INFORMATION DISPLAY TERMINAL, INFORMATION DISPLAY METHOD AND PROGRAM

• US 20090150775A1
• Filed: 10/24/2008
• Published: 06/11/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: MIYAZAKI, Reiko, Miyashita, Ken
• Granted Patent: US 9,513,765 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/702
• 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 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

There is provided an information display terminal for displaying an object of a graphical user interface on a display screen including a first operation information acquiring unit for acquiring first operation information including location information on the display screen via a contact detection surface provided so as to overlap with the display screen; a second operation information acquiring unit for acquiring second operation information including location information on the display screen via a contact detection surface provided on a surface on the side opposite to the display screen; and a display controlling unit for controlling the display of the object on the display screen on the basis of the acquired first operation information and second operation information. As a result, an information display terminal having excellent visibility and operability, which can provide an operating environment where intuitive operation is possible, can be provided.

Claims

1. An information display terminal for displaying an object of a graphical user interface on a display screen, comprising:

a first operation information acquiring unit for acquiring first operation information including location information on the display screen via a contact detection surface provided so as to overlap with the display screen;

a second operation information acquiring unit for acquiring second operation information including location information on the display screen via a contact detection surface provided on a surface on the side opposite to the display screen; and

a display controlling unit for controlling the display of the object on the display screen on the basis of the acquired first operation information and second operation information.

2. The information display terminal according to claim 1, wherein

the object is arranged within a three-dimensional coordinate space on the basis of three-dimensional coordinate information specific to the object, and

the display controlling unit controls the display of the object on the display screen which is a surface onto which the three-dimensional coordinate space is projected.

3. The information display terminal according to claim 2, wherein

a plurality of objects form an object column in which the objects are aligned in the direction of the first coordinate axis of the three-dimensional coordinate space so as to overlap,

one of the first operation information and the second operation information includes first scroll information obtained in accordance with the degree of contact detected on the contact detection surface, and

the display controlling unit specifies the object column on the basis of the location information included in the first operation information or the second operation information and controls the display so that the plurality of objects included in the specified object column scroll in one direction on the first coordinate axis on the basis of the acquired first scroll information.

4. The information display terminal according to claim 3, wherein

the other of the first operation information and the second operation information includes second scroll information obtained in accordance with the degree of contact detected on the contact detection surface, and

the display controlling unit controls the display so that the plurality of objects included in the specified object column scroll in the other direction on the first coordinate axis on the basis of the acquired second scroll information.

5. The information display terminal according to claim 3, wherein

the degree of the contact is obtained as the intensity of contact detected on the contact detection surface, and

the display controlling unit controls the display so that the plurality of objects scroll in the case where the intensity of the contact exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

6. The information display terminal according to claim 3, wherein

the degree of the contact is obtained as the detection duration of contact detected on the contact detection surface, and

the display controlling unit controls the acceleration of display on which the plurality of objects scroll on the basis of the detection duration of the contact.

7. The information display terminal according to claim 3, wherein

the degree of the contact is obtained as the detection area of the contact detected on the contact detection surface, and

the display controlling unit controls the acceleration of display on which the plurality of objects scroll on the basis of the detection area of the contact.

8. The information display terminal according to claim 2, wherein

a plurality of objects form an object column aligned in the direction of the first coordinate axis in the three-dimensional coordinate space so as to overlap,

the first operation information includes first start point information and first end point information as location information obtained from the moving state of a contact point detected on the contact detection surface,

the second operation information includes second start point information acquired at the same time as the first start point information and second end point information acquired at the same time as the first end point information as location information obtained from the moving state of a contact point detected on the contact detection surface,

the display controlling unit specifies the frontmost object included in a specific object column on the display screen on the basis of the acquired first start point information, specifies the rearmost object included in the object column on the basis of the acquired second start point information, links the acquired first end point information to a location to which the frontmost object moves, and links the acquired second end point information to a location to which the rearmost object moves, and thus controls the display so that the plurality of objects included in the object column move in a plane perpendicular to the first coordinate axis.

9. The information display terminal according to claim 2, wherein

the first operation information includes first start point information and first end point information as location information obtained from the moving state of a contact point detected on the contact detection surface,

the second operation information includes second start point information acquired at the same time as the first start point information and second end point information acquired at the same time as the first end point information as location information obtained from the moving state of a contact point detected on the contact detection surface, and

the display controlling unit calculates the amount of change in the angle between the reference axis obtained from the acquired first start point information and the second start point information and the movement axis obtained from the acquired first end point information and the second end point information, and changes the angle of the axis connecting the viewpoint indicating the frontmost apex of a pyramid which is a visual hull onto which the three-dimensional coordinate space is projected, and the reference point indicating the center of the projection surface, and thus, controls the display of the objects on the display screen which is the projection surface in such a state that the angle of the axis is changed relative to the three-dimensional coordinate space.

10. The information display terminal according to claim 1, wherein

the object is provided in a two-dimensional coordinate plane on the basis of two-dimensional coordinate information specific to the object and a plurality of objects form an object column which is aligned in such a manner that the objects at least partially overlap on the display screen,

the first operation information includes first start point information and first end point information as location information obtained from the moving state of a contact point detected on the contact detection surface,

the second operation information includes second start point information acquired at the same time as the first start point information and second end point information acquired at the same time as the first end point information as location information obtained from the moving state of a contact point detected on the contact detection surface, and

the display controlling unit specifies the frontmost object included in a specific object column on the display screen on the basis of the acquired first start point information, specifies the rearmost object included in the object column on the basis of the acquired second start point information, links the acquired first end point information to a location to which the frontmost object moves, and links the acquired second end point information to a location to which the rearmost object moves, and thus controls the display so that the plurality of objects included in the object column move so as to change the degree of overlap between the objects.

