INFORMATION TERMINAL

• US 20150261431A1
• Filed: 02/19/2014
• Published: 09/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ohtsuka, Kiyofumi, Ishikawa, Hirokazu, Yokogawa, Megumi, Iida, Yoshichika, Mitsunaga, Takaaki, Andou, Tadao
• Application Number:
  US14/437,222
• Publication Number:
  US 20150261431A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04801 Cursor retrieval aid, i.e. visual aspect modification, blinking, colour changes, enlargement or other visual cues, for helping user do find the cursor in graphical user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04804 Transparency, e.g. transparent or translucent windows
• 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 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0489 using dedicated keyboard keys or combinations thereof

Abstract

The present invention allows a software keyboard and an application in execution to coexist. The present invention includes a display area setting section (31). In a case where (i) it is detected that the software keyboard is activated by a first application and (ii) it is determined that a second application is being executed, the display area setting section (31) changes a display area and a display position of the second application so that an operation to the software keyboard is not disturbed.

Claims

1. An information terminal capable of concurrently executing a plurality of applications in a display section, the information terminal comprising:

a software keyboard detecting section for detecting that a software keyboard is activated by a first application in which characters are inputted through the software keyboard;

an application determination section for determining whether or not a second application different from the first application is being executed, in a case where the software keyboard detecting section detects that the software keyboard is activated; and

an application display control section for changing a display area of the second application so that the display area of the second application does not disturb an operation to the software keyboard, in a case where the application determination section determines that the second application is being executed.

2. The information terminal as set forth in claim 1, wherein:

the application display control section (i) reduces a size of the display area of the second application while maintaining an aspect ratio of the display area, and (ii) sets a display position of the second application so that the display position of the second application overlaps with none of (a) the software keyboard being displayed, (b) an area over a given number of characters from a cursor position indicative of a position for displaying a character that is to be inputted through the software keyboard, and (c) an area where an operation is required immediately after an end of a character input.

3. The information terminal as set forth in claim 1, wherein:

the first application is an email application; and

the application display control section aligns the display position of the second application right to a center of the display section on an upper side of the display section, when the information terminal is held by a user so as to have a longitudinal side along a vertical direction.

4. The information terminal as set forth in claim 1, wherein:

the application display control section causes a portion of the display area of the second application to overlap with a portion of a character input area in which characters are to be inputted through the software keyboard.

5. The information terminal as set forth in claim 1, wherein:

the application display control section moves the display position of the second application, in a case where a cursor position and the display area of the second application overlap with each other, the cursor position being indicative of a position for displaying a character that is to be inputted through the software keyboard.

6. An information terminal comprising:

a keyboard detecting section for detecting that a virtual keyboard is activated by a first application;

an operation detecting section for detecting whether or not an operation to an object is being carried out by a second application that is different from the first application, in a case where the keyboard detecting section detects that the virtual keyboard is activated; and

a display control section for carrying out control in which the display area of the second application is kept unchanged, in a case where the operation detecting section detects that the operation to the object is being carried out.

7. The information terminal as set forth in claim 6, wherein:

the operation detecting section detects whether or not the operation is completed, the operation having been detected by the operation detecting section as being carried out to the object by the second application; and

the display control section changes the display area of the second application so that the display area of the second application does not disturb an operation to the virtual keyboard, in a case where the operation detecting section detects that the operation to the object is completed.

8. The information terminal as set forth in claim 6, wherein:

in a case where the display area of the second application is to be changed, the display control section (i) reduces a size of the display area while maintaining an aspect ratio of the display area and (ii) sets a display position of the second application so that the display position of the second application does not overlap with an area over a given number of characters from a cursor position indicative of a position for displaying text data that is to be inputted through the virtual keyboard being displayed.

9. The information terminal as set forth in claim 6, wherein:

in a case where the display area of the second application is to be changed, the display control section sets the display position of the second application so that the display position of the second application does not overlap with an area where an operation is required immediately after an end of a character input through the virtual keyboard.

10. (canceled)