Method and apparatus for controlling and displaying contents in a user interface

• US 8,677,284 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2009
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Aguilar, Antonio
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdul-Ali, Omar
• Assistant Examiner(s): TANK, ANDREW L
• Application Number:
  US12/612,038
• Publication Number:
  US 20110107272A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,595 Days
• Field of Search: 715/810, 715828-831, 715/840, 715/849, 715852-853, 715/863
• US Class Current: 715/863
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04802 3D-info-object: information is displayed on the internal or external surface of a three dimensional manipulable object, e.g. on the faces of a cube that can be rotated by the user
• 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 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A user interface with multiple applications which can be operated concurrently and/or independently by using simple finger gestures allows a user to intuitively operate and control digital information, functions, applications, etc. to improve operability. The user is able to use finger gesture to navigate the user interface via a virtual spindle metaphor to select different applications. The user can also split the user interface to at least two display segments which may contain different applications. Moreover, each display segment can be moved to a desirable location on the user interface to provide a seamless operation environment.

Claims

1. A user interface, comprising:

a controller for controlling an overall operation of the interface unit, the controller being configured to associate an application with each of a plurality of polygonal units;

a video generator operatively connected to the controller and configured to generate a polygonal column including said plurality of polygonal units;

a display screen operatively connected to the controller and video generator unit and configured to display each application in the polygonal unit thereon and

a gesture interpreting device operatively connected to the controller and configured to interpret a user'"'"'s finger gesture on the display screen so as to display each application according to the user'"'"'s finger gesture,

wherein the display screen is controlled by the controller based on the user'"'"'s finger gesture to display one application or split into at least two display segments to simultaneously display at least two different applications which can be operated concurrently and/or independently, and

wherein the gesture interpreting device detects a user'"'"'s finger location on the display screen, detects the user'"'"'s finger gesture, determines whether the user is splitting the display screen, and splits the display screen into at least two display segments to display at least two different applications when the user'"'"'s gesture is recognized to split the display screen by detecting a plurality of the user'"'"'s fingers on the display screen.

2. The user interface of claim 1,

wherein said controller is configured to group said applications hierarchically to display the applications in the same hierarchy simultaneously, wherein the application includes a source, a function, a music title and a medium title.

3. The user interface of claim 1, further comprising a location detecting device operatively connected to the controller and gesture interpreting device and configured to detect the user'"'"'s finger location on the display screen,

wherein the gesture interpreting device detects the user'"'"'s finger gesture based on information from the location detecting device,

wherein the controller determines whether the user is splitting the display screen based on information from the gesture interpreting device, and

wherein the controller causes the display screen to split into at least two display segments to display at least two different applications if the user'"'"'s gesture is recognized to split the display screen.

4. The user interface of claim 3,

wherein when determining whether the user is splitting the display screen, the location detecting device detects a first touch location of at least one finger on the display screen, and a second touch location of at least one finger on the display screen,

and wherein the gesture interpreting device measures a duration of the user'"'"'s finger(s) touching on the display screen, and a split length between the first location and the second location on the display screen detected by the location detecting device.

5. The user interface of claim 4,

wherein when measuring a split length between the first location and the second location on the display screen, the gesture interpreting device determines whether the split length is longer than a predetermined reference length and across a center line of the display screen, and

wherein the controller causes the display screen to spilt if the split length is longer than the predetermined reference length and across the center line of the display screen.

6. The user interface of claim 3,

wherein the controller causes the display screen to display at each application according to a user'"'"'s finger gesture and to move at least one application to a desirable position on the display screen.

7. A display method comprising the following steps of:

generating a polygonal column including a plurality of polygonal units;

associating an application with each of said polygonal units;

displaying each application in the polygonal unit on a display screen; and

arranging the user interface to display each application according to a user'"'"'s finger gesture,

wherein the display screen is controlled by the user'"'"'s finger gesture to display one application or split into at least two display segments to simultaneously display at least two different applications which can be operated concurrently and/or independently, and

wherein said step of arranging the user interface to display each application according to a user'"'"'s gesture comprises steps of detecting a user'"'"'s finger location on the display screen, detecting the user'"'"'s finger gesture, determining whether the user is splitting the display screen, and splitting the display screen into at least two display segments to display at least two different applications when the user'"'"'s gesture is recognized to split the display screen by detecting a plurality of the user'"'"'s fingers on the display screen.

8. The display method of claim 7, wherein said step of displaying each application in the polygonal unit on a display screen comprises the step of grouping said applications hierarchically to display the applications in the same hierarchy simultaneously, wherein the application includes a source, a function, a music title and a medium title.

9. The display method of claim 8, wherein the display method further comprises the step of searching for a specific application by spinning the polygonal column.

10. The display method of claim 7, wherein said step of arranging the display screen to display each application according to a user'"'"'s gesture comprises the steps of detecting the user'"'"'s finger location on the display screen, detecting the user'"'"'s finger gesture, determining whether the user is splitting the display screen, and splitting the display screen into at least two display segments to display at least two different applications if the user'"'"'s gesture is recognized to split the display screen.

11. The display method of claim 10, wherein said step of determining whether the user is splitting the display screen comprises the steps of detecting a first touch location of at least one finger on the display screen, detecting a second touch location of at least one finger on the display screen, measuring the duration of the user'"'"'s finger(s) touching on the display screen, and measuring a split length between the first location and the second location on the display screen.

12. The display method of claim 11, wherein said step of measuring a split length between the first location and the second location on the display screen comprises the step of determining whether the split length is longer than a predetermined reference length and across a center line of the display screen, wherein the screen is spilt if the split length is longer than the predetermined reference length and the across the center line of the display screen.

13. The display method of claim 10, wherein said step of arranging the display screen to display each application according to a user'"'"'s finger gesture further comprises the step of moving at least one application to a desirable position on the display screen.

14. A display apparatus, comprising:

a display screen to display at least one application thereon,

a location detecting unit configured to detect a location of at least one finger from a starting point to an ending point on the display screen;

a gesture interpreting unit communicatively coupled with the location detecting unit to recognize and interpret the user'"'"'s finger gesture on the display screen; and

an application managing unit,

wherein if the user'"'"'s finger gesture is interpreted to split the display screen to at least two display segments to simultaneously display at least two different applications which can be operated concurrently and/or independently, the application managing unit is programmed to enable at least one application displayed on one display segment, and

wherein the gesture interpreting unit detects the user'"'"'s finger location on the display screen, detects the user'"'"'s finger gesture, determines whether the user is splitting the display screen, and the display screen splits the display screen into at least two display segments to display at least two different applications when the user'"'"'s gesture is recognized to split the display screen by detecting a plurality of the user'"'"'s fingers on the display screen.

15. The display apparatus of claim 14, wherein the gesture interpreting unit comprises a length measuring unit to determine a split length between the starting and ending points of the finger(s) on the display screen and if the split length is longer than a predetermined length, the display screen is split into at least two display segments.

16. The display apparatus of claim 14, further comprises a control unit, which is communicatively connected with the location detecting unit and the gesture interpreting unit and adapted to control the entire screen splitting and displaying process.

17. The display apparatus of claim 16, further comprises a video generating unit which is configured to receive a command from the control unit to generate corresponding video image according to the user'"'"'s finger gesture.

18. The display apparatus of claim 17, wherein the display apparatus is communicatively coupled with a vehicle navigation system to display a route guidance and a vehicle'"'"'s current location on either the display screen or the display segment.

19. The display apparatus of claim 18, wherein a vehicle driver is allowed to move the display segment displaying the route and the vehicle'"'"'s current position on the display screen where a passenger is allowed to operate the navigation system.