ELECTRONIC APPARATUS AND OPERATING METHOD OF ELECTRONIC APPARATUS

• US 20160349989A1
• Filed: 04/14/2016
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Compal Electronics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Compal Electronics Incorporated
• Inventors: Yu, Feng-Yi, Tsai, Hsin-Pei, Weng, Chia-Shin, Lee, Jih-Houng, Chen, Kuan-Yu
• Granted Patent: US 10,437,468 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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 3/04897 Special input arrangements or commands for improving display capability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/147 using display panels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

An electronic apparatus and an operating method of the electronic apparatus are provided. The electronic apparatus includes a display unit, a base, a touch pad and a processing unit. The base is coupled to the display unit. The touch pad is disposed on the base, includes touch areas and receives a touch action performed by the user on any touch area. The processing unit is coupled to the touch pad and sets a display frame of the display unit into display areas according to a position of each touch area, so that each touch area has the corresponding display area at a corresponding position on the display unit. After the touch pad received a first touch event, the processing unit obtains a first touch area where the first touch event is generated, and displays a first user interface in a first display area corresponding to the first touch area.

Claims

1. An electronic apparatus, comprising:

a display unit;

a base, coupled to the display unit;

a touch pad, disposed on the base and extended from a first side to a second side of the base, wherein the touch pad has a plurality of touch areas, and receives a touch action performed by a user on any one of the touch areas; and

a processing unit, coupled to the touch pad, wherein the processing unit sets a display frame of the display unit into a plurality of display areas according to a position where each of the touch areas is located in a longitudinal direction between the first side and the second side of the base, so that each of the touch areas has a corresponding one of the display areas at a corresponding position on the display unit,

wherein after a first touch event is received by the touch pad, the processing unit obtains a first touch area among the touch areas where the first touch event is generated, and the processing unit displays a first user interface in a first display area among the display areas corresponding to the first touch area.

2. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein when the first user interface is displayed in the first display area, the processing unit controls operations of functions included by the first user interface according to the touch action performed by the user in the first touch area and received by the touch pad.

3. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein after a second touch event is received by the touch pad, if a second touch area among the touch areas where the second touch event is generated being different from the first touch area is obtained by the processing unit, the processing unit displays a second user interface in a second display area among the display areas corresponding to the second touch area.

4. The electronic apparatus of claim 3, wherein when displaying the second user interface in the second display area among the display areas corresponding to the second touch area, the processing unit hides the first user interface.

5. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein lengths of each of the touch areas and the corresponding one of the display areas are proportional or identical to each other in the longitudinal direction of the base, each of the touch areas is not overlapped with one another, and

a coordinate of each of the touch areas is mapped to a coordinate of the corresponding one of the display areas.

6. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a keyboard, disposed on the base, and the keyboard having a space key, wherein a length of the touch pad extended from the first side to the second side of the base is greater than a length of the space key,

wherein the keyboard provides a first trigger signal, and when receiving the first trigger signal through the keyboard, the processing unit enables a multi-area touch function to divide the touch pad into the touch areas and sets the display frame of the display unit into the display areas according to the position where each of the touch areas is located in the longitudinal direction between the first side and the second side of the base, so that each of the touch areas has the corresponding one of the display areas at the corresponding position on the display unit,

wherein the keyboard provides a second trigger signal, and when receiving the second trigger signal through the keyboard, the processing unit disables the multi-area touch function.

7. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first user interface is an interface of a multimedia player, and an operating range in the first touch area is used to control a time bar of the multimedia player,

when a dimension of the interface of the multimedia player is changed, correspondingly changing the operating range of the first touch area.

8. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the touch pad comprises a ring circuit, and the ring circuit surrounds the touch areas.

9. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an upper cover, pivoted to the base, wherein the display unit is disposed on the upper cover; and

a sensing element, disposed on a side edge of at least one of the upper cover and the base, configured to sense the touch action, and coupled to the processing unit;

wherein the processing unit controls the corresponding one of the display areas on the display unit according to the touch action sensed by the sensing element, and a position of the corresponding one of the display areas is corresponding to a position where the sensing element is disposed on the at least one of the upper cover and the base.

