Portable display device, method of controlling portable display device, program, and recording medium

• US 8,669,955 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2010
• Issued: 03/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Nishio, Masaaki, Kataoka, Yoshirou, Kumada, Kouji
• Primary Examiner(s): HALEY, JOSEPH R
• Application Number:
  US13/387,618
• Publication Number:
  US 20120127109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,453 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3262 Power saving in digitizer or tablet
• 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 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• 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: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Provided is a portable display device sufficiently small to be held with one hand that enters a state for accepting a gesture when a fixed coordinate position near a central portion between a left display unit (14a) and a right display unit (14b) is pressed with a thumb Ftl of one hand holding the device, and accepts a command for performing such as page flipping processing based on a gesture inputted with an index finger Ffr of the other hand. Thus, it is possible to achieve an interface for input operations suitable for a two-screen display screen, where holding a two-screen portable display device naturally causes the device to enter a command accepting state to allow gesture recognition, and to enter a command non-accepting state when the portable display device is not held, in order to prevent a command from being falsely executed due to an unintended contact and such to the display screen.

Claims

1. A portable display device configured to be held by a user, the device comprising:

a display unit configured to display images respectively in two adjacent screens;

an input unit configured to obtain two or more coordinates of positions on the display unit, the positions being subjected to one of approach, contact, and press by the user; and

a gesture recognizing unit configured to recognize and execute a previously stored processing command corresponding to a changing form of two or more related coordinates by chronologically associating the coordinates of the positions subjected to one of approach, contact, and press on the display unit and obtained by the input unit, wherein

the gesture recognizing unit enters;

a non-accepting state in which recognition and execution of the processing command are unallowed when the coordinates obtained by the input unit do not include a predetermined fixed coordinate, and an accepting state in which recognition of the processing command is allowed when the coordinates obtained by the input unit include the fixed coordinate; and

the input unit obtains, as the fixed coordinate, a predetermined fixed coordinate of a position on the display unit that corresponds to a position of one finger of the user and that corresponds to a position suitable for holding the portable display device by one hand of the user.

2. The portable display device according to claim 1, wherein

the gesture recognizing unit executes the processing command based on the fixed coordinate that have been previously determined, the fixed coordinate being located in a fixed coordinate area that includes a part of an adjacent side between the two screens.

3. The portable display device according to claim 1, wherein

the input unit obtains, as the two or more related coordinates, coordinates of positions on the display unit that are corresponding to a position of another finger of the user.

4. The portable display device according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit is foldable such that the two screens face toward each other taking a portion at or near a side where the two screens are adjacent as a valley-folding line, and

the gesture recognizing unit executes the processing command based on the fixed coordinate including a coordinate on or near the valley-folding line.

5. The portable display device according to claim 1, wherein

when the two or more related coordinates represent a changing form in which the coordinates move from one to the other of the two screens, the gesture recognizing unit recognizes and executes a predetermined page forwarding command corresponding to the changing form, and

the display unit displays two images respectively associated with predetermined pages in a two-page center spread manner in the two screens, and displays images associated with pages incremented or decremented by a predetermined number according to the changing form when the page forwarding command is executed by the gesture recognizing unit.

6. The portable display device according to claim 1, wherein

when the coordinates obtained by the input unit include previously determined coordinates successively for a predetermined time period, the gesture recognizing unit recognizes and executes a predetermined page forwarding command during this period, the previously determined coordinates being positioned near an outer circumference of the two screens and distant from the fixed coordinate by a predetermined distance, and

the display unit displays two images respectively associated with predetermined pages in a two-page center spread manner in the two screens, and displays images associated with pages incremented or decremented by a predetermined number during the period at a predetermined time interval when the page forwarding command is recognized by the gesture recognizing unit.

7. The portable display device according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit displays two images respectively associated with predetermined pages in a two-page center spread manner in the two screens, and

when the two or more related coordinates represent a changing form in which the two or more related coordinates move from a portion near an end of the screen to a portion near a center of the screen at or near a portion at which the two screens are adjacent, the gesture recognizing unit recognizes a predetermined bookmark assigning command, and stores pages corresponding to the images displayed in the display unit.

8. The portable display device according to claim 1, wherein

when the two or more related coordinates represent a changing form in which the two or more related coordinates move from a portion near one side to a portion near another side out of four outer sides of at least one square display window in the two screens, the gesture recognizing unit recognizes and executes a predetermined window form changing command corresponding to the changing form, and

when the window form changing command is executed by the gesture recognizing unit, the display unit changes one of the number and a form of divisions of the window according to the changing form, and displays the images in the window in the form after the change.

9. The portable display device according to claim 1, wherein

the gesture recognizing unit enters:

a non-accepting state in which recognition and execution of the processing command are unallowed when the coordinates obtained by the input unit do not include a predetermined number of fixed coordinates out of a plurality of predetermined fixed coordinates at or near a portion at which the two screens are adjacent, and an accepting state in which recognition of the processing command is allowed when the coordinates obtained by the input unit include the predetermined number of fixed coordinates.

10. The portable display device according to claim 1, wherein

during a time period in which the gesture recognizing unit is in the non-accepting state, the input unit performs at least one of an operation of limiting a range of coordinates to be obtained on the display unit to the fixed coordinate or near the fixed coordinate, and an operation of setting a time interval at which the coordinates on the display unit are to be obtained to be longer than a time period during which the gesture recognizing unit is in the accepting state, thereby obtaining the coordinates.

11. A method of controlling a portable display device configured to be held by a user and having a display unit for displaying an image over two adjacent screens, the method comprising:

an input step of obtaining two or more coordinates of positions on the display unit, the positions being subjected to one of approach, contact, and press by the user; and

a gesture recognizing step of recognizing and executing a previously stored processing command corresponding to a changing form of two or more related coordinates by chronologically associating the coordinates of the positions subjected to one of approach, contact, and press on the display unit and obtained in the input step, wherein

the gesture recognizing step is in;

a non-accepting state in which recognition and execution of the processing command are unallowed when the coordinates obtained in the input step do not include a previously determined fixed coordinate of a position on the display unit that corresponds to a position of one finger of the user and that corresponds to a position suitable for holding the portable display device by one hand of the user, and an accepting state in which recognition of the processing command is allowed when the coordinates obtained in the input step include the fixed coordinate.

12. A computer-readable non-transitory recording medium having a program recorded therein, the program causing a portable display device having a display unit for displaying an image over two adjacent screens and configured to be held by a user to execute:

an input step of obtaining two or more coordinates of positions on the display unit, the positions being subjected to one of approach, contact, and press by the user; and

a gesture recognizing step of recognizing and executing a previously stored processing command corresponding to a changing form of two or more related coordinates by chronologically associating the coordinates of the positions subjected to one of approach, contact, and press on the display unit and obtained in the input step, wherein

the gesture recognizing step is in;

a non-accepting state in which recognition and execution of the processing command are unallowed when the coordinates obtained in the input step do not include a previously determined fixed coordinate of a position on the display unit that corresponds to a position of one finger of the user and that corresponds to a position suitable for holding the portable display device by one hand of the user, and an accepting state in which recognition of the processing command is allowed when the coordinates obtained in the input step include the fixed coordinate.