INFORMATION TERMINAL, METHOD OF CONTROLLING INFORMATION TERMINAL, AND PROGRAM FOR CONTROLLING INFORMATION TERMINAL

• US 20130167084A1
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: YAMAMOTO, Yoshiki, MIYAKE, Yuichi
• Granted Patent: US 9,354,780 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/14 with provision for individual teacher-student communication

Abstract

An information terminal includes: a display unit which displays one or more objects; a sensor unit which obtains a position of a first point and a position of a second point designated by a user on the display unit; and a control unit which selects, from among the one or more objects, at least one object displayed on a straight line determined by the first point and second point, and when the first point or the second point is moved along the straight line, moves the selected object in a direction corresponding to a direction of the movement of the first point or the second point.

Claims

1. An information terminal comprising:

a display unit configured to display one or more objects;

a sensor unit configured to obtain a position of a first point and a position of a second point designated by a user on the display unit; and

a control unit configured to (i) select, from among the one or more objects, at least one object displayed on a straight line determined by the first point and second point, and (ii) when the first point or the second point is moved along the straight line, move the selected object in a direction corresponding to a direction of the movement of the first point or the second point.

2. The information terminal according to claim 1,

wherein when the first point or the second point is moved along the straight line, the control unit is configured to move the selected object in the direction corresponding to the direction of the movement of the first point or the second point such that a proportion of a distance of the movement of the first point or the second point to a distance between the first point and the second point equals a proportion of a distance of the movement of the selected object to a distance between the selected object and the first point or the second point.

3. The information terminal according to claim 1,

wherein when the first point or the second point is moved along the straight line, the control unit is configured to move all the at least one selected object at once in the direction corresponding to the direction of the movement of the first point or the second point.

4. The information terminal according to claim 1,

wherein (i) when at least one of the first point and the second point is moved not along the straight line, the control unit is configured to select, from among the one or more objects, the at least one object that is displayed within a region which is a locus of the straight line determined by the first point and the second point and moving along with the movement of the at least one of the first point and the second point, and (ii) when at least one of the first point and the second point is moved along the straight line, the control unit is configured to move the selected object in the direction corresponding to the direction of the movement of the first point or the second point.

5. The information terminal according to claim 1,

wherein (i) when at least one of the first point and the second point is moved not along the straight line, the control unit is configured to select, from among the one or more objects, the at least one object that is displayed on the straight line determined by the first point and the second point, and (ii) when at least one of the first point and the second point is moved along the straight line, the control unit is configured to move the selected object in the direction corresponding to the direction of the movement of the first point or the second point.

6. The information terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the display unit is configured to display the selected object and the object not selected on the display unit differently in appearance.

7. The information terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the display unit is configured to display the straight line.

8. The information terminal according to claim 1, further comprising

an execution unit configured to execute an operation corresponding to the selected object when the distance between the first point and the second point becomes shorter or equal to a threshold value as a result of the moving of at least one of the first point and the second point.

9. The information terminal according to claim 1, further comprising

an execution unit configured to execute an operation corresponding to the selected object when at least one of the first point and the second point is moved and subsequently held at a same position for a predetermined period of time.

10. The information terminal according to claim 8,

wherein after the execution unit executes the operation, the control unit is configured to move the object corresponding to the operation back to a previous position of the object, the previous position being a display position of the object before at least one of the first point and the second point is moved.

11. The information terminal according to claim 8,

wherein when the selected object is a plurality of the objects, an execution unit is configured to execute an operation corresponding to part of the selected objects, and the control unit is configured to subsequently move the object displayed on the display unit and not corresponding to the executed operation back to an previous position of the object, the previous position being a position of the object before at least one of the first point and the second point is moved.

12. The information terminal according to claim 8,

wherein when the control unit selects, as the object, an icon associated with a predetermined application, the execution unit is configured to execute the predetermined application.

13. The information terminal according to claim 8,

wherein when the control unit selects, as the object, an icon associated with predetermined document data or predetermined image data, the execution unit is configured to cause the display unit to display the document data or the image data.

14. A method of controlling an information terminal,

displaying one or more objects;

obtaining a position of a first point and a position of a second point designated by a user; and

(i) selecting, from among the one or more objects, at least one object displayed on a straight line determined by the first point and second point obtained in the obtaining, and (ii) when the first point or the second point is moved along the straight line, moving the selected object in a direction corresponding to a direction of the movement of the first point or the second point.

15. The method of controlling an information terminal according to claim 14,

wherein (i) when at least one of the first point and the second point is moved not along the straight line, the at least one object is selected from among the one or more objects, the selected object being displayed within a region which is a locus of the straight line determined by the first point and the second point and moving along with the movement of the at least one of the first point and the second point, and (ii) when at least one of the first point and the second point is moved along the straight line, the selected object is moved in the direction corresponding to the direction of the movement of the first point or the second point.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for use in a computer, the recording medium having a computer program recorded thereon for causing the computer to execute the method of controlling an information terminal according to claim 14.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for use in a computer, the recording medium having a computer program recorded thereon for causing the computer to execute the method of controlling an information terminal according to claim 15.