PHOTOGRAPHING METHOD USING MULTI-INPUT SCHEME THROUGH TOUCH AND KEY MANIPULATION AND PHOTOGRAPHING APPARATUS USING THE SAME

• US 20100156941A1
• Filed: 11/19/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: SEUNG, Jung-ah
• Application Number:
  US12/621,646
• Publication Number:
  US 20100156941A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/660
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/045 Zooming at least part of an image, i.e. enlarging it or shrinking it
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/631 Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming

Abstract

A photographing method using a multi-input scheme through touch and key manipulation includes receiving a touch and a key manipulation from a user and changing a display status of an touched area according to the key manipulation. Accordingly, a complex function is performed by simply manipulation while maintaining existing button usability.

Claims

1. A method of photographing at least one of a still image and a motion image, the method comprising:

displaying at least one of a still image and a motion image to be photographed on a touch screen;

receiving a touch from a user on the touch screen corresponding to a portion of the image to be photographed;

zooming-in or zooming-out if a key manipulation of the user is detected, the zoom-in or zoom-out corresponding to a portion of the image touched by the user; and

photographing within the zoomed-in or zoomed-out range.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a one of a zoomed-in or zoomed-out image in response to a touch on the touch screen.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the zooming-in or zooming-out is performed if a touch on the touch screen and a key manipulation are input either simultaneously or in sequence.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein an area to be zoomed-in or zoomed-out is displayed on the touch screen prior to zooming-in or zooming-out the image to be photographed.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the area to be zoomed-in or zoomed-out on the touch screen is represented by a circular shape or a rectangular shape on the image to be photographed.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein a size of the area to be zoomed-in or zoomed-out on the touch screen is displayed according to an aspect ratio of the touch screen or a photographing ratio.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the zooming-in or zooming-out is performed using a digital zoom.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising adjusting a photographing angle of a lens to perform the zooming-in or zooming-out.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operations are performed in a standby mode or a photographing mode.

10. A method of photographing a still image or a motion image, the method comprising:

displaying a still image or a motion image to be photographed on a touch screen;

receiving a touch from a user on the touch screen;

determining a duration of the touch;

displaying a control screen according to the duration of the touch; and

if focus adjusting is selected on the control screen by the user, performing focus-in or focus-out by manipulating an external button.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising;

determining an area that is touched; and

performing focus-in or focus-out with respect to the touched area.

12. A method of photographing a still image or a motion image, the method comprising:

displaying a still image or a motion image to be photographed on a touch screen;

receiving a touch from a user on the touch screen;

determining a duration of the touch;

displaying a control screen according to the duration of the touch; and

performing a controlling operation according to a selection made on the control screen by the user,

wherein, if the duration of the touch on the touch screen is short, the control screen displays a control screen to control zooming-in or zooming-out, and if the duration of the touch is long, the control screen displays a control screen to control one of focus-in or focus-out, white balance, exposure control, and LCD control.

13. A photographing apparatus, comprising:

a photographing unit to photograph a target object;

a touch screen to display a still image or a motion image to be photographed by the photographing unit;

a key input unit to input a zoom-in or zoom-out command; and

a controller to perform zooming-in or zooming-out and to photograph within a zoomed-in or zoomed-out range if a portion to be photographed is touched on the touch screen by the user and a key manipulation of the user is input via the key input unit,

wherein the zooming-in or the zooming-out is performed with respect to the portion touched by the user.

14. A photographing apparatus, comprising:

a photographing unit to photograph a target object;

a touch screen to display a still image or a motion image to be photographed by the photographing unit;

a key input unit;

a controller to determine a duration of a touch and to display a control screen according to the duration of the touch if a portion to be photographed is touched on the touch screen by a user, and to perform focus-in or focus-out which is input by a key manipulation through the key input unit if the focus-in or focus-out is selected on the control screen by the user.

15. A photographing apparatus, comprising:

a photographing unit to photograph a target object;

a touch screen to display a still image or motion image to be photographed by the photographing unit; and

a controller to determine a duration of a touch and to display a control screen on the touch screen according to the duration of the touch, and to perform a controlling operation according to a selection made by the user on the control screen,

wherein the control screen displays a control screen to control zooming-in or zooming-out if the duration of the touch on the touch screen is short, and displays a control screen to control one of focus-in or focus-out, white balance, exposure control, and LCD control if the duration of the touch is long.

16. A photographing method, comprising:

receiving a touch and a key manipulation from a user; and

changing a display status of an area where the touch is input by the user according to the key manipulation.

17. A photographing method, comprising;

receiving a touch and a key manipulation from a user;

displaying a menu if a duration of the touch is longer than a predetermined time; and

changing a display status of an area where the touch is input according to a selection set by the user using the menu.

