INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD AND PROGRAM

• US 20100149129A1
• Filed: 12/14/2009
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Homma, Fuminori, Nashida, Tatsushi
• Granted Patent: US 8,547,358 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• 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 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector

Abstract

An information processing apparatus is provided which includes a calculation unit that calculates, when state quantities of an object are changed by changing a predetermined parameter specifying a space in which the object is present in accordance with a contact quantity detected by a detection unit, the state quantities of the object after the change based on a dynamic model using the predetermined parameter, physical quantities of the object stored in a storage unit, and the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit and updates the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit with the calculated state quantities of the object after the change.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

a display unit capable of displaying an object;

a storage unit that stores physical quantities inherent in the object and state quantities showing a state of the object;

a processing unit capable of performing predetermined processing;

a detection unit that detects a magnitude of pressure received from an operating body or a degree of proximity of the operating body as a contact quantity;

a calculation unit that calculates, when the state quantities of the object are changed by changing a predetermined parameter specifying a space in which the object is present in accordance with the contact quantity detected by the detection unit, the state quantities of the object after the change based on a dynamic model using the predetermined parameter, the physical quantities of the object stored in the storage unit, and the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit and updates the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit with the calculated state quantities of the object after the change; and

a control unit that causes the display unit to display the object based on the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit and also causes the processing unit to perform predetermined processing in accordance with the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the object is constituted by a plurality of divided objects,

the storage unit stores a combination of the physical quantities and the state quantities for each divided object,

the calculation unit calculates, when the state quantities of each of the divided objects are changed by changing the predetermined parameter specifying the space in which the object is present in accordance with the contact quantity detected by the detection unit, the state quantities of each of the divided objects after the change based on the dynamic model using the predetermined parameter, the physical quantities of the divided object stored in the storage unit, and the state quantities of the divided object stored in the storage unit and updates the state quantities of each of the divided objects stored in the storage unit with the calculated state quantities of each of the divided objects after the change, and

the control unit identifies the divided object the display unit is caused to display from among the plurality of divided objects by determining the state quantities of each of the divided objects stored in the storage unit and causes the processing unit to perform predetermined processing in accordance with the identified divided object.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

an input unit, wherein

the control unit accepts input of selection information to select one of a plurality of the identified divided objects via the input unit when the plurality of the identified divided objects is present and causes the processing unit to perform the predetermined processing in accordance with the divided object selected based on the selection information.

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

the detection unit is arranged on a back of the display unit and

the calculation unit changes the predetermined parameter by increasing a thickness of a base in a direction of the display unit in accordance with the contact quantity detected by the detection unit when the base having a surface constituted by a plane or a curved surface is arranged between the display unit and the detection unit and the plurality of divided objects is put on the surface of the base.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the calculation unit changes the predetermined parameter, when the detection unit further detects location information indicating a location where the contact quantity is brought into contact by the operating body, by increasing the thickness of the base in the direction of the display unit in accordance with the contact quantity for each location indicated by the location information.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the physical quantities of each of the divided objects stored in the storage unit include a mass of each of the divided objects and

the state quantities of each of the divided objects stored in the storage unit include position information including a height of each of the divided objects using the surface of the base as a reference.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the calculation unit determines, when the predetermined parameter is changed by increasing the thickness of the base, whether the height indicated by the position information of each of the divided objects remains less than a threshold stored in the storage unit and calculates, for the divided objects whose height is determined to remain less than the threshold, the state quantities of the objects after the change by adding an increase in the thickness of the base to the height included in the position information before the change.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the object is constituted by being surrounded by a plurality of surfaces and

the control unit identifies the surface of the plurality of surfaces on which the display unit is caused to make a display by determining the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit and causes the processing unit to perform the predetermined processing in accordance with the identified surface.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:

an input unit, wherein

the control unit accepts input of selection information to select one of a plurality of the identified surfaces via the input unit when the plurality of the identified surfaces is present and causes the processing unit to perform the predetermined processing in accordance with the surface selected based on the selection information.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the detection unit is arranged on a back of the display unit and

the calculation unit changes the predetermined parameter by increasing a thickness of a base in a direction of the display unit in accordance with the contact quantity detected by the detection unit when the base having a surface constituted by a plane or a curved surface is arranged between the display unit and the detection unit and the object is put on the surface of the base.

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

the calculation unit changes the predetermined parameter, when the detection unit further detects location information indicating a location where the contact quantity is brought into contact by the operating body, by increasing the thickness of the base in the direction of the display unit in accordance with the contact quantity for each location indicated by the location information.

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

the physical quantities of the object stored in the storage unit include a mass of each of the object and

the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit include position information including a height of the object using the surface of the base as a reference.

13. An information processing method, comprising the steps of:

detecting a magnitude of pressure received from an operating body or a degree of proximity of the operating body as a contact quantity by a detection unit of an information processing apparatus having a display unit capable of displaying an object, a storage unit that stores physical quantities inherent in the object and state quantities showing a state of the object, a processing unit capable of performing predetermined processing, the detection unit, a calculation unit, and a control unit;

calculating, when the state quantities of the object are changed by changing a predetermined parameter specifying a space in which the object is present in accordance with the contact quantity detected by the detection unit, the state quantities of the object after the change based on a dynamic model using the predetermined parameter, the physical quantities of the object stored in the storage unit, and the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit and updating the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit with the calculated state quantities of the object after the change by the calculation unit; and

causing the display unit to display the object based on the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit and also causing the processing unit to perform predetermined processing in accordance with the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit by the control unit.

14. A program for causing a computer to function as an information processing apparatus, comprising:

a display unit capable of displaying an object;

a storage unit that stores physical quantities inherent in the object and state quantities showing a state of the object;

a processing unit capable of performing predetermined processing;

a detection unit that detects a magnitude of pressure received from an operating body or a degree of proximity of the operating body as a contact quantity;

a calculation unit that calculates, when the state quantities of the object are changed by changing a predetermined parameter specifying a space in which the object is present in accordance with the contact quantity detected by the detection unit, the state quantities of the object after the change based on a dynamic model using the predetermined parameter, the physical quantities of the object stored in the storage unit, and the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit and updates the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit with the calculated state quantities of the object after the change; and

a control unit that causes the display unit to display the object based on the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit and also causes the processing unit to perform predetermined processing in accordance with the state quantities of the object stored in the storage unit.