HANDHELD ELECTRONIC DEVICE, INPUT DEVICE AND METHOD THEREOF, AND DISPLAY DEVICE AND METHOD THEREOF

• US 20090235281A1
• Filed: 03/12/2008
• Published: 09/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Inventec Corporation
• Original Assignee: Inventec Corporation
• Inventors: Lu, Chih-Kuo, Yang, Tsung-Cheng
• Application Number:
  US12/047,110
• Publication Number:
  US 20090235281A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/318
• 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 handheld electronic device, an input device and an input method thereof, and a display device and a display method thereof are provided. A display interface in the display device is divided into at least two portions so as to display the operation images of different application programs in the display interface at the same time. The operation images of the application programs are operated by using a single directional input interface of the input device. In the present invention, the function described above can be achieved without modifying the application programs by using only one touch screen including a display interface and a directional input interface. Thereby, the hardware cost of the handheld electronic device and the complexity for implementing the application programs of the handheld electronic device can be both reduced.

Claims

1. An input device for a handheld electronic device, comprising:

a directional input interface, for generating an input signal to control a first application program and/or a second application program executed at the same time;

a first application program module, for triggering the first application program according to a first type interface event;

a second application program module, for triggering the second application program according to a second type interface event; and

a judgment module, coupled to the directional input interface, the first application program module, and the second application program module, for determining whether to send the input signal to the first application program module as the first type interface event or to the second application program module as the second type interface event according to a plurality of coordinates of the input signal.

2. The input device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a directional input interface driver module, coupled between the directional input interface and the judgment module for converting the input signal into a mouse event so as to determine a type of the input signal and obtain the coordinates of the input signal.

3. The input device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a display interface, for simultaneously displaying a first operation image corresponding to the first application program and a second operation image corresponding to the second application program.

4. The input device according to claim 3, wherein the judgment module determines whether to send the input signal to the first application program module or the second application program module according to the coordinates of the input signal and display areas relative to the first operation image and the second operation image on the display interface.

5. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the first application program module triggers the first application program to execute an action corresponding to the first type interface event.

6. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the second application program module triggers the second application program to execute an action corresponding to the second type interface event.

7. The input device according to claim 6, wherein the second application program determines whether to send the second type interface event to the first application program module as the first type interface event according to the type of the second type interface event after executing the action.

8. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the second application program comprises an application program of a virtual keyboard, and the first application program comprises an application program supported by an operating system of the handheld electronic device.

9. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the first type interface event comprises a mouse event, and the second type interface event comprises a keyboard event.

10. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the directional input interface comprises a touch panel.

11. An input method for a handheld electronic device, suitable for a handheld electronic device executes a first application program and a second application program at the same time, the input method comprising:

providing a first application program module for triggering the first application program according to a first type interface event;

providing a second application program module for triggering the second application program according to a second type interface event;

receiving an input signal through a directional input interface; and

determining whether to send the input signal to the first application program module as the first type interface event or to the second application program module as the second type interface event according to a plurality of coordinates of the input signal.

12. The input method according to claim 11, further comprising:

converting the input signal into a mouse event so as to determine the type of the input signal and obtain the coordinates of the input signal.

13. The input method according to claim 11, further comprising:

displaying a first operation image corresponding to the first application program and a second operation image corresponding to the second application program on a display interface at the same time.

14. The input method according to claim 13, wherein the step of sending the input signal according to the coordinates of the input signal comprises:

determining whether to send the input signal to the first application program module or to the second application program module according to the coordinates of the input signal and display areas relative to the first operation image and the second operation image on the display interface.

15. The input method according to claim 11, further comprising:

triggering the first application program to execute an action corresponding to the first type interface event.

16. The input method according to claim 11, further comprising:

triggering the second application program to execute an action corresponding to the second type interface event.

17. The input method according to claim 16, further comprising:

determining whether to send the second type interface event to the first application program module as the first type interface event according to the type of the second type interface event.

18. The input method according to claim 11, wherein the second application program comprises an application program of a virtual keyboard, and the first application program comprises an application program supported by an operating system of the handheld electronic device.

19. The input method according to claim 11, wherein the first type interface event comprises a mouse event, and the second type interface event comprises a keyboard event.

20. The input method according to claim 11, wherein the directional input interface comprises a touch panel.

21. A display device for a handheld electronic device, comprising:

a first image display module, for obtaining a first operation image of a first application program;

a second image display module, for obtaining a second operation image of a second application program, wherein the second application program and the first application program are executed simultaneously on the handheld electronic device;

a display interface, for displaying an overall image data; and

a processing module, coupled to the first image display module, the second image display module, and the display interface, for integrating the first operation image and the second operation image into the overall image data according to a size of the display interface.

22. The display device according to claim 21, wherein the processing module further comprises:

a first temporary buffer, coupled to the first image display module for temporarily storing the first operation image;

a second temporary buffer, coupled to the second image display module for temporarily storing the second operation image; and

an integration unit, coupled to the first temporary buffer and the second temporary buffer, for integrating the first operation image and the second operation image into the overall image data according to the a of the first operation image, a size of the second operation image, and the size of the display interface.

23. The display device according to claim 22, wherein the integration unit calculates an integrated size of the first operation image and the second operation image, adjusts the first operation image or the second operation image if the integrated size does not match the size of the display interface, and integrates the first operation image and the second operation image into the overall image data.

