PAGE SEARCH METHOD AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE SUPPORTING THE SAME

• US 20140215386A1
• Filed: 01/29/2014
• Published: 07/31/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: SONG, Sejun, NA, Boyeon, LEE, Yohan
• Granted Patent: US 9,652,140 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/787
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a page search function, and provides a page search method and electronic device supporting the same. The page search method for an electronic device includes: identifying information elements contained in a page to be output on a display unit of the electronic device; assigning indexes to the information elements for distinction in consideration of types of the information elements; arranging the indexes on a scroll bar region corresponding to the page; and outputting a composite scroll bar containing the scroll bar region on which the indexes are arranged.

Claims

1. A page search method for an electronic device, comprising:

identifying information elements contained in a page to be output on a display unit of the electronic device;

assigning indexes to the information elements for distinction in consideration of types of the information elements;

arranging the indexes on a scroll bar region corresponding to the page; and

outputting a composite scroll bar containing the scroll bar region on which the indexes are arranged.

2. The page search method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a page output request, wherein the receiving of the page output request comprises receiving a server page request after access to a server page, and receiving a document page request after invocation of a document file.

3. The page search method of claim 1, wherein the assigning of the indexes comprises at least one of:

assigning indexes to the information elements, wherein the indexes have shapes or colors indicating types of the information elements;

assigning thumbnail images as indexes to the information elements; and

assigning images as indexes to the information elements, wherein the images have characters or numbers indicating types of the information elements.

4. The page search method of claim 1, wherein the assigning of the indexes comprises assigning indexes to the information elements excluding an information element of a given type in consideration of types of the information elements.

5. The page search method of claim 1, wherein the arranging of the indexes comprises arranging the indexes on a scroll bar region corresponding to the page so that positions of the indexes in the scroll bar region correspond to positions of the associated information elements within the page.

6. The page search method of claim 1, wherein the arranging of the indexes further comprises merging indexes within a given distance, among the indexes arranged on the scroll bar region, into a combined index.

7. The page search method of claim 6, further comprising:

outputting a composite scroll bar containing the combined index; and

outputting an additional scroll region in which indexes contained in the combined index are arranged at regular intervals in response to the combined index being selected.

8. The page search method of claim 7, wherein the outputting of the additional scroll region comprises replacing the indexes in the additional scroll region with thumbnail images corresponding to information elements indicated respectively by the indexes.

9. The page search method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving an event to enlarge or reduce the additional scroll region; and

enlarging or reducing the additional scroll region upon reception of the event.

10. The page search method of claim 9, further comprising adjusting, when the additional scroll region is changed, shapes of the indexes according to the size of the changed additional scroll region.

11. The page search method of claim 7, wherein the outputting of the additional scroll region comprises one of:

arranging indexes contained in the additional scroll region in a direction parallel to the direction of the composite scroll bar;

arranging indexes contained in the additional scroll region in a direction different from the direction of the composite scroll bar; and

arranging the additional scroll region so that the composite scroll bar is completely covered with the additional scroll region.

12. The page search method of claim 6, further comprising outputting numerical information indicating the number of indexes merged in the combined index.

13. The page search method of claim 5, further comprising:

changing, upon switching between a portrait mode and a landscape mode, the size of the scroll bar region; and

adjusting positions of the indexes according to the changed scroll bar region.

14. The page search method of claim 13, further comprising one of:

merging the indexes into a combined index in response to a gap between indexes in the scroll bar region being decreased down to less than a preset distance according to position adjustment; and

demerging a combined index into individual indexes in response to the gap between indexes in the scroll bar region being increased up to more than a preset distance according to position adjustment.

15. An electronic device supporting page search, comprising:

a display configured to output a page containing information elements and a composite scroll bar containing indexes to the information elements; and

a controller configured to control a process of analyzing contents of a page to be output on the display unit to identify information elements in the page, assigning indexes to the information elements in consideration of types of the information elements, and outputting a composite scroll bar containing a scroll bar region, corresponding to the page, on which the indexes are arranged.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, further comprising at least one of:

a communication unit configured to receive a server page request after access to a server page; and

a storage unit configured to store document page files.

17. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein each of the information elements has a type, and wherein the controller assigns indexes having shapes or colors indicating the types of the information elements to the information elements, or assigns thumbnail images as indexes to the information elements.

18. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein each of the information elements has a type, and wherein the control unit assigns one or more images indicating types of the information elements as indexes to the information elements.

19. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the controller assigns indexes to the information elements excluding in consideration of types of the information elements, wherein the indexes exclude information elements of a given type.

20. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the controller merges indexes within a given distance, among the indexes arranged on the scroll bar region, into a combined index.

21. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein in response to switching between a portrait mode and a landscape mode, the controller changes the size of the scroll bar region, and adjusts positions of the indexes according to the changed size of the scroll bar region.

22. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein in response to multiple indexes in the composite scroll bar being selected with a single touch gesture, the display outputs an additional scroll region in which the selected multiple indexes are arranged at regular intervals.

23. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein in response to a position of the composite scroll bar being selected while a page region is viewed, the display outputs a page region corresponding to the selected position and outputs a previous position mark at a position of the composite scroll bar corresponding to the page region viewed before the position was selected.

24. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein in response to a position of the composite scroll bar being selected while a page region is viewed, the display outputs, a page region corresponding to the selected position, and outputs the page region viewed before selection was made upon de-selection of the position.

25. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein in response to a page composed of multiple sections being output, the display perform at least one of outputting a composite scroll bar for each section, outputting a composite scroll bar for a section selected from the multiple sections, and outputting a composite scroll bar for a section selected from the multiple sections and further outputting a composite scroll bar for the newly selected section in response to an input signal for selecting a section is generated.

26. The electronic device of claim 15, further comprising a communication unit configured to receive thumbnail images of information elements contained in the page, and wherein the control unit classifies the thumbnail images and assigns indexes to the thumbnail images.

27. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the controller controls an operation to output the composite scroll bar at the same time when the page is output, output the composite scroll bar in response to an event for requesting the composite scroll bar is generated after output of the page, or output the composite scroll bar in response to a page region configured for a composite scroll bar being selected after output of the page.