ELECTRONIC CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR RESPONSIVELY CONTROLLING MEDIA CONTENT DISPLAYED ON PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE

• US 20110157231A1
• Filed: 12/14/2010
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: China Mobile Hong Kong Company Limited (China Mobile Limited)
• Original Assignee: CyWee Group Ltd.
• Inventors: LU, YING-KO, LIOU, SHAN-NAN, YE, ZHOU, TADEVOSYAN, TIGRAN, CHANG, WEN-HAO
• Granted Patent: US 9,564,075 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/649
• 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 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0487 using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0606 Manual adjustment
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/045 Zooming at least part of an image, i.e. enlarging it or shrinking it
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0492 Change of orientation of the displayed image, e.g. upside-down, mirrored
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/145 related to small screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/20 for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/34 for rolling or scrolling

Abstract

An electronic control apparatus including motion sensors is integrated in a portable electronic device to responsively control a media content stored in the portable electronic device, in response to motion sensor signals to flip, zoom, displace images/pages of the media content displayed on a display field of a display thereof. Accordingly, a responsive control method includes the steps of: presetting a first threshold angle; sensing an first rotation angle of the portable electronic device to send out a first rotation sensing signal as a rotation of a yaw, pitch or roll of a portable electronic device detected by a sensing module including motion sensors; and receiving the first rotation sensing signal to calculate and determine whether the first rotation angle is greater than the first threshold angle to responsively control a media content stored in an electronic control apparatus be flipped, zoomed or displaced when the first rotation angle is greater than the first threshold angle.

Claims

1. An electronic control apparatus for use with a portable electronic device to detect operations performed on the portable electronic device integrated with a display comprising a display field for displaying a media content stored in a register of the portable electronic device, said electronic control apparatus comprising:

a sensing module for sensing a first rotation angle of the portable electronic device and sending out a first rotation sensing signal based on the first rotation angle thereof when the electronic control device is subject to rotations detected by a first rotation means; and

a processing unit electrically connected to the sensing module to receive said first rotation sensing signal, comprising a preset first threshold angle and embedded with an algorithm means for determining whether the first rotation angle of the first rotation sensing signal obtained is greater than the first threshold angle such that when the first rotation angle is greater than the first threshold angle, the processing unit sends out a display control signal to responsively control the display to zoom in or zoom out said media content displayed on the display field thereof.

2. The electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensing module includes an accelerometer for sensing and detecting axial accelerations of the electronic control apparatus.

3. The electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensing module includes a gyroscope for sensing and detecting angular velocities of the electronic control apparatus.

4. The electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensing module includes a magnetometer for sensing and detecting magnetism of the electronic control apparatus.

5. The electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first rotation means is configured to detect a rotation of a pitch of the portable electronic device about a x-axis in a forward and backward manner to generate the first rotation angle responsively.

6. The electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensing module is provided for sensing an acceleration value of the portable electronic device and sending out an acceleration sensing signal when the portable electronic device is subject to a rotation detected by a second rotation means;

and wherein the processing unit comprises a preset first threshold acceleration value and is configured to receive the acceleration sensing signal and to determine whether the acceleration value is greater than the first threshold acceleration value such that the processing unit sends out a first page-switch signal to responsively control the display to display a previous or next image of the media content displayed on the display field thereof when the acceleration value is greater than the first threshold acceleration value.

7. The electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the second rotation means is configured to detect a rotation of a yaw of the portable electronic device about a y-axis in a counterclockwise and clockwise manner to generate the acceleration value responsively.

8. The electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the processing unit further comprises a preset second threshold acceleration value greater than the first threshold acceleration value and is configured to receive the acceleration sensing signal and to determine whether the acceleration value is greater than the second threshold acceleration value such that the processing unit sends out a second page-switch signal to responsively control the display to display a first or last image of the media content on the display field thereof when the acceleration value is greater than the second threshold acceleration value.

9. The electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the media data comprises a full-view image having an overall dimension greater than a viewing border of the display field;

and wherein the sensing module is provided for sensing a second rotation angle of the portable electronic device and sending out an second rotation sensing signal when the portable electronic device is subject to rotations detected by a third rotation means; and

wherein the processing unit comprises a preset second threshold angle and is configured to receive said second rotation sensing signal and to determine whether the second rotation angle is greater than the second threshold angle and sending out a displacement signal to responsively control the display such that the full-view image displayed on the display field thereof is displaced within the viewing border of the display field of the display when the second rotation angle is greater than the second threshold angle.

10. The electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the third rotation means is configured to detect a rotation of a roll of the portable electronic device about a z-axis in a counterclockwise and clockwise manner to generate said second rotation angle responsively.

11. The electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an analogue-to-digital (A/D) signal convertor electrically connected to the sensing module and the processing unit.

12. A responsive control method for controlling a media content displayed on a display field of a display of a portable electronic device in response to motion sensor signals detected and generated by a sensing module integrated in the portable electronic device;

wherein said media content is associated with a UI and is stored in a register of the portable electronic device, said responsive control method comprising;

(a) presetting a first threshold angle value of the motion sensor signals;

(b) detecting a first rotation angle of the sensing module of the portable electronic device and sending out a first rotation sensing signal of the motion sensor signals when the portable electronic device integrated with the sensing module is subject to rotations detected by a first rotation means;

(c) determining whether the first rotation angle is greater than the first threshold angle with reference to said first rotation sensing signal; and

(d) sending out a zoom-in/out signal to responsively control the display of the portable electronic device such that said media content displayed on the display field of the display thereof is zoomed in or zoomed out in response to the first rotation sensing signal and when the first rotation angle is greater than the first threshold angle.

13. The responsive control method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the first rotation means is configured to vertically roll the portable electronic device in a forward and backward manner.

14. The responsive control method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the step of presetting the first threshold angle value of the motion sensor signals further comprises presetting a first acceleration threshold value.

15. The responsive control method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising sensing an acceleration value of the motion sensor signals and sending out an acceleration sensing signal when the portable electronic device is subject to rotations performed via a second rotation means;

and wherein the second rotation means is configured to vertically tilt the portable electronic device in a counterclockwise and clockwise manner to generate said acceleration value.

16. The responsive control method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising receiving the acceleration sensing signal to determine whether the acceleration value is greater than the first acceleration threshold value and sending out a first page-switch signal to control the display such that a previous or next image of the media content is displayed when the acceleration value is greater than the first threshold acceleration value.

17. The responsive control method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising presetting a second acceleration threshold value greater than the first threshold acceleration value and sending out a second page-switch signal to control the display such that a first or last image of the media content is displayed when the acceleration value is greater than the second threshold acceleration value;

and wherein the display displays a full view image of the media content with an overall field greater than a viewing border of the display field.

18. The responsive control method as claimed in claim 17, further comprising sensing a second rotation angle of the portable electronic device and responsively sending out a second rotation sensing signal when the portable electronic device is subject to rotations performed via a third rotation means.

19. The responsive control method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the third rotation means is configured to horizontally rotate the portable electronic device in a counterclockwise and clockwise manner to generate the second rotation angle.

20. The responsive control method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising receiving the second rotation sensing signal to determine whether the second rotation angle is greater than the second threshold angle and sending out a displacement signal to control the full view image of the media content to displace on the display field of the display when the second rotation angle is greater than the second threshold angle.