24. The display device according to claim 22, wherein the processing module further comprises:

a third temporary buffer, coupled to the integration unit and the display interface, for temporarily storing the overall image data.

25. The display device according to claim 22, further comprising:

an image management module, coupled to the processing module and the display interface, for obtaining the overall image data from the processing module and sending the overall image data to the display interface.

26. The display device according to claim 21, wherein the second application program comprises an application program of a virtual keyboard, and the first application program comprises an application program supported by an operating system of the handheld electronic device.

27. The display device according to claim 21, wherein the display interface comprises a touch screen.

28. A display method for a handheld electronic device, the display method comprising:

obtaining a first operation image of a first application program;

obtaining a second operation image of a second application program, wherein the first application program and the second application program are executed simultaneously on the handheld electronic device;

integrating the first operation image and the second operation image into an overall image data according to a size of a display interface; and

displaying the overall image data in the display interface.

29. The display method according to claim 28, wherein the step of integrating the first operation image and the second operation image into the overall image data comprises:

integrating the first operation image and the second operation image into the overall image data according to a size of the first operation image, a size of the second operation image, and the size of the display interface.

30. The display method according to claim 28, wherein the step of integrating the first operation image and the second operation image into the overall image data comprises:

determining whether an integrated size of the first operation image and the second operation image matches the size of the display interface;

adjusting the first operation image or the second operation image if the integrated size does not match the size of the display interface; and

integrating the first operation image and the second operation image into the overall image data.

31. The display method according to claim 28, wherein after the step of integrating the first operation image and the second operation image into the overall image data, the display method comprises:

temporarily storing the overall image data.

32. The display method according to claim 28, wherein the step of displaying the overall image data in the display interface comprises:

obtaining the overall image data; and

sending the overall image data to the display interface.

33. The display method according to claim 28, wherein the second application program comprises an application program of a virtual keyboard, and the first application program comprises an application program supported by an operating system of the handheld electronic device.

34. The display method according to claim 28, wherein the display interface comprises a touch screen

35. A handheld electronic device, comprising:

a touch display module, comprising;

a display interface, for displaying an overall image data; and

a directional input interface, for generating an input signal, wherein the input signal is used for controlling a first application program or a second application program executed at the same time.

a first application program module, for triggering the first application program according to a first type interface event;

a second application program module, for triggering the second application program according to a second type interface event;

a judgment module, coupled to the directional input interface, the first application program module, and the second application program module, for determining whether to send the input signal to the first application program module as the first type interface event or to the second application program module as the second type interface event according to a plurality of coordinates of the input signal;

a first image display module, for obtaining a first operation image of the first application program;

a second image display module, for obtaining a second operation image of the second application program; and

a processing module, coupled to the first image display module, the second image display module, and the display interface, for integrating the first operation image and the second operation image into the overall image data according to a size of the display interface.

36. The handheld electronic device according to claim 35, wherein the processing module further comprises:

a first temporary buffer, coupled to the first image display module for temporarily storing the first operation image;

a second temporary buffer, coupled to the second image display module for temporarily storing the second operation image; and

an integration unit, coupled to the first temporary buffer and the second temporary buffer, for integrating the first operation image and the second operation image into the overall image data according to a size of the first operation image, a size of the second operation image, and the size of the display interface.

37. The handheld electronic device according to claim 36, wherein the integration unit calculates an integrated size of the first operation image and the second operation image, adjusts the first operation image or the second operation image if the integrated size does not match the size of the display interface, and integrates the first operation image and the second operation image into the overall image data.

38. The handheld electronic device according to claim 35, wherein the processing module further comprises:

a third temporary buffer, coupled to the integration unit and the display interface for temporarily storing the overall image data.

39. The handheld electronic device according to claim 35, further comprising:

an image management module, coupled to the processing module and the display interface, for obtaining the overall image data from the processing module and sending the overall image data to the display interface.

40. The handheld electronic device according to claim 35, further comprising:

a directional input interface driver module, coupled to the directional input interface and the judgment module for converting the input signal into a mouse event so as to determine a type of the input signal and obtain the coordinates of the input signal.

41. The handheld electronic device according to claim 35, wherein the judgment module determines whether to send the input signal to the first application program module or to the second application program module according to the coordinates of the input signal and display areas relative to the first operation image and the second operation image on the display interface.

42. The handheld electronic device according to claim 35, wherein the first application program module triggers the first application program to execute an action corresponding to the first type interface event.

43. The handheld electronic device according to claim 35, wherein the second application program module triggers the second application program to execute an action corresponding to the second type interface event.

44. The handheld electronic device according to claim 43, wherein the second application program determines whether to send the second type interface event to the first application program module as the first type interface event according to the type of the second type interface event after executing the action.

45. The handheld electronic device according to claim 35, wherein the second application program comprises an application program of a virtual keyboard, and the first application program comprises an application program supported by an operating system of the handheld electronic device.

46. The handheld electronic device according to claim 35, wherein the first type interface event comprises a mouse event, and the second type interface event comprises a keyboard event.

47. The handheld electronic device according to claim 35, wherein the directional input interface comprises a touch panel, and the display interface comprises a touch screen.