INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND PROGRAM

• US 20090147027A1
• Filed: 11/20/2008
• Published: 06/11/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: MIYASHITA, Ken, MATSUDA, Kouichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,624,931 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/676
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor

Abstract

There is provided an information processing apparatus that classifies objects having the respective attribute information which are disposed on a display screen of a graphical user interface, the apparatus including an operation information acquisition unit that acquires operation information containing movement information which indicates a position of a movement destination of the object on the display screen, an instructive request estimate unit that estimates an instructive request for classification processing on the object based on the attribute information and the movement information of the object, a classification processing unit that classifies the object based on the estimated instructive request, and a display control unit that controls display of the object on the display screen. Thus, the user can easily classify the objects without explicitly specifying classification conditions or instructing the performing of the classification processing.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus that classifies objects having the respective attribute information which are disposed on a display screen of a graphical user interface, the apparatus comprising:

an operation information acquisition unit that acquires operation information containing movement information which indicates a position of a movement destination of the object on the display screen;

an instructive request estimate unit that estimates an instructive request for classification processing on the object based on the attribute information and the movement information of the object;

a classification processing unit that classifies the object based on the instructive request estimated; and

a display control unit that controls display of the object on the display screen.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an object group setting unit that sets an object group which includes a plurality of objects having a common attribute information and which has classification conditions corresponding to the common attribute information and position information indicating a position on the display screen,

wherein the classification processing unit causes the object group setting unit to set the object group targeted by the classification processing as a target object group and classifies an unclassified target object having the attribute information that matches the classification conditions of the target object group based on the classification conditions of the target object group.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the operation information acquisition unit acquires first movement information about a first object and then acquires second movement information about a second object different from the first object, and

if having determined that the first and second objects are disposed close to each other from the first and second movement information and also that the first and second objects have a common attribute information, the instructive request estimate unit estimates the instructive request for start of classification processing which uses the common attribute information as the classification conditions.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the classification processing unit causes the object group setting unit to set the first and second objects as the target object group, thus starting the classification processing based on the classification conditions of the target object group.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the operation information acquisition unit acquires the movement information about the objects, and

if having determined that the objects and the object group are disposed close to each other from the position information of the object group and the movement information of the objects and also that the attribute information of the objects matches the classification conditions of the object group, the instructive request estimate unit estimates the instructive request for start of classification processing.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the classification processing unit causes the object group setting unit to set the object group including the objects as the target object group, thus starting the classification processing based on the classification conditions of the target object group.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the classification processing unit moves the target object toward the target object group at a constant movement speed, and

the display control unit controls display so that the target object moves toward the target object group at the constant movement speed.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein if the target object moves close to the target object group, the classification processing unit causes the object group setting unit to set the target object group as the target object group that includes the target object.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the operation information acquisition unit acquires movement information which indicates a position of a movement destination of the target object on the display screen, and

the instructive request estimate unit estimates the instructive request for the classification processing based on the movement information of the target object.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein if having determined that the target object is prompted to move from the position information of the target object group and the movement information of the target object, the instructive request estimate unit estimates the instructive request for continuation of the classification processing.

11. The information processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein

if the instructive request for the continuation of the classification processing is estimated by the instructive request estimate unit, the classification processing unit increases the movement speed of the target object, and

the display control unit controls display so that the target object may move toward the target object group at the increased movement speed.

12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein if having determined that the target object is inhibited from moving from the position information of the target object group and the movement information of the target object, the instructive request estimate unit estimates the instructive request for stoppage of the classification processing.

13. The information processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein

if the instructive request for the stoppage of the classification processing is estimated by the instructive request estimate unit, the classification processing unit stops movement of the target object, and

the display control unit controls display so that the target object may be stopped in motion.

14. The information processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein if the instructive request for the stoppage of the classification processing is estimated by the instructive request estimate unit, the classification processing unit causes the object group setting unit to set the target object group as the object group.

15. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the operation information acquisition unit acquires setting cancellation information which indicates an instruction to cancel setting of a specific object group, and

the classification processing unit causes the object group setting unit to set cancellation of the setting of the specific object group based on the setting cancellation information.

16. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the display control unit controls display so that the target object group can be distinguished from the object groups other than the target object group.

17. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the display control unit controls display so that the target object can be distinguished from the objects other than the target object.

18. An information processing method of classifying objects having the respective attribute information which are disposed on a display screen of a graphical user interface, the method comprising the steps of:

acquiring operation information containing movement information which indicates a position of a movement destination of the object on the display screen;

estimating an instructive request for classification processing on the object based on the attribute information and the movement information of the object;

classifying the object based on the estimated instructive request; and

controlling display of the object on the display screen.

19. A program that causes a computer to perform an information processing method of classifying objects having the respective attribute information which are disposed on a display screen of a graphical user interface, the information processing method comprising the steps of:

acquiring operation information containing movement information which indicates a position of a movement destination of the object on the display screen;

estimating an instructive request for classification processing on the object based on the attribute information and the movement information of the object;

classifying the object based on the estimated instructive request; and

controlling display of the object on the display screen.