10. The electronic apparatus of claim 9, wherein after receiving an interaction trigger signal, the processing unit determines the display area to be controlled based on the position where the sensing element is disposed.

11. The electronic apparatus of claim 9, wherein

when the sensing element is disposed on the upper cover and located on a top frame border of the display unit, the corresponding display area to be controlled is located on a top edge area of the display frame;

when the sensing element is disposed on the upper cover and located on a bottom frame border of the display unit, the corresponding display area to be controlled is located on a bottom edge area of the display frame;

when the sensing element is disposed on the upper cover and located on a left frame border of the display unit, the corresponding display area to be controlled is located on a left side area of the display frame; and

when the sensing element is disposed on the upper cover and located on a right frame border of the display unit, the corresponding display area to be controlled is located on a right side area of the display frame.

12. The electronic apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

a keyboard, disposed on the base, and coupled to the processing unit;

wherein

when the sensing element is disposed on the base and located on a first area above the keyboard, the corresponding display area to be controlled is located on a top edge area or a bottom edge area of the display frame;

when the sensing element is disposed on the base and located on a second area at left of the touch pad, the corresponding display area to be controlled is located on a left side area of the display frame; and

when the sensing element is disposed on the base and located on a third area at right of the touch pad, the corresponding display area to be controlled is located on a right side area of the display frame.

13. The electronic apparatus of claim 9, wherein when sensing that the touch action is a sliding gesture, the processing unit performs a moving action on a target in the corresponding display area based on a moving direction of the sliding gesture.

14. An operating method of an electronic apparatus having a display unit, a base and a touch pad, comprising:

receiving a touch action performed by a user through the touch pad, wherein the touch pad having a plurality of touch areas is disposed on the base, and the touch pad is extended from a first side to a second side of the base;

setting a display frame of the display unit into a plurality of display areas according to a position where each of the touch areas is located in a longitudinal direction between the first side and the second side of the base, so that each of the touch areas has a corresponding one of the display areas at a corresponding position on the display unit; and

obtaining a first touch area among the touch areas where a first touch event is generated after the first touch event is received by the touch pad, and displaying a first user interface in a first display area among the display areas corresponding to the first touch area.

15. The operating method of claim 14, further comprising:

when the first user interface is displayed in the first display area, controlling operations of functions included by the first user interface according to the touch action performed by the user in the first touch area and received by the touch pad.

16. The operating method of claim 14, further comprising:

after a second touch event is received by the touch pad, if a second touch area among the touch areas where the second touch event is located being different from the first touch area is obtained, displaying a second user interface in a second display area among the display areas corresponding to the second touch area.

17. The operating method of claim 16, further comprising:

when displaying the second user interface in the second display area among the display areas corresponding to the second touch area, hiding the first user interface.

18. The operating method of claim 14, wherein lengths of each of the touch areas and the corresponding one of the display areas are proportional or identical to each other in the longitudinal direction of the base, each of the touch areas is not overlapped with one another, and a coordinate of each of the touch areas is mapped to a coordinate of the corresponding one of the display areas.

19. The operating method of claim 14, wherein the electronic apparatus further comprises a keyboard, and the keyboard is disposed on the base and has a space key, wherein a length of the touch pad extended from the first side to the second side of the base is greater than a length of the space key;

wherein the operating method further comprises;

when receiving a first trigger signal through the keyboard, enabling a multi-area touch function to divide the touch pad into the touch areas, and setting the display frame of the display unit into the display areas according to the position where each of the touch areas is located in the longitudinal direction between the first side and the second side of the base, so that each of the touch areas has the corresponding one of the display areas at the corresponding position on the display unit; and

when receiving a second trigger signal through the keyboard, disabling the multi-area touch function.

20. The operating method of claim 14, wherein the first user interface is an interface of a multimedia player, and an operating range in the first touch area correspondingly is used to control a time bar of the multimedia player.

wherein the operating method further comprises:

when a dimension of the multimedia player is changed, correspondingly changing the operating range of the first touch area.