Display control device, display control method, and display control program

• US 9,823,837 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2012
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yokoyama, Ryo, Oka, Toshio
• Primary Examiner(s): Xia, Xuyang
• Application Number:
  US14/358,409
• Publication Number:
  US 20140298276A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,841 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3262 Power saving in digitizer or tablet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0626 for control of overall brightness
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0686 with two or more screen areas displaying information with different brightness or colours
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/10 Intensity circuits
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

This display control device can effectively reduce power consumption while assuring visibility of a display area. A display control device (400) carries out display control for a display panel with an integrated touch panel and has: a touch operation information acquisition unit (410) that acquires touch operation information from the touch panel; a user operation information estimation unit (420) that estimates a region of interest, which is a region that a user is giving attention to, from the display region on the display panel on the basis of the touch operation information that is acquired; and a display control indication unit (440) that sets the brightness level for regions of non-interest, which is a region other than the region of interest estimated within the display region, lower than the set brightness level.

Claims

1. A display control apparatus that performs display control on a touch-panel-incorporated display panel, the display control apparatus comprising:

a processor and a memory, the processor being configured to;

store in the memory user information indicating whether the user is right-handed or left-handed;

acquire touch operation information from the touch panel;

determine whether or not the user is performing a pinch-out operation by using the user'"'"'s hand based on the acquired touch operation information;

estimate, upon determining that the user is performing a pinch-out operation, a region between a plurality of finger touch regions where the user is performing the pinch-out operation in a display region of the display panel as a target region which is a region of interest of the user;

set a brightness level of a non-target region to be lower than a set brightness level, the non-target region being a region other than the target region estimated in the display region, wherein the user is determined to be performing the pinch-out operation when a distance between a first touch region and a second touch region is less than a predetermined threshold, wherein the distance is measured between a first point and a second point, the first point is a point of the first touch region closest to the second touch region and a second point is a point of the second touch region closest to the first touch region;

estimate, a region between the first touch region and the second touch region as the target region, the first touch region being a region having a largest area in the touch regions indicated by the touch operation information, the second touch region being a region having a second largest area in the touch regions;

estimate a touch region and a region away from a right end point of the corresponding touch region in a rightward direction by a predetermined distance or more as hidden regions that are hidden by the user'"'"'s hand when the user is right-handed;

estimate a touch region and a region away from a left end point of the corresponding touch region in a leftward direction by a predetermined distance or more as the hidden regions when the user is left-handed; and

designate the estimated hidden regions as the non-target region.

2. The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the set brightness level is any one of a brightness level set beforehand by the user, a brightness level set as a default value, and a brightness level of the target region.

3. The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to store layout information indicating a layout of divided regions resulting from division of the display region, wherein

the target region is estimated in units of the divided regions with reference to the layout information.

4. The display control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein upon determining that the user is performing a pinch-out operation, a region between the plurality of finger touch regions in the divided region where the user is performing the pinch-out operation is estimated as the target region.

5. The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to store user information indicating information relating to a finger position during operation by the user, wherein

a hidden region is estimated using the user information and the estimated hidden region is estimated as the non-target region, the hidden region being a region hidden by a finger of the user.

6. A display control method of performing display control on a touch-panel-incorporated display panel, the display control method comprising:

storing user information indicating whether a user is right-handed or left-handed;

acquiring touch operation information from the touch panel;

determining whether or not the user is performing a pinch-out operation by using the user'"'"'s hand based on the acquired touch operation information;

estimating, upon determining that the user is performing a pinch-out operation, a region between a plurality of finger touch regions where the user is performing the pinch-out operation in a display region of the display panel, as a target region which is a region of interest of the user;

setting a brightness level of a non-target region to be lower than a set brightness level, the non-target region being a region other than the target region estimated in the display region, wherein the estimation of the target region includes determining that the user is performing the pinch-out operation when a distance between a first touch region and a second touch region is less than a predetermined threshold, and wherein the distance is measured between a first point and a second point, the first point is a point of the first touch region closest to the second touch region and a second point is a point of the second touch region closest to the first touch region;

estimating a region between the first touch region and the second touch region as the target region, the first touch region being a region having a largest area in the touch regions indicated by the touch operation information, the second touch region being a region having a second largest area in the touch regions;

estimating a touch region and a region away from a right end point of the corresponding touch region in a rightward direction by a predetermined distance or more as hidden regions that are hidden by the user'"'"'s hand when the user is right-handed;

estimating a touch region and a region away from a left end point of the corresponding touch region in a leftward direction by a predetermined distance or more as the hidden regions when the user is left-handed; and

designating the estimated hidden regions as the non-target region.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a display control program that, when executed, causes a computer that performs display control on a touch-panel-incorporated display panel to:

store user information indicating whether a user is right-handed or left-handed;

acquire touch operation information from the touch panel;

determine whether or not the user is performing a pinch-out operation by using the user'"'"'s hand based on the acquired touch operation information;

estimate, upon determining that the user is performing a pinch-out operation, a region between a plurality of finger touch regions where the user is performing the pinch-out operation in a display region of the display panel as a target region which is a region of interest of the user;

set a brightness level of a non-target region to be lower than a set brightness level, the non-target region being a region other than the target region estimated in the display region, wherein the estimation of the target region determines that the user is performing the pinch-out operation when a distance between a first touch region and a second touch region is less than a predetermined threshold, and wherein the distance is measured between a first point and a second point, the first point is a point of the first touch region closet to the second touch region and a second point is a point of the second touch region closest to the first touch region;

estimate a region between the first touch region and the second touch region as the target region, the first touch region being a region having a largest area in the touch regions indicated by the touch operation information, the second touch region being a region having a second largest area in the touch regions;

estimate a touch region and a region away from a right end point of the corresponding touch region in a rightward direction by a predetermined distance or more as hidden regions that are hidden by the user'"'"'s hand when the user is right-handed;

estimate a touch region and a region away from a left end point of the corresponding touch region in a leftward direction by a predetermined distance or more as the hidden regions when the user is left-handed; and

designate the estimated hidden regions as the non-target region.