18. A method of capturing an image, the method comprising:

displaying an image-to-be-captured on a touch-receptive display;

receiving a user touch on the display; and

adjusting the image-to-be-captured based on the user touch.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

capturing the adjusted image-to-be-captured with a still-frame photograph or a video recording.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein adjusting the image-to-be-captured includes at least one of zooming into or zooming out of an area of the image-to-be-captured corresponding to the user touch.

21. The method according to claim 18, wherein adjusting the image-to-be-captured includes at least one of focus-in, focus-out, white balance, exposure control, and LCD control.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the image-to-be-captured is adjusted only in a portion of the image corresponding to an area touched by the user.

23. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

displaying the adjusted image-to-be-captured on the touch-receptive display.

24. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

detecting an input from a user from outside the touch-receptive display.

25. The method according to claim 24, further comprising:

determining a type of adjustment of the image-to-be-captured based on the user touch on the touch-receptive display; and

determining a magnitude of adjustment of the image-to-be-captured based on the detected input from the user from outside the touch-receptive display.

26. The method according to claim 24, wherein detecting the input from the user from outside the touch-receptive display includes detecting whether the input from the user is simultaneous with the user touch on the touch-receptive display.

27. The method according to claim 24, wherein detecting the input from the user from outside the touch-receptive display includes detecting whether the input from the user occurs within a predetermined period of time as the user touch on the touch-receptive display.

28. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

determining a type of user touch on the touch-receptive display; and

determining a type of adjustment to the image-to-be-displayed based on the type of user touch on the touch-receptive display.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the type of user touch is one of a short-duration touch, a long-duration touch, a touch-and-drag, a two-finger simultaneous touch, a two-finger simultaneous touch and drag, and a plurality of short-duration touches in succession.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein when it is determined that the user touch is a two-finger simultaneous touch, adjustment of the image-to-be-captured includes zooming into an area defined by the two fingers touching the touch-receptive display.

31. The method according to claim 29, wherein when it is determined that the user touch is a two-finger simultaneous touch-and-drag, adjustment of the image-to-be-captured includes zooming into an area defined by the two fingers touching the touch-receptive display by a magnitude defined by a distance at least one of the fingers is dragged across the touch-receptive display.

32. An image-capture apparatus, comprising:

a touch-receptive display to display an image-to-be-captured and to receive a user touch; and

a controller to adjust the image-to-be-captured based on the user touch.

33. The image-capture apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the controller is capable of capturing at least one of a still-frame photograph and a video recording.

34. The image-capture apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the controller adjusts the image-to-be-captured by at least one of zooming into or zooming out of an area of the image-to-be-captured corresponding to the user touch.

35. The image-capture apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the touch-receptive display displays the adjusted image-to-be-captured.

36. The image-capture apparatus according to claim 32, further comprising:

an input device outside the touch-receptive display to receive an input from a user.

37. The image-capture apparatus according to claim 36, wherein:

the controller determines a type of adjustment of the image-to-be-captured based on the user touch on the touch-receptive display; and

the controller determines a magnitude of adjustment of the image-to-be-captured based on the an input from the user from the input device outside the touch-receptive display.

38. The image-capture apparatus according to claim 37, wherein the controller determines a magnitude of adjustment of the image-to-be-captured based on the input from the input device outside the touch-receptive display only when the controller determines that the input from the input device is simultaneous with the user touch on the touch-receptive display.

39. The image-capture apparatus according to claim 37, wherein the controller determines a magnitude of adjustment of the image-to-be-captured based on the input from the input device outside the touch-receptive display only when the controller determines that the input from the input device occurs within a predetermined period of time as the user touch on the touch-receptive display.

40. The image-capture apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the controller determines a type of user touch on the touch-receptive display;

and

determines a type of adjustment to the image-to-be-displayed based on the type of user touch on the touch-receptive display.

41. The image-capture apparatus according to claim 40, wherein the type of user touch is one of a short-duration touch, a long-duration touch, a touch-and-drag, a two-finger simultaneous touch, a two-finger simultaneous touch and drag, and a plurality of short-duration touches in succession.

42. The image-capture apparatus according to claim 32, further comprising:

an image capture unit to convert received light corresponding to the image-to-be-captured into electrical signals; and

memory to store the electrical signals.

43. The image-capture apparatus according to claim 42, further comprising:

a signal processor to process the electrical signals from the image capture unit; and

a CODEC unit to compress the processed electrical signals from the signal processor and to transmit the compressed processed electrical signals to the memory.

44. The image-capture apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the touch-receptive display is an LCD screen.

45. A computer-readable medium having code stored thereon, which, when executed, causes the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

displaying an image-to-be-captured on a touch-receptive display;

receiving a user touch on the display; and

adjusting the image-to-be-captured based on the user touch.

46. The computer-readable medium according to claim 45, wherein the computer-readable medium is one of a flash drive, CD, DVD, memory disk, memory chip, or memory card connectable to an image-capture apparatus.