User interface with displaced representation of touch area

• US 20060161846A1
• Filed: 10/26/2003
• Published: 07/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Van Leeuwen, Marco
• Granted Patent: US 8,042,044 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/702
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04805 Virtual magnifying lens, i.e. window or frame movable on top of displayed information to enlarge it for better reading or selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0233 Character input methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• 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

The invention relates to a data processing system comprising a display screen (102), a graphical user interface for displaying objects on the display screen, and detection means (102) for detecting a touch position of a pointing object (103) on the display screen. The detection means (102) is capable of measuring a distance between the pointing object and the display screen. A property of the displayed objects is dependent on the measured distance between the pointing object and the display screen.

Claims

1. A data processing system comprising a display screen (102), a graphical user interface for displaying objects on the display screen, and detection means (102) for detecting a touch position (105) of a pointing object (103) on the display screen (102), the detection means (102) being arranged for measuring a distance between the pointing object (103) and the display screen (102), and the graphical interface being arranged for changing a property (403) of the displayed objects in dependence on the measured distance between the pointing object (103) and the display screen (102).

2. A data processing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is arranged for displaying, at a distance from the touch position (105), a representation (202, 302) of objects displayed in an area (106) around the touch position (105), and wherein a property (403) of the representation is dependent on the measured distance between the pointing object (103) and the display screen (102).

3. A data processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the graphical user interface is arranged for animating the representation for showing a relationship between the representation and the distance between the pointing object (103) and the display screen (102).

4. A data processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the detection means is arranged for estimating, based on the distance between the pointing object (103) and the display screen (102), an expected touch position where the screen is expected to be touched to generate the representation showing an area around the estimated touch position.

5. A data processing system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the graphical user interface is arranged for displaying the representation showing the area around the estimated touch position with initial properties.

6. A data processing system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the graphical user interface is arranged for changing the distance of the representation with respect to the touch position (105) in dependence upon the measured distance between the pointing object (103) and the display screen (102).

7. A data processing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the representation comprises a magnified version (302) of the area around the touch position (105).

8. A data processing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the representation comprises an indication of the touch position (301).

9. A data processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the position of the representation relative to the touch position (105) is determined by the touch position (105).

10. A data processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the position of the representation is determined by the user.

11. A data processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the graphical user interface is arranged for displaying, at the distance from an initial touch position, the representation (202, 302) of the objects displayed in an area around the initial touch position during a predetermined period of time to enable a user to change the initial touch position to a new touch position within the representation.

12. A data processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the graphical user interface is arranged for displaying, at the distance from an initial touch position, the representation (202, 302) of the objects displayed in an area around the initial touch position in response to an initially selected object, wherein the initially selected object is allowed to be changed to objects present in the representation (202, 302) only.

15. A computer program product enabling a programmable device when executing said computer program product to function as a system as defined in claim 1.

13. A method of enabling a user to interact with a data processing system (101), the method comprising a step of displaying objects on a display screen (102), a step of detecting a touch position (105) of a pointing object (103) on the display screen, a step of measuring a distance between the pointing object and the display screen, and a step of changing a property (403) of the displayed objects dependent on the measured distance between the pointing object (103) and the display screen (102).

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the method further comprises the step of displaying, at a distance from the touch position, a representation (202, 302) of objects displayed in an area around the touch position (105), and wherein a property of the representation (202, 302) is dependent on the measured distance between the pointing object (103) and the display screen (102).