Display apparatus and method for displaying screen where dragging and dropping of object can be executed and program stored in computer-readable storage medium

• US 20060048069A1
• Filed: 08/24/2005
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Igeta, Satoshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,620,906 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop

Abstract

In the present invention, a user allows a computer to execute application software to display an object on a display and to move the object by dragging and dropping it using a pointing device, thus providing instructions of insertion or replacement of the displayed object. When the user drags and drops an object on a screen displayed on the display in accordance with the application software, an area corresponding to a position where the object is dragged or dropped is emphasized. Accordingly, the user can easily see a position where the object is dragged and dropped. When the type of process to be performed on the object varies in accordance with the position where the object is dropped, the area is emphasized with an emphasis pattern corresponding to a process to be executed. Accordingly, the user can easily determine a position where the object is dragged or dropped.

Claims

1. A display apparatus for displaying a screen where dragging and dropping of an object can be executed, the display apparatus comprising:

a drag detecting unit adapted to detect a position where the object is dragged;

a selection unit adapted to select a type of process to be executed if the object is dropped at the position detected by the drag detecting unit;

an emphasis pattern determination unit adapted to determine an emphasis pattern corresponding to the type of process selected by the selection unit; and

an area display control unit adapted to control display so that an emphasized area in the screen is displayed in accordance with the emphasis pattern determined by the emphasis pattern determination unit.

2. A display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the area display control unit is adapted to vary the emphasis pattern of the emphasized area in the screen.

3. A display apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the emphasis pattern includes states of blink and colors.

4. A display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein another object is displayed in advance at the position where the object is dragged.

5. A display apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the drag detecting unit determines whether the position where the object is dragged is in a predetermined range of the another object.

6. A display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the screen has a frame area to which the object can be inserted and the drag detecting unit is adapted to detect an overlapping area between the object and the frame area based on the position where the object is dragged.

7. A display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a drop detecting unit adapted to detect a position where the object is dropped; and

an object display control unit adapted to control display so that an area where the object is displayed in the screen is displayed in accordance with the position where the object is dropped as detected by the drop detecting unit.

8. A display apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the area that is emphasized in the screen by the area display control unit is an area where the object is to be displayed by the object display control unit after the object is dropped.

9. A display apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the object display control unit is adapted to control display so that an object that is displayed in advance in the screen is replaced by the dropped object.

10. A display apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the object display control unit is adapted to control display so that the dropped object is additionally displayed on the screen.

11. A display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the screen is used to edit an electronic album and the area that is emphasized in the screen by the area display control unit is a page area to which an image is to be inserted or a frame area in the page area.

12. A screen display method for displaying a screen where dragging and dropping of an object can be executed, the screen display method comprising:

a drag detecting step of detecting a position where the object is dragged;

a selection step of selecting a type of process to be executed if the object is dropped at the position detected in the drag detecting step;

an emphasis pattern determination step of determining an emphasis pattern corresponding to the type of process selected in the selection step; and

an area display control step of controlling display so that an emphasized area in the screen is displayed in accordance with the emphasis pattern determined in the emphasis pattern determination step.

13. A screen display method according to claim 12, wherein, in the area display control step, display is controlled so as to vary the emphasis pattern of the emphasized area in the screen.

14. A screen display method according to claim 13, wherein the emphasis pattern includes states of blink and colors.

15. A screen display method according to claim 12, wherein another object is displayed in advance at the position where the object is dragged.

16. A screen display method according to claim 15, wherein, in the drag detecting step, it is determined whether the position where the object is dragged is in a predetermined range of the another object.

17. A screen display method according to claim 12, wherein the screen has a frame area to which the object can be inserted, and, in the drag detecting step, an overlapping area between the object and the frame area is detected based on the position where the object is dragged.

18. A screen display method according to claim 12, further comprising:

a drop detecting step of detecting a position where the object is dropped; and

an object display control step of controlling display so that an area where the object is displayed in the screen varies in accordance with the position detected in the drop detecting step.

19. A screen display method according to claim 18, wherein the area that is emphasized in the screen in the area display control step is an area where the object is to be displayed in the object display control step after the object is dropped.

20. A screen display method according to claim 18, wherein, in the object display control step, display is controlled so that an already existing object in the screen is replaced by the dropped object.

21. A screen display method according to claim 18, wherein, in the object display control step, display is controlled so that the dropped object is additionally displayed on the screen.

22. A screen display method according to claim 12, wherein the screen is used to edit an electronic album and the area that is emphasized in the screen in the area display control step is a page area to which an image is to be inserted or a frame area in the page area.

23. A computer-readable program embodied in a computer readable medium, for causing a computer to execute the screen display method according to claim 12.