APPARATUS AND METHOD OF SEARCHING FOR CONTENTS IN TOUCH SCREEN DEVICE

• US 20110154235A1
• Filed: 10/26/2010
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: MIN, Jung-ki, JIN, Jong-won
• Granted Patent: US 9,405,452 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• 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

A method of searching for content in a touch screen device includes: receiving selection signals of first content and second content; extracting contents existing between the first content and the second content, and displaying two or more representative contents, the number of which corresponds to the number of contents that may be simultaneously displayed on a screen, among the extracted contents; and repeating the above processes by using the displayed two or more representative contents.

Claims

1. A method of searching for content among contents stored in a touch screen device, the method comprising:

receiving a selection signal for at least one of first content and second content among the stored contents; and

in response to receiving the selection signal for both the first content and the second content, extracting contents existing between the first content and the second content, and displaying N number of representative contents from among the extracted contents, where N is a number which corresponds to a number of contents simultaneously displayable on a touch screen of the touch screen device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content and the second content are representative contents, respectively.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to receiving the selection signal for only the first content, sequentially displaying the contents between the first content and the second content.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the selection signal for only the first content corresponds to a drag operation in a uni-direction on a displayed first content section of the touch screen.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the N number of representative contents is set by dividing the stored contents by the number of contents simultaneously displayable on the touch screen, or is set by a user of the touch screen device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection signal for both the first content and the second content corresponds to a drag and drop operation on the touch screen.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying upper level contents of the first content or lower level contents of the first content according to a sensed direction of a drag operation performed on a displayed first content section of the touch screen.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the displaying the upper level contents or the lower level contents comprises, in response to sensing the drag operation from right to left on the displayed first content section of the touch screen, displaying the upper level contents of the first content with reference to history information.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the displaying the upper level contents or the lower level contents comprises, in response to sensing the drag operation from left to right on the displayed first content section of the touch screen, sequentially displaying lower level contents of the first content.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein when no lower level content of the first content exists, a first content section of the touch screen is sequentially searched by a touching operation.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying upper level representative contents of displayed contents with reference to history information, in response to sensing a drag operation from left to right on any section of the touch screen.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising, when no lower level content of the first content exists, performing a sequential level searching operation or displaying upper level representative contents of displayed contents according to a sensed direction of a drag operation on the touch screen.

21. A computer readable recording medium having embodied thereon a program for executing the method of claim 1.

13. A touch screen device comprising:

a display unit which displays contents on a screen;

a touch panel which senses at least one of a touch operation and a drag operation for selecting the contents and generates a selection signal accordingly; and

a controller which, in response to the generated selection signal corresponding to both a first content and a second content of the displayed content, extracts contents existing between the first content and the second content, and controlling the display unit to display N number of representative contents from among the extracted contents.

14. The touch screen device of claim 13, wherein in response to the generated selection signal corresponding to only the first content, the controller controls the display unit to sequentially display the contents between the first content and the second content.

15. The touch screen device of claim 13, wherein:

in response to the generated selection signal corresponding to a drag operation in a first direction on a displayed first content section, the controller controls the display unit to display upper level contents of the first content; and

in response to the generated selection signal corresponding to a drag operation in a second direction on the displayed first content section, the controller controls the display unit to display lower level contents of the first content.

16. The touch screen device of claim 13, wherein if no lower level content of the first content exists:

the controller performs a sequential level searching operation in response to the generated selection signal corresponding to a drag operation in a first direction on the display unit; and

the controller controls the display unit to display upper level representative contents of the displayed contents in response to the generated selection signal corresponding to a drag operation in a second direction on the display unit.

17. A method of searching for content among contents stored in a touch screen device, the method comprising:

receiving a selection signal for at least one of first content and second content among the stored contents;

when the first content and the second content are representative contents, performing a hierarchical level search of the stored contents according to the received selection signal; and

when no lower level contents of the first content and the second content exists, performing a sequential level search of the stored contents according to the received selection signal.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the performing the hierarchical level search comprises:

displaying contents existing between the first content and the second content in response to receiving the selection signal for both the first content and the second content; and

displaying upper level contents of the first content or the lower level contents of the first content in response to receiving the selection signal for only the first content.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the displaying the upper level contents or the lower level contents comprises:

displaying the upper level contents in response to the received selection signal corresponding to a drag operation in a first direction on a displayed first content section of a touch screen of the touch screen device; and

displaying the lower level contents in response to the received selection signal corresponding to a drag operation in a second direction on the displayed first content section.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the performing the sequential level search comprises:

performing the sequential level search in response to the received selection signal corresponding to a drag operation in a first direction on a touch screen of the touch screen device; and

displaying upper level representative contents of displayed contents in response to the received selection signal corresponding to a drag operation in a second direction on the touch screen.

22. A computer readable recording medium having embodied thereon a program for executing the method of claim 17.