Display apparatus and method, program of controlling same

• US 20070226646A1
• Filed: 03/08/2007
• Published: 09/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Kawakami, Hidehiko, Uto, Keisuke, Nagiyama, Kei, Fukumoto, Motohiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,969,412 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/784
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• 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 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• 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 screen display apparatus includes an operation information reception unit that receives operation information regarding an inclination direction and an inclination angle of a joystick from the joystick, and a screen controller that performs a scroll process for scrolling a screen and a zoom process for zooming based on the operation information. The screen controller scrolls the screen according to the inclination direction and the inclination angle of the joystick, and continues a zoom-out process for zooming-out of the screen based on a detection of the inclination angle that is greater than a predetermined angle for a predetermined period until detecting the inclination angle of the joystick to be equal to or smaller than the predetermined angle or until zooming out to a predetermined minimum zoom rate.

Claims

1. A screen display apparatus comprising:

an operation information reception unit that receives operation information regarding a scroll direction and a scroll speed of a screen from an input device; and

a screen controller that performs a scroll process for scrolling a screen based on the operation information received by the operation information reception unit and performs a zoom process for changing a zoom rate of the screen based on a scroll time and a scroll speed of scrolling in a same scroll direction.

2. The screen display apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein the screen controller performs the zoom process for zooming out when the scroll speed of the screen is greater than a predetermined threshold for a predetermined period, and

the zoom process for zooming out continues one of until the scroll speed is changed to be equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold and until the zoom rate of the screen reaches a predetermined minimum zoom rate.

3. The screen display apparatus as in claim 2,

wherein the screen controller performs the zoom process for zooming in when the screen in a zoomed out state is scrolling at a speed that is equal to or smaller than a second threshold that is smaller than the predetermined threshold for the predetermined period, and

the zoom process for zooming in continues one of until the scroll speed is changed to be greater than the second threshold and until the zoom rate of the screen reaches a predetermined maximum value.

4. The screen display apparatus as in claim 3,

wherein the screen controller performs the zoom process for controlling a zoom speed of zooming in and zooming out according to the scroll speed.

5. The screen display apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein the operation information reception unit receives a joystick inclination direction signal as the operation information regarding the scroll direction of the screen, and

the operation information reception unit receives a joystick inclination angle signal as the operation information regarding the scroll speed of the screen.

6. The screen display apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein the screen controller determines a zoom decision value for performing the zooming process based on the scroll time and the scroll speed in the same direction,

the screen controller performs the zoom process for zooming out when the zoom decision value is greater than a threshold,

the screen controller performs the zoom process for zooming in when the zoom decision value is equal to or smaller than the threshold, and

the zoom process for zooming in and out is performed within a predetermined range of the zoom rate.

7. The screen display apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein the screen controller determines the zoom decision value for performing the zoom process based on a cycle of repeated scrolls and the scroll speed of the repeated scrolls,

the screen controller performs the zoom process for zooming out when the zoom decision value is greater than a threshold,

the screen controller performs the zoom process for zooming in when the zoom decision value is equal to or smaller than the threshold, and

the zoom process for zooming in and out is performed within a predetermined range of the zoom rate.

8. The screen display apparatus as in claim 7 further comprising:

a coordinate input unit that detects a touch position of one of a finger and a pointing device by using a plane detection device,

wherein the operation information reception unit receives a trace direction signal that represents a trace direction on the coordinate input unit as the operation information regarding the scroll direction,

the operation information reception unit receives a trace speed signal that represents a trace speed on the coordinate input unit as the operation information regarding the scroll speed,

the screen controller determines the zoom decision value based on a cycle of repeated traces on the coordinate input unit and a departing speed of one of the finger and the pointing device that represents the speed of one of the finger and the pointing device at a time of departing from the plane detection device.

9. The screen display apparatus as in claim 8,

wherein the coordinate input unit is one of a touch pad and a touch panel.

10. The screen display apparatus as in claim 8,

wherein, when the trace speed of one of the finger and the pointing device touching on the coordinate input unit is detected to be equal to zero in a course of the zooming process for one of zooming in and zooming out, the screen controller keeps a stop condition of the zoom process for one of zooming in and zooming out until one of the finger and the pointing device departs from the coordinate input unit.

11. The screen display apparatus as in claim 6,

wherein the screen controller controls the zoom speed of one of zooming in and zooming out according to the zoom decision value.

12. The screen display apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein an image to be displayed on the screen has a point that specifies a predetermined position of the image, and

the screen controller controls the position of the image to put the point at a center of the screen when the image in a zoomed-out condition with the point specified therein is zoomed in by the zoom process.

13. A method for displaying a screen comprising:

receiving operation information regarding a scroll direction and a scroll speed from an input device; and

performing a zoom process for changing a zoom rate based on the scroll time and the scroll speed in a same direction with performing a scroll process for scrolling a content of a screen based on the operation information received by a receiving operation of the operation information.

14. A program stored in a memory medium for operating a computer as a screen display apparatus comprising steps of:

receiving operation information regarding a scroll direction and a scroll speed from an input device; and

performing a zoom process for changing a zoom rate based on the scroll time and the scroll speed in a same direction with performing a scroll process for scrolling a content of a screen based on the operation information received by a step of receiving the operation information.

