METHOD AND DEVICE FOR BROWSING INFORMATION ON A DISPLAY

• US 20100020102A1
• Filed: 09/29/2009
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motionip LLC
• Inventors: HANNULA, Manne, VAANANEN, Johannes
• Application Number:
  US12/569,797
• Publication Number:
  US 20100020102A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/659
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1407 General aspects irrespective of display type, e.g. determination of decimal point position, display with fixed or driving decimal point, suppression of non-significant zeros
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0261 in the context of movement of objects on the screen or movement of the observer relative to the screen

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method for browsing information on a hand-held device having a display is provided. The method includes (1) setting the orientation of the display surface in relation to the virtual surface, said orientation being in a spatial initial state, so that a reference line perpendicular to and extending from a first reference point on the display surface hits the page containing information at a predefined point, (2) generating a mirror line by mirroring the reference line in relation to a line that is perpendicular to the display surface and travels via the reference point in response to tilting of the hand-held device in relation to the spatial initial state, (3) defining a hit point (xn,yn) where the mirror line hits the virtual surface and the page containing said information; and (4) showing on the display a portion of the page around the hit point

Claims

1. A method for browsing information on a hand-held device having a display, the method comprising:

setting the orientation of the display surface in relation to the virtual surface, said orientation being in a spatial initial state, so that a reference line perpendicular to and extending from a first reference point on the display surface hits the page containing information at a predefined point,

generating a mirror line by mirroring the reference line in relation to a line that is perpendicular to the display surface and travels via the reference point, in response to tilting of the hand-held device in relation to the spatial initial state,

defining a hit point (xn,yn) where the mirror line hits the virtual surface and the page containing said information; and

showing on the display at least a portion of the page around the hit point and having a shape similar to the shape of the display, the position of the hit point on the page is to correspond to the position of the reference point on the display.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the spatial initial state is set at a certain predefined angle in relation to the earth surface.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the predefined angle is between 20-30 degrees.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

filtering out unintentional movements from a coordinate axial and/or tilting movement before showing the portion of the page on the display.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

keeping the orientation of the information displayed unchanged when rotating the hand-held device around an axis, said axis being essentially perpendicular to the display surface.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the portion of the page displayed is locked/unlocked in response to the pressing/releasing of a push button.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

setting the hand-held device to a zoom mode; and

zooming in or out the displayed information when rotating the hand-held device around an axis, said axis being essentially perpendicular to the display surface.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

setting the hand-held device into a zoom mode; and

zooming in or out the displayed information based on the tilting of the hand-held device.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining with a camera a distance between the display surface and a second reference point related to a user; and

zooming in or out the displayed information based on the distance.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

measuring with a video camera the orientation and location of the hand-held device in relation to a user of the hand-held device;

seeking a certain point related to the user on the video image to be set as a second reference point; and

changing the size of the information according to the movements of the reference point in relation to the hand-held device.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein said step of seeking includes using at least one of a heuristic algorithm and neural network to seek and define the location of the point to be used as the second reference point.

12. A hand-held device for browsing information, the handheld device comprising and being adapted to:

show on the display a portion of the page residing around the predefined point and having a shape similar to the shape of the display,

generate a mirror line by mirroring the reference line in relation to a line that is perpendicular to the display surface and travels via the reference point in response to tilting of the hand-held device in relation to the spatial initial state,

define a hit point (xn,yn) where the mirror line hits the virtual surface and the page containing information, and

show on the display at least a portion of the page around the hit point, said portion to have a shape similar to the shape of the display, the position of the hit point on the page to correspond to the position of the reference point on the display.

13. The hand-held device according to claim 12, wherein the hand-held device is further adapted to set the initial state at a certain predefined angle in relation to the earth surface.

14. The hand-held device according to claim 12, wherein the predefined angle is between 20-30 degrees.

15. The hand-held device according to claim 12, wherein the hand-held device is further adapted to:

browse the information on the display at the speed which depends on the location and orientation of the display surface with reference to the virtual surface.

16. The hand-held device according to claim 12, wherein the hand-held device is further adapted to:

filter out unintentional movements from a coordinate axial and/or tilting movements before showing the portion of the page on the display.

17. The hand-held device according to claim 12, wherein the hand-held device is further adapted to:

keep the orientation of the information displayed unchanged when rotating the hand-held device around an axis being essentially perpendicular to the display surface.

18. The hand-held device according to claim 12, wherein the hand-held device is further adapted to:

lock/unlock the portion of the page displayed in response to the pressing of a button.

19. The hand-held device according to claim 12, wherein the hand-held device is further adapted to:

set the hand-held device into a zoom mode and zoom in or out the displayed information when rotating the hand-held device around the axis, an axis being essentially perpendicular to the display surface.

20. The hand-held device according to claim 12, wherein the hand-held device is further adapted to:

set the hand-held device to a zoom mode; and

zoom in or out the displayed information based on the tilting of the hand-held device.

21. The hand-held device according to claim 12, wherein the hand-held device is further adapted to:

determine with a camera a distance between the display surface and a second reference point related to a user; and

zoom in or out the displayed information based on the distance.

22. The hand-held device according to claim 12, wherein the hand-held device is further adapted to:

measure the orientation and location of the hand-held device in relation to a user of the hand-held device with a video camera,

seek a certain point related to the user on a video image to be set as a second reference point; and

change the size of the information according to the movements of the second reference point in relation to the hand-held device.

23. The hand-held device according to claim 22, wherein the hand-held device is further adapted to:

use heuristic algorithms and/or a neural network to seek and define the location of the point to be used as the second reference point.

24. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium, wherein the computer program executes the program recorded in a computer-readable medium to perform a method for browsing information on a display of a hand-held device, the computer program:

displaying a portion of the page residing around the predefined point and having a shape similar to the shape of the display,

generating a mirror line by mirroring the reference line in relation to a line that is perpendicular to the display surface and travels via the reference point in response to tilting of the hand-held device in relation to the spatial initial state,

defining a hit point (xn,yn) where the mirror line hits the virtual surface and the page containing information; and

showing on the display at least a portion of the page around the hit point and having a shape similar to the shape of the display, the position of the hit point on the page to correspond to the position of the reference point on the display.

25. A computer program according to claim 24, wherein the computer program sets the initial state in a certain predefined angle in relation to the earth surface.