INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20110161891A1
• Filed: 12/21/2010
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/25/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Kikukawa, Shingo, Kaihotsu, Takahisa, Shimaya, Tomoyuki, Akiyama, Tetsuya, Yamanaka, Taichiro, Kawai, Noriaki
• Application Number:
  US12/975,032
• Publication Number:
  US 20110161891A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/863
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0338 Fingerprint track pad, i.e. fingerprint sensor used as pointing device tracking the fingertip image
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

According to one embodiment, the relationship between respective fingers of a user and corresponding screens is registered, a screen and command are determined according to the motion (motion trajectory) of a finger that touches a touch input device and the type of the finger, and a multi-screen is operated.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a touch input module configured to detect a position of a touch portion with a finger,

a storage configured to store a trajectory of the touch portion that moves,

a command determination module configured to determine a command corresponding to the trajectory,

a finger type determination module configured to determine a type of a finger that touches the touch input module,

a finger/screen database in which ones of divided screens are set in correspondence to the respective fingers,

a decision module configured to search the database and decide a screen that corresponds to the type of the finger determined by the determination module,

a control module configured to control display of the respective ones of the divided screens of an input control signal, and

a transmitter configured to add information of the screen decided by the decision module to the command determined by the determination module and transmit the result as the control signal to the control module.

2. The information processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein detection of the position of the touch portion by the touch input module, storage of the trajectory by the storage module and command determination by the determination module are performed in parallel with determination of the type by the determination module and screen decision by the decision module.

3. The information processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein determination of the type by the determination module, screen decision by the decision module, detection of the position of the touch portion by the touch input module, storage of the trajectory by the storage module and command determination by the determination module are performed in the above order.

4. The information processing apparatus of claim 3, wherein the finger type determination module detects that a plurality of fingers have touched and determines that a finger corresponding to at least one of a plurality of touch portions is a finger used for operation if the fingers are separated from the touch portions other than the at least one of the plurality of touch portions.

5. The information processing apparatus of claim 3, wherein the finger type determination module detects that a plurality of finger touch portions corresponding in number to screens in the divided screens are present in the touch input module and if only one touch portion is detected, determines a type of the finger that touches the one touch portion based on the relative position of the one touch portion in the plurality of touch portions.

6. The information processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a display configured to display the divided screens.

7. The information processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the command determination module determines a trajectory in a vertical direction as channel switching and determines a trajectory in a horizontal direction as switching of video devices connected to the apparatus.

8. An information processing apparatus that receives position information indicating a position of a touch portion and touch finger information indicating a type of a finger from a remote controller including a touch input module configured to detect the position of the touch portion with the finger and a determination module configured to determine the type of the finger that touches the touch input module, comprising:

a storage configured to store a trajectory of the touch portion that moves based on the position information,

a determination module configured to determine a command corresponding to the trajectory,

a finger/screen database in which ones of divided screens are set in correspondence to the respective fingers,

a decision module configured to search the database based on the touch finger information and decide a screen that corresponds to the type of the finger,

a control module configured to control display of the respective ones of the divided screens of an input control signal, and

a transmitter configured to add information of the screen decided by the decision module to the command determined by the determination module and transmit the result as the control signal to the control module.

9. The information processing apparatus of claim 8, wherein detection of the position of the touch portion by the touch input module, storage of the trajectory by the storage and command determination by the determination module are performed in parallel with determination of the type by the determination module and screen decision by the decision module.

10. The information processing apparatus of claim 8, wherein determination of the type by the determination module, screen decision by the decision module, detection of the position of the touch portion by the touch input module, storage of the trajectory by the storage and command determination by the determination module are serially performed in the above order.

11. An information processing method comprising:

detecting a position of a touch portion with a finger by use of a touch panel,

storing a trajectory of the touch portion that moves,

determining a command corresponding to the trajectory,

determining a type of a finger that touches the touch panel,

searching a finger/screen database in which ones of divided screens are set in correspondence to the respective fingers and deciding a screen that corresponds to the type of the finger determined,

adding information of the decided screen to the determined command and transmitting the result as a control signal, and

controlling display of the respective ones of the divided screens of the control signal.

12. The information processing method of claim 11, wherein detection of the position of the touch portion with the finger, storage of the trajectory and command determination are performed in parallel with determination of the type and screen decision.

13. The information processing method of claim 11, wherein the determining the type of the finger is detecting that a plurality of fingers have touched and determining that a finger corresponding to at least one of a plurality of touch portions is a finger used for operation if the fingers are separated from the touch portions other than the at least one of the plurality of touch portions.

14. The information processing method of claim 12, wherein the determining the type of the finger is detecting that a plurality of finger touch portions corresponding in number to screens in the divided screens are present in the touch input module and if only one touch portion is detected, determining a type of the finger that touches the one touch portion based on the relative position of the one touch portion in the plurality of touch portions.