Electronic apparatus and program storage medium

• US 7,903,845 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2006
• Issued: 03/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Client Computing Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Matsunaga, Satoshi, Masamune, Katsunori
• Primary Examiner(s): Mariam; Daniel G
• Application Number:
  US11/451,414
• Publication Number:
  US 20070217662A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,729 Days
• Field of Search: 382115-124, 382/209, 382/218, 382/313, 178/18.01, 178/18.02, 178/18.03, 345/156, 345/179, 713/186, 902/3, 340/5.83
• US Class Current: 382/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1335 Combining adjacent partial images (e.g. slices) to create a composite input or reference pattern; Tracking a sweeping finger movement

Abstract

There is provided an electronic apparatus that can scroll an image on a display screen with a simple operation and in various modes. A glide point is provided and a fingerprint sensor is provided adjacently to the glide point. Scroll mode is changed in response to a touch of a finger or thumb on the glide point and a vertical or horizontal movement of the finger or thumb on the glide point and an image on the display screen is scrolled in response to an upward or downward movement of a finger or thumb on the fingerprint sensor.

Claims

1. An electronic apparatus comprising:

a display screen which displays an image;

a glide point which detects a touch of a finger or thumb and a movement of the finger or thumb touching the glide point;

a fingerprint sensor which detects the fingerprint of a finger or thumb; and

a scroll control section which controls scrolling of the image on the display screen by using a combination of information detected by the glide point and a movement of the fingerprint indicated by information detected by the fingerprint sensor.

2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scroll control section changes scroll mode in response to a touch of a finger or thumb on the glide point and a movement of the finger or thumb on the glide point and scrolls the image on the display screen in response to a movement of the fingerprint indicated by the information detected by the fingerprint sensor.

3. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scroll control section scrolls the image on the display screen in a first scroll mode in response to the movement of the fingerprint being detected as moving on the fingerprint sensor at a speed lower than or equal to a predetermined speed in the first scroll mode, and changes the scroll mode to a second scroll mode in response to the movement of the fingerprint being detected as moving on the fingerprint sensor at a speed exceeding the predetermined speed;

executes the second scroll mode in response to the detected movement in the second scroll mode; and

changes the scroll mode to the first scroll mode in response to a touch of the finger or the thumb on the glide point.

4. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scroll control section scrolls the image on the display screen in a first scroll mode in response to the movement of the fingerprint being detected as moving on the fingerprint sensor at a speed lower than or equal to a predetermined speed in the first scroll mode, and changes the scroll mode to a second scroll mode in response to the movement of the fingerprint being detected as moving on the fingerprint sensor at a speed exceeding the predetermined speed and scrolls the image on the display screen in the second scroll mode;

and

changes the scroll mode to the first scroll mode in response to a touch of the finger on the glide point.

5. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the glide point and the fingerprint sensor are positioned adjacently to each other.

6. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fingerprint sensor is a line-type fingerprint sensor which includes a line sensor and detects the fingerprint of a finger or thumb placed on the line sensor and moved in the orthogonal direction of the line sensor.

7. A scroll control apparatus used in an electronic apparatus having a display screen which displays an image, a glide point which detects a touch of a finger or thumb and a movement of the finger or thumb touching the glide point, and a fingerprint sensor which detects the fingerprint of a finger or thumb, the scroll control apparatus comprising:

a scroll control section which controls scrolling of the image on the display screen by using a combination of information detected by the glide point and a movement of the fingerprint indicated by information detected by the fingerprint sensor.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable program storage medium that stores a program to be executed on an electronic apparatus having a display screen which displays an image, a glide point which detects a touch of a finger or thumb and a movement of the finger or thumb touching the glide point, and a fingerprint sensor which detects the fingerprint of a finger or thumb, the program causing the electronic apparatus to function as:

a scroll control section which controls scrolling of the image on the display screen by using a combination of information detected by the glide point and a movement of the fingerprint indicated by information detected by the fingerprint sensor.