Menu display apparatus and method and recording medium storing computer program for executing the menu display method

• US 8,832,602 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2013
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Jung-won
• Primary Examiner(s): Iturralde, Enrique
• Application Number:
  US13/739,900
• Publication Number:
  US 20130132902A1
• Time in Patent Office: 606 Days
• Field of Search: 715/855
• US Class Current: 715/855
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

A menu display apparatus and method, which enable a user to easily and quickly search for content of interest among a plurality of contents shared by a plurality of devices in a home network, are provided. The menu display method includes: receiving information regarding a zoom-in location or a zoom-out location on a current menu screen; and zooming in the current menu screen at the zoom-in location so that a plurality of menus currently displayed on the current menu screen are displayed in more detail, or zooming out the current menu screen at the zoom-out location so that the menus are displayed in less detail. Accordingly, it is possible to minimize content search delay and the user'"'"'s inconvenience related to a content search, such as too much screen scrolling, and to help the user to easily and quickly search for the content of interest.

Claims

1. A menu display method comprising:

receiving information regarding one of a zoom-in location and a zoom-out location on current menus displayed on a current menu screen by moving one of a zoom-in icon and a zoom-out icon;

determining a plurality of lower menus below the current menus, corresponding to the zoom-in location when the zoom-in icon is placed at the zoom-in location, or a plurality of upper menus above the current menus, corresponding to the zoom-out location when the zoom-out icon is placed at the zoom-out location; and

displaying the determined lower menus by zooming in the current menu screen at the zoom-in location or the determined upper menus by zooming out the current menu screen at the zoom-out location, based on the determination result,

wherein the zoom-in icon and the zoom-out icon are used for searching for hierarchies of the current menus.

2. The menu display method of claim 1, wherein the zoom-in icon and the zoom-out icon are movable on the current menu screen by a user input, and the zoom-in location and the zoom-out location are locations at which the zoom-in icon and the zoom-out icon are positioned by the user input.

3. The menu display method of claim 1, wherein the current menus comprise a list of network-connectable devices and a list of contents stored in the network-connectable devices.

4. The menu display method of claim 3, wherein the list of the network-connectable devices is displayed on the current menu screen according to locations of the network-connectable devices in a network.

5. The menu display method of claim 1, wherein the current menus are displayed as a map arranged to indicate storage capacities of the network-connectable devices.

6. The menu display method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the current menus, the determined lower menus and the determined upper menus are displayed in different colors.

7. The menu display method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the current menu screen is zoomed in to a first predetermined extent according to a magnitude at the zoom-in location based on the received information,

wherein the determining of the lower menus determines the lower menus, when the current menu screen is determined to be zoomed in to more than the first predetermined extent.

8. The menu display method of claim 7, further comprising displaying the current menu screen enlargedly, when the current menu screen is determined to be zoomed in to less than the first predetermined extent.

9. The menu display method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the current menu screen is zoomed out to a second predetermined extent according to a magnitude at the zoom-out location based on the received information,

wherein the determining of the upper menus determines the upper menus, when the current menu screen is determined to be zoomed out to more than the second predetermined extent.

10. The menu display method of claim 9, further comprising displaying the current menu screen reducedly, when the current menu screen is determined to be zoomed out to less than the first predetermined extent.

11. The menu display method of claim 1, wherein when the receiving of the information is successively received a number of times, the determining of the lower menus or the upper menus determines the lower menus or the upper menus being proportional to the number.

12. The menu display method of claim 1, wherein the displaying the determined lower menus or the determined upper menus are displayed on a display unit of a menu display apparatus connected to network-connectable devices in a network.

19. The menu display apparatus of claim 9, the display unit displays the current menu screen reducedly when the current menu screen is determined to be zoomed out to less than the first predetermined extent by the control unit.

13. A menu display apparatus comprising:

an input unit to receive information regarding one of a zoom-in location and a zoom-out location on current menus displayed on a current menu screen by moving one of a zoom-in icon and a zoom-out icon;

a control unit to determines a plurality of lower menus below the current menus, corresponding to the zoom-in location when the zoom-in icon is placed at the zoom-in location, or a plurality of upper menus above the current menus, corresponding to the zoom-out location when the zoom-out icon is placed at the zoom-out location; and

a display unit to display the determined lower menus by zooming in the current menu screen at the zoom-in location or the determined upper menus by zooming out the current menu screen at the zoom-out location, based on the determination result,

wherein the zoom-in icon and the zoom-out icon are used for searching for hierarchies of the current menus.

14. The menu display apparatus of claim 13, wherein the zoom-in icon and the zoom-out icon are movable on the current menu screen by a user input via the input unit, and the zoom-in location and the zoom-out location are locations at which the zoom-in icon and the zoom-out icon are positioned by the user input.

15. The menu display apparatus of claim 13, wherein the current menus comprise a list of network-connectable devices and a list of contents stored in the network-connectable devices.

16. The menu display apparatus of claim 13, wherein the control unit determines whether the current menu screen is zoomed in to a first predetermined extent according to a magnitude at the zoom-in location based on the received information, and determines the lower menus when the current menu screen is determined to be zoomed in to more than the first predetermined extent.

17. The menu display apparatus of claim 16, the display unit displays the current menu screen enlargedly when the current menu screen is determined to be zoomed in to less than the first predetermined extent by the control unit.

18. The menu display apparatus of claim 13, wherein the control unit determines whether the current menu screen is zoomed out to a second predetermined extent according to a magnitude at the zoom-out location based on the received information, and determines the upper menus when the current menu screen is determined to be zoomed out to more than the second predetermined extent.

20. The menu display apparatus of claim 13, wherein when the input unit successively received information regarding a number of times, the control unit determines the lower menus or the upper menus being proportional to the number.