APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SCROLLING A SCREEN OF A PORTABLE TERMINAL HAVING A TOUCH SCREEN

• US 20100321411A1
• Filed: 06/17/2010
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: SEO, Jeong Wook, PAEK, Chi Hyeon, PARK, Dae Beom
• Granted Patent: US 8,711,185 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/684
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Provided is a method of scrolling a screen of a portable terminal having a touch screen. The method includes outputting a scrollable image; checking an entire scrolling amount of the image; measuring a drag-related variation when a drag is generated; calculating a scrolling rate based on the measured drag-related event with respect to a preset value; and outputting an image at a position corresponding to the scrolling rate based on the entire scrolling amount when the drag is cancelled.

Claims

1. A method for scrolling a screen of a portable terminal having a touch screen, the method comprising:

outputting a scrollable image;

checking an entire scrolling amount of the image;

measuring a drag-related variation when a drag operation is generated;

determining a scrolling rate based on the drag-related variation and a preset reference value; and

outputting the image at a position corresponding to the scrolling rate based on the entire scrolling amount when the drag operation is cancelled.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the drag-related variation comprises at least one of:

a drag length and a time change until drag cancellation after the drag is stopped.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein calculating a scrolling rate comprises one of:

determining a ratio of a current drag length to a preset reference drag length; and

determining a ratio of a counted time after the drag is stopped to a preset reference time.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising one of:

canceling the scrolling rate calculation when a drag direction is changed while the scrolling rate is calculated according to the drag length; and

canceling the scrolling rate calculation when a drag is regenerated while the scrolling rate is calculated according to a time until drag cancellation after the drag.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

outputting the calculated scrolling rate.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein outputting the scrolling rate comprises at least one of:

outputting the scrolling rate at one side of a display unit as a percentage rate;

outputting a graph illustrating the scrolling rate;

checking a list of a position corresponding to the scrolling rate, and outputting a first character of the list;

outputting a preset specific color according to the scrolling rate; and

outputting a scroll bar indication area, outputting a scroll bar to a current position, and outputting a virtual scroll bar to a position corresponding to the scrolling rate.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein outputting the scrolling rate comprises one of:

increasing the scrolling rate according to an increase of the drag length, and decreasing the scrolling rate according to a decrease of the drag length; and

increasing and outputting the scrolling rate according to an increase in time after the drag is stopped, and if the scrolling rate becomes 100%, decreasing the scrolling rate from 100% to 0% or increasing the scrolling rate from 0% to 100% after initializing the scroll rate.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

checking whether the drag is cancelled within a preset specific time after the drag is generated,

wherein the process of measuring the drag-related variation and the following process are performed in case the drag is not cancelled within the specific time.

9. An apparatus for scrolling a screen of a portable terminal, the apparatus comprising:

a touch screen which outputs a scrollable image and recognizes operations of a touch, a drag and a drag cancellation; and

a controller, including a processor, for;

checking an entire scrolling amount of the image when the image is outputted;

measuring drag-related variation when a drag operation is generated;

calculating a scrolling rate based on the drag-related variation and a preset reference value; and

outputting an image at a position corresponding to the scrolling rate based on the entire scrolling amount of the image when the drag is cancelled.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the controller calculates the scrolling rate according to one of:

a ratio of a current drag length to a preset drag length and a ratio of a counted time after the drag is stopped to a preset reference time.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller cancels the scrolling rate calculation according to the drag length when the drag direction is changed.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller cancels the scrolling rate calculation according to a time until the drag cancellation after the drag when a drag is regenerated.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the controller outputs the calculated scrolling rate at one side of the touch screen.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the controller outputs the scrolling rate using at least one of a percentage rate, a graph, a first character, a color and a virtual scroll bar.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the controller performs one of:

increasing the scrolling rate when the drag length increases and decreasing the scrolling rate when the drag length decreases, and increasing the scrolling rate according to an increase of time after the drag is stopped and if the scrolling rate becomes 100%, decreasing the scrolling rate from 100% to 0% or increasing the scrolling rate from 0% to 100% after initializing the scroll rate.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a sensor configured to recognize a horizontal mode or a vertical mode of the portable terminal,

wherein the controller changes an output position of the scrolling rate according to the horizontal mode or the vertical mode of the portable terminal.

17. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the controller checks whether a drag cancellation is generated within a preset time after the drag is generated, calculates the scrolling rate by measuring the drag-related variation if the drag cancellation is not generated within a preset time, and outputs an image at a position corresponding to the scrolling rate.

18. A portable terminal comprising:

a touch screen; and

a processor in communication with a memory, the memory including code, which when accessed by the processor causes the processor to;

receive an input from the touch screen;

determine a drag operation indication from the input;

determine a scrolling rate based on drag-related variations with respect to a predetermined value; and

output an image to the touch screen based on the scrolling rate.

19. The portable terminal of claim 18, wherein the drag-related variations are selected from the group consisting of:

distance and time.

20. The portable terminal wherein the scrolling rate is determined as a ratio of the drag-related variation to the predetermined value.