Information display device

• US 8,671,344 B2
• Filed: 02/01/2010
• Issued: 03/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Icho, Keiji, Kawanishi, Ryouichi, Kimata, Teruyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): POHLMAN, JAMES GREGORY
• Application Number:
  US12/936,014
• Publication Number:
  US 20110154196A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,499 Days
• Field of Search: 715/702
• US Class Current: 715/702
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/54 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

The present invention aims to provide an information display device for easily changing a scrolling speed and a display mode. The information display device receives an instruction for displaying a plurality of contents, via a move operation on a two-dimensional plane defined by first and second axes; determines a moving speed for moving the contents, based on a motion component of the move operation along the first axis, and determines a display mode for displaying the contents, based on a motion component of the move operation along the second axis; and displays the contents in the display mode on a screen, by scrolling through the contents at the moving speed.

Claims

1. An information display device comprising:

a reception unit operable to extract, from a motion vector obtained by a move operation by a user on a two-dimensional plane defined by first and second axes, a motion component along the first axis and a motion component along the second axis, and to receive an instruction for displaying a plurality of contents according to the extracted motion components;

a determination unit operable to determine a moving speed for moving the contents, based on the motion component along the first axis, and to determine a display mode for displaying the contents, based on the motion component along the second axis; and

a display unit operable to display the contents in the determined display mode on a screen, by scrolling through the contents at the determined moving speed,

wherein the screen has a touch panel function,

wherein the move operation is an operation performed by the user sliding a finger on the screen,

wherein the reception unit is further operable to specify a starting position on the screen which the finger touches at a start of the move operation, and to specify the motion components along the first and the second axes by the move operation,

wherein the display unit is further operable to display a predetermined initial figure at the starting position, and subsequently display a figure corresponding to the motion components along the first and the second axes after changing the predetermined initial figure to the corresponding figure,

wherein the reception unit is further operable, after the sliding of the finger is performed on the screen, to receive a pressing operation in which pressing of the finger is continuous at an ending position of the sliding,

wherein the determination unit is further operable to judge whether or not to maintain the determined moving speed and the determined display mode, based on the pressing operation,

wherein the display unit is further operable to stop displaying the contents in the display mode by scrolling through the contents at the moving speed, when the determination unit judges that the moving speed and the display mode are not to be maintained,

wherein the determination unit judges that the moving speed and the display mode are to be maintained when judging that a pressing time period at the ending position of the sliding has exceeded a predetermined time period, and judges that the moving speed and the display mode are not to be maintained when judging that the pressing time period has not exceeded the predetermined time period,

wherein the determination unit is further operable to measure a time in which the pressing operation at the ending position is being performed, and

wherein the display unit is further operable, while the reception unit is receiving the pressing operation, to display at least one of the time that is being measured and a message indicating whether to maintain the determined moving speed and the determined display mode.

2. The information display device of claim 1, wherein

the determination unit determines the moving speed such that the larger the motion component in a given direction along the first axis is, the faster the moving speed for scrolling through the contents is, and

the display unit displays the contents by scrolling through the contents in a direction opposite from the given direction at the moving speed.

3. The information display device of claim 2, wherein

the contents are images,

the display mode indicates a display size of the images, and

the determination unit determines the display size such that the larger the motion component in a given direction along the second axis is, the smaller the display size is.

4. The information display device of claim 2, wherein

the contents are images,

the display mode indicates a number of lines of the images to be displayed in a direction orthogonal to a direction for scrolling through the images, and

the determination unit determines the number of lines such that the larger a motion component in a given direction along the second axis is, the larger the number of lines is.

5. The information display device of claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the predetermined initial figure after changing the corresponding figure back to the predetermined initial figure, when the determination unit judges that the pressing time period has not exceeded the predetermined time period.

6. The information display device of claim 1, wherein the display unit is further operable, in a case where a next move operation is performed from a position of the screen that is currently touched by the finger, to display (i) information indicating that the moving speed has been changed in accordance with a direction of the finger sliding along the first axis and (ii) information indicating that the display mode has been changed in accordance with a direction of the finger sliding along the second axis.

7. The information display device of claim 1, wherein

the screen is divided into first and second display areas,

the information display device further comprises an acquisition unit operable to acquire display information sets pertaining to a display of the contents, and

the display unit displays the contents in the first display area, and displays the display information sets in the second display area.

8. The information display device of claim 7, wherein

the display information sets are metadata sets, each of the metadata sets corresponding to and identifying a different one of the contents, and

the display unit displays, in the second display area, one or more metadata sets corresponding to one or more contents that are being displayed in the first display area.

9. The information display device of claim 8, wherein

the contents are pictures, and

each of the metadata sets indicates at least one of (i) a face of a person included in a corresponding picture and (ii) a color shade of a whole or part of the corresponding picture.

10. The information display device of claim 7, wherein the display information indicates at least one of the determined moving speed and the determined display mode.