15. A screen display apparatus comprising:

a touch panel that senses a touch position of a finger in a screen; and

a screen controller that performs a scroll process for scrolling a content of the screen based on the touch position and performs a zoom process for zooming out control of the content of the screen in a course of scrolling when a continuous touch of the finger for a predetermined period is detected.

16. A screen display apparatus comprising:

a touch panel that senses a touch position of a finger in a screen;

a screen controller that operates in a first mode and in a second mode, wherein the first mode of the screen controller performs a scroll process for scrolling a content of the screen based on the touch position and performs a zoom process for zooming out control of the content of the screen in a course of scrolling when a continuous touch of the finger for a predetermined period is detected, and the second mode of the screen controller performs only the scroll process for scrolling the content of the screen regardless of the period of the touch of the finger; and

a switch unit that switches the first mode and the second mode.

17. The screen display apparatus as in claim 16,

wherein the switch unit is a selection switch that selects one of the first mode and the second mode.

18. The screen display apparatus as in claim 16,

wherein the switch unit switches an operation mode of the screen controller between the first mode and the second mode based on a condition whether the touch position is included in a predetermined area of the touch panel.

19. The screen display apparatus as in claim 16,

wherein the switch unit switches the operation mode of the screen controller to be in the second mode when the touch position is in a predetermined area of the screen with a center of the screen included therein, and

the switch unit switches the operation mode of the screen controller to be in the first mode when the touch position is in a portion of the screen defined as a remain of the predetermined area in the screen.

20. The screen display apparatus as in claim 16,

wherein the switch unit switches the operation mode of the screen controller between the first mode and the second mode based on the condition whether at least two fingers are touching the touch panel.

21. The screen display apparatus as in claim 16,

wherein the touch panel senses a finger pressure for pressing the touch panel, and

the switch unit switches the operation mode of the screen controller between the first mode and the second mode according to the finger pressure sensed by the touch panel.

22. The screen display apparatus as in claim 16,

wherein the switch unit switches the operation mode of the screen controller between the first mode and the second mode according to a condition whether a move of the finger in a touching state with the touch panel is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

23. The screen display apparatus as in claim 16,

wherein the screen controller continues the zoom process for zooming out until the zoom rate reaches a predetermined minimum value in the first mode.

24. The screen display apparatus as in claim 16,

wherein the screen controller changes the scroll speed according to the zoom rate.

25. The screen display apparatus as in claim 16,

wherein, when departure of the finger from the touch panel is detected with the content of the screen being in a zoomed-out condition, the screen controller performs the zoom process for a zooming-in control of the content of the screen until the zoom rate reaches a predetermined maximum value.

26. The screen display apparatus as in claim 25,

wherein the screen controller performs the scroll process in a course of the zoom process for zooming-in control based on the touch position of the finger at a time of finger departure from the touch panel.

27. The screen display apparatus as in claim 25,

wherein a content of the screen at the maximum value of the zoom rate is predicted when the departure of the finger from the touch panel is detected, and

a predicted area of the content of the screen at the maximum value of the zoom rate is displayed on the content of the screen in a zoomed-out condition.

28. The screen display apparatus as in claim 16 further comprising:

a notification unit that notifies switching between the first mode and the second mode.

29. A screen display apparatus comprising:

a coordinate input unit that detects a touch position of one of a finger and a pointing device by using a flat detection device;

a screen controller that performs a scroll process for scrolling a content of the screen based on the touch position and performs a zoom process for zooming out control of the content of the screen in a course of scrolling when a continuous touch of the finger for a predetermined period is detected; and

a switch unit that switches an operation mode between a first mode and a second mode.

30. A screen display apparatus comprising:

a joystick that senses an inclination direction and an inclination angle of itself; and

a screen controller that performs a scroll process for scrolling a content of a screen based on the inclination direction and the inclination angle of the joystick and performs a zoom process for changing a zoom rate of the content of the screen based on a scroll time and a scroll speed of scrolling in a same scroll direction.

31. The screen display apparatus as in claim 30,

wherein the joystick is capable of transferring haptic/tactile information to a user of the joystick, and

the joystick transfers a reaction force that causes resistance to a movement of the joystick to the user when the inclination angle is greater than a predetermined angle.

32. A screen display apparatus comprising:

a rotary input device that senses a rotation direction and a rotation speed; and

a screen controller that performs a scroll process for scrolling a content of a screen based on the rotation direction and the rotation speed and performs a zoom process for changing a zoom rate of the content of the screen based on a scroll time and a scroll speed of scrolling in a same scroll direction.

33. The screen display apparatus as in claim 32,

wherein the rotary input device is capable of transferring tactile information to a user of the rotary input device, and

the rotary input device transfers a reaction force that causes resistance to a rotation of the rotary input device to the user when the zoom process for changing the zoom rate is started.

34. A program stored in a memory medium for operating a computer as a screen display apparatus comprising steps of:

receiving position information regarding a touch position of a finger from a touch panel; and

performing a zoom process for a zooming-out with scrolling control of a content of a screen based on a detection of a continuous finger contact for a predetermined period simultaneously with performing a scroll process for scrolling the content of the screen based on the touch position of the finger.