11. The information display terminal according to claim 1, wherein

the second operation region which is an object of operation on the contact detection surface provided on a surface on the side opposite to the display screen is smaller than the first operation region which is an object of operation on the contact detection surface provided on the display screen, and

the display controlling unit makes such an adjustment that the location information on the display screen obtained from the second operation region corresponds to the location information on the display screen obtained in the first operation region.

12. The information display terminal according to claim 11, further comprising an operation region information setting unit for setting operation region information for specifying the range of the second operation region on the basis of the second operation information acquired for each user.

13. The information display terminal according to claim 12, further comprising an operation region information storing unit for storing the operation region information set by the operation region setting unit, wherein

the display controlling unit reads out the operation region information for a specific user from the operation region information storing unit in response to a request for change from the specific user and sets the range of the second operation region.

14. The information display terminal according to claim 12, further comprising an operation region information storing unit for storing a number of pieces of operation region information in accordance with the direction in which the display screen is used, wherein

the display controlling unit determines the direction in which the display screen is used, reads out the operation region information in accordance with the direction in which the display screen is used from the operation region information storing unit, and sets the range of the second operation region.

15. The information display terminal according to claim 14, wherein the display control unit determines the direction in which the display screen is used on the basis of the second operation information acquired from a user.

16. The information display terminal according to claim 14, further comprising an acceleration sensor, wherein

the display controlling unit determines the direction in which the display screen is used on the basis of the results of detection by the acceleration sensor.

17. The information display terminal according to claim 1, wherein

a plurality of objects form an object column, and the object column can be displayed in such a state that the plurality of objects are arranged in the initial location so as to overlap and the plurality of objects are aligned in slide location so as to at least partially overlap, and

the display controlling unit controls the display for operating the object column and the display for operating the objects which form the object column, in accordance with the acquisition state of the first location information included in the first operation information and/or second location information included in the second operation information and the display state of the object column.

18. The information display terminal according to claim 17, wherein the display controlling unit controls the display of the object column so that the amount of overlap between the objects changes and the plurality of objects move in response to the continuous change in the first location information continuously acquired within a predetermined time after the acquisition of the second location information in the case where the second location information is acquired in such a state that the plurality of objects which form the object column are displayed in the initial location or in the slide location after the object column is specified by the first location information.

19. The information display terminal according to claim 18, wherein

the object placed on the front surface side on the display screen from among the plurality of objects which are placed in the object column so as to at least partially overlap is displayed larger than the object placed on the rear surface side, and

the display controlling unit controls the display of the object column so that the plurality of objects move while changing the amount of overlap between the objects in response to the continuous change in the first location information which is continuously acquired, and the smaller the amount of overlap between the objects is, the further the objects move to the front surface side and the larger the objects are displayed, while the greater the amount of overlap between the objects is, the further the objects move to the rear surface side and the smaller the objects are displayed.

20. The information display terminal according to claim 18, wherein

the object placed on the front surface side on the display screen from among the plurality of objects which are placed in the object column so as to at least partially overlap is displayed larger than the object placed on the rear surface side, and

the display controlling unit controls the display of the object column so that the plurality of objects move to the frontmost surface side so as to be displayed in a list with the same size in the case where the plurality of objects forming the object column are arranged so as not to overlap for display.

21. The information display terminal according to claim 20, wherein the display controlling unit controls the display of the object column so that the plurality of objects are displayed larger as the objects move to the front surface side.

22. The information display terminal according to claim 20, wherein the display controlling unit controls the display of the objects so that the contents of the objects are displayed in the case where the objects are specified by the first location information in such a state that the plurality of objects are displayed in a list.

23. The information display terminal according to claim 17, wherein the display controlling unit controls the display of the object column so that the plurality of objects forming the object column move to the initial location and are aligned in such a manner as to overlap in the case where the first and second location information is not acquired within a predetermined period in such a state that the plurality of objects forming the object column are displayed in the slide location after the object column is specified by the first location information.

24. The information display terminal according to claim 17, wherein the display controlling unit controls the display of the object column so that the object column moves in response to the continuous change in the first location information which is continuously acquired in a state where the plurality of objects forming the object column are displayed in the initial location after the object column is specified by the first location information.

25. The information display terminal according to claim 17, wherein the display controlling unit controls the display of the objects so that the focus of which the object is one of the plurality of objects forming the specified object column shifts to another object placed on any one of the front surface side or the rear surface side of the object on the display screen which is the object of focus in the case where the first location information is acquired, and shifts to another object placed on the other of the front surface side or the rear surface side of the object on the display screen which is the object of focus in the case where the second location information is acquired when the first location information or the second location information which do not specify object column is acquired in such a state that the plurality of objects forming the object column are displayed in the initial location after the object column is specified by the first location information.

26. An information display method for displaying an object of a graphical user interface on a display screen, comprising the steps of:

acquiring first operation information including location information on the display screen via a contact detection surface provided so as to overlap with the display screen;

acquiring second operation information including location information on the display screen via a contact detection surface provided on a surface on the side opposite to the display screen; and

controlling the display of the object on the display screen on the basis of the acquired first operation information and second operation information.

27. A program that causes a computer to execute an information display method for displaying an object of a graphical user interface on a display screen, wherein

the information display method comprises the steps of:

acquiring first operation information including location information on the display screen via a contact detection surface provided so as to overlap with the display screen;

acquiring second operation information including location information on the display screen via a contact detection surface provided on a surface on the side opposite to the display screen; and

controlling the display of the object on the display screen on the basis of the acquired first operation information and second operation information.