INPUT DEVICE, IMAGE DISPLAY METHOD, AND PROGRAM

• US 20140139475A1
• Filed: 06/26/2012
• Published: 05/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC CASIO Mobile Communications Limited (NEC Corporation)
• Inventors: Wada, Masako
• Granted Patent: US 9,983,700 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

An input device includes: a screen (11) that displays images on a screen portion; a touch pad (12) that receives designation of in-plane positions with respect to the screen and supplies, as output, position signals that indicate the designated in-plane positions; and a control unit (10) that, when a plurality of in-plane positions has been designated, specifies each in-plane position on the basis of the position signals and both displays a plurality of images at the in-plane positions and controls the size of the display of each image in accordance with the spacing between the in-plane positions.

Claims

1. An input device comprising:

a display unit that displays images on a screen;

a position input unit that receives the designation of in-plane positions with respect to said screen and supplies, as output, position signals that indicate the in-plane positions that were designated; and

a control unit that, when a plurality of in-plane positions have been designated, based on said position signals, specifies each in-plane position and both displays a plurality of images at respective said in-plane positions and controls the size of display of each image according to the spacing of each of said in-plane positions.

2. The input device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said control unit displays an image, to which a function has been assigned to control display of other images that are displayed at other in-plane positions, at a specific in-plane position among said plurality of in-plane positions and controls the display content of said other images according to operations upon the image.

3. The input device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

a memory unit in which are stored a plurality of items of image data for which display has been ranked;

wherein said control unit determines, from among said plurality of items of image data, the image data of images that are to be displayed at each of said in-plane positions based on said ranking.

4. The input device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said position input unit is provided on the surface side on which said screen is formed.

5. The input device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said position input unit is provided on the surface that is on the side opposite the surface on which said screen has been formed.

6. An image display method comprising:

a position input unit receiving the designation of in-plane positions with respect to the screen of a display unit and supplying, as output, position signals that indicate the in-plane positions that were designated; and

when a plurality of in-plane positions has been designated, a control unit, based on said position signals, specifying each in-plane position and both displaying a plurality of images at respective said in-plane positions and controlling the size of display of each image according to the spacing of each of said in-plane positions.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with a program used in a computer, said program being for causing the computer to execute processes of:

receiving from a position input unit position signals that indicate each of a plurality of in-plane positions that were designated with respect to a screen; and

based on said position signals, specifying said plurality of in-plane positions and both displaying a plurality of images at respective in-plane positions and controlling the size of display of each image according to the spacing of each of said in-plane positions.