Information processing apparatus, scroll control apparatus, scroll control method, and computer program product

• US 7,859,516 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2008
• Issued: 12/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Client Solutions CO., Ltd. (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Hanyu, Tomohiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang; Quan-Zhen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sheng; Tom V
• Application Number:
  US12/259,079
• Publication Number:
  US 20090128484A1
• Time in Patent Office: 792 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/157, 345/158, 345/173, 345/184
• US Class Current: 345/158
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

According to one embodiment, an information processing apparatus including a display unit and an inclination detection unit detecting an inclination of its main body includes a direction instruction unit, a reference inclination storage unit, an inclination difference output unit, and a scroll unit. The direction instruction unit instructs a scroll direction in which a display range of the display unit is to be moved. The reference inclination storage unit stores, as a reference inclination, an inclination in the scroll direction among inclinations detected by the inclination detection unit. The inclination difference output unit outputs a difference between the reference inclination and an inclination in the scroll direction. The scroll unit moves the display range on the display unit according to the difference outputted from the inclination difference output unit.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus including a main body, a display unit, and an inclination detection unit detecting an inclination of the main body, the information processing apparatus comprising:

a direction instruction unit that instructs a scroll direction in which a display range of the display unit is to be moved;

a reference inclination storage unit that stores, as a reference inclination, an inclination in the scroll direction when the scroll direction is instructed by the direction instruction unit among inclinations detected by the inclination detection unit;

an inclination difference output unit that outputs an inclination difference between the reference inclination stored in the reference inclination storage unit and an inclination in the scroll direction detected by the inclination detection unit; and

a scroll unit that moves the display range of the display unit in accordance with, the inclination difference outputted from the inclination difference output unit.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an inclination value acquisition unit that acquires an inclination value indicating an inclination of the main body based on a detection result obtained by the inclination detection unit; and

an inclination difference value acquisition unit that acquires an inclination difference value indicating the inclination difference from a difference between the reference inclination stored in the reference inclination storage unit and the inclination value acquired by the inclination value acquisition unit, wherein

the inclination difference output unit outputs the inclination difference value acquired by the inclination difference value acquisition unit to the scroll unit.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a storage control unit that controls the reference inclination storage unit to store an inclination value in the scroll direction acquired by the inclination value acquisition unit when the scroll direction is instructed by the direction instruction unit.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an output control unit that controls the inclination difference output unit to output the inclination difference only when the scroll direction is instructed by the direction instruction unit.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a reference inclination deletion unit that deletes the reference inclination stored in the reference inclination storage unit when an instruction by the direction instruction unit as to the scroll direction is released.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the direction instruction unit is configured to instruct a vertical direction or a horizontal direction with respect to the main body as the scroll direction.

7. A computer program product embodied on a computer-readable medium and comprising codes that, when executed on a computer including a main body, a display unit, a direction instruction unit instructing a scroll direction in which a display range of the display unit is to be moved, and an inclination detection unit detecting an inclination of the main body, causes the computer to perform:

causing, among inclinations detected by the inclination detection unit, an inclination in the scroll direction when the scroll direction is instructed by the direction instruction unit to be stored as a reference inclination;

outputting an inclination difference between the stored reference inclination and an inclination in the scroll direction detected by the inclination detection unit; and

moving the display range of the display unit in accordance with the inclination difference, outputted at the outputting.

8. A scroll control method applied to an information processing apparatus including a main body, a display unit, a direction instruction unit instructing a scroll direction in which a display range of the display unit is to be moved, and an inclination detection unit detecting an inclination of the main body, the scroll control method comprising:

causing, among inclinations detected by the inclination detection unit, an inclination in the scroll direction when the scroll direction is instructed by the direction instruction unit to be stored as a reference inclination;

outputting an inclination difference between the stored reference inclination and an inclination in the scroll direction detected by the inclination detection unit; and

moving the display range of the display unit in accordance with the inclination difference outputted at the outputting.