storage unit;

a sensor unit which detects acceleration per unit of time is applied to the manipulator unit;

a motion direction determination unit which determines a motion direction of the virtual pointer, based on a detection result from the sensor unit;

a motion unit which moves the virtual pointer in units of symbols in the motion direction determined by the motion direction determination unit; and

a selection unit which selects a symbol currently pointed to by the virtual pointer moved by the motion unit.

2. The symbol selector according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit which displays at least the symbol in the symbol list that is currently pointed to by the virtual pointer.

3. The symbol selector according to claim 1, wherein the symbol list stored in the storage unit is formed of a fifty-Japanese character table and/or an alpha-numeral table.

4. The symbol selector according to claim 1, wherein in the symbol list stored in the storage unit, the symbols are arrayed for every predetermined word, and

the manipulator unit manipulates the pointing position so as to move the virtual pointer in units of the predetermined words.

5. The symbol selector according to claim 1, wherein the symbol list stored in the storage unit includes the symbols arrayed in a matrix in planar directions, and is virtually hierarchized in a vertical direction into symbol list layers for respective types of symbols.

6. The symbol selector according to claim 5, further comprising a symbol list selection unit which selects one from the hierarchized symbol list layers, wherein

the sensor unit detects acceleration in a planer or vertical direction, which is generated by manipulation of the manipulator unit,

based on the detection result from the sensor unit, the motion direction determination unit determines the motion direction to be a direction in which the greatest acceleration is generated in the manipulation of the manipulator unit per unit of time, and

if the motion direction determined by the motion direction determination unit is a virtual direction on the symbol list, the symbol list selection unit moves the virtual pointer from the one symbol list layer where the pointer is currently in to another symbol list layer positioned in the vertical direction.

7. The symbol selector according to claim 1, further comprising an output unit which outputs the symbol selected by the selection unit.

8. A symbol selection method comprising:

a manipulation step of manipulating by a manipulator unit a pointing position of a pointer (hereinafter referred to as a virtual pointer) which moves virtually over a symbol list which includes predetermined arrayed symbols and is stored in a memory;

a sensing step of detecting acceleration which is applied per unit of time to the manipulator unit from the manipulation step;

a motion direction determination step of determining a motion direction of the virtual pointer over the symbol list, based on a detection result from the sensor step;

a motion step of moving the virtual pointer in units of symbols in the motion direction determined in the motion direction determination step; and

a selection step of selecting a desired symbol when the virtual pointer moved in the motion step points to a symbol.