11. A display method used in an information display device, comprising:

a reception step of extracting, from a motion vector obtained by a move operation by a user on a two-dimensional plane defined by first and second axes, a motion component along the first axis and a motion component along the second axis, and of receiving an instruction for displaying a plurality of contents according to the extracted motion components;

a determination step of determining a moving speed for moving the contents, based on the motion component along the first axis, and of determining a display mode for displaying the contents, based on the motion component along the second axis; and

a display step of displaying the contents in the determined display mode on a screen, by scrolling through the contents at the determined moving speed,

wherein the screen has a touch panel function,

wherein the move operation is an operation performed by the user sliding a finger on the screen,

wherein the reception step further specifies a starting position on the screen which the finger touches at a start of the move operation, and specifies the motion components along the first and the second axes by the move operation,

wherein the display step further displays a predetermined initial figure at the starting position, and subsequently displays a figure corresponding to the motion components along the first and the second axes after changing the predetermined initial figure to the corresponding figure,

wherein, after the sliding of the finger is performed on the screen, the reception step further receives a pressing operation in which pressing of the finger is continuous at an ending position of the sliding,

wherein the determination step further judges whether or not to maintain the determined moving speed and the determined display mode, based on the pressing operation,

wherein the display step further stops displaying the contents in the display mode by scrolling through the contents at the moving speed, when the determination step judges that the moving speed and the display mode are not to be maintained,

wherein the determination step judges that the moving speed and the display mode are to be maintained when judging that a pressing time period at the ending position of the sliding has exceeded a predetermined time period, and judges that the moving speed and the display mode are not to be maintained when judging that the pressing time period has not exceeded the predetermined time period,

wherein the determination step further measures a time in which the pressing operation at the ending position is being performed, and

wherein, while the reception step is receiving the pressing operation, the display step further displays at least one of the time that is being measured and a message indicating whether to maintain the determined moving speed and the determined display mode.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having a computer program recorded thereon, the computer program causing an information display device to execute a method comprising:

a reception step of extracting, from a motion vector obtained by a move operation by a user on a two-dimensional plane defined by first and second axes, a motion component along the first axis and a motion component along the second axis, and of receiving an instruction for displaying a plurality of contents according to the extracted motion components;

a determination step of determining a moving speed for moving the contents, based on the motion component along the first axis, and of determining a display mode for displaying the contents, based on the motion component along the second axis; and

a display step of displaying the contents in the determined display mode on a screen, by scrolling through the contents at the determined moving speed,

wherein the screen has a touch panel function,

wherein the move operation is an operation performed by the user sliding a finger on the screen,

wherein the reception step further specifies a starting position on the screen which the finger touches at a start of the move operation, and specifies the motion components along the first and the second axes by the move operation,

wherein the display step further displays a predetermined initial figure at the starting position, and subsequently displays a figure corresponding to the motion components along the first and the second axes after changing the predetermined initial figure to the corresponding figure,

wherein, after the sliding of the finger is performed on the screen, the reception step further receives a pressing operation in which pressing of the finger is continuous at an ending position of the sliding,

wherein the determination step further judges whether or not to maintain the determined moving speed and the determined display mode, based on the pressing operation,

wherein the display step further stops displaying the contents in the display mode by scrolling through the contents at the moving speed, when the determination step judges that the moving speed and the display mode are not to be maintained,

wherein the determination step judges that the moving speed and the display mode are to be maintained when judging that a pressing time period at the ending position of the sliding has exceeded a predetermined time period, and judges that the moving speed and the display mode are not to be maintained when judging that the pressing time period has not exceeded the predetermined time period,

wherein the determination step further measures a time in which the pressing operation at the ending position is being performed, and

wherein, while the reception step is receiving the pressing operation, the display step further displays at least one of the time that is being measured and a message indicating whether to maintain the determined moving speed and the determined display mode.

13. An integrated circuit used in an information display device, comprising:

a reception unit operable to extract, from a motion vector obtained by a move operation by a user on a two-dimensional plane defined by first and second axes, a motion component along the first axis and a motion component along the second axis, and to receive an instruction for displaying a plurality of contents according to the extracted motion components;

a determination unit operable to determine a moving speed for moving the contents, based on the motion component along the first axis, and to determine a display mode for displaying the contents, based on the motion component along the second axis; and

a display unit operable to display the contents in the determined display mode on a screen, by scrolling through the contents at the determined moving speed,

wherein the screen has a touch panel function,

wherein the move operation is an operation performed by the user sliding a finger on the screen,

wherein the reception unit is further operable to specify a starting position on the screen which the finger touches at a start of the move operation, and to specify the motion components along the first and the second axes by the move operation,

wherein the display unit is further operable to display a predetermined initial figure at the starting position, and subsequently display a figure corresponding to the motion components along the first and the second axes after changing the predetermined initial figure to the corresponding figure,

wherein the reception unit is further operable, after the sliding of the finger is performed on the screen, to receive a pressing operation in which pressing of the finger is continuous at an ending position of the sliding,

wherein the determination unit is further operable to judge whether or not to maintain the determined moving speed and the determined display mode, based on the pressing operation,

wherein the display unit is further operable to stop displaying the contents in the display mode by scrolling through the contents at the moving speed, when the determination unit judges that the moving speed and the display mode are not to be maintained,

wherein the determination unit judges that the moving speed and the display mode are to be maintained when judging that a pressing time period at the ending position of the sliding has exceeded a predetermined time period, and judges that the moving speed and the display mode are not to be maintained when judging that the pressing time period has not exceeded the predetermined time period,

wherein the determination unit is further operable to measure a time in which the pressing operation at the ending position is being performed, and

wherein the display unit is further operable, while the reception unit is receiving the pressing operation, to display at least one of the time that is being measured and a message indicating whether to maintain the determined moving speed and the determined display mode.