Method for controlling a user interface, information processing apparatus, and computer readable medium

• US 9,081,493 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2009
• Issued: 07/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Inose, Tsutomu, Nagai, Hiroyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Pan, Yongjia
• Application Number:
  US12/469,056
• Publication Number:
  US 20090307589A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,246 Days
• Field of Search: 715/700, 715/702, 715/764, 715/769, 715/770, 715/863, 715/866, 345/173
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

In a user interface that can identify concurrent pointing at a plurality of given positions on a screen, after detecting that a plurality of pointed positions are concurrently present in a display range of one object on a screen, whether or not an operation of moving the other pointed positions is performed, while keeping at least one pointed position among the plurality of pointed positions, is determined. Then, if it is determined that this operation is performed, the processing that is to be executed is decided based on the number of kept pointed positions and the number of moved pointed positions, and the decided process is executed on the object.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a user interface that can concurrently detect a plurality of pointed positions on a screen, the method comprising:

detecting that a plurality of pointed positions are concurrently present in a display range of an object on the screen, using the user interface;

determining, after the presence of the plurality of pointed positions is detected, whether or not an operation of, while at least one pointed position among the plurality of pointed positions is kept, moving the other pointed positions of the plurality of pointed positions is performed;

determining, when it is determined that the operation is performed, whether the number of kept pointed positions is single or plural;

executing, in a case it is determined that there are plural kept pointed positions, copy processing in which data corresponding to the object is copied and a copy of the object is located at the moved pointed positions; and

executing, in a case it is determined that there is a single kept pointed position, enlargement/reduction processing in which a size of the object is enlarged or reduced in accordance with a distance between the kept pointed position and the moved pointed positions,

wherein the copy processing of the object is repeated each time the number of moved pointed positions is reduced.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising specifying the number of kept pointed positions,

wherein the copy processing is executed when the number of kept pointed positions is two, and deletion processing of data corresponding to the object is executed when the number of kept pointed positions is three.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein in said detecting step, a pointed position is detected from a user pointing on a touch panel or using a pointing device.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising displaying a copy of the object on the screen following the operation of moving the pointed positions,

wherein a copy of the object following the operation of moving the pointed positions is generated at a time when the number of moved pointed positions is reduced.

5. An information processing apparatus comprising a processor, the information processing apparatus having a user interface that can concurrently detect a plurality of pointed positions on a screen, the information processing apparatus comprising:

a detecting unit configured to detect that a plurality of pointed positions are concurrently present in a display range of an object on the screen;

a first determination unit configured to determine, after the presence of the plurality of pointed positions is detected by said detecting unit, whether or not an operation of, while at least one pointed position among the plurality of pointed positions is kept, moving the other pointed positions of the plurality of pointed positions is performed;

a second determination unit configured to determine, when it is determined by said first determination unit that the operation is performed, whether the number of kept pointed positions is single or plural;

a first execution unit configured to execute, in a case it is determined that there are plural kept pointed positions, copy processing in which data corresponding to the object is copied and a copy of the object is located at the moved pointed positions; and

a second execution unit configured to execute, in a case it is determined that there is a single kept pointed position, enlargement/reduction processing in which a size of the object is enlarged or reduced in accordance with a distance between the kept pointed position and the moved pointed positions,

wherein the copy processing of the object is repeated each time the number of moved pointed positions is reduced.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a specifying unit configured to specify the number of kept pointed positions,

wherein said first execution unit executes the copy processing when the number of kept pointed positions is two, and executes deletion processing of data corresponding to the object when the number of kept pointed positions is three.

7. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said detecting unit detects a pointed position from a user pointing on a touch panel or using a pointing device.

8. The apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a displaying unit configured to display a copy of the object on the screen following the operation of moving the pointed positions,

wherein a copy of the object following the operation of moving the pointed positions is generated at a time when the number of moved pointed positions is reduced.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a method for controlling a user interface that can concurrently detect a plurality of pointed positions on a screen, the method comprising:

detecting that a plurality of pointed positions are concurrently present in a display range of an object on the screen, using the user interface;

determining whether or not, after the presence of the plurality of pointed positions is detected, an operation of, while at least one pointed position among the plurality of pointed positions is kept, moving the other pointed positions of the plurality of pointed positions is performed;

determining, when it is determined that the operation is performed, whether the number of kept pointed positions is single or plural;

executing, in a case it is determined that there are plural kept pointed positions, copy processing in which data corresponding to the object is copied and a copy of the object is located at the moved pointed positions; and

executing, in a case it is determined that there is a single kept pointed position, enlargement/reduction processing in which a size of the object is enlarged or reduced in accordance with a distance between the kept pointed position and the moved pointed positions,

wherein the copy processing of the object is repeated each time the number of moved pointed positions is reduced.