INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND DISPLAY CONTROL METHOD

• US 20100188423A1
• Filed: 01/26/2010
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ikeda, Tetsuo, Homma, Fuminori, Aoyama, Ryu, Tsurumi, Takehiko, Moriya, Shoichiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,711,182 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/659
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• 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 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

An information processing apparatus is provided which includes a display unit on which an object is displayed, a position detector for detecting a position of an operating tool that is made to contact a surface of the display unit, a reference position determination unit for determining as a reference position a position of an operating tool that is detected first by the position detector when a plurality of operating tools are made to contact the display unit, a display change operation specifying unit for specifying, according to a moving direction of a position of an operating tool that is detected N-th (N≧2) by the position detector, a specific display change operation associated with the direction, and a display controller for performing on the object the display change operation specified by the display change operation specifying unit with the reference position determined by the reference position determination unit as a reference.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a display unit on which an object is displayed;

a position detection unit for detecting a position of an operating tool that is made to contact a surface of the display unit or that is brought into proximity thereof;

a reference position determination unit for determining as a reference position a position of an operating tool that is detected first by the position detection unit when a plurality of operating tools are made to contact the display unit or were brought into proximity thereof;

a display change operation specifying unit for specifying, according to a moving direction of a position of an operating tool that is detected N-th (N≧

2) by the position detection unit, a specific display change operation associated with the direction; and

a display control unit for performing on the object the display change operation specified by the display change operation specifying unit with the reference position determined by the reference position determination unit as a reference.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the display control unit includes

a reference indicator display unit for making the display unit display, when a reference position is determined by the reference position determination unit, a reference indicator indicating the reference position;

and

a change indicator display unit for making the display unit display, when a specific display change operation is specified by the display change operation specifying unit, change indicators each indicating a type of the specific display change operation or a change amount by the specific display change operation.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a type detection unit for detecting a type of the operating tool whose position was detected by the position detection unit,

wherein,

when operating tools of mutually different types are detected by the type detection unit,

the reference position determination unit determines as a reference a position of the operating tool of a first type detected by the position detection unit, and

the display change operation specifying unit specifies, according to a moving direction of a position of the operating tool of a second type detected by the position detection unit that is different from the first type, a specific display change operation associated with the direction.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

when the operating tool that is detected N-th is moved in a direction associated with an enlargement operation or a reduction operation, the display control unit enlarges or reduces the object with the reference position determined by the reference position determination unit as a centre.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

when the operating tool that is detected N-th is moved in a direction associated with a rotation operation, the display control unit rotates the object with the reference position determined by the reference position determination unit as a centre.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit includes a display area where the object is displayed and a non-display area provided outside the display screen where the object is not displayed,

when a position of the operating tool is included in the display area, the reference position determination unit determines the position of the operating tool to be the reference position, and

when the position of the operating tool is included in the non-display area, the display change operation specifying unit specifies the specific display change operation, according to a moving direction of the operating tool.

7. A display control method comprising the steps of:

detecting a position of an operating tool that is made to contact a surface of a display unit on which an object is displayed or that is brought into proximity thereof;

determining as a reference position a position of an operating tool that is detected first in the step of detecting when a plurality of operating tools are made to contact the display unit or were brought into proximity thereof;

specifying, according to a moving direction of a position of an operating tool that is detected N-th (N≧

2) in the step of detecting, a specific display change operation associated with the direction; and

performing on the object the display change operation specified in the step of specifying with the reference position determined in the step of determining as a reference.