Information display apparatus with proximity detection performance and information display method using the same

• US 8,217,914 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2011
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Koshiyama, Atsushi, Oba, Haruo
• Primary Examiner(s): MANDEVILLE, JASON M
• Application Number:
  US13/195,302
• Publication Number:
  US 20110279364A1
• Time in Patent Office: 344 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-178, 345/156, 345/169, 178/18.06, 348/169, 715/700, 715/862, 715/864, 715763-764
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 2203/04108 Touchless 2D- 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 without distance measurement in the Z direction
• 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 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041661 using detection at multiple resolutions, e.g. coarse and fine scanning; using detection within a limited area, e.g. object tracking window
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

An information display apparatus with proximity detection performance contains a display device that displays image information, a sensor constituted of plural detection electrodes, and an adjusting device of detection resolution that adjusts the detection resolution to be detected based on a distance between the sensor and an object that is contacted to any one of the detection electrodes.

Claims

1. A display control apparatus that controls a display on a display device, the apparatus comprising:

a detection device for a two-dimensional plane that detects a movement of an object based on three-dimensional position of the object, the three-dimensional position of the object including a position corresponding to the two-dimensional plane and a space perpendicular to the two-dimensional plane;

a display control device that displays a plurality of icons arranged along a periphery of a screen near a frame of the screen, the display control device rearranges and displays the icons on the screen of the display device such that the icons are moved, based on the position of the object, from the periphery of the screen to predetermined positions wherein the icons are positioned on a circumference of a circle, for the purpose of selecting an application, in response to detecting that the object moves into a first detection space among a plurality of detection spaces based on a three-dimensional position of the object relative to the surface of the display device,

wherein, among the plurality of detection spaces, the display control device further expands and displays a specific icon and at least one other icon of the plurality of icons in response to detecting a movement of the object into a second detection space, the three-dimensional position of the second detection space being closer to the surface of the display device than the first detection space, and the specific icon is an icon to which the object is closest in proximity.

2. The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, the display control device expands and displays the specific icon and an icon existing around the specific icon.

3. The display control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein, the display control device expands and displays the specific icon and icons existing on both sides of the specific icon.

4. The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control device displays only a single icon in response to detection that the object contacts the single icon being displayed on the screen of the display device.

5. The display control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the display control device controls the single icon to converge at a position on the screen, the position where the single icon is contacted by the object, in response to detection of a contact of the object.

6. The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control device further controls the rearranged icons so as to rotate on the screen of the display device, corresponding to a direction of rotation of the object.

7. The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, among the plurality of detection spaces, the display control device rearranges and displays the icons in response to detecting a movement of the object into the first detection space, wherein the first detection space exists in a detectable three-dimensional position that is farthest from the display device.

8. The display control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sensor that detects a three-dimensional position of the object using a plurality of electrodes, wherein the detection device detects a movement of the object based on the three-dimensional position detected by the sensor.

9. The display control apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a selection device that selects an electrode for detecting a three-dimensional position of the object from the plurality of electrodes based on obtained values obtained from at least one of the plurality of electrodes.

10. A display control method of a display control apparatus that controls a display on a display device,

wherein the display control apparatus includes a detecting device, and a display control device,

the method comprising the steps of:

detecting, by the detecting device for a two-dimensional plane, a movement of an object based on three-dimensional position of the object, the three-dimensional position of the object including a position corresponding to the two-dimensional plane and a space perpendicular to the two-dimensional plane;

the display control device displaying a plurality of icons arranged along a periphery of a screen near a frame of the screen, and the display control device rearranging and displaying the icons on the screen of the display device such that the icons are moved, based on the position of the object, from the periphery of the screen to predetermined positions wherein the icons are positioned on a circumference of a circle, for the purpose of selecting an application, in response to detecting that the object moves into a first detection space among a plurality of detection spaces based on a three-dimensional position of the object relative to the surface of the display device,

wherein, among the plurality of detection spaces, the display control device further expands and displays a specific icon and at least one other icon of the plurality of icons in response to detecting a movement of the object into a second detection space, the three-dimensional position of the second detection space being closer to the surface of the display device than the first detection space, and the specific icon is an icon to which the object is closest in proximity.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium having embedded thereon a program, for causing a computer of a display control apparatus that controls a display on a display device, to execute as:

a detection device for a two-dimensional plane that detects a movement of an object based on three-dimensional position of the object, the three-dimensional position of the object including a position corresponding to the two-dimensional plane and a space perpendicular to the two-dimensional plane; and

a display control device that displays a plurality of icons arranged along a periphery of a screen near a frame of the screen, the display control device rearranges and displays the icons on the screen of the display device such that the icons are moved, based on the position of the object, from the periphery of the screen to predetermined positions wherein the icons are positioned on a circumference of a circle, for the purpose of selecting an application, in response to detecting that the object moves into a first detection space among a plurality of detection spaces based on a three-dimensional position of the object relative to the surface of the display device,

wherein, among the plurality of detection spaces, the display control device further expands and displays a specific icon and at least one other icon of the plurality of icons in response to detecting a movement of the object into a second detection space, the three-dimensional position of the second detection space being closer to the surface of the display device than the first detection space, and the specific icon is an icon to which the object is closest in proximity.