Page search method and electronic device supporting the same

• US 9,652,140 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2014
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Song, Sejun, Na, Boyeon, Lee, Yohan
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Hien
• Application Number:
  US14/167,109
• Publication Number:
  US 20140215386A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,203 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a page search function, and provides a page search method and electronic device supporting the same. The page search method for an electronic device includes: identifying information elements contained in a page to be output on a display unit of the electronic device; assigning indexes to the information elements for distinction in consideration of types of the information elements; arranging the indexes on a scroll bar region corresponding to the page; and outputting a composite scroll bar containing the scroll bar region on which the indexes are arranged.

Claims

1. A page search method for an electronic device, comprising:

identifying types and positions of information elements contained in a page to be output on a display unit of the electronic device by examining source information associated with the page;

assigning indexes to the information elements, wherein the indexes are distinctly assigned according to the types of the information elements, wherein the assigning of the indexes comprises assigning thumbnail images as the indexes to the information elements;

arranging the indexes on a scroll bar region corresponding to the page based on the identified positions of the information elements;

outputting a composite scroll bar containing the scroll bar region on which the indexes are arranged,

wherein in response to an input for an index selection generated at a position of the composite scroll bar being selected by touching the position, the display outputs, a page region corresponding to the selected position, and wherein in response to a simultaneous touch selection of a plurality of thumbnail images, outputting an additional scroll region with a corresponding quantity of categories of thumbnail images separately arranged at regular intervals.

2. The page search method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a page output request, wherein the receiving of the page output request comprises receiving a server page request after access to a server page in which thumbnail images related to information elements of the server page are received before actual content of the server page are completely received and creating the composite scroll bar on a basis of the thumbnail images, and receiving a document page request after invocation of a document file.

3. The page search method of claim 1, wherein the assigning of the indexes further comprises at least one of

assigning indexes having shapes or colors indicating types of the information elements to the information elements;

and

assigning images as the indexes to the information elements, wherein the images have characters or numbers indicating types of the information elements.

4. The page search method of claim 1, wherein the assigning of the indexes comprises assigning the indexes to the information elements excluding an information element of a given type in consideration of type of the information element.

5. The page search method of claim 1, wherein the arranging of the indexes further comprises merging indexes within a given distance, among the indexes arranged on the scroll bar region, into a combined index.

6. The page search method of claim 5, further comprising:

outputting a composite scroll bar containing the combined index.

7. The page search method of claim 6, wherein the outputting of the additional scroll region comprises replacing the indexes in the additional scroll region with thumbnail images corresponding to information elements indicated respectively by the indexes.

8. The page search method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving an event to enlarge or reduce the additional scroll region; and

enlarging or reducing the additional scroll region upon reception of the event.

9. The page search method of claim 8, further comprising adjusting, when the additional scroll region is changed, shapes of the indexes according to a size of a changed additional scroll region.

10. The page search method of claim 5, further comprising outputting numerical information indicating a number of indexes merged in the combined index.

11. The page search method of claim 1, further comprising:

changing, upon switching between a portrait mode and a landscape mode, a size of the scroll bar region; and

adjusting positions of the indexes according to a changed scroll bar region.

12. The page search method of claim 11, further comprising one Of:

merging the indexes into a combined index in response to a gap between indexes in the scroll bar region being decreased down to less than a preset distance according to position adjustment; and

demerging a combined index into individual indexes in response to the gap between indexes in the scroll bar region being increased up to more than a preset distance according to position adjustment.

13. An electronic device supporting page search, comprising:

a display unit configured to output a page containing information elements and a composite scroll bar containing indexes corresponding to the information elements; and

a controller configured to control a process of identifying types and positions of information elements in the page by examining source information associated with the page, assigning distinct indexes to the information elements according to the types of the information elements, wherein the assigning of the distinct indexes comprises assigning thumbnail images as the distinct indexes to the information elements, arranging the indexes on a scroll bar region corresponding to the page based on the identified positions of the information elements, and outputting a composite scroll bar containing a scroll bar region, corresponding to the page, on which the indexes are arranged,

wherein in response to an input for an index selection generated at a position of the composite scroll bar being selected by touching the position, the display outputs, a page region corresponding to the selected position, and wherein in response to a simultaneous touch selection of a plurality of thumbnail images, the display outputs, an additional scroll bar region with a corresponding quantity of categories of thumbnail images separately arranged at regular intervals.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, further comprising at least one of:

a communication unit configured to receive a server page request after access to a server page in which thumbnail images related to information elements of the server page are received before actual content of the server page are completely received and creating the composite scroll bar on a basis of the thumbnail images; and

a storage unit configured to store document page files.

15. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein each of the information elements has a type, and wherein the controller further assigns distinct indexes having shapes or colors indicating the types of the information elements to the information elements.

16. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein each of the information elements has a type, and wherein the controller assigns one or more images indicating types of the information elements as indexes to the information elements.

17. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the controller assigns distinct indexes to the information elements excluding in consideration of types of the information elements, wherein the indexes exclude information elements of a given type.

18. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the controller merges distinct indexes within a given distance, among the indexes arranged on the scroll bar region, into a combined index.

19. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein in response to switching between a portrait mode and a landscape mode, the controller changes a size of the scroll bar region, and adjusts positions of the distinct indexes according to a changed size of the scroll bar region.

20. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein in response to multiple distinct indexes in the composite scroll bar being selected with a single touch gesture, the display outputs the additional scroll region.

21. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the display outputs a previous position mark at a position of the composite scroll bar corresponding to the page region viewed before the position was selected.

22. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the display further outputs the page region viewed before selection was made upon de-selection of the position.

23. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein in response to a page composed of multiple sections being output, the display perform at least one of outputting a composite scroll bar for each section, outputting a composite scroll bar for a section selected from the multiple sections, and outputting a composite scroll bar for a section selected from the multiple sections and further outputting a composite scroll bar for a newly selected section in response to an input signal for selecting a section is generated.

24. The electronic device of claim 13, further comprising a communication unit configured to receive thumbnail images of information elements contained in the page, and wherein the controller classifies the thumbnail images and assigns distinct indexes to the thumbnail images.

25. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the controller controls an operation to output the composite scroll bar at the same time when the page is output, output the composite scroll bar in response to an event for requesting the composite scroll bar is generated after output of the page, or output the composite scroll bar in response to a page region configured for a composite scroll bar being selected after